THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE

If you teach nothing else about customer service, teach this one principle:

“Always under-promise and over-deliver!”

Manage Expectations ...

Ultimately, the secret to delivering great customer service is managing expectations and then exceeding them. Of course, you don’t want front-liners to overly lower expectations—that may chase away customers. But they should promise customers a little bit less than whatever they are certain they can deliver. What does that delivery look like in your business?

Be sure everyone on your team knows the answer.

Meet Expectations ...

Customers typically come into contact with service personnel because they want to make something happen—gather information, find a service or product, or complete a transaction.

What should your front-line service personnel be trying to do?

Facilitate making it happen. How? Make it right, make it easy, make it fast.

Exceed Expectations ...

This is the hard part. It means doing everything very well—and then doing more. Service should be better, easier, and faster than the customer could have possibly expected. To provide even more, consider offering free items: samples, which are given before a sale, or add-ons, which are given after a sale. If your industry doesn’t usually offer samples, you can set yourself apart by providing them; if samples are industry staples, though, you will have to offer more and better to set yourself apart. Keep in mind that add-ons are just as important, as they reward customers for doing business with you.

Teaching Focus: The Tactical Skills

In teaching, you should focus on two sets of tactical skills:

1. Communication

2. Problem solving

Both communication and problem solving are areas of great complexity and nuance. Here we will keep it simple by recommending that, in teaching, you focus on their basics as related to the customer service environment.