In the words of
Keith Zars
Owner
Keith Zars Pools
San Antonio
A key to great customer service obviously is handling calls in an efficient manner. But more than that, it’s addressing customer issues the best you can, and trying to find the best solution — even if that means it’s not a Keith Zars pool or product. We will work with them to solve their problem and point them in the right direction. This typically results in customers paying us back through referrals and continued service.
Our practices revolve around good communication. We use an online service to manage service requests, and we dedicate three employees solely to taking service calls. They follow a written script to ensure no details are missed. The first step is to look up clients by address, through our in-house database system, so they can pull all customer data while talking with them.
Whenever you introduce a new procedure, you have to communicate the following to employees: What you plan to fix, why you want to fix it, and how you will go about fixing it. Most business owners want to skip to the “how,” but if you want everybody on board, you have to first explain the “what” and “why.”
We give employees the authority to explore ways to do things better, and we listen to what they say.
We use online surveys and make them available to staff so they can see how they are doing. We also call customers after visits to get feedback.
If we receive negative feedback, we make direct phone calls to those customers as quickly as possible, to find out what went wrong and get their input on how to make things better. We also share that information with the team or individual involved, whichever is most appropriate.
Define what good customer service looks like to you. Every company has different expectations — McDonalds’ customer service goals are probably different than those of a high-end steakhouse. Then make a plan to not only accomplish your goals, but also ensure you are consistently working to sustain your level of service.