Many companies claim to have excellent customer service. But in reality there are only a few great customer service providers in today’s society. Long gone are the days of the “service station” and the corner drug stores.

It is good customer service that will bring customers back, even more than the product. We all can give examples of service providers or retailers with whom we will not do business because we were not treated to the level of service we expected. The service provider or retailer did not meet our needs or expectations.

I recently watched a commercial for an establishment that was claiming their difference was that “old fashion style” customer service. Was this a nice slick publicity and marketing piece or had the company actually developed and trained their staff in customer service?

Teach Product & Service Benefits

Good customer service is much more than just hiring smiling, friendly faces. Hiring positive upbeat people is a helpful tool but those people cannot maintain that demeanor if they are not given the proper support and motivation. A company must first train their employees about the products and services they provide. The training must be more than “this is product XYZ and it sells for this much.” The training should include what the product or service can or cannot do for the customer. The training should also include a comparison with your competitor’s products or services.

Learn The Customer

In addition to product or service knowledge, the company must find what the customer’s true interest, needs, and expectations are. Until a company has this information, they cannot truly market their product or service and compete against similar products or services. This knowledge then should be provided to employees. The more they know about the customers and their needs, the better they can develop skills to provide them with a level of service people desire.

In addition to product and customer knowledge, training must be given as to the proper ways to handle “all types” of customer issues. There are many books, articles and trainers who have developed excellent tips on handling all forms of customer service. It is important to keep these ideas active in the minds of all employees.

Openly Embrace Service Excellence

Last but not least, the company must truly believe in customer service. They must have policies and procedures in place that allow the employees to provide the service that the customers express they want and expect. This has to be supported by actions more than just words. Recognition of employees who provide excellent service is one way of showing all employees that you value their service to your company. You will find that whatever the boss focuses upon, will eventually become the employee’s focus as well.

Training should be considered as key assets and tool for every organization and business. Don’t take your customer service standards and training lightly.