Singapore Airlines is one company known for its high customer service standards. They remain one of the most profitable airlines to date and a lot of analysts feel that their superior customer service culture has been the primary reason for this success. Its management team has always given maximum attention to establishing and maintaining a good customer service culture. They believe its the simple and most cost effective way to remain profitable even in a recession.

Let’s think about it this way, its one thing for a waiter to serve food at a restaurant without being rude. Its another thing for the waiter to serve with a smile. Customers definitely don’t want rude attendants but the experience will last longer in our memory if the attendant has a pleasant disposition. We will also be more attuned to talking about it and definitely be happy to return again.

But just to sound a note of caution, for a customer service culture to succeed, everyone in the organisation must be involved. Its not enough for management to provide the funds and expect magic to happen. We all learn better from our elders/superiors. So if you want your staff to truly embrace a new culture why not start with yourself. How you treat them becomes a reflection of how they will treat your customers.

I read a post online and noted the writers surprise to find a top executive of one of the major courier companies on a ride with the truck driver handling deliveries to their customers. He asked the executive why he would put himself through such a tough task when he didn’t need to. The executive laughed and told him he enjoyed it and often made these trips. He said he wasn’t about to stop either. This top executive knows that without the customers being served with delight the organisation will not exist. He knows exactly what they are serving because he’s serving too.

The question we need to ask ourselves is what are we serving our customers?

More often than not when you receive a customer, you are required to request for the first name and possibly last name. If you are not sure of what you heard, rather ask the customer to spell the name for you than make him/her repeat the name over and over again while you try to guess the sequence of alphabets to spell the name. It saves time and is less likely to get your customer irritated.

Also collect addresses carefully, never assume you know it unless you are absolutely sure. And because these are split second decisions, its always better to request for the spelling from the customer than try to guess. Same thing applies with numbers, always write numbers down in the sequence you are given lest the information becomes useless.

To ensure you are on the right track, its always important that you confirm the information you have before the end of the interaction. Read what you have written down back to the customer and let him/her confirm that you have the right information. That way you are assured of a quick turnaround time on the customers request/ complaint.

Keeping the customer happy should always remain our number one goal and customers feel more confident about a resolution when they realise you have jotted down the right details during the confirmation stage.

Some large organisations are able to invest in off the shelf customer relationship management applications (CRM) which allow them effectively collect customer data and also integrate with other existing applications in-house.

However, the question here is how useful is customer data and what do organisations not keeping customer data stand to loose,if anything at all?

An organisation with a customer database gives every customer a personalised experience each and every time they interact with the organisation. Customers have been profiled and their concerns are addressed quickly. Products are tailored to suit their needs making the experience more pleasurable. Therein lies the edge for organisations with customer data, for as they saying goes “knowledge is power”. Thus we must use what we have to our advantage.

Most medium and small sized companies are discouraged by the huge sums required to facilitate data gathering. However it is important that you start a database, no matter how small or cumbersome it may look. It feels good when you walk into a store or call into a helpline and give your name or phone number and get service exactly how you want it.

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Its also the busiest time of the year for all customer service representatives. Demand for products and services doubles or sometimes triples for some companies. How are we coping with the traffic? Do we go through the same steps to ensure we give top service to all our customers or is there a drop in the service we offer?

Some of us may feel drained and snap off at our customers. Lets remember that we are all at some point (especially during this season) customers and treat all those whom we have the opportunity to serve as we would like to be served. Most especially, lets remember the reason for the season.

In the spirit of love this season, lets ensure we leave smiles on the faces of our customers as we attend to their needs.

A warm greeting when you receive a client makes a world of difference. Its sets the stage for a pleasant transaction, may even convert a window shopper into an actual buyer, and it definitely costs nothing to offer a warm greeting.

So how should we welcome our customers? If you really love your job or are making any effort at trying to enjoy it then this shouldn’t be hard to figure out. A smile, eye contact, maybe a handshake, will definitely make our customers take a second look at us and diffuse any hostility. Our culture sometimes requires our genuflecting when greeting elders in the society. If the customer is really advanced in age and tends to communicate with you in your local dialect then I guess it won’t hurt for you to genuflect while greeting him.

Is this customer a regular at your service point? Then you should know his/her name, ask about the family, initiate a bit of small talk. The customer will surely feel happy, because you’ve shown him/her that you care. Its common sight for mothers to move around with their kids to informal environments, know their names too so you can ask about them when the mother comes in alone.

Its important that we learn to enjoy our jobs as CSR’s because its only then that we can incorporate a winning attitude.

The true measure of customer retention should come from the following key factors: are you getting repeat business from the customers, do they buy your add-on products, are they happy to recommend you to their families and friends or do they do these things because they have no better choice? When an organisation is able to place high marks beside these questions then it may consider itself being on the right part.

For an organisation to have an effective customer retention programme in place it must routinely offer training to key customer facing staff, sharpening their customer service skills along with emphasising their value proposition as an organisation.

A relevant question is how do we as individuals contribute and ensure that the organisation is indeed scoring high marks against these questions; we must focus on giving consistent and excellent customer service, utilise any up sell or cross sell opportunities that come our way during any customer interactions. Also politely ask existing customers for referrals, when the opening emerges during our interactions.

All these things are necessary on your part as CSR’s because the bottom line remains that the customer pays the bills. Any pay rise or personal development you require from the organisation will only come easily if the organisation has a healthy balance sheet.

A key point we must remember always as CSR’s is that a problem occurs when the customer says it does. Don’t try to argue it out with the customer. An incident may appear mild to you but if the customer feels that its a serious issue then by all means treat it as such.

Service recovery simply means to return service to its normal state. And good service recovery begins when you recognise and admit that the customer has a problem. It scores you lots of points.

As CSR’s we need to be remain attentive at all times to spot a service failure from afar and begin the recovery process. Some organisations do have a process in place that serves as a guide for recovery from those blips. No one process fits all customers and problems but a guide surely helps CSR’s work within the confines of what is allowed in each organisation.

As CSR’s you also act as sales people for the organisation even though your job description may not explicitly say so. Identifying the needs of your customers enables relationship building and good relationships bring about some element of trust and this is a main ingredient for selling successfully.

So while you’re assisting that customer fix a problem, try and understand their needs by asking intelligent questions. They’ll definitely appreciate you a whole lot more and while your at it you might be able to increase your organisation’s market share.

As professional service representatives, we should never prejudge ANYONE. Everyone who walks in or calls in to the organisation should be given a memorable, consistent experience that will keep them coming back for more.

Often times we become rude to customers who may sound illiterate, have poor diction or walk into our offices or shops dressed in shabby attires. Experience may have shown us that appearance or diction has no correlation with the spending power of an individual. Statistics also show us that the customers who do the lowest volumes of business with us are often the ones who when satisfied “blow the trumpet loudest”.

Why then should the appearance or speech impairments define the service we offer to our customers? In this business we have to give everyone our very best, because we may be losing business when we don’t.