Too often when customers do business with you, they are served by one individual. When that employee is busy or otherwise unavailable, the customer has to wait. Unfortunately, customers don’t like to wait. When left too long, customers start to wonder about your service. Serving customers with the entire team is a better approach.
My wife and I recently ate at a local restaurant that highlighted a customer service principle you can use in your business. While we had our assigned server, we nevertheless were served by at least four other servers that evening. We enjoyed attentive service, and a seamless dining experience.
Recognize the Customer as Soon as Possible
Once we were seated at our table, a server approached our table and got drinks for us. He kindly informed us that Sara would be our server that evening. Instead of waiting for our assigned server, we were immediately attended to.
This acknowledgment and hand-off is a pattern you can use in your business. The first employee to see the customer, read the email, or answer the phone can triage the situation and gracefully hand over the customer to the employee that will ultimately be servicing them.
Notice and Fill the Need
One way to tell how attentive your server is at a restaurant is to monitor your drink. How long does it sit empty on the table before you get a refill? During our dinner, numerous different servers helped with our drinks and maintained our table.
Your employees should all be watching for those situations where a customer has a need. When a need arises, the person who sees it should address it even if it isn’t their assigned customer or responsibility.
Share the Reward of Serving Customers
Undoubtedly, the restaurant’s servers pooled tips at the end of the night to enjoy the reward for their attentive, team-based customer service.
As you establish a customer service culture at your company, reward your team for their joint efforts to serve the customer. These could be in the forms of bonuses or other performance-based compensation that hinges on the value of service delivered to the customer.
Unified Team
Customers view your business as a single entity. When you approach customer service as a team, you meet this expectation. The customer sees a seamless and unified level of service and isn’t left to the whims of a single, random employee who they might get stuck with otherwise.
How can a team approach to serving customers help your business?