How to Improve Service Quality at Your Business

Invest in service training, rather than a quality control department. Depending on how large or small your business is, you may already have a quality control department. This department tracks and documents any quality issues and work to address them. But depending on a quality control department can actually set your business up for poor performance, as it may demonstrate to your other employees that quality is not their main concern. Investing in training that trains all workers at all levels, rather than solely in a quality control department, will let your workers know they have a responsibility for providing quality service, no matter their role in the company.^[2]

• Look at gaps in service training in your current workforce. Have your employees take a customer service seminar, online, or in person, as part of a performance improvement requirement. Organize training sessions that target specific issues or gaps, such as how to interact with customers at the cash register or how to handle a speech to a client in a meeting.
• For example, if you are trying to improve service at the cash register, set up a training session targeted at improving service at the register. You may discuss how to greet a customer at the register, how to ring them through quickly and promptly, and how to hand them their change or their charge card at the end of the transaction. You may also instruct your employees to do mock transactions, where one employee acts as the worker at the register and the other employee acts as the customer.
• Don’t stop training employees after their first few days or weeks on the job. Teach employees that there is always more they can and should be learning about their job, your business, and how to serve customers. ^[3]

Set up a new-employee initiation program. This program will train new workers on quality and service as soon as they start work. It should be a well-rounded program that gives new workers a clear sense of your company’s products, services, and core business strategy. It should also reinforce your company’s approach to customers and commitment to quality customer service.^[4]

• The program should include an overview of your company’s approach to service. Give examples of customer service issues you have had in the past and/or are currently dealing with, as well as the solutions you came up with to address these issues. This will help new hires understand your approach to service and how to problem solve these issues.
• Pair up an experienced employee with a new employee. The experienced worker can provide firsthand experience of your company’s operations and of how to perform well in a certain position or role. The experienced worker can also give the new worker pointers on providing quality service for customers.
• If possible, conduct part of the new employee orientation yourself. Lead one of the training sessions to show the new employees you are committed to the new hire program. This will also give you a chance to teach the company values in the new hires right away and set the new employees up for success.

Teach the 30/30 rule. This simple rule states that the employee should greet each customer within 30 steps or 30 seconds of entering the store. This attention will ensure that your customers feel welcomed and wanted, which will translate to a more positive view of your business.

• Make sure to train your employees to communicate welcome with their body language as well as their words. A “hello” will not mean much if it comes from an employee who does not make eye contact, smile, or stand up straight with open body language.
• If your business is web-based, set up an automatic response system so that your customers know their messages have been received and you are working on solving their issue.

Tie your employee’s actions to the business’s overall performance. This means showing your employees that what they do every day in the workplace has a big effect on customer happiness and the bottom line. Tying individual behavior to a larger system will give your employees a sense of how important it is that they practice good quality service every day.^[5]

• One way of doing this is to challenge your employees to commit to providing the best service possible to customers for one month. At the end of the month, show your employees proof of improvement of sales and lower customer complaints.

Encourage employees to think of customer service as a "story" about your business. Your employees are the principal way that customers will engage with your business. In most cases, how they behave toward customers creates the overall "culture" of a business or store. Understanding that their interactions with customers are not limited to a single exchange at a cash register, but that they actually inform how a customer feels about the entire place, will help motivate employees to provide quality service every time.

• For example, the grocery store Trader Joe's frequently performs at the top of its industry in customer service rankings because employees are trained to provide a friendly, laid-back store atmosphere and offer personal recommendations about products.^{[6] [7]} This approach makes it fun to shop there, which draws customers back even though Trader Joe's stock is usually more limited than other grocery stores.^[8]

Give your employees service quality goals. These goals should be challenging, but attainable. Research on goal setting has shown that setting specific and challenging goals leads to higher levels of employee performance. Avoid easy or vague goals, such as “just do your best”.

• Focus on specific actions and attitudes, like greeting every customer with a smile and a hello, helping them with a fitting room and sizing, and making sure their transaction at the register is fast and pleasant.
• For example, at Harrah’s casino in Las Vegas, staff must meet goals that are set up based on the individual's position at the casino, as well as the goals set up by Harrah’s group of hotels in the Vegas area. The managers at Harrah’s work with the employees to make sure the goals are challenging, but attainable. Harrah’s uses a combination of goal setting and future rewards to motivate both the individual employee and the team.

Recognize and reward improvements in employee performance. Motivate your employees by acknowledging their accomplishments and their ability to reach or even surpass customer service goals. There are two primary ways to reward employees:

• Financial rewards: One of the easiest ways to implement financial rewards is to increase wages and hand out bonuses to your employees. But if you aren’t in a position to hand out more money to your employees all at once, you can improve their finances in other ways. Give them any extra hours they request, offer more affordable health care options, and be flexible around their child or elder care needs.
• Non-financial rewards: Create a recognition program that shows your employees how much you appreciate their hard work and attention to customer service. Focus on a program that recognizes the employee’s length of service, positive customer feedback or achievement of a customer service goal. Use rewards like plaques, certificates, company merchandise, gift certificates, or complimentary products. Though these rewards won’t necessarily benefit the employee financially, they will give the employee a sense of pride and achievement that is crucial to maintaining her motivation.

Let your employees know there is room for growth. Another way to motivate and empower your employees to is to provide opportunities to move up to higher positions in the company or business. Create leadership positions for long standing employees or employees that have demonstrated a high level of performance. Encourage newer employees to aspire to a higher position or role and provide them with opportunities to prove themselves.

• You may decide to conduct yearly performance reviews of your employees to let them know where they stand and how they can improve their performance for the next year. Performance reviews are also an excellent way to reinforce positive behaviors to your employees and show them where their career at the company might be headed.

Emphasize problem-solving. It is crucial to emphasize to your employees that they must be helpful as well as friendly. A polite and helpful sales clerk who knows nothing about the merchandise she sells will not satisfy her customers. Similarly, an employee who acknowledges a problem exists without having the ability to address it will not likely impress a customer.

• If the employee cannot provide an immediate solution, train your employees to provide a “plan of action” for how the issue will be addressed as soon as possible. For example, if a customer has called with an issue with a lawnmower she purchased, but your store will be closing in five minutes, you could promise to send a person to her home first thing in the morning to repair it.

Teach your employees to overcompensate for any issues or complaints. This is how to attain customer service that goes “above and beyond.” Every customer should leave your store or workplace happy. Even if you or a staff member makes a mistake, the customer should still be satisfied. Do not act defensive or accuse the customer of making a mistake. Listen patiently to the customer’s complaint and offer your sincere apologies.^[9] Then, explain how you are going to solve the service issue for the customer. The most polite employee in the world will not make up for incompetence or an inability to solve a customer’s issue.

• For example, a customer comes in with a blouse that fell apart in the washing machine. She has her receipt to prove she bought the blouse from your shop two days ago. The customer demands a refund for the blouse, as it was not cheap, but it did not hold up when washed.
• The employee calls you, the business owner, over to discuss how to best serve this customer. Start by apologizing to the customer for the poor quality of your inventory. Then, explain that though you do not do refunds (as stated on the receipt), you can offer her a gift card to the store in the full amount of the poor quality item, plus an additional discount on her next purchase. This way, the customer knows you have addressed her problem and you will not leave her dissatisfied. You should then assure the customer that you will investigate the manufacturer of the ruined clothing item and pull the remaining stock from your shelves.
• Customers who are unhappy should get incentives to return to your business. This is more likely to create goodwill than solving the problem alone.

Listen to feedback from your employees. Your employees can provide valuable insights into possible improvements to your existing approach to quality service. Paying attention to their feedback also shows you care about what they have to say and take their opinion seriously.

• Conduct a quality survey at least once a year among your employees. Send it out by email and set a due date for the survey to be completed. You could also attach incentives or a prize draw to motivate your employees to submit their feedback.
• Maintain open communication with your employees by starting the work day with a pep talk before the doors of the store or shop open. Lay out your expectations for quality service for all customers who walk through the door.
• Demonstrate specific behaviors that show the customer that the employees value quality service, such as how to greet the customer at the door, chat with them as they pay at the register, and ask them if they would like help with a size, or would like to start a fitting room. Use concrete examples to show, rather than tell, your employees how to provide excellent service.