Improve customer service through your leadership

Due to e-commerce, the world of retail has changed. To attract customers to your store, you must improve your customer service to provide that extra attention that customers cannot get online. Good customer service tends to be the leading cause for becoming a loyal customer in a particular store. So an improved customer service is vital to your business success. To achieve this, you as the store manager can’t just manage – you have to lead.

Qualified leadership is the key to success

To hire the employees with the true potential is, of course, essential, but developing an effective customer service leadership is of even of greater importance. To bring out your employees full potential, you need to focus on your leadership. Customer service leadership is, a skill that must be practised for a while to learn what leadership methods suits you the best, but if you start today, you will soon notice improvements in how your employees represent the store.

Define the purpose of the customer service

When you hire your staff they know their job function by what’s written in their job description, but do they know their purpose? The purpose is the overall reason why your sales people are there. It goes beyond just the job description. Something like “The purpose of customer service is to make the customers experience so positive that the customer will return.” When your employees understand why good customer service is essential, each employee will know what expectations that rest on their shoulders.

Repeat the value of the customer service

Continually reinforce the importance of good customer service. You cannot state the message of service excellence only once and expect that the behaviours will magically move in that direction. Repetition is the key to behaviour change. Start department meetings with a customer service theme and talk about customers’ experiences now and then; reward role model behaivor. This will begin to change the mindset and behaivor among the employees.

The role description for a cashier has changed significantly in recent years, you can read more about it in our blog post “Take a look at the cashier’s new role”. 

Walk the talk

Don´t assume that your employees will commit to excellence if they do not see their leadership’s commitment. Lead by example; if you expect your sales people to expedite the customers quickly, it is vital that you do the same. Your actions speak louder than anything you put in your sales policy manual. Even if you have a dozen tasks on your desk, do a session on the floor regularly. It creates a bond with your employees while you learn about their daily challenges.

Be a good mentor

Take every opportunity to become a customer service coach. Whenever you see chances for improvement for any employee, take the time to coach. If you do this routinely, you will see behavioural changes faster than you might think. Giving feedback immediately is the key. You can lay the groundwork by providing retail sales training and product training, but just as important is coaching your employees on the floor.

Involve your employees

Happy employees treat their customers better than those who are unhappy. Include your staff in the business, ask them for input, and share information about the monthly result. Increased employee involvement will make your employees more willing to take criticism and training in areas of weakness. Don´t forget to give praise and tell when they’ve done something good. A healthy atmosphere and the opportunity to influence the business automatically entail a better effort in how your customers will be treated.