8 Ways to Boost Customer Service Performance and Employee Morale

Customer service is one of the primary factors influencing your business’s prospects, especially if you've had difficulty attracting new customers and/or holding on to the ones you have. Rude, lazy, or slow customer service agents may push away even the most loyal consumers, costing your business revenue, reputation, and market share. On the other side, excellent customer service improves the overall customer experience. Let’s explore the most effective ways to improve your customer service strategies.

Every Customer is a VIP: Quality Customer Service is Critical to Business Success

Companies are sometimes guilty of overlooking the importance of superior customer service standards, choosing instead to overprioritize more metric-friendly business operations. However, “the fundamentals” are fundamental: They are indispensable. After all, your customer service workers are your company’s front-line: They create customers’ initial impressions of your company and contribute to their overall experience.

Customer service is essential to a business’s long-term prospects and, in some cases, maybe the deciding factor determining whether the company grows or declines. Positive customer experiences encourage repeat visits and brand loyalty. In contrast, unsatisfactory and/or unpleasant customer service interactions will likely lead the customer to take their business elsewhere—specifically, to one of your direct competitors.

From a practical perspective, providing exceptional customer service builds brand equity, allowing businesses to gradually increase prices without the risk of alienating their customer base. Loyal customers will continue to frequent your business as they assign value to your products and services and are likely to accept higher costs due to believing it’s worth the additional expense.

More Than Just Employees: Why You Should Invest in Your Customer Service Team’s Morale

Employee morale is—or should be—the cornerstone of any business. Note that employee morale is more than simply showing up to work on time and displaying a positive attitude. It’s more the sum of the employee’s belief in their employer and their values, how appreciated they feel by management and their peers, and how motivated they are to perform at a high level.

Your company benefits from high team member morale as much as your employees do: Employees who are happy and engaged in their work tend to be more productive, are more likely to take the initiative, work harder, and strive for excellence in their tasks. High employee morale can also improve retention rates: Employees who feel positive about their jobs and employers are less likely to leave for other opportunities. Happy and engaged employees are more likely to provide excellent customer service. As discussed above, satisfied customers are more likely to return to a business and recommend it to others.

It’s clear that employee morale is a critically important aspect of organizational culture and can significantly impact the productivity, efficiency, and success of a business. So how do you go about improving employee morale? Solicit feedback from your workers and respond to their concerns. Offer enticing incentives and public recognition for high performers and, above all, celebrate individual and team success with trophies and awards

8 Strategies for Improving Customer Service Standards

So now we arrive at the heart of the matter: What can your company do to improve customer service? We’ve compiled 8 of the most effective customer service strategies:

1. Hire the Right People: As with anything else in business, putting the right person in the right role is paramount. Recruit and retain customer-centric employees naturally: For example, individuals with a passion for people, who are instinctively empathetic, and who possess excellent communication skills.

2. Train Your Team: Hiring the right workers isn’t sufficient—you must also prepare them for their positions. Provide comprehensive customer service training to your team to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to meet customer needs. Training shouldn’t be a terminal step in the onboarding process, instead, include regular, ongoing training seminars to ensure your team is always up to date with your company’s latest customer service goals.

3. Encourage Proactive Communication: Encourage your team to anticipate customer needs and act accordingly, such as by providing updates on the status of their orders or addressing potential issues before they become problems.

4. Set Clear Expectations: Ambiguity about your business services or your customer service policies may create easily avoidable issues. Instead, be clear about what your customers can expect from your products or services, including delivery times, pricing, and quality standards. Additionally, be equally upfront about your return and refund policies, warranty terms etc.

5. Solicit Feedback: Customers always appreciate feeling listened to and may be able to give you valuable insight into what you’re doing well—or not so well. Ask them for feedback and use it to improve your customer service processes and the overall customer experience.

6. Offer Multiple Channels of Communication: The days of walk-ins and telephone calls aren’t past, but the digital age has permanently altered how consumers interact with service providers. Offer a variety of communication channels, such as phone, email, chat, and social media, to ensure that customers can reach you in the most convenient way.

7. Empower Your Team: Unfortunately, there are times when dedicated customer service agents aren’t able to resolve issues simply because they aren’t allowed to. Cut the red tape and banish bureaucracy: Empower your team to make decisions and take actions that will benefit the customer, such as providing refunds or waiving fees without waiting for management’s approval.

8. Continuously Improve: When is complacency ever advantageous? Instead of standing pat, continuously evaluate your customer service processes and improve based on customer feedback, technology breakthroughs, and industry best practices.

Implementing strategies to boost customer service performance and employee morale can profoundly impact a business's success and overall satisfaction. Organizations can cultivate a culture of exceptional customer service and motivated employees by creating a positive work environment and providing the necessary tools and training. The eight ways discussed form a comprehensive framework for improving customer service and employee morale. By investing in your employees and creating a customer-centric culture, organizations can differentiate themselves from competitors and build long-lasting customer relationships.

Mike Szczesny is the owner and vice president of EDCO Awards & Specialties, a dedicated supplier of employee recognition products, branded merchandise, and athletic awards. Szczesny takes pride in EDCO's ability to help companies go the extra mile in expressing gratitude and appreciation to their employees. He resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.