Building the best customer service culture for your business

Could your customer service culture use a boost? Monique Richardson is the author of They Serve Like We Lead and a service expert who has spent decades helping businesses big and small deliver exemplary customer service.

On this episode, Monique reveals the alarming increase in customer abuse and aggression since COVID and shares the importance of having clearly defined policies to address it. She also discusses how organisations can improve their service levels and the practical application of servant leadership to drive success. We touch on the role of service leaders in organisations, the importance of making customer service a part of the culture, and how to recognise and motivate team members to deliver excellent customer service.

Tune in to get valuable insights on how to improve your organisation's customer service and leadership.

Topics covered in this podcast episode:

1: Handling customer aggression

- 400% increase in customer abuse/aggression during and since COVID.

- Clearly defined unacceptable customer conduct policy should be in place and communicated to customers and team members.

- Safety and wellbeing of team members should be the top priority, and they should never be left wondering what to do

- Induction training in an organisation should include an element of customer service.

2: Improving service levels in organisations

- Mediocre service needs to be examined to understand why it is happening.

- Poor service can be caused by factors such as lack of technology, training, standards or behaviours.

- Understanding the reasons for low service levels and identifying solutions to elevate the service experience.

- The servant leadership philosophy - serving first and leading second.

- Organisations that have adopted servant leadership have shown profitability and business success.

- The practical application of servant leadership can have positive impacts on people, organisations, culture and customer experience.

3: Characteristics of successful service leaders

- The importance of self-awareness and the ability to identify strengths and weaknesses.

- Service leadership involves both mindset and skills such as coaching, recognising good work, and providing feedback.

- Leading by example is a crucial aspect of their leadership style and they have clear standards and expectations for their team.

- Great service leaders are highly visible and provide coaching, feedback, recognition, and reinforcement to their team.

- To provide the best customer experience, leaders should provide training and development opportunities, such as interpersonal skills or managing difficult customer behaviour.

4: Integrating customer service into organisational culture

- Customer service should be integrated into daily team meetings and catch-ups, rather than being a one-off topic.

- A culture of taking care of customers and employees is key to success.

- The commitment to excellence and a focus on customers and employees must be unrelenting every single day to achieve desired outcomes.

- The importance of collecting compliments and sharing positive feedback with the team to recognise good work and boost motivation.

- Encouraging teams to share their own ideas on how to improve the customer experience, especially those on the front line who interact directly with customers.

Episode notes

• [02:09] High tech, high touch plus empathy – the customer service holy grail.
• [04:17] Why leadership's impact on customer experience is crucial.
• [07:12] Practical roadmap for service leaders' and team improvement.
• [11:14] Customer service audit tips - analysing problems and pain points.
• [14:29] Complaint handling tips to improve your team’s confidence.
• [16:16] Increasing customer aggression since pandemic – keeping staff safe.
• [22:05] Improving customer service - capture complaints, share compliments.
• [23:53] The power of servant leadership: serving first, leading second.
• [26:34] Building a customer-first culture into day-to-day business.

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