The Key to Great Customer Service - Empowering your Staff:

When we hire an employee we have already empowered them to represent the company whether we have properly trained them in the nuances of customer service or not. Training is paramount whether you are a large, medium, or small business. There is a plethora of great training options, aids, and methods to fit your particular budget and situation.

Now, if we delegate limited power or authority to them without training and without clearly setting standards designed to handle the greater percentage of customer service challenges we have done far less than half the job of empowering them. Our training goals should always keep Maslow in mind and we should never release the 'Unconscious Incompetent' or the 'Conscious Incompetent' upon unsuspecting customers, even if we tag new employees with a "Trainee" badge.

Hopefully you hire the best you can afford and someone with experience or natural attributes. We are also responsible to introduce them to new qualities and inner personal abilities or sensitivities along with a firm understanding of the basic laws of customer behavior and service which is listed below.

The 10 Basic Laws of Customer Behavior & Service:

1. Everything good begins with a single thought of possibility. Almost everything bad
begins with no thought at all. Think and confirm before you attempt to resolve!

2. All customer impressions and decisions are first emotional then they back it up with logic. So resolving unfulfilled expectations can be an emotional challenge as well as a logical one. Don't ignore one over the other for they are inseparably connected. Listen and gently probe until common ground is found and a workable solution is revealed.

3. Customers are never at emotional rest. There are always iceberg type' forces acting upon them both negative and positive from which they attempt to find their balance. You may only be seeing the tip of that iceberg so do not be short sighted or try to compartmentalize the problem by what you initially see alone.

4. Customer imbalance comes when expectations are frustrated and this is offensive to them. If you are very lucky they will bring it to your attention. This is actually an opportunity or a gift. Be grateful.

5. A customer's reactions are directly proportional to the speed and mass of the offensive force they feel is being applied against their standards or balance. Do not quote or attempt to educate a dissatisfied

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