The Shearin Group Leadership Training Tips for Maximizing your Client Service

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The Shearin Group Leadership Training Tips

• Eric P. Bloom 6 tips on maximizing your staffs
  client service

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Eric P. Bloom 6 tips on maximizing your staffs
client service
As a manager, never forget the importance of
teaching and emphasizing the importance of client
service to your staff.   I was in Washington,
D.C., for the second time in three weeks to
provide training to a client. On my first trip to
Washington, I was able to stay at a Marriot
Fairfield Inn right next door to my clients
office. For the second trip, however, I was
forced to stay at a hotel about three miles away
because there was a convention in town and my
hotel of choice was filled.
On the morning of the last day of my second trip,
I returned to the Fairfield Inn with luggage in
hand. The person behind the registration desk
recognized me from my prior stay at the hotel and
asked me if I wanted to check it. I told her that
not being able to secure a reservation at her
hotel because of a local conference, I had stayed
a few miles away at a different hotel. I went on
to say that I had come to the hotel that morning
to ask if they would please check my suitcase for
a few hours so I would not have to bring it to my
clients meeting. Being a frequent Marriot
client, she happily agreed to provide me
assistance and even offered me cup of coffee as I
was leaving the hotel. This may seem like a
trivial, easy and no cost way to help a customer.
Well, it is, but for the customer, it was of
great value.
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The Shearin Group Leadership Training Tips

• The moral of this story, for managers of all
  types and professions, is to remember the
  importance of fostering a culture of
  customer/client service within your team. Small
  acts of kindness, common courtesy, and
  remembering to follow up on client requests are
  of little or no cost. They also can pay great
  dividends in the way of client/customer
  satisfaction, repeat sales, follow-on contracts,
  and/or top rated performance reviews for you and
  your team.
• As a manager, there are a number of things you
  can do to help instill a can-do client service
  attitude within your staff
• Hire people who by their nature are friendly,
  outgoing, and like to please others.
• Be sure that your team members correctly
  understand their level of authority regarding
  customer-related interactions. This allows your
  team to comfortably go the extra mile to help
  customers without the fear that they have
  overstepped their authority.
• Provide training to assure everyone in your team
  has the technical ability to perform needed
  tasks. This will allow them to properly complete
  the requested assignments.
• Provide training in cultural awareness. This
  protects your team from accidentally insulting
  customers of different cultures and/or
  embarrassing themselves in front of others.

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The Shearin Group Leadership Training Tips

• 5. Provide training in active listening,
  conflict resolution and other interpersonal
  communication skills. These types of skills can
  dramatically enhance customer experience.
• Treat your team with respect, fairness, and
  professionalism. If your team feels they are
  treated well, human nature is such that they will
  naturally be better to the customers they serve.
• In closing, I dont know what type of hiring,
  training, or employee treatment is being done at
  the Marriot Fairfield Inn. What I do know is
  that, from a customers perspective, whatever
  they are doing, they are it doing right.
•  
• The primary advice and takeaways from todays
  column is to know that
• - It is important to foster a culture of
  customer/client service within your team.
• - Small acts of kindness, common courtesy, and
  remembering to follow up on client requests are
  of little or no cost.
• - Great customer service pays big dividends in
  the way of client/customer satisfaction, repeat
  sales, follow-on contracts, and/or top rated
  performance reviews for you and your team.