How to give good customer service

For those who work in retail, hospitality or other customer facing roles, you’ll understand the importance of giving good customer service. Not only is this important for the company you work for but it is also important for you as an employee. Managers recognise employees who can provide exceptional customer service and may include this in any future job reference. 

Providing good customer service is fairly easy and with practice can become something you are naturally good at. 

• Smile. Customers will notice if you appear to be grumpy, uninterested or bored and may feel that they are bothering you. Smiling shows that you are happy to be there serving them. 
• Be polite, friendly and professional when interacting with customers even if they are not being very pleasant towards you. 
• Engage in conversation (but don’t allow yourself to become too distracted).
• Be confident in your job. If you are comfortable and experienced in your role this will be evident to customers. They may trust you less if you appear to be uncomfortable or unsure of what you are doing. 
• Know what you are talking about. Have a strong knowledge of the product/service you are offering and be confident talking about this. Customers may ask questions and will expect an answer. Also, selling a product is easier if you can offer useful information about it. As you become more experienced in your role, the more knowledgeable you will become about the product or service. 

Dealing with a customer complaint or unhappy customer 

There will likely be times when you come across an unhappy customer. It can be challenging sometimes when having to deal with a customer complaint especially if it is not your fault or if the customer is being unpleasant towards you. Whilst every organisation will have their own policies and procedures towards handling a customer complaint, here a few tips: 

• Remain calm, polite and professional at all times. Whatever you do, do not be tempted to disagree with or argue with the customer. They will simply include you in their complaint. 
• Listen to the customer. Allow them to explain the problem to you and why they are not happy. 
• Take ownership of the problem. Even if it is not your personal fault (and don’t say this to the customer), the customer is expecting you to resolve the issue for them. Assure them that you will look into what has happened and find out what has gone wrong. 
• Offer an explanation. If something has gone wrong find out why and explain this to the customer. If the problem is with a store policy or procedure try to explain the policy to the customer and why it is in place. 
• If the issue is completely outside of your control or you are not empowered to offer anything to the customer, refer them to someone who can i.e a manager or head office. Do not simply send the customer away telling them “I can’t help you”. Even if you cannot personally do anything, by helping them speak to someone who can they will see that you are not simply dismissing them. 
• Don’t worry if they ask for a manager or for the head office contact details. Unless you have personally been rude to them, they are not complaining about you. Instead, they are looking for someone more senior who is likely to have more power to deal with their complaint. 

If a customer offers positive feedback 

• If they say thank you or give nice feedback in person be sure to say thank you to the customer and let them know you appreciate their kind words. 
• Reflect on what it was that made the customer happy with the service. Think about what went well and how you can offer this level of service again to other customers.