If you are running a business or in charge of training employees, you should try to put yourself in the customers’ shoes. This should be simple enough since you have spent much of your own life acting as a consumer.
Imagine you walk into a business and enquire about a certain product, perhaps a new coat. The employee at the store, while chewing gum and looking generally disinterested, shows you a few options with a disinterested air. You ask if the coat is waterproof, and the employee says it is, but they don’t seem particularly confident in their answer. You buy the coat, take it home, and wear it while walking your dog that night. The sudden downpour gives the coat its first big test. Unsurprisingly, you arrive back home drenched to the bone.
When you call the store the next day, the employee who answers is dismissive of your concerns. They say there’s nothing they can do, insisting the store has a “no returns” policy. After they abruptly hang up, you’re left with a crummy coat and a bitter taste in your mouth. You have become the victim of bad customer service and, needless to say, you’ll never be patronizing that business again.
How can you, as a manager, make sure no customer at your business has a similar experience? The best way is by adequately training your employees and giving them the materials, they need to succeed. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you seek to create a competent team of workers.
Train Employees to Be Polite on The Phone
If your employees are going to be interacting with clients on the phone, then they must understand proper etiquette. Customers will expect employees to be friendly, warm, and professional. That is why you should train your workers in the norms of professional phone conversations. Make sure they always ask the customer’s name and then address the person by name for the rest of the conversation. This helps build trust and a genuine connection.
Teach Professional Writing Techniques
Most employees interact with customers through email or other written forms. To make sure they can handle this task, you should run simple workshops to teach them the writing basics. Some business writing fundamentals include proper salutations, concise sentences, and a formal-yet-friendly tone. Your workers should emerge from these sessions capable of writing emails that are professional, not wordy.
Provide Materials So Employees Can Learn on Their Own
No manager has the time in their calendar to teach their employees everything they need to know every moment of every day. If your employees are too dependent on you, what are you paying them for? That is why you should make use of pre-made educational materials. There are all sorts of books, printouts, and pamphlets that your workers can use to improve their competency. By handing these materials out at meetings and asking your workers to look them over, you are promoting a culture of self-improvement in your workplace.
Institute A Professional Training Program
If you really want to whip your employees into shape and improve the general level of competency around your business, then you should consider investing in a professional training program. Outside teachers from a professional program have the experience and know-how to teach your employees more than you ever could. They have taught the same course countless times, so they know exactly how to get their information across. You can pick a learning management system (sometimes called an LMS platform). Once your employees have gone through such a program, you will notice immediate improvements in their performance.
As a manager, you can never accept substandard work from your employees. It is your job to give them the tools and training to interact properly with customers. Just by taking the steps outlined above, you can improve employee competency, minimize errors, and make your business more profitable than ever before.
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