Imagine a customer calls your business with a question. Your employee answers promptly, speaks pleasantly, and seems genuinely interested in helping. They don’t know the answer right away, but that’s okay. They promise to look into it and call the customer back.
The customer hangs up feeling pretty good about the interaction.
Then the afternoon passes. No call. The next day comes and goes. Still nothing. Eventually, the customer calls again, reaches someone new, and starts the whole conversation over from the beginning.
Despite how positive the initial interaction was, you can’t exactly call this good customer service. Despite the fact that the employee was friendly and professional, the promised follow-up never happened and the customer ends up feeling like they’re wasting their time.
Courtesy Is a Start, but Helpfulness Keeps the Relationship Moving
There’s good reason to train employees to greet customers promptly, smile, make eye contact, and communicate warmly. These seemingly small behaviors can make someone feel welcome and set the tone for everything that follows.
Of course, customers don’t contact your business just to feel good. They usually contact your business because they need information, guidance, or a solution. Maybe they’re trying to decide between two products. Maybe they need an estimate. Maybe something they purchased isn’t working properly. Maybe they’re simply trying to find out whether you offer a particular service.
This is where the difference between pleasant service and genuinely helpful service becomes clear.
Does your employee ask questions to understand what the customer needs? Can they explain the available options? Do they make useful recommendations? If they don’t know the answer, do they know where to find it? And, critically, do they actually take the time to find that answer?
These are the kinds of questions we encourage businesses to incorporate into their mystery shopping programs. Because courtesy is worth measuring, but it should be part of a broader evaluation. Give your mystery shoppers realistic situations that require employees to listen, think, and help.
There’s always room to improve in the areas that matter most to the customer.
“I’ll Take Care of It” Is a Promise
Some customer interactions can’t be resolved immediately. That’s normal. Perhaps your salesperson needs to prepare a quote. An employee has to check inventory and call back. A manager needs to approve something. Someone promises to email additional information.
The moment your employee says, “I’ll get back to you,” however, you’ve created an expectation. When nobody follows through, however, the customer has to remember whom they spoke with, keep track of how long they’ve been waiting, and contact your business again for an update.
In other words, you’ve given the customer homework.
They may also have to explain the entire situation again because the second employee has no idea what happened during the first conversation.
Good service doesn’t require every employee to solve every problem personally. Sometimes the right answer really is, “Let me find someone who can help.” The important thing is that someone takes responsibility for what happens next. Your customer shouldn’t have to ask twice just to make sure you remembered them.
Don’t Stop Measuring When the Customer Walks Away
There’s another lesson here for the way you measure customer service.
A mystery shopping survey frequently focuses on what happens during the interaction. Was the customer greeted? Did the salesperson ask open-ended questions? Was the employee knowledgeable? Were additional products or services suggested?
Those questions matter a lot. Even so, the most revealing question may come a few days later: Did anyone ever follow up?
That’s why we often recommend that clients include a follow-up section in their mystery shopping surveys when the scenario calls for it. If a salesperson promises to call with additional information, the shopper can wait and report whether that call arrives. If the employee says they’ll email a quote, you can measure whether it arrives and how long it takes. If a prospective customer provides contact information and expresses genuine interest, you can find out whether anyone contacts them again.
That last scenario can be particularly revealing. Your initial mystery shop might show a friendly salesperson who makes a terrific first impression. Despite this, the follow-up portion may reveal that a promising sales lead quietly disappeared into a notebook, inbox, or CRM and was never contacted again.
That’s more than a customer service issue. It’s lost business.
A well-designed mystery shopping program gives you the opportunity to see the experience from beginning to end. Once you know where the handoff or follow-through is breaking down, you can address the underlying problem through clearer expectations, better processes, and leadership training.
Would Your Customer Have to Call Again?
Your employees should be warm, courteous, and personable. But when a customer needs help, the experience often hinges on what your employees do after.
At The Brandt Group, we’ve spent more than 30 years helping businesses understand what their customers actually experience. Our mystery shopping programs can evaluate the entire interaction, including the follow-up that happens after the shopper walks out the door or hangs up the phone. Our leadership training can then help you turn what you learn into better habits throughout your organization.
We’re also A+ rated with the Better Business Bureau, and we’d be happy to help you build a customer experience that strengthens loyalty, improves employee performance, and contributes to a healthier bottom line.
Recent Comments