How can monitoring improve customer service

Listen for the overall tone and attitude of the group for the purpose of detecting whether the group generally sees itself as working with customers, or as pitted against them. If the tide of internal departmental talk begins to turn adversarial, remind them that the customers are not the enemy, but if the staff perceives them to be the attitude communicates itself to the customer, who ultimately comes away from the exchange unsatisfied.

Listen in on calls between service staff and customers, and read email exchanges and online chats. Gauge the overall positive or negative tone, and whether the customer was satisfied or not at the end of the exchange. Create a check-box customer service questionnaire and leave one at every cash register, table or other place of regular contact with the customer next to a locked collection bin to encourage candor. Include categories such as convenience of hours and location, product quality, availability and pricing, service speed and accuracy, personnel courtesy, helpfulness of problem resolution personnel and effectiveness of problem resolution process.

Devise a master chart for analyzing the responses that includes each of the categories, with quantification, represented on the questionnaire. Collect the questionnaires weekly and plot that week's responses all on the same chart by placing a check mark in the appropriate category for each customer check or comment.

Analyze the master chart for patterns in customer service indicated by clusters of check marks in a specific quantifier of any one category. Make sure to note the positive clusters, which indicate the areas which service staff is excelling, as well as the negative, which indicates problem areas where a change in the approach to customers is needed. Develop your surveys or comment cards in such a way that they're easy to complete and yet allow you to gather specific information you can use to improve service levels.

Vague or generic surveys can be time wasters that don't give you real information to work with. For example, if you run a small restaurant, don't ask customers to rate your food on a scale of 1 to 5.

Instead, ask them to comment on selection, quality, temperature, freshness, taste or other factors you can use to improve service. Invite current, past and even prospective customers to participate in focus groups to get real-time, face-to-face feedback about your service levels. Use a moderator to ask questions and make follow-up queries to provide you with an in-depth and well-rounded look at your service levels.

For example, a retail shop focus group might start out with questions about price, merchandise options and employee friendliness. Your employees are your main points of contact with your customers. Regularly ask employees to share what they hear as common complaints, as well as company kudos. For example, if the cashier in your convenience store says customers constantly complain about long waits or malfunctioning coffee machines, this gives you a heads-up that you are under-staffed and that your equipment is in need of repair.

If your auto repair shop receptionist tells you customers complain about rude technicians or dirty, oily floor mats, that tells you you need to talk about appropriate behaviors and discuss post-service vehicle cleanup. Once you have an idea about what customers like and dislike about your business, implement your findings into ongoing customer service training programs.

Provide written guidelines for service expectations in your business, conduct thorough orientation on customer service training and host regular seminars on best practices in the service arena.