Customer service can be the thing that makes or breaks your small business. It’s what will either keep your customers coming back for more or it will be what drives them to your competitors. Corporations and large businesses have entire training programs to teach their employees good customer service practices and entire departments dedicated to the cause. Although you may not have tons of money to invest, customer service still needs to be a top priority to ensure you are keeping customers happy. Use our tips to train employees on how they can provide good customer service without a huge investment. 

Model Customer Service at All Times

Small business owners are the best model for customer service. Your employees will emulate what they see from you in their dealings with customers so set a solid precedent for how you want customers treated. Approach customer complaints calmly and with a positive attitude. Never become angry or raise your voice and your employees will adopt similar behaviors. 

It’s a good idea to set clear standards. Inform your employees what you want from them during onboarding and let them know that you expect positive interactions with customers. Develop a clear policy surrounding that includes details such as response time, tone of communication, and approach for handling complaints. 

Provide Training 

Give employees direct training on how you want customer service handled. Focus on soft skills such as communication, empathy, practiced responses, and patience. Role play different scenarios that you anticipate could arise at your business. 

Make sure you provide coaching to help employees improve. You can easily accomplish this without bringing in outside help. Run through role-playing exercises where you pretend to be an angry customer and your employee must de-escalate appropriately and find a resolution to the problem. Be clear when they should escalate to management and what they can offer for resolution. 

Encourage Creative Solutions

Ask employees to come up with creative ways to respond to customers. This could include small gestures like thank-you notes or discounts. When employees are empowered to think outside the box, they’re more likely to create memorable customer experiences.

Teach Active Listening

Active listening is a technique that helps others feel heard and understood, but it isn’t always easy. Avoid aggression and anger and seek to empathize. Customers will feel their perspective is more valued if they are spoken to calmly.

Finding ways to empathize with customers can also be hugely helpful. Help employees understand how to defuse tension and build rapport during their interactions with customers. Phrases like “I understand how frustrating this must be” can help customers feel heard and supported.

Here are some active listening strategies you can teach employees.

• Make eye contact and look directly at the speaker to show you’re paying attention.
• Avoid distractions and physical fidgeting.
• Use speech that doesn’t indicate blame or judgement.
• Ask open-ended questions to show you value their perspective.
• Encourage employees to listen to customer concerns without interruption.
• Respond with appropriate word choice and level of voice. 

Provide Communication Skills Training

Yes, your words matter and how you frame them to customers can go a long way toward problem resolution. Train your employees to use positive, solution-oriented language. For example, instead of saying “I don’t know,” employees can say, “Let me find out for you.” 

Body language also plays a key role in how customers perceive you. Physical agitation and fidgeting displays nervousness while calmly standing with your arms at your sides is a more friendly and engaging posture. 

Use Technology to Your Advantage

You can use technology in a cost-efficient way to help improve your customer service. For instance, you can update your website to include more information about your business to help answer customer questions before they ever contact you. An FAQ page is helpful to address any initial questions. 

You should also regularly be checking customer reviews on Google and your website. Reach out directly to any customers with complaints. Make sure to reply to anyone who reaches out quickly and thoroughly. If someone has negative feedback, you can offer them an incentive to correct any missteps. For instance, you might consider reaching out via email to a customer who provides a negative Google Review and offer a coupon for returning or offer to fix the issue for free. 

You can also automate certain tasks at no cost, such as setting up automatic replies on social media or email to let customers know you’ll be reaching out as soon as possible. 

Celebrate Excellent Service

If you want to see excellent service, you need to show that it’s valued. Find ways to incentivize and celebrate excellent customer service. Reward employees when they go above and beyond in a way that shows recognition but doesn’t break the bank. Consider small rewards such as gift cards or designations of “Employee of the Month” to show appreciation. 

You can also share good customer service on social media. This helps to recognize employees and build greater brand awareness and is free to your business.

Set Up a Mentorship Program

Mentorship programs are great opportunities for training because they utilize experienced employees to help demonstrate what good customer service looks like to junior employees and encourages newer staff to take the initiative without feeling intimidated in front of management. This is also a good opportunity to role play and provide feedback so that newer employees can learn in a safe environment. 

Keep Employees in the Loop on Customer Service 

Employees need to know when they’re being successful and when they’re lacking at customer service. Make sure to provide regular feedback to your employees, keeping them up to date on how the business is doing. Share constructive feedback rather than criticisms. Identify actionable ways some customer service experiences could be improved. You might say, “Next time a customer is unhappy with a product, I encourage you to offer a replacement or alternative.”

At the end of the day, consistency is key when it comes to customer service training. With a strong foundation of listening, empathy, and empowerment, your team can create memorable customer service experiences.