Whether people can be trained on the finer customer service skills or whether it is just innate for someone to be "service savvy" has been an ongoing discussion for many years. The detailed answer, like so many things these days, is a little more complicated than this. In short, the answer is a resounding “yes” – people can be trained in the art of service delivery. However, the success of this training when service is measured as "creating an ultimate advantage" or "value" requires several conditions to exist.
Five Points to Consider
1. Replace Lip Service With A True Commitment To Service (In All Actions And Deeds)
Leading a service-focused culture is paramount to any company’s success. In all the years of working with various companies and organizations, large and small, we have never heard anyone say: “Well, we really don’t care about customer service!” Unfortunately, more often than not, when we dig deeper, little commitment has actually been done to delivering service and "service" is used more as a marketing line or to check a box.
2. Commitment To Service Has To Be A Way Of Life
To deliver outstanding customer service, it has to become part of the fabric and soul of the organization. An organization needs to embed its customer focus within all areas of the organization and have values, goals, and a vision which are customer-service centric and affect what its people do and how they do it. It is the quality of this commitment which will help the success attained from service training.
To ensure the commitment is real: Pronounce and announce as loud as you can to your team and your customers that you have a genuine commitment to improving your services. (This helps keep you accountable to your promises.)
Say it so loud and frequently, that you cannot take it back. And, most importantly, make sure it is backed up with everyone on the team, day in and day out.
3. Determine What Will Truly Bring Value To Your Customers Or Users – I.E. What Do They Need And Want?
If this step is missed, then you will not know what brings value to your customers/users and your service delivery will be a hit or miss. You may even be training on skills that are not truly designed to serve your customers or not important enough for them.
Define and decide who you want to be. But recognize the fact that service culture development and enhancement is a journey and not an event.
4. Define What Customer Service In Your Business Aviation Organization Should Look Like
Every business or organization is different. The idea of one size fits all in customer service does not work. Good service is not just smiling and being nice. Service needs to be well thought out and personalized, specifically to the organization or the business.
Consider what makes your service unique and what you have or can do that your customers cannot live without.
Items 3 and 4 define your value proposition for your customers.
5. Identify Key Components of the Customer Service Plan
The components of the customer service place have to match your value proposition. Ask the question, “What specific areas/tasks of our organization have the most impact on the value proposition for our customers or users?” Improving everything all at once is unrealistic. It ends up being overwhelming and then underwhelming. Pick basic manageable standards to implement within a reasonable timeline.
Building the Service Culture
Once the above five steps are identified and in place, your organization can begin the wonderful and ever-challenging journey of reaching new heights in delivering exceptional customer experiences.
One of the biggest challenges about customer service is communicating the customer service vision to the team. Here training and professional development for your team play a major role and project an intentional focus on improving service. However, to truly develop a permanent customer service culture shift in an organization, learning needs to be continuous.
Leadership must be part of the training/learning plan. When attempting to create a culture shift, leading by example is an understatement. Leaders must be participating and facilitating the change. Only at this level will we see tangible change and shift in service behavior.
Shifting to a customer service culture and maintaining this culture and associated behaviors is an ongoing project which requires patience and absolute dedication. This can be tough especially when budgets and events impact the plan from time to time, but the service culture enhancement effort should always stay alive and well. In conclusion, specific customer service skills can be trained, but only in a culture where the focus is service.
