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CUSTOMER SERVICE IN A TROUBLED ECONOMY

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In a tough economy, many businesses are forced to cut customer service staff as a way of managing expenses. Oftentimes, the criteria for these staff cuts amounts to "Last In, First Out;" that is, the most recent hires are the first ones to be let go. On the surface, that may seem like a people-oriented policy, aimed at showing loyalty to longer-term employees. But from your customer's perspective, does an arbitrary decision like that always make good business sense? In this economy, you need to keep your most capable and enthusiastic personnel, regardless of the length of their tenure.

When staff is cut, you still have the same amount of work, but fewer people to do it. This puts more of a burden on the remaining staff, so you want to make sure the remaining staff is the cream of the crop, people who can, and will, wear several different organizational hats.

The team you want is one that is totally focused on customers, external and internal. These people know that there are duties beyond the job description that often separate the good businesses from the great ones. These are not just attributes for your Customer Service representatives or your sales force, but for your engineers and financial people, administrative staff and senior executives. Businesses can do more with limited staff, if that entire staff is totally committed to bringing the customer a positive experience.

Make it clear that, in addition to competency in the requisite skills for each job, you want to see identifiable action pertaining to, or supporting, a positive customer experience. This is not measured so much by number of tasks completed, but by number of customers and fellow employees assisted. Your goal is to assemble a team of people who want to help. These will be the people you keep when layoffs occur.

Keep in mind that these employees may not always be the most qualified or most experienced or most talented. They will, however, be the most passionate about what they do. Each person that you employ that is passionate about his/her work, and his/her company, is worth their weight in gold in your business. Their every action is positive PR for your company!

In this economy, staff reduction decisions should be based on their impact on the customer. Too often, these decisions are made based on investors, and not customers. But remember, it is the customers who influence the investors, not the other way around. How valuable and identifiable are your team's contributions to providing a positive customer experience? They all should be either serving the customer, or serving someone who is.

By Charles E. Dennis