Ever had a bad customer service experience?
Most of us have. Some people handle bad experiences by yelling and screaming at the staff member or customer service agent. This is not the best way to handle things, and causes agents to want to give some honest responses, although the good ones never would.
“Ninety-six percent of unhappy customers never complain, but 90 percent of those who are dissatisfied will not buy the product again.
Each unhappy customer will tell his or her story to at least nine other people.
That’s why it is always the best policy to take a proactive approach by immediately correcting any mistakes that you catch, rather than letting the little ones slide”. Mark Wardell has a great point, we will address the customer experience another time. Today we will address empowering your staff to resolve the situation, so customers don’t have issues in the first place.
There is a better way to approach business by ensuring your staff is armed to address customer service concerns that may arise. You need to provide staff with the opportunity to handle the situation smoothly and effectively, so it’s a win-win for your business and your customer. Creating repeat customers is far more cost effective than finding new ones.
We like to think of it as a three legged stool. A position or role should have Accountability, Authority, and Responsibility, each one represents a leg of the stool. If there is too much reliance on one leg, then things are off balance and may fall over. It’s the same as having too much dependence on a single individual in an organization.
Do your staff know that they are accountable for their actions? If they do or say something good or bad, they should own it, knowing they will be supported. Accountability is a personal guarantee and commitment to a proposed result. This strategy empowers employees to rise to the challenge while doing their job. When an outcome to a situation is important enough to us we all rise to the occasion. It should be that way with everything, but without accountability people can fall short.
You can’t force personal accountability, you must model it. It starts with management being accountable 100% of the time with themselves, their staff and partners. Be accountable, own the consequences, model accountability and recognize leaders on your team. This will foster a culture of accountability where employers and employees are moving the company in the right direction.
Leaders are accountable for their team members, but that does not mean they have to take responsibility for all actions. Leaders provide authority to their team members at various levels.
“Authority” is the empowerment to make decisions necessary to complete a task, and get results.
Every successful business has the need for wise, timely decisions to be made. The question is whose responsibility is it to make these decisions? Empowering your staff with the authority to make decisions, knowing that they may make the occasional mistake, is a step in the right direction.
You can hand over some of the reins of authority by ensuring staff have the most relevant information and knowledge. Some information is confidential but, ensuring they have the information needed to understand the impact of their decisions is vital. You will need to determine what information you will allow each team member access to, so they can make the proper decisions.
For example, in a retail situation, set a level or boundary such as the maximum item or transaction amount. The staff member will be able to handle a discount or return against policy. You give them the authority to create a “win-win” to appease an unhappy customer.
You can utilize what we call the “circle of authority”, a mechanism to give your employees independence at a pace that they can handle, while still providing the supervision that they need. Determine the levels of authority you wish to provide for various individuals within your organization, and establish the parameters under which this authority would be utilized.
The third leg of the stool, “Responsibility” is the assurance the work that needs to be done will be done according to plan. This is the process that needs to be completed. Staff must know what they are responsible for.
Requirements need to be clearly outlined so there is no confusion. This may change over time as tasks and responsibilities evolve, but the initial clarity stops everyone from doing their own thing, and identifies the path to take for consistency.
You can operate a successful business without all the work centered around you. Implementing a strategy with these three key factors – Accountability, Authority, and Responsibility into your management system will allow you to have confidence in your team, and the decisions they make.
