How can you inspire your team to deliver exceptional customer service?

There is no better way to provide exceptional customer service than being the customer on the other side and experiencing first hand. Making sure your team has the tools and metrics to succeed is part 1, part 2 is allowing them to experience the service as a customer either through mock calls, mock interviews or shadowing one can better see the reasoning and importance in providing top customer service.

In my experience the best organizations communicate well about their vision and goals on a routine basis. Connecting these to individual goals and objectives is key to driving outstanding performance throughout your organization.

Communication of the vision and goal is a tool rather to inform the team what we want to achieve and how we plan to do that. It might inspire the team to strive for excellence for different reasons: someone might be interested in opportunity to improve their technical skills, or just try something new. Others, might be actually using the product (or plan to do so) and thus their interest is improve their comfort. The main point here is that each person has their own motivator of doing something. Find it and then think of the ways you can use it to inspire!

Acknowledgment is something all people crave. Giving positive feedback is easier than constructive feedback, but both are required to develop a strong team. Start early and often to help your team develop a feedback culture. Regularly elicit feedback from your team about you to ensure there is a sense of equity. When feedback becomes a normal part of the team dynamic instead of something dreaded that happens at the end of the year for performance reviews, you are building a trust-based culture.

Feedback and recognition are crucial. As much as something may need to be addressed, equally as important is the recognition of something that is upheld or carried out. It encourages development not just for the organisation, but also personally for the employee and permits the employer to develop a team that is aligned with personal and professional synchronicity.

Quite often we think of feedback as something unpleasant. In fact, this is one of the most powerful tools to grow and become better as a specialist! Feedback not only helps you see your blind spots, but also understand how much you have achieved. Because very often in the flow of work we forget to reflect on what we have achieved and an outside perspective can help.

Leadership entails getting the most out of your staff. We usually lead by example, but the most important thing is to develop trust as someone your staff can rely on knowing you have your back. Observing with your eyes and listening with your ears are important as is verbal communication. When a team member struggles this is your opportunity to bring them up, understand the situation and compare notes on what is good and what needs improvement. Sometimes you have to get hands on and work side by side to make improvement. As a leader, you are trying to get good energy out of your team, the willingness for individuals to work as a team and gain clarity in completing tasks in a satisfactory cooperative manner.

Learning is a daily experience with everything. You never learn it all, and there is always something new to learn. You audit and re-evaluate constantly. The continuous feedback is priceless. How the individual feels is a reward in itself. The recognition helps to instill the confidence. The confidence you gain helps you act in such a relaxed state that you attract what you are looking to accomplish. Your work suddenly flows better and your communication doesn't need as much preparation. I do not wait for feedback forms or surveys. I provide feedback often and immediate face to face. I have found that is the best reward I can give as a leader. This makes employees trust that I am working for and looking out for their success.

Allowing team members to be in a safe space and communicating that they are allowed to make mistakes is crucial. We can't expect others to make the same decisions as ours.

I think out of this entire article the below tenets are probably the most important: #1 Communicate your vision and goals #3 Empower your team to make decisions The rest of these tenets support these two. As a leader, you will not be on every call and can't give your team a talk script for every possible scenario. Your team needs to know what your organization's collective vision and goals are and how they relate to customer service/client experience. Then empower them to execute it. Intent + Empowerment= Ownership How many times at different organizations have you heard, act like it's your business?

“Just say yes! And if someone has to say no let that be me.” That was a big motto of mine in retail leadership. You’ve got to support their decisions and have their back or you ruin any empowerment you have created. At times there are coaching moments and you will handle those with care and they will learn and continue to feel supported.

Linkage. Advocacy. Support. Empowerment all go hand in hand! I often tell my team " let me do the blocking and tackling and you do your job!"

Always remember that your team are people. Have honest, transparent conversations, regularly check in, and allow them the space to learn. Create leaders!

“Oferecer treinamento e suporte contínuos é crucial para capacitar sua equipe a atingir a excelência no atendimento ao cliente. Segundo o modelo de desenvolvimento de competências de Noel Burch, os funcionários passam por várias fases de aprendizado, e o suporte contínuo é essencial para sua progressão. Treinamentos devem abordar tanto habilidades técnicas quanto interpessoais. Estudos, como os publicados pela American Society for Training and Development, mostram que programas de treinamento bem-estruturados resultam em um aumento significativo da performance no atendimento ao cliente. Além disso, forneça recursos e suporte necessários para que a equipe aplique o aprendizado na prática.

Training is a very important thing to built very strong and successful team within the trainings i can explain my goals within the training i can communicate together with my team i can read them to touch the lake of providing a very good service.

training and support are vital. It's about fostering a culture that values customer satisfaction, encouraging open communication, setting clear service standards, leading by example, and recognizing and rewarding exceptional service. It's also crucial to empower your team, giving them autonomy to make decisions that benefit the customer while providing ongoing feedback and coaching.

Most people know intellectually how they "should" handle conflict but in the moment their conditioned response is what kicks in..we need to train desired conditioned responses just like athletes train for a sport.

Customer service is subjective. What is exceptional customer service to one may be mediocre to another. Training is crucial. Hire people with the right attitude and personality, then you can train them to do the job. The biggest mistake made is to expect your staff to provide outstanding customer service yet, you never show them what that looks like!

Customer service starts at home. If employees are treated like customers internally, and provided psychological safety, support, and compassion, they will certainly be more likely to exhibit thjs same care with both internal And external customers.

Your team is constantly observing your every move, taking note of every word you say, so the way you “walk the talk” towards your customers and stakeholders is a powerful way to communicate what you expect from them.

I have found leading by example one of the most powerful training tools. A manager cannot expect more from an employee than they are giving to their role. One of my personal standards to provide exceptional customer service is to treat every interaction, call, email, etc. the way you would want someone to treat someone you love. For example, with the aging population that may not be as familiar with technology (i.e. my parents), it’s crucial to remain patient and provide respect and understanding. In situations where a conversation might be escalating, it’s extremely important to listen, provide empathy, and any additional resources,if possible, than just responding with just a “no”.

This one is critical. As others have added, rolling up your sleeves and working alongside your team goes a long way. It allows them to witness first hand your ability to offer that great service. Hopefully it is contagious! The bigger the audience, the better. It's one thing to communicate to and empower your team, it's another for them to see you in action. I personally do not like role playing, but this is another excellent way to communicate this to your team. I have used this consistently throughout my profession. Have them play both roles opposite of you. Continually practice!!

Leading by example is the best way to transfer knowledge and best practice. Explaining why things done - by example - makes it stick better with team members. This also opens the door for corrections/finding better ways, especially if the circumstances change in the future (flexible to change)

As pessoas trabalham com mais engajamento, energia e bem-estar quando estão em um ambiente onde lhes promove isso. Isso impacta nos resultados de maneira super positiva.

One of my most inspirational leaders I’ve ever had the pleasure of working for once told me. You have to be like a light switch with your team, know when to turn it off, spend time bonding, having fun conversations that make them laugh, make them smile and make their day. But make sure your team knows when you flip that switch back on its go time again. I always try to create time to bond with my team, sometimes you can do that while on the go but sometimes you need to hit pause get a good laugh in and then get back to the grind.

Exceptional customer service begins with an exceptional corporate culture. If your employees feel a sense of belonging with the company that they are representing, then they will offer a level of customer service that aligns with their personal values. If, however, they feel detached from their employer, then they will provide the bare minimum.

Create an Empowering Work Environment: Give your team the autonomy to make decisions that benefit the customer. This can make them feel valued and increase their commitment to providing great service.

Inspiring a team to deliver exceptional customer service goes beyond the traditional notions of workplace dynamics. To truly elevate performance, it's essential to cultivate a culture that puts employees at the heart, encouraging them to explore uncharted territories, nurture their curiosity, take calculated risks, experiment without the fear of failure, and learn from those experiences. Such an environment not only contributes to the overall employee experience but also becomes a catalyst for delivering exceptional service that exceeds both company and customer expectations.

Leaders must see their team members as internal customers, and treat them with the same dignity, respect, and honor by which we want them to treat our customers. When it comes to conflict resolution, great leaders offer each of the members in conflict with an opportunity for catharsis, one on one with the leader, then bring the parties in conflict together and facilitate a discussion between the two of them. A conflict between team members is a business problem, so a leader’s meeting to mediate conflict is simple framed as a business meeting about a business problem. Once the parties come to a resolution, it’s best for the leader to write a memo to the two outlining the details of their agreement, and check in with both with a few weeks.

Treat your employees as whole human beings that you care deeply about. Put their well-being at the forefront of all that you do as an organization. Then they will take care of your customers in the same way.

I would say lead by example, foster a positive work environment, provide ongoing training, and recognize and reward outstanding customer service efforts.

To ignite your customer service team, spark motivation from the base up! Address basic needs (Maslow) with fair pay and security (Herzberg, Theory X). Then, unleash their potential with proper tools and autonomy (McGregor, Theory Y). Acknowledge effort with frequent appreciation and recognition (Herzberg), not just bonuses (90-10%). Manage workload to avoid burnout (20% rule) and set achievable goals to fuel progress. Invest in their growth with development opportunities and celebrate milestones .

These are all great. I always think of treat others the way you want to be treated. Leading by example is also key, especially one that is in a leadership role. Other things to consider are making sure your staff is up to date with training and simply asking them how they are doing. Being in a customer service driven role can be challenging and exhausting so making sure employees feel included and being heard are essential.