I have worked many jobs over the years, many of them have been customer service based. From the time I was 15 years old, I began learning the fundamentals of having GREAT customer service. Having worked a lot of jobs and gained a lot of knowledge on this subject over my career so far, I will now be sharing the top 6 ways to provide EXCELLENT customer service in ANY business.
#1. Start Now!
I started babysitting at the young age of 15. This being before the digital world, almost all advertising was done via “word of mouth”. How you presented yourself, connected with others (especially the kids), and how parents (the customer) viewed your brand was CRUCIAL to how well you would do as a trusted babysitter. I read a lot of Babysitter’s Club books when I was young, so in my mind, I was a PRO at advertising these skills. Ultimately I did quite well in the babysitting world. I never had a hard time finding gigs, because I really enjoyed babysitting. Also, parents could trust that I would provide quality care for their children and they would have a great time hanging out with me. I started cultivating the art of customer service from a young age, and my first tip on this subject is START EARLY!
2. Remember Service With a Smile!
After a couple of years of babysitting, I was hired on as a Sandwich Artist for Subway. At the time, this was the most appealing fast food joint I could think of AND they were willing to hire me at a young age. This was my first corporate introduction to quality customer service. We had just introduced the concept of TIPS in our store, and those of us that worked during the peak hours learned quickly as to what customers responded well too. Examples of this would be remembering someone’s name, knowing what a “regular’s” typical order will be, or even just being mindful of your customer’s WAY TOO SHORT of a lunch break so you can get them on their way as quickly and friendly as possible.
I learned the importance of appearance and keeping the store clean. I saw the value in always addressing a customer’s concern, no matter how small, and how thanking the customer for their business are both ways to provide excellent customer service. My goal every day was to serve a quality product, and deliver quality service WITH A SMILE!! I got the pleasure of bringing joy to other people’s lives just by being kind while serving.
3. Be Knowledgeable!
After working at Subway for a while, I was offered a position at a store called Sally’s Beauty Supplies. This opened up a whole new world for me. I had always been into magazines, hair trends, make-up products, nail art, and really just anything beauty related so I looked at this as a great learning opportunity. This customer market was way different than that of a fast-food joint. These customers were mothers, wives, business owners, hairdressers, make-up artists, beauty school students, barbers, designers, and so many other amazing talents. Customer service in this environment meant being EXTREMELY knowledgeable about your products. It also meant knowing exactly how the processes of coloring hair, designing nails, or even stocking a hair salon would make or break your career in sales. I learned here how to anticipate my customer’s needs and make meaningful suggestions that would make your customer’s job, and ultimately their lives, easier.
4. Anticipate Your Customers Needs!
After Sally’s, I had worked many oddball jobs which at the time I thought just to “pay the bills”. I am now learning that these jobs all provided me with valuable tools I would use throughout my business career. I worked in sales for a company called Cutco. This was of deep value because this company’s advertising was dependent solely on word of mouth. The only way their product became known, is by people going door to door demonstrating and selling the product, then those customer’s telling the people they know about how great the products were. Having a product whose quality speaks for itself was a huge lesson in marketing. I watched how the salespeople thrived by being able to connect with their customers, understand their needs in the kitchen, and deliver that amazing product (which came with a lifetime guarantee) to meet that need with excellence. Quality customer service matched with a quality product made it seem as though the products sold themselves.
5. Sell Yourself!
A new opportunity came along with a company called Crossmark as a Retail Merchandiser. This allowed me to serve customers in a new light. My customers in this new environment were other
One of my roles in this company was to set up advertising displays around the holidays to make certain products stand out from the rest. Some ways they would do this were by using bright colors, big lettering, and catchy slogans. Companies would often run promotions and sales then hire me to go to some of the locations that will participate in the promotions, to provide merchandising to those locations. This may not have been my “dream job”, but it did allow me to create my own schedule, choose my hours, and soak invaluable knowledge that would one day help me in running my own company.
6. Make Their Lives Easier
The last job that I will share with you all came later in my life. I had just become a first-time mom to the most precious little boy. I was blessed to be a stay at home mom for the first three years of his life. Those years were both the most beautiful, and the hardest days of my life. I was not able to let my creative juices flow, I was getting no social interaction, mixed with no sleep. I knew it may be time to get back to work/life balance.
When it was time to go back to work, I (by the grace of God) stumbled across an opportunity to temp for a health insurance company that I had wanted to work for previously in life called Premera Blue Cross. I started with a contracting position that came along with an intense training process. After I finished training, I decided to dive in headfirst in hopes of getting a permanent position with the company. The level of customer service this company breeds into its employees was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. There was a COMMITMENT to quality service in every single department/position that was available. This concept of putting the customer at the center of everything that we did reflect on the entire community.
It became an amazing learning opportunity being able to work at this company. How can I make the lives of our customers better? How can I make things simple to understand and make processes as easy as possible? These are things I will take with me through any job title. I will now always try to maintain that culture of service. High level of service has resulted in countless thank you notes from both my peers and those I serve. I have received flowers from the sweetest people. Gifted with countless praises to my supervisors over the years. All this just for taking the time to understand my customers where they are at that moment. I became so good at this that the company trusted me to teach customer service classes to our new hires! This was all within just a couple of short years with the company!
Let’s Recap!
From my 15+ years of customer service experience, my top 6 tips for how to provide EXCELLENT customer service are:
- Start now!
- Remember the service with a smile!
- Be knowledgeable!
- Anticipate your customer’s needs!
- Sell yourself!
- Make their lives easier!
I hope that you learned something from this blog post and I encourage you to look for the lesson’s in your positions, past and present. Every position you have held was a chance to teach you a field of business. These are the lessons that will help you succeed in your future! I have spent almost my WHOLE working life thriving in customer service, therefore I KNOW these tips to be true!
I would LOVE to hear about your customer service experiences and what you have learned too!
Please leave a comment and share with me something you know to be true in providing excellent service?
