NFIB

Give Employees the Ability to Say 'Yes' to Customers
04/ 11/ 2002


Customer satisfaction frequently is based on the quick and efficient handling of problems, or upon the satisfying of specific and unusual customer requests. Many times, customers will ask for something that employees do not have the power to approve. As a result, employees may have to say 'no' far too often, or else go through lengthy processes to contact superiors in order to get permission. In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses offers a few tips on how to avoid these problems.

Each customer comes to your business with unique needs. To make a sale, and to create a lasting customer, your company has to fulfill these needs. When customers have special requests, make it easy for your representatives to supply what they need. The best way to accomplish this is to set policies that give customer reps as much power as possible. Why require them, for instance, to go through tedious procedures to reach management with specific customer questions when invariably the answer will be 'yes anyway? Why not at least re-work lines of communication so that managers can be reached in a matter of moments (and not hours or days) when unusual situations arise?

To be able to say 'yes' to customers more often, employees need to be supplied the resources to do so. It may be necessary to re-think established policies, which can mean shifting responsibility for certain decisions from the back office to the front lines, where representatives are actively dealing with customers. This may mean upgrading representative's skills, or even seeking higher capability in representatives at the time of hiring. A business is totally dependent on its relationship with customers. Why keep your most qualified employees tucked behind out-of-the-way desks? Put them out where the action is, and where the company makes its money.

Empowering customer reps may mean reworking the barriers between departments. Such barriers can become stifling to growth and change in a business. In many successful companies, managers do not think of themselves as functioning in a different sphere from sales people or customer service reps. Managers should be integrated into every customer-based activity. If they're not, your company runs the risk of becoming stagnant, with many customer-service needs not being addressed.

Remember, empowering employees means offering them the chance to take risk, to make mistakes. When people make decisions, errors will occur, no matter how experienced or qualified the employees are. When giving employees the power to say 'yes,' you need to make them aware that occasional mistakes are ok, and even inevitable.

Allowing employees the opportunity to actively solve customer problems can pay enormous benefits. First, it spurs employees to function with greater enthusiasm and confidence. Employees want to be able to say yes.' They want to be able to solve problems and give customers what they want, or at least work actively with them toward mutually agreeable solutions. Second, customers will sense the difference in employee morale and energy, and appreciate having their requests handled quickly and efficiently.

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