Encouraging service excellence.

• Author: Motley, L. Biff
• Position: Customer Satisfaction

I was recently visiting a nearby large hank, with which I have an account (not my employer), and was reminded of an article I read on a terrific little website called RainMaketThinking.com. (www.rainmarkethinking.com). This website is devoted to the mechanics of excellence in customer service management, something to which all bank marketers should pal attention.

The episode I am talking about involves a teller who, while all decked out in a smashing new uniform and looking quite the part, was talking on the telephone during the entire time she was servicing four separate customers: me and the three people in front of me. Since I observed her behavior prior to arriving at the teller window, I strained to eaves-drop on her conversation to determine whether she was talking to a fellow employee or a friend. Not that ills would matter, but I sensed a personal call since she was giggling much of the time. Experiencing tiffs customer service failure angered me and made me think of all the work and money that the bank undoubtedly spent on creating the correct impression during these "five golden minutes."

When I got home, I downloaded from RainMakerThink.com, a compressed version of the writings and principals of Carolyn Martin and Bruce Tuglin, authors of the site. Here am five of their key concepts aimed at getting service workers to "buy in" to excellence in their jobs.

Customer service is not negotiable. Management must treat customer service failures, even small ones, as a crisis. Debrief employees involved immediately, identify the incorrect behavior and remind them of the correct set of behaviors. Make sure they understand why they are there.

Stress teamwork. Remind all employees...