Ways to Elevate your Customer Service Team Now to Re-Open with Excellence, After the CoronaVirus/Covid-19 Pandemic

For hospitality businesses in Canada, this is a very tough time.  Most by now have closed for dine-in and are only offering drive thru, take-out and/or delivery.  Sales are being lost by the hour and now more than ever customer service and order accuracy are very important. Creating a great guest experience through these channels can, however be challenging.  Now is the best time to re-train your team on customer service standards to elevate the guest experience and re-open with excellence after the Coronavirus and Covid-19 crisis.  Taking these 5 steps will help your team create a memorable experience for your guests and allow your business to survive this downturn.

Know Your Product or Service

To provide good customer service, your team needs to know what you are selling, inside and out.  Make sure you and your customer-facing staff know how your products or services work.  Ensure they know the entire menu of products or food offerings.  Train them and role play with your team now, while closed on the most common questions and complaints from customers and know how to articulate the answers that will leave them satisfied.

Be Friendly

Customer service starts with a smile and connection.  When your team is ready to serve customers again ensure you have only the best staff.  Train them well on warm greetings every time, and offering up a great first impression – from everyone.   should be the first thing your customers see and hear when they ask for help. Even when handling customer service requests via telephone, a smile can come through in your voice, so make sure you’re ready to be friendly.

Train, and Cross-Train Your Staff

It all starts with hiring the right person, then training them well.  This closure time is a great time to re-train, complete outstanding training and to cross-train your team for efficiency!  Making sure all of your team members, not just your customer service representatives, understand the way they should talk to, interact with, and otherwise assist customers.  Provide employee training that gives your staff the tools they need to carry exceptional service through the entire customer experience.  Cross-training is a great way to ensure all team members know all functions within your business and will long-term produce a more efficient team.

Ask your Valued Customers for Feedback

Reaching out to your customers for ways to improve is a great way to connect with your community and show them you want feedback, and want to improve.  Many customers are invested in small, local businesses and want them to be successful. They will offer up, if you are ready to listen, advice on your team, business, products, and services.  One way is to use direct emails, social media or customer surveys, to engage with your valued clientele.

Take Action on the Feedback You Receive

You need to do something with the feedback you receive from customers in order to make it useful. Reach out, gather the consistent themes, then implement changes in your team and business.  Carry what products they want to see is a quick and easy way to build trust and to raise sales immediately after re-opening.  Look online for feedback from reviews as well, respond to these and guarantee that you are making changes to improve.

Taking these steps now will help your business open with excellence once this crisis is over.  Excellent customer service comes down to consistently checking in with your customers and making sure they are happy with the products and services you offer.  Make it easy to be a customer, build trust with them and encourage feedback.  If you do that successfully, you are on your way to becoming known for providing excellent customer service and being the local business customers return to after the crisis!