Guest Blog: How Internal Customer Service Can Strengthen Your Business

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Alison Brattle writes about how important internal customer service is to the culture of an organization. I have always believed that what’s happening on the inside of a company is felt on the outside by customers.  – Shep Hyken

Companies looking at increasing revenue will usually seek to differentiate themselves from competitors by offering top quality service to external customers. However, companies should be equally aware of the need to provide the same high standard of service to employees (or ‘internal customers’). When staff members feel valued, listened to and respected, their sense of satisfaction has a direct effect on the service they provide. Moreover, internal customer service needs to be provided to all employees, not just those who usually deal directly with the public. This is because there are many cases in which a customer may have to deal with someone from support (e.g. to ask about the state of a payment) and when these employees are displeased with the treatment they are receiving, it can be very difficult to provide clients with the service they deserve and demand. With research indicating that customers are increasingly less patient about receiving poor service, companies need to realize that just one bad phone call, one doubt left unanswered or one unsatisfactory piece of information, can result in a lost client. As McDermott and Emerson note, “Consumers are becoming much less tolerant of poor quality and service. They are likely to ignore brand or company loyalty and switch their purchasing power to companies and products that provide hassle-free, above-average value and service.”

Understanding the Value of Internal Customer Service

Despite the fact that companies are consistently providing more training to their employees, polls indicate that the level of service is declining. Unless companies strive to create a culture that values individual and team accountability for delivering the very best external and internal customer service, the result will be a significant drop in revenue.

Creating an Internal Customer Service Culture

Creating a quality internal customer service culture is a complex task that will not happen overnight. Companies should take the following steps for a smooth transition:

• Leadership training: Management should understand the value of internal customer service, and be able to communicate its importance to the rest of the staff. Leaders should be trained in the nature of internal customer service and the necessary means to achieve it.
• Making necessary changes in systems and processes: Achieve Global notes that often, the greatest source of staff frustration and anger are faulty systems (these may include software, hardware and internal procedures). These systems may waste time and cause an error, leading to a loss of efficiency. Companies need to identify weaknesses and make necessary changes to enjoy smoother, more efficient processes that save time and frustration.
• Staff training: While those who do not deal directly with customers may wonder if they really need customer service training, the truth is that often, these are the members of staff who most need it. This is because, on the odd occasion, they are called upon to provide external service and they should be well aware of standards to uphold and pitfalls to avoid. Customer service courses should focus on teaching employees the characteristics of good service (efficiency, attentiveness, speed, resourcefulness, etc.).
• Internal service guarantees: Different departments can enter into a formal agreement to provide top quality service, with a pre-agreed penalty in place for non-compliance. This encourages feedback and communication among staff members. Achieve Global makes an interesting point: guarantees foster an ambiance of creativity and get people into the habit of collective problem-solving.
• Analysis of internal customer service loyalty systems: Management should measure the efficiency of any internal customer service program adopted, to ensure it has the desired effect on external customer loyalty.

Alison Brattle is a Marketing Manager at AchieveGlobal, a global customer service and sales training firm based in the UK. It specializes in providing exceptional customer service courses and helps organizations develop business strategies to achieve sales success. Alison enjoys sharing her insight and thoughts to provide better sales and leadership training. You can follow Alison on Linkedin.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com