One of the most amazing mistakes many business owners make is not training their staff in the area of customer service. Whilst the owners of the business rely on customers being treated in a way that would want them to return to their business, sometimes the major factor of informing the staff on how exactly they want that experience to be seems to get lost in the process of doing business.
Don’t think for a minute that your staff will naturally be good at servicing your customers just because they said so on their résumé’s. You have to ensure that you train each and every one of your employees in YOUR desired way of service. Don’t just think that any old way will do with them, as your business is most probably different to others hence you need to have your own brand of service that your customers can distinguish your business from others.
One of my businesses that I am now involved with mentors business owners in assisting them to get their businesses to the next level. As a part of that process I am constantly asked to evaluate every aspect of their particular business. I am constantly amazed when I see how the staff of those businesses are treating their customers. A lot of the time the one thing that is stopping that business to grow any further is the staff’s relationships with the customer.
I have had numerous excuses as to why some staff feels as though they have the right to treat the customer badly. Excuses such as:
- Having a bad day
- The boss doesn’t respect me so why should I do him any favours
- I don’t feel as though that is part of my job description
- No one else does it so why should I?
- It’s not that important is it?
Are just a few examples that constantly floor me and leave me perplexed as to how some of these people have been able to keep a job for as long as they have.
As the owner of the business, it is your responsibility to educate your staff about how important and how much of an integral part of your business customer service is. If you don’t you then only have yourself to blame as to why they may be letting you down.
I remember in my early years of working for a major chain, we would be sent to courses on service. Whilst one would assume that it would be common sense to treat a customer correctly, it was quite evident that due to us going to these courses it wasn’t.
Those courses really proved invaluable to that organisation. They knew that all of their employees would be taught the exact same principles hence ensuring that the culture inside all of their stores were uniform and consistent.
How often do you take time out to notice how your customers are being treated by your staff? If you don’t do this, you may never know what is actually happening in that part of the business. I understand that training does happen within salons these days but that training mostly is around skill based outcomes such as treatments, colours etc.
The salons and businesses that are excelling financially and growth are the ones that devote proper training to their employees.
This isn’t something that you haven’t heard or don’t know, I understand that. It’s just that with the pressure of running a business we tend to put some things to the side not realising the importance of it.
Your staff are there to make you money, do their job AND make sure your clients return.
You want your customers raving not only about their outcomes from sitting with your stylists but also about how they were treated as a customer. The best way to grow a business is by word of mouth and the easiest way to slow a business is also by word of mouth.
We all need to ensure our customers are receiving exactly what we as business owners expect them to receive.
