Motivating staff to good customer service

A good attitude from managers or owners is likely to be a successful way of motivating staff to good customer service.

Tutorial

There are some old adages that are and remain true. “Attitudes come from the top” is one of those. The first step in motivating staff to good customer service is for the managers of a company to practice good customer service. Managers and owners of a business must set the tone for staff.

This doesn’t mean that the managers tell staff to provide good customer service and then make negative comments about customers. Even if the managers are making those negative comments in the privacy of their offices, members of the staff are going to quickly pick up that attitude.

A Little Incentive Goes a Long Way

While the attitude of those managers and owners is important, a little incentive never hurt anything either. If you as a manager see a particular employee going out of his or her way to offer good customer service, reward that behavior. That reward might take the form of a tangible incentive or could very well just be a verbal “pat on the back” during the next employee meeting. Anything that you do to make employees know that their efforts are appreciated will likely spark more actions that are aimed at good customer service.

As a word of caution, carefully consider your policy if you decide to offer tangible rewards for good customer service. It could lead employees to be overly competitive and could encourage them to only be helpful when someone who has the power to grant that incentive is watching.