HELLO HOW CAN I HELP YOU?

Creating a club that people want to join…….

In this age of Internet sales and online booking is there still a place for the personal touch?

We think so but you have to get it right,after all first impressions have a big and lasting impact on customers. So how does your receptionist come across in person and on the phone?

Arms crossed? scruffy ? impatient? Argumentative? Avoiding eye contact? Raised voice? Uninformative? Uncaring? We’ve all come across staff like that ,most of us don’t complain at the time,we just don’t go back and we tell our friends and family. You won’t  know how many customers you’ve  lost this way.

It takes a lot of work to build a good reputation but just seconds to lose it!

So how can you be sure that your staff are doing a good job of customer service?

Training and monitoring are essential of course and it’s often worth putting them on a customer service course. They need to know all the relevant aspects of the services you provide but be quite happy to tell customers when they aren’t sure of something. They should tell the customer that they will check and get back to them straight away or that the manager will call them when next in-giving a time and date. Customers don’t like to be kept waiting- it makes them feel unimportant and uncared for-so staff need to answer the phone and respond to messages within a few minutes ,and if someone comes in when they are on the phone say “hello I’ll be with you in a minute”

It may sound strange but I always thank people when they complain- it gives us an opportunity to put things right and or explain. We like to be compassionate –say to  yourself “ I wonder what’s going on for them-they might be in pain, depressed, have a sick partner at home “ their manner might be nothing to do with you or our service but you can send them away happier with the right approach.

You won’t get that from a machine!

Karen Simporis – Henry House Hydrotherapy
Vice President Worthing & Adur Chamber