A dissatisfied customer will tell on average 9-15 people about their negative experience with your business. If you don’t want negative information about your business to spread like wildfire you need to focus on customer service.

It all starts with a solid customer service department that cares about your customers and can go above and beyond to serve them. Every small business owner should focus on getting the right customer service team.

Here’s how to build a team of amazing customer support staff. The right staff can deliver the best customer experience possible for your clients. Hiring them will ensure your business stays profitable no matter what happens.

Craft a Customer Service Department Model

You need to create a model for your ideal customer service department. Set up a management hierarchy and determine how many employees you need to fulfill certain roles.

Like all aspects of business ownership, great customer service takes careful planning. Once you have your basic parameters you can start the hiring process.

Focus On Your Hiring Process

You need to vet your new hires to ensure they are up to snuff. Each must be capable of providing excellent customer service. Examine their resumes, references, and work history.

Make sure to conduct background checks as well. Most importantly, sit down with each of your potential hires for a face-to-face interview. Make sure they are sociable and engaging enough to work in customer service.

Develop Quality Training

Your employee’s training is what will allow them to fulfill your customer’s expectations. Coach them on what it takes to be an excellent customer service representative. Include training in handling conflict resolution.

Your training program should be an ongoing process. The more effort you put into your customer service training program the better your employees will be.

Get the Right Tools

You need to give your customer service representatives the best tools for success. One of these is the right work interface.

You can find an excellent example of what kind of customer service interfaces work best at www.workcloud.se. Giving your employees what they need at their fingertips to handle any customer service situation is essential.

Assess and Reevaluate

The final component of crafting a great customer service department is to reevaluate what works and what doesn’t. If you don’t have some sort of system to measure your overall customer service success it will never improve.

Give your employees quarterly assessments to gauge their progress towards excellence. Frame these in a positive light and provide encouragement and guidance. Also, make sure to hand out praise when it is due.

Keep Your Customers Happy

Happy customers are the backbone of any successful business. The only way to get happy customers is to have a top-notch customer service department. If your business is lacking in customer service don’t fret.

Put the plan described in this guide into action so your customer service department will be one of the best in the land. For all your other important information about small businesses, check out our site.

Infographic provided by Applica, a document automation solutions company