My goal in writing these blog posts is to provide you with food-for-thought, and maybe even help you in your busy workday. So, naturally, the posts are outward looking, focusing on broader training and organisational development topics.

Just this once I’d like to tell you about some of the exciting changes we are celebrating at academy. Hopefully some, or all, of these will achieve the same thing… helping you do a great job.

New brand, new expertise

First, we have a new brand – academy green – offering training in waste management, transport and logistics. Not only does this grow our stable of expertise, it also adds full-time staff and an office in Melbourne.

But the thing that excites us most about it…? We seek to engage in sustainable business.  The added bonus of our ‘academy green’ brand is that, in our own way, academy can make a difference as we educate people about sustainability and managing waste.

Do have a look at the academy green section of our website for more information – or, please, get in touch with any questions.

There’s no place like a home page

As we grow, it becomes even more important that there are a number of ways we can stay in touch with you. If it’s easy for you, we want to be there. If we can provide you with content that helps you with new ideas or ways of achieving your training and learning and development goals, we will. That’s why we are spending time and energy opening up as many lines of communication as possible:

• You can find our new home page at www.academyol.com.au – it features links to many of our services, enables you to find basic information with just one click and you can also sign up to stay in touch with us via whichever form of social media suits you best.
• We have started this blog for people who love learning. If you would like to contribute a post, please do let us know. It’s a great way to get your thoughts out there and we are all for guest bloggers!
• Similarly, we manage a LinkedIn group for anyone who wants to access articles on organisational development, training, education and so on – all in one easy place. If you haven’t already joined, please consider it. It’s here.
• You can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/academyaus or join our Facebook page here.

We’d love to hear from you about content you’d like to see featured, any ways we can make these services more valuable and which type of communication best fits into your busy work day!

And the winner is…

We do a lot of work in the contact centre field and we were delighted to sponsor (what else?) the academy Awards on 6 August 2010 at Star City. The NSW ATA Contact Centre Awards of Excellence showcases individuals and teams who excel and we were proud to be part of the celebration of those achievements. You can see the winners on the ATA’s website here, plus we blogged here and here.

Well that’s it for our news and our changes at the moment. Please do get in touch to share any news or ideas of your own.

When you talk about customer service, it may be tempting to focus primarily only on what has been defined in your company manual.  As a manager, you teach your staff the procedures and then spend your time insuring they are followed.  The problem is this is not quality service which necessarily benefits the customer or the company.

You can think of it in this manner.  Your manual may dictate when a customer can return a product and how the staff is to handle the request.  But simply processing the return of the product does not necessarily tell you why the customer wants to return it, how the product could be enhanced so the customer would not want to return it, nor whether the customer was satisfied with the return process.

In a successful company, customer service is much more than a set of actions.  It is a focus on the customer and what the customer wants in the way of service.  In other words, the customer defines customer service.  This looks at customer service from the viewpoint of the customer and not from management.  Customer service desires should flow upward to the company and then downward as a management response to customer needs.

Service Brands a Company

Branding a company is a process whereby the company name, image, products, and service are differentiated in the minds of existing and potential customers.  Many people choose a business based on brand recognition because they have found reliability and quality in what the company has to offer on all levels from product offerings to customer service.

High quality customer service enhances company branding.  It is amazing how many businesses lose customers because one employee in the call centre was having a bad day and failed to give good service.  It is also amazing how often companies fail to gather critical information from customers which can be used to enhance current service levels.  The customer does not forget when treated poorly or made to feel as if needs are not important, and in fact will share their experience and feelings with friends and family.  In their minds the brand becomes associated with poor customer service even if the product is of the highest quality.

In a competitive environment, providing true customer service can be the defining strategy which differentiates the company.  True or high quality customer service is a lot more than just implementing procedures.  Customer service training teaches staff how to listen to customers, extract the customer’s real needs during contact, convert those needs into management information for decision making purposes, and implement service tactics which meet those needs.  It is an ongoing cycle that begins and ends with the customer.

Quality Customer Relationships

Businesses need an influx of new customers on a regular basis and high customer retention in order to be successful.  In the best of times it is customer service which often becomes the deciding factor when someone is trying to decide between one company and its competitors.  In difficult economic times, offering quality customer service can actually be the company feature which leads to its very survival.

Excellent customer service includes the following.

• Creates a customer sense of ownership in or commitment to the company
• Inspires confidence in the company, its products, and its ability to meet customer needs
• Identifies customer needs or requirements
• Reflects company commitment to meeting customer needs

Through business training, company staff can learn how to integrate the concepts of exceptional customer service within the business structure.  This training can lead to more satisfied customers, improved branding, and a company better able to differentiate itself in a highly competitive environment.

In other words, customer service creates customer relationships so people return again and again.

In other words, a company exists to please customers through products sold and service, or services sold only. Companies which sell products still must provide good after-sale services in order to build a loyal customer base. Customers have certain standards in mind whenever they choose to do business with a particular company. How well you meet the customer’s standards as opposed to company set standards is the ultimate survival test for an organisation.

Training management and staff to understand this important difference is crucial to the long term profitability of a company. A customer may be primarily interested in the product reliability or is looking for a company which provides good service once the sale is completed. There is an old Beatles song which says, “All you need is love…” That is what a company wants their customers to feel like after any contact with the business…..loved.

Customer Ownership

Businesses used to create intense feelings of brand loyalty among customers. They did this by providing exceptional customer service that made the customer feel as if he or she is a partner in the business. The customer experience should result in feelings that include a sense of ownership and a desire for the company to succeed so products and services remain available.

In this age of impersonal internet selling and telephone service, developing a corporate culture which promotes this sense of brand loyalty is more important than ever. When a customer has developed this high level of loyalty, even problems with the product or services are more tolerated because the customer believes the company will handle such complaints appropriately and fairly.

Training company staff to handle all matters with customers in a way that is actually “brand loyalty selling” is one of the most important steps a company can take if it hopes to remain viable and competitive. Company staff must know how to respond to customer complaints, provide high quality direct selling service, and be able to always keep the overall organisation’s mission in mind.

A company that has a highly trained staff and well organized customer service functions is able to differentiate itself in a very competitive environment. By understanding the goals of high quality customer service, it doesn’t matter if contact with customers is through impersonal means such as the internet or through phone calls. Customers really don’t care how you contact them as much as they care about what you do once contact has been made.

An Adaptive Environment

Customer service is not a static principle. You cannot set up a customer service department and workflows and then never make changes. Organisational staff needs change. Customer requirements change. The marketplace changes. Technology changes. A business must create an adaptive environment which encourages company personnel to take leadership roles and the company should respond accordingly.

It all begins with a business mission which is then supported through effective staff training.