Customer service index, abbreviated as CSI, is a standard measure of customer satisfaction. It gives direct insight into the quality of customer service offered and consequently how happy or satisfied the customers are about it. As always, the success of any business set up will rely on customer satisfaction, among other things. A CSI survey is an extensive demographic representation that covers various sectors of an economy over a defined period of time. The survey rates customer experience on a scale of 1-10 on a series of definitive metrics covering areas such as efficiency, professionalism, complaint response, timeliness, quality of service and products, ease of doing business amongst others. This article is aimed at highlighting the various ways you can increase your customers’ satisfaction and hopefully bolster your customer ratings.
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Profitability/success of a business venture and customer satisfaction go hand in hand. For this particular reason, it is paramount that you invest your time and resources in improving your customer’s service experience in a bid to enhance the performance of your business venture. Take a look at the following tips;
- IMPROVE ON PRODUCTIVITY: Strive to provide and always maintain an optimal working atmosphere with easy access to work tools and amenities, and a healthy inclusion of fun while still upholding company standards. Simple tricks like team building exercises or a complimentary meal once per week could be that extra boost your staff needs to help improve the workplace experience. This in turn, will increase productivity.
- INVEST IN STAFF TRAINING: Each business set up is unique and distinct in its own rights. Training your employees enhances or improves their adherence to the standard operating guidelines and protocols. Focusing the bulk of the training on customer related services is a sure way to increase customer satisfaction. Empower your staff to make independent decisions that will positively reflect upon the customers’ experience. Training is an important factor but be sure to remind your employees that people skills are also important.
- INVEST IN SPECIALIZED STAFF: Trade-specific staff members have been proven to deliver higher CSI scores. It would be considered a good business move to hire individuals trained to perform specific tasks compared with having to newly train previously unexperienced persons. For instance, car dealerships are known to engage prospective customers using salespersons on the marketing front and specialized technical experts on matters concerning performance. This specialization of duties enhances service delivery and ultimately secures high CSI values.
- INVOLVE EXPERIENCED CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF AT THE SALES PHASE: The act of introducing your customers to the customer service department is a proactive move on your part. This class of employees actively engages the customers on issues they feel need improvement. This gauges the effectiveness of your standard operating procedures. Practice methods that seem to please the customers and play down less approved methods. This way, your customers will feel like you pay attention to matters that are important to them, because you do.
Sources: www.udeserveacookie.com/how-to-improve-csi-scores/, www.dealfinderlive.com/6-ways-to-improve-your-dealership’s-csi/, bmc.com/itil/continual-service-improvement