Performance review phrases are an important part of any managerial appraisal or overall performance review. These phrases provide useful tools for conveying to employees what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong during their interactions with customers.
Below are seven useful performance review phrases for questions related to customer handling, customer satisfaction, customer management and overall customer interaction. Even though these points are sometimes over-looked, they can offer guidance to workers in their customer communications.
1. When interacting with customers, it’s vital that you be able to accept complaints, critiques and specific customer requests smoothly and professionally.
Because retaining current customers is absolutely essential for the survival of any company, employees have to be able to deal with these issues in a way that avoids annoying or disappointing customers. Of course, this isn’t always easy, as some comments and critiques may be really insulting and far from the truth. Also, if there has indeed been a mistake, the fault applies to the entire organisation, it’s not the employee’s fault that things went wrong.
But most of the times all employees should be able to accept the complaints, critiques and specific requests, as it is part of their job. They should also try never to not take them personal and get affected by them.
2. Try to ensure that you are providing quick, understandable and constructive assistance for customers all the time.
Customers like the feeling that they are being listened to and that their needs and concerns are understood. Dismissive or slow responses and form letters can badly damage a company’s customer service reputation. This is why is so important to ask them to complete a customer satisfaction survey. This survey lets you evaluate how both your company and the customers are doing. Try to create a survey that addresses as many of your concerns as possible plus the concerns that you believe the customer may encounter.
3. Make clear to customers that the company has certain practices and policies and that you can’t afford to make exceptions for particular customers, however much you might appreciate their business.
Maintaining what might seem like a hard-line position with customers when it comes to company policies and procedures will help ensure a consistent approach in regards to customer handling and interaction. If handled correctly, customer handling doesn’t have to be harsh or negative. Your customers will take the rules as they are and will respect them accordingly. They might also think of the company as a strongly-opinionated entity.
4. Fully commit yourself to providing first-rate customer service every time you interact with a customer.
When companies and their employees go above and beyond customer expectations, it helps to create the kind of positive brand image every business hopes to enjoy with its current customer base and potential future customers. Creating a positive brand image is not easy, but neither impossible. In time, with the help of a good management and positive feedback from employees, every company can achieve the best image for the brand.
5. When you can, try to be more transparent when it comes to company information and satisfying customer information requests whenever possible.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean sharing proprietary or financially sensitive information, but basic facts that can be readily released without a problem shouldn’t be held back from customers. Doing this makes the business seem more consumer friendly. Listing your achievements is always a good idea, and doesn’t involve giving out so much information. How did you manage to achieve that? With hard work and perseverance. How did you become the best in your niche? By not giving up. And most companies can relate to that, so you don’t have to worry, as you will be giving out nothing but the truth.
6. Avoid even a hint of manipulation during your interaction with customers. No one likes a hard sell, whether it’s on a car lot or on the phone.
In the end, it’s entirely up to the customers whether they want to purchase a product or service or not. Trying to strong-arm them or manipulate them not only makes sales less likely, it damages the company’s brand image in the long term. These days, brand image is everything so do not attempt to force the customers into liking your brand because the negative results won’t cease to appear, and that is not what you are looking for. What you can do in exchange is trying to promote your brand the best way you can and try to offer one customer experience that competitors would be envy of.
7. Even though the mantra has always been that the “customer is always right,” this doesn’t mean that you should accept personal attacks or unfair treatment at the hands of the customer.
Unfortunately, customers sometimes throw good manners out the window if they’re frustrated or angry. But if an employee interacting with a customer believes he or she is being mistreated or abused by that customer, they should feel free to flag these customers so that they can be dealt with appropriately by someone else in the company. Also, by doing this, it could also be a lesson for the customer. He or she might never do that again, regardless it’s your company we are talking about or another business.
Whether conducting employee appraisals or evaluating customer interactions, performance review phrases like the above are a useful way to help employees improve customer interaction in a way that enhances the company’s reputation, satisfies the customer’s needs and avoids any unnecessary problems.
Take the tips mentioned above into account and you will be presented with a win-win situation – your customers will appreciate your hard work of keeping them satisfied and you company will gain a positive attitude towards the services it is offering. Remember a big part of the company’s successful image is due to a positive feedback from the customers, so never underestimate its power.
About the Author
Elisabeth Goldberg is a Digital Marketing Strategist and a part-time writer who loves to share feedback tips and insights with her readers. She writes for CustomerSurvey101. Elisabeth **aims to attract potential customers by answering product and service question and maintaining customer records by updating their account information.
Hi Elizabeth, I must say you have covered the most important and must required points in the post. I myself also working on the study of customer feedback analysis and I tend to believe that the most important thing to grow customer base and their loyalty is the service you provide to them. Keep it up.