Dear K,
First step is to assess your service delivery staff. Are they the right people for the job? My feeling is, all the training and incentives in the world are not going to turn non-service-oriented people into top-notch service deliverers. In my experience, the best service personnel are those who already have an innate desire to help and provide service. If your staff is doing this reluctantly, you've got a hard road ahead of you.
However... if you feel like you have some good, intelligent, articulate people on your team, then I would suggest you ask THEM for the advice you have asked this forum for. Employees are like customers - if you want to know what they want, just ask them. Rather than try to guess or speculate what might motivate them, instead, get their help in creating an incentive program, and ask them what they think they need to do better.
I always start my customer service training programs with an open discussion on our experiences AS A CUSTOMER. First of all, everyone has a bad service experience, so it is a good ice breaker. Secondly, it puts the delivery of service into a personal perspective. When you can tap into people's personal experience and it has real value, they will tend to take ownership of any decisions based on that experience. Thirdly, it appeals to the staff's pride. We all know what crappy service is like! Are we going to deliver that kind of service?? Hell, no! We're better than that! We'll show the world what great service is all about!!! Get them fired up about it!
Good luck!!
Chuck Dennis
The Angry Customer Expert
www.AngryCustomerExpert.com
