How to assess your customer service levels

Customers require so much attention from businesses. They want quick response to their inquiries and expect insightful advice to guide them to the best products or services.Talking directly to the customers through phone call surveys can assist the company to evaluate and view the level of its customer service. Asking the right questions can help to better direct efforts toward building adequate and productive bonds with the customers. The head of the customer service team needs to ensure that customer concerns and well being are being addressed completely and efficiently.

If possible, create a computerized information system to evaluate your customer service performance especially for today's high demanding customer.Have several online surveys that ask the right questions, such as:

• - How was your purchasing experience today?


• - What goods or services would you like to see us offer in the future?


• - How would you rate your experience today shopping with us on a scale from 1 - 10?


• - What suggestions can you offer us for improvement?


• - How likely are you to purchase from us again in the future?

You may want to have a different survey questions for each situation. For example, a customer purchasing new items, and a customer returning an item or getting support for an item already purchased would require a different set of questions. Both kinds of customers are important. Not every customer will want to take the survey, but if the survey is not too long, and easy to fill out, you will get better results. If possible, word the questions with yes or no answers, or scale questions. For example, a multiple choice survey could include five choices of strongly agree, somewhat agree, neither agree nor disagree (neutral), somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree. These types of answers are easy to evaluate with a computer program, and the information can more easily be summarized into a report on which decisions can be made. However, take the written comments seriously of those who take the time to fill them out. After all, who knows better if the customers' needs are being met than the customer?

Not all customers can or want to use a computer to fill out a survey. You can also offer a telephone survey, and post the number in your store or place of business. Have your telephone call center use these same questions and surveys as the online versions. Put small survey cards in your store that are visible to the customers. Don't forget to have plenty of pencils available.

Customer service is viewed as the most important tool to build and maintain market share. Provide training classes to your customer service agents to teach them to be productive and efficient. Help them to be able to speak with confidence and eloquence when addressing the customers' needs. Guide them to offer the best solution to customers' demands. Treat your customer service employees in the same way you want them to treat your customers. If your agents fail to achieve the company sales goals, that's because they fail to provide excellent service. Expect quality in your agents' attitude when talking to a customer concerning her needs or issues. Council your agents to be good listeners so that they can pinpoint the needs of the customers. Have them help direct the customer to products or services that the company has to offer.Offer training classes often to assist your agents in developing new skills or looking to update new ones. Ensure customers are receiving the quality of service your agents are believed to supply. Monitoring live calls and/or reviewing archived calls, you can ensure that your agents are performing a quality service as expected. Regular monitoring allows you to identify strength and exceptional performance from your agents.