Customer Service Tips

Customer Service Training:
Customer Service Lessons from Wine Country

The long and the short of it was that without extensive planning, she and 3 of her girlfriends had a fabulous time eating, wine tasting and shopping in this small town. Her recap of the trip was one tale after another of going to a great restaurant, only to be referred to a great winery, followed by a referral to a great boutique or gallery. As she raved about this mini-break and how everywhere they went they were led to the next fabulous place, I wondered what the secret was. How do these business owners find, hire, and train people to provide a level of service that exudes a sense of pride in their community that even in this difficult economic time, ultimately results in increased revenue and sustainability for much of their little city?

I am positive this spirit is not emanating from the ground in this town and can be cultivated in other areas. I am also confident that it is not exclusive to wine country. This sense of business owners supporting and promoting one another is a common thread you will find running through many communities that have managed to successfully capture the tourism dollar and beyond. I believe that if as business owners, we have a sense of pride in our community and all it has to offer, that it can rub off on our employees and boost our bottom line. The proactive approach would be to train our employees to offer this to our customers. It is entirely possible that the college student we have hired from out of the area is totally unfamiliar with the rich history of the area or the nostalgia of the world famous burger served down the street. Our responsibility as business owners and managers is to provide them with this information and set the expectation that having and sharing this knowledge with customers is a job requirement.

So how do we get our employees excited about this? How do we make them care? Here are four key ways:

1) First of all, remember to empower your employees. Involve them in your business in a way that allows them to recognize that they are making meaningful contributions.

2) Training, Training, Training. Remember that an integral part of a thorough orientation process involves introducing a new employee to the organizational culture. Emphasize that your organizational culture is one of exceptional service, teamwork and community pride.

3) Have high standards and don't apologize for them. Model this pride in your business as well as in the community and the sense of pride will transfer.

4) Provide fun ways to teach your employees about the area and recognize their contributions. Consider doing staff meetings that include perks for answering questions regarding regional trivia or ask employees to report on enjoyable experiences they have recently had in the area.

It is also crucial on the part of the business owner, that he or she has a genuine attitude of teamwork and abundance. It all comes back to the old saying "what goes are comes around." Businesses need to focus on taking the best possible care of their customer and the successes will follow. Asking the customers about their plans while they are in town (or just out for the day), or mentioning what great lattes the place down the street makes, will not only make your customer feel taken care of but will act as a small measure of economic progress as that next dollar spent is spent with your neighbor.