If you want staff to provide great customer service, you need to give them the right Key Performance Indicators – then measure and report on them!
This way, your staff will know what great customer service looks like and will practise it as they know you are measuring their performance.
Here are some suggested KPIs:
First time resolution – do not measure how long someone spends on the phone with a customer who has a query, instead measure what percentage of time they resolve the customers query or complaint (check what percentage have to call again).
Customer satisfaction – ask customers how happy they were with the service from individual members of staff. Set a benchmark they have to achieve.
Conversion rate – for sales staff, what percentage of enquiries do they convert to a sale?
Promises kept – for example, the percentage of times that they sent information to a customer when promised (or within your set timescales).
Average time taken to answer the phone
If customers are only dealt with by one member of staff, consider customer retention, repurchases and referrals gained.
You may also want to consider:
Cashflow – if your customers are happy, they pay on time, every time
Repeat business – happy customers stay with you so look after them!
Employee retention – you may think this is odd, but superb customer service begins in the heart of your business. If your staff are happy, customers will be too.
Speed – if you have a problem to sort, how quickly do you sort it?
All businesses are different, so this list is not exhaustive and there are likely to be others that are more suitable for you. The important thing is to have some KPIs in place, to track them and then to discuss them with your staff so they understand how important they are!
If you have an accountant, they should be your first stop for business advice. If you don’t have an accountant or they can’t help, BuBul has a wide range of experts available. For more advice on customer service KPIs, contact our expert* Helen on LinkedIn.
*We’ve picked experts we know and trust who are good at what they do. All of them will give you at least an extra 30 minutes free advice if you contact them and would then charge their normal prices. They don’t pay to be on BuBul and don’t give us any money from anything they earn as an expert.
Helen Smithhelen@professionalresourcesconsultancy.co.uk Service and Sales Expert With years of experience of building and running businesses, Helen now coaches, trains and mentors SMEs to enable them to deliver outstanding customer service and sales, plus win new business through successful bids for tenders.07496 286328