10 Tips for Excellent Customer Service

Giving form to some customer service guidelines I’ve developed in my thirty-plus years of working with the public. Currently I manage a team of baristas.

1) Acknowledge the customer. Even if you and your surroundings are on fire. You can say something to them such as, “I will be with you as soon as I finish this drop and roll. Please feel free to grab a stick and some marshmellows until I can wait on you.”

2) Remember their name and something about them. Most folks have trouble with this one, and state poor memory as an excuse. The same people have no difficulty remembering what songs got Allison, Anoop and Adam into the final spots on American Idol or what Simon Cowell said to get them there.

Corollary 1) Care. I was challenged early on that the reason I didn’t remember names was not a problem with memory, but a problem about caring.
Use memory gimmicks. I knew a girl named Bridgett that had braces. I paired her name with the bridge across her teeth, hence, Bridge-it.

3) Chat it up. You’ve got maybe two to three minutes with them. Incorporate Step 2: "How was the vacation? Did your daughter see the doctor for those ugly warts yet?"

4) Be upbeat. Remember the Cheers theme song and pretend you are Sam. People want to talk about their problems, not yours.

5) Pick up the pace. People usually have someplace else to go. Aggressively consider ways to move them out the door (or off the phone). I often see the Baristas doing one job at a time-for instance, standing idle while the machine generates expresso. Multi-tasking would mean they could help another customer during that window of time, or prep for the next customer.

6) Direct and educate. Set parameters. Teaching them to help you do your job will improve their overall time and experience. I consistently chat and direct people, “It’ll take me two minutes to steam your milk. I’ll have it for you at the end of the bar.”

7) Clarify. Find out what they want, not what they think they should want or say. “So, if I understand you correctly, you need to see a Dr. today because of the airplane in your living room?”

8) If you screw up, fix it. Buy them a drink. I often give away cups of coffee because a wait was too long, or because we messed up a drink. This moves the customer from being annoyed and never returning to-being pleasantly surprised at getting free stuff, and returning for more.

9) Do it right the first time. Integrity is important.

10) Take deep breaths. There will always be a struggle between quality and quantity. There will never be enough manpower to do the job right. Other people will consistently fudge on their responsibility to the customer, making you look bad. See numbers one through 8.

Your turn. What tips have you picked up, either as a customer or from working with people?