In this article from The Huffington Post, the writer is alarmed at the prevalence of bad customer service experiences despite the amount of data and technology that makes understanding customer service so much easier than it once was.  For a mini-course in what to look for at your business, here is the writer’s top five tips:

1. Gain a complete understanding of what constitutes good customer service in the mind of the customer, not yours! This is the only thing that will help you deliver the proper level of quality customer service.

2. Make sure your current customer service policies and practices meet the expectations of the customers you have today. In other words, make sure they’re not outdated policies and practices.

3. Ensure that everyone in your company—at all levels of employment—are behind your customer service practices. Consistency is key in delivering quality service.

4.  Are you “listening”? You must have a process for seeing your company through the eyes of the customer.  (A Customer Perspectives evaluation using mystery shopping may be one way to do this.) You must also have a program that monitors social media comments or reviews about your company. 

5.  Make contacting you the easiest thing a customer can do.  That means you have to make it easy via all channels—email, phone, text, website, in person. Do whatever it takes to make sure a customer can find you easily.