7 benefits of a customer service audit
How good is your customer service … really? How do you know? Have you measured it? How would you measure it?
There's a lot of good reasons to do a customer service audit:
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Get accurate information: It's impossible to improve something if you don't have accurate information about what's working and what's not. A customer service audit will give you that.
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Identify the key touchpoints: Don't try to tackle everything at once. Use an audit to identify the most important touchpoints for your customers, and then focus on them first. That will give you maximum results with the least effort.
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Discover the most relevant ways to measure customer service: What's the best way for your organisation to measure the quality of your customer service? Is it your sales record, your referrals, anecdotal, social media, number of complaints (or not), repeat business? If you don't know, how do you identify the moments of glory and the sticking points? An audit will identify the measures that are most important and useful to you, so that you can tailor a process to monitor and improve performance in these areas.
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Find out what's really important to your customers: Do you already know (for sure) what's important to your customers? Or do you just think you do? Have you asked them? A good customer service audit can incorporate customer intelligence to give you accurate feedback on their experience. That way you're dealing with reality, not just someone's hunch.
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Know your customers: A customer service audit will find out who in your organisation – from the CEO to the mailroom, really appreciates that they each have customers, whether they are internal or external, and who these customers are. Without that understanding, many people are unaware of the impact on others of their behaviour or practices.
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Find out what's working: People often feel like an audit is about find out what's not working, and feel threatened and angry. It doesn't have to be like that. An audit is a great way to find out what is working so that more of it can be done. It means you can give credit where credit is due!
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A plan of action: A customer service audit provides the foundation for a meaningful, relevant and achievable plan to get the customer service outcomes you're looking for.
To talk to me about your organisation's customer service, motivation or listening skills, email maggie@parexcellence.net.au or phone 0402 301 402. I offer consulting, audits, training, facilitation and video programs to transform your organisation's customer service.
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