Recently, I’ve been reading many debates about the need—or not—for customer service scripts. Some advocates believe they’re necessary while naysayers think they promote robot-like behaviors. As I mentioned in two previous blog posts, BAD scripts = MAD customers! and Part II — Customer Service Scripts: help or hindrance?, scripts have pros and cons that you need to consider. Therefore, you may not find a clear-cut answer.
From my experience as a customer service consultant, one of the problems with not delivering great customer service is a lack of consistency. As a mystery 
shopper and mystery patient, I have noticed—most of the time—companies deliver great service—part of the time. I’m treated differently by different departments, on the phone, in the parking garage, and at different times of day—sometimes by the same customer service representative!
Therefore, how do we increase the consistency of great customer service? How do we get service teams to deliver an awesome experience to every customer, every time, by every person in our organization? Successful companies do this by first hiring the right people and second by having customer service protocols–aka scripts–to which they can hold their people accountable.
Strategies that Turn it Around:
- Hire the right people. Do your employees genuinely like people? Do they WANT to serve others more than to serve themselves?
- Develop effective customer service protocols and scripts. Then, make sure to update them frequently based on your employee and customer feedback.
- Test and monitor your protocols and scripts. From time to time, audit your scripts to ensure they are effective and used properly. This includes auditing any changes that you have implemented based on employee and customer feedback.
- Empower your employees to do what is necessary to deliver extraordinary customer service. This may include allowing employees to remain flexible with scripts and protocols.
- Hold your leaders and employees accountable for delivering extraordinary service—from the maintenance crew to reception to your company’s president.
Remember: One of the keys to customer service success is consistency. One way to increase consistency is to have proven protocols, which employees and leaders utilize with every customer, every time. And yes, this most definitely includes your customer service scripts.
What are YOUR ideas on how to increase the consistency of delivering great customer service? I’d love to read your feedback in the comments section below.