According to the Office for National Statistics, 5.34 million people across the United Kingdom work in the public sector (as of June 2018). If you’re one of these employees and aiming to improve the customer service delivered within your department, the information in this article will outline a number of basic customer service tips.
However, Accelerator Solutions believes that in order to achieve maximum results, customer service training should be tailored to the context of an organisation. As a result, our training courses and workshops are aligned with the specific needs of your team. Visit our customer service page for more information.
Delivering customer service excellence in the public sector
2 employers within the public sector include the local government and the Civil Service. A large number of departments within each of these areas face a number of customer service challenges, and therefore barriers to delivering customer service excellence. As reported by YPO (public sector procurement specialist), these challenges include:
- Budget cuts
- Reduced staff numbers
- Barriers to innovation
In line with the challenges above, the Executive Director of the YPO concluded that effective listening, developing on-line and digital responses, and “creating a culture of continuous improvement are all revealed to be central to improved customer service.” Our tips below fall in line with this advice.
Developing effective listening techniques
There are so many distractions at busy workplaces – you'd be forgiven for not digesting each and every word spoken by a colleague or member of the public. However, we believe that effective listening can be achieved by making eye contact, painting a picture of what the person is saying to you in your mind, avoiding interrupting, and asking questions when the speaker has paused in order to clarify your understanding. It’s also vital to pay attention to body language and tone; often, what isn’t said is more important than what is said.
Developing a culture of continuous improvement
Investing time into developing a culture of continuous improvement can result in huge benefits. It’s based around the concept that no organisation should become complacent – methods of improving a product, service, or offering should be sought on a regular basis, and the “way of doing things” should evolve. To instil this culture, start with clear and measurable goals, make sure a process is in place to monitor the performance of these goals, and openly celebrate achievements.
Developing online and digital responses
In customer service, all interactions matter. Employee responses per platform should be carefully considered, and templates provided for various situations. For example:
- An email template to guide a customer through a complex or lengthy process
- Social media templates to respond to common complaints
- An email template to respond to an angry email
It should be mentioned that creating templates should never replace a thorough evaluation of a situation – but they will help to speed up response time and ensure that important information isn’t missed off. They can also contribute towards a customer feeling heard if the right language is used.
Tailored customer service training for the public sector
We recognise that in order to improve customer service across an organisation, it’s important to train staff to connect with customers and build trust. As a result, our tailored training courses and workshops focus on connecting with customers and building positive experiences, alongside ensuring that your team’s specific needs are met.
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