Please note: this is a contributed post.
Dealing with difficult customers encompasses so many aspects of business, from the inbound calls your call handlers take to face to face dealings with clients, and so many more. But the most important aspect when dealing with customers is not the customer themselves, it’s your staff.
The workplace environment should be as stress-free as possible while also acting as a place where you can cultivate and train employees to deal with customers in the most effective and professional manner. So what are the best ways to influence the workplace environment so that not only are your customers are happy, but your workers are happy too?
Improving the Work Environment
The environment your employees work in is vital to their productivity. There are different ways to entice a customer to purchase a product, from high-tech artificial intelligence, to the more unique approach of scent marketing – this article entitled What Is Scent Marketing will help with that. You can take inspiration from the ways you deal with customers to also encourage a more proactive approach when it comes to communicating with your workers.
Improving the work environment isn’t just about keeping your employees productive by enforcing strict measures, such as meeting specific sales targets, it’s also about influencing their behavior in a positive way. The last time we checked, you can’t hypnotize your employees (look into my eyes – you are getting sleepy…), but you can make the environment more enjoyable for them.
Encouraging a positive workplace is something that has to start from the ground up, there are many things you can do to make the workplace a little more interesting. From updating harsh lighting to daylight bulbs that mimic natural daylight, to creating a break room that is actually relaxing, as well as offering healthy snacks for your employees, there are numerous approaches you can take. If you worked half as hard on pleasing your employees as you did on retaining customers, you would have a very productive business indeed!
How You Lead Your Employees
A positive work environment starts from your leaders – the CEO, owners, managers, supervisors, etc. If you are trying to influence positive behavior in your employees, then you need to practice what you preach. It’s all about how you and your leadership team actually motivate and lead your team. Barking out orders is not a great way to influence anyone – the words you use, how you present yourself, and even your tone of voice are all extremely important.
You should realize that many of the methods used to better communicate with customers can also be applied in the workplace. And so, tone of voice, what you say, as well as how you say it, are a few simple things that you can work on improving every single day. It may be a cliche but it is important to lead by example, and it’s vital that you embody this approach. Because there are so many organizations where the boss is more than happy to present an image of authority, but without really engaging with or earning the respect of his or her employees.
Influencing the environment of the workplace isn’t just about reaching sales goals and maximum return on investment (ROI), it’s also about improving the culture. When you are dealing with customers on a constant basis, you need to be aware that your employees are constantly going into battle, especially when dealing with customer service issues. And while your employees shouldn’t feel like this, it can’t be helped sometimes. You need to make sure that you are providing a very holistic approach to your business, and treating your employees as well as you treat your customers.
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