Updated: July 3, 2023
Customer service managers write a lot of procedures.
The big challenge is getting employees to follow them. Employees forget. They get confused. Sometimes, they just don't wanna.
This creates consequences.
Customer experience becomes inconsistent. Service quality erodes. The manager has to spend extra time fixing problems.
There is a simple solution. Here's a five step process for writing customer service procedures your employees will love. (And actually follow.)
Step one: Clarify the goal
Start by making it clear why you want employees to follow a procedure. Help them understand the "why" behind it.
These questions can help:
What are the benefits of following the procedure?
What are the consequences of not following the procedure??
How does the procedure connect to the bigger picture?
A hotel parking operator was in danger of losing its contract with the hotel because valet parking attendants failed to consistently follow service procedures. The hotel used mystery shoppers to evaluate its operations, and the valets had earned a string of poor reports.
The manager used a simple strategy to turn things around.
He called a team meeting and revealed that the contract was in jeopardy. The valets had not known the client was unhappy. Now they knew the stakes involved in following procedures.
Next, the manager started sharing each mystery shopper report with the team. He posted them on a bulletin board in the office so they could see exactly how they were performing.
The scores instantly improved and the contract was saved.
Step two: Get input
Procedures that are ineffective, confusing, or cumbersome can frustrate employees. Avoid this problem by involving employees in the development process.
Associates at one retailer struggled to follow procedures for building product displays. The procedures were written by employees at the corporate office who assembled the displays in a conference room rather than in a store. As a result, they often missed critical steps or underestimated how much time it would take to create a new display.
Micah Peterson, VP of Product Management at ProcedureFlow, recommends having key stakeholders walk through a procedure and record each step they take.
"Mapping out the experience of senior colleagues, trainers, and policy creators in a visual way gives new users immediate access to expert knowledge. It's like having them right beside you, guiding you along!"
For the retailer, that meant having store employees build an in-store display and documenting the actual steps they took.
PDCA is a tool that can help you create more effective procedures. It’s an acronym that outlines four steps:
Plan. Get employee input on an initial procedure.
Do. Test the procedure on a limited basis.
Check. Verify whether the procedure works as intended.
Adjust. Make changes to improve the procedure before sharing it with everyone.
Step three: Write clearly
Employees are often in a hurry when following a procedure, so it's important to make procedures easy to understand and follow.
"You must write them in plain language," says Leslie O'Flahavan, owner of E-WRITE.
"That means you have to use terms even new employees will understand and make the steps easy to see and follow. When it comes to procedures, plain language means answering employees’ questions: What should I do? In what order? And where do I get more help if I need it?"
Imagine a new customer service employee on the phone with a customer, trying to explain how to return an item. They find the return procedure to guide them.
This procedure would be hard to follow:
Ascertain the reason the customer wishes to make the return. Click on the drop-down menu and select the return code that most closely fits the customer's expressed reason for making the return. Verify that the customer's email address is accurate or otherwise enter their address in the email field and click on the button marked “RETURN.” Inform the customer that you will be emailing them instructions to facilitate the return. Explain that they should take the return to the nearest UPS store and show the clerk the return email, which can either be printed out or shown on their smartphone. Inform the customer that the UPS employee will package the return and ship it back to us.
Big words, long sentences, and a lack of formatting would make that procedure difficult to read. Here's the same procedure with a few improvements:
Ask the reason for the return.
Select the best return code from the drop-down menu.
Confirm or add the customer's email address.
Press the "RETURN" button.
Tell the customer a return email is on its way.
Ask the customer to bring their return and the email to the nearest UPS store. (They can print the email, or show it on their phone.)
Ask them to show the email to a UPS employee who will take care of the rest!
Get more writing tips from O'Flahavan's excellent LinkedIn Learning course, Writing in Plain Language.
Step four: Make it accessible
Procedures should be easy for employees to quickly access when they need them. They shouldn't have to search through endless email updates or decide which version of the procedure is the most accurate.
Tracy O'Rourke, Co-Founder of the Just-in-Time Cafe, suggests creating job aids.
"Job aids help make procedures accessible, simple, and easy to understand. A guideline for the job aids is to use as many pictures as possible. Pictures are easier to process than long text documents."
Employees in a small office had trouble remembering the procedure for greeting visitors when the receptionist was absent or on a break. The solution was putting a small job aid at the front counter that illustrated the three step procedure.
Some jobs require employees to be aware of multiple procedures.
A great option is to create a knowledge base that puts all procedures in one searchable directory. Knowledge bases work well in contact centers or other places where employees work from a computer.
One company sold products to local governments. Each government customer had a complex set of procedures for verifying, shipping, and billing orders. A knowledge base made it easy for employees to quickly access each customer's requirements without skipping a beat!
Step five: Reinforce procedures
It's easy to develop bad habits if good ones aren't reinforced. Review procedures with your team on a regular basis to make sure they are following them.
One hotel was getting a lot of guest complaints about room cleanliness.
An inspection revealed rooms weren’t being cleaned correctly. The hotel had a proven procedure, but housekeepers didn’t have the right cleaning supplies on their carts. This made it impossible for the procedure to be followed.
It was an easy fix. The right supplies were provided and the cleaning procedure was reviewed with the team. Cleanliness complaints dropped as housekeepers began following the correct procedure again.
Conclusion
Proven procedures allow you to provide a more consistent customer experience. You can take it to the next level by offering an experience guarantee.
Guarantees can help you:
Earn new business
Win repeat business
Prevent lost business
The Guaranteed Customer Experience provides a step-by-step guide.
Download the first chapter to learn how a convenience store chain earns four times as many customers per location than their competitors by promising clean restrooms.