Staff Performance: 7 Questions To Ask Customers About Staff

Introduction

Let me share a secret with you. The success of your relationship with your customers doesn’t depend only on the quality of your product or service. It also depends on how customers relate to you and your staff.

More Than “Customer Service”

This isn’t a post about conventional customer service. There’s already a mountain of information about that. This post is about using the opinions of your customers to improve staff performance. That’s a different kettle of fish altogether.

1. Talk With Them

“Talk” means just that: not email, not survey, not get them to complete a questionnaire. Talk to them. Establish a system for talking with clients as soon as possible after they use your product or service. Design the conversation to be as personal as possible. Ensure employees use scripts and write down the answers they receive. You don’t need to speak to every customer. But do so if you can.

2. Concentrate on “Do Rights”

Talking with customers about staff performance is about finding what employees did that pleased them: how they felt that dealing with you was unique; better than dealing with others. Such information from satisfied customers is invaluable.

3. And the “Do Betters”

Ask what they feel that your team could do better. This is preferable to asking what they did “wrong”. You’ll discover more by asking for “do betters”. And you’ll get some useful suggestions too.

4. Meeting Expectations

When customers engage with your people, they have expectations which they expect to be met. Find out what expectations they have of your business and your staff. And check to see whether you met them.

5. Did Your System Work?

You have a system for dealing with customers. Was it followed or did staff take shortcuts? Was the client satisfied that your system met his or her needs?

6. The Complaint

Complaints require particular attention. Make sure these questions are asked. “Was the complaint resolved to the satisfaction of the customer?” ” What was the outcome?” ” Was the customer treated politely and professionally throughout the process?” ” Would the customer continue to use your product and/or service based on their treatment during the complaints process?”

7. Testimonials and Permission

Always ask for a testimonial. And always ask for permission to use it. You can also ask for permission to use comments they’ve made about specific benefits of dealing with your staff. E.g. “Mr Noone arrived on time, started immediately, cleaned up when he finished and explained all the charges in detail” is much better than “I was delighted with Mr Noone’s work and service”.

Conclusion

Customers are a wonderful source of information about staff performance. They’re interacting daily with your people. They’re the people who know from clear experience how well your staff are performing. Makes sense to ask them, doesn’t it?

What To Do Now

What are you doing about using customers as a source of information for performance improvement? Do you have a system for talking with them about this? Do you link rewards and incentives to customer feedback? Let me know what you’re currently doing and how I could help.