Are you tying your employees' hands without realizing it?

So many of the issues that become big customer service problems – the ones that wind up being tweeted about and land on the six o’clock news could be completely avoided  if one simple thing had happened.

Simply put, if an employee had permission to think “outside the script,” the majority of problems that keep you up at night could be avoided.

It’s time to start trusting your employees to do the right thing. It’s time to give them more control to solve customer problems.

You know what fuels customer service problems? One simple phrase: “I’m sorry, I’m not allowed to do that.” So you’re allowed to screw up the order, but you’re not allowed to fix it? Seems a little backwards.

The thing is, most customer service employees WANT to help. They WANT to fix the problem. But their hands are tied. Start trusting your employees. If you’ve hired correctly, a little bit of trust goes a long way.

I once knew a boss who said he’d never get angry at an employee for spending company money to keep a customer, but would fire an employee who let a customer walk out the door angry. That was good advice. The customer who has their problem fixed by the first person to whom they talk is a customer who will not only stick around, but tell friends. And that’s how you generate revenue.

It all starts with trusting those who work for you. What can you do today to let your employees know that they can do more?