Are your Friday afternoon customers receiving the same service as your Monday morning customers

Are your Friday afternoon customers receiving the same service as your Monday morning customers?

A few days ago, BBC Scotland revealed evidence of a postcode lottery in benefit sanctions. The article presented figures that suggest the benefits system is being run ‘unevenly and unfairly’, demonstrating differences between the system in Dundee and Glasgow. The benefits system is not the only thing affected by the postcode lottery. Healthcare services, school places, and social services are amongst some of the things that are affected by where we live.

Whilst the government struggles to achieve consistency across the UK, big businesses manage to achieve it worldwide. We have all heard of the example of  McDonald’s, you can go to any McDonald’s worldwide and know what to expect. The basis of the menu is the same (with a few fancy extras depending on country) and all the restaurants pretty much look the same. The statistic that I like is that a McDonald’s franchise owner is only required to be on-site one day per year! The McDonald’s model translates well to business. You may not be a huge worldwide company, but you can still take McDonald’s example of consistency still applies.

Does your business have the correct systems in place?

Consistency comes easily if your business runs systematically. You should systemise the things you can control, such as sales processes, and then add in human expertise at the right moments to give the customer that extra value. Ask the question: ‘Does the business run normally if the business owner is away?’ If the answer is no, then you need to put the correct systems into place. Below are some examples of things you can put in place to ensure your business runs smoothly at all times.

Dealing with customers: Whether it’s a phone system, order handling or general attitude and service ethic, your customers know what to expect every time they deal with your business. If your staff are on the phone to customers a lot, it may help to have a sheet of prompts next to each phone that can be referred to at all times. It shouldn’t matter who they are dealing with or what time of day it is, the way your employees deal with customers should be consistently brilliant. Inconsistency can alienate customers and discourage their loyalty.

Day-to-day operations: The more you can standardise the basic operations of your business, the better. The last thing you want as a business owner is to take a day off and be bombarded by calls from employees asking you how to do certain things. Create basic how-to guides that can be easily accessed and followed by everyone for extra efficiency.

Standardise your policies: if you want your employees to be consistent, you have to be consistent with them. Having standard company policies and values will ensure that employees know what is expected of them and how they will be treated. This will encourage them to be consistent in their approach to work.

Train existing staff to adopt new systems you put into place, and use it as part of the induction process for new staff. Remember – from a client’s perspective, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Friday afternoon or the business owner is on holiday. They still expect the same level of service at all times, and you should ensure your business has the systems in place to guarantee this.