Customer service checklist: Do you and your staff practice these?

Here’s a handy customer service checklistthat would go a long way toward evaluating whether you and your employees are providing the best possible service you can to your customers, brought to you by the folks at BusinessTrainingWorks.com.

• Smile always. You need to smile even when talking to a customer on the phone. They can “hear” you.
• Make sure you are addressing a customer according to his or her age. Don’t address older people or women as “You guys,” for example.
• Ask how you can help before a customer asks.
• Don’t hover needlessly, but be visible and available so a customer can find you as needed.
• Don’t avoid a customer you see heading your way.
• Never pick up the phone when a customer is standing in front of you.
• Give every customer your full attention, regardless of age or appearance.
• Never eat or drink on the job.
• Don’t tell customers it’s time for your break.
• Never make personal calls within earshot of a customer.
• If you say, “I don’t know” when a customer asks you a question, you MUST follow it up with “…but I can find out for you.”
• Find an item in the stockroom when a customer can’t find it on display.
• If it’s not in the stockroom, offer to call another store, order it or suggest another place to find it.
• Read a customer’s body language. You’ll be able to tell when they need help.
• If a talkative customer is monopolizing your time, get out of it gracefully if other customers are waiting.
• Make sure you call for backup when lines get long.
• If a credit card is declined, be discreet and ask for another form of payment.
• Never discuss one customer in front of another.
• Give a quick check to the merchandise before putting it in the bag in case it’s defective.
• Make sure the customer takes all of her bags.
• Smile again and thank the customer.
• Give every customer more than he or she expects.