Because employees who feel valued are more motivated and more productive. Provide at least 40 hours of training each year. Establish clear objectives, so employees know what you want them to be able to do once they've completed that training. To be effective, training must be consistent and continuous and must involve everyone in the organization. But it is especial for your front-line employees, whose knowledge and behavior influence clients and customers to return to you.
Empowerment is a powerful motivational tool.
When you empower an employee, you are giving him the authority to provide exceptional customer service. That means bending, even breaking, the rules to do whatever he has to do to take care of the customer to that customer's satisfaction. Without empowered employees, no service, or very little service, reaches the customers. And, when there is little or no service, customers will not return to you. A recent Technical Assistance Research Program study found that each problem a customer encounters causes, on average, a 20 percent decline in long-term loyalty.