Even companies known for having great customer service will be working to improve the level of their customer service in 2014.  Such a focus brings great benefits to an organization, ultimately increasing profitability. Here are seven ways to enhance the quality of the service your company provides.

1. Get Back to Innovation

Many companies have not returned to the level of innovation and investment they had before the major global economic crisis that took place in the last couple of years. Being more careful with capital, they halted all such expenditures. However, much has taking place in the market since then, and innovating is once again necessary to provide the level of customer service that consumers now expect and often demand.

2. Give the Team More Training

Organizations that provide effective and well-planned training strategies have a big advantage over those that offer limited training. Not only does more training for the team equate to averted customer crises, but also lower turnover rates and better organization-wide performance. While some use limited budgets as an excuse for not providing more training, the cost-benefit of having a well-trained team proves their excuse invalid.

3. Give Team Members More Power

Empowering team members to make decisions motivates them. Your support center shouldn’t resemble an ocean of minions with a couple of taskmasters standing over them. Let the team be a part of resolving strategic issues and even choose some of them to play tactical roles. Not only will this result in happier workers, but also better customer service.

4. Reduce Customer Wait Time

The days when it was acceptable to leave customers on hold or waiting in line are long gone; if they ever existed! As well, automation is no substitution for fast service from a real, live person. There are many modern and innovative ways you can reduce customer wait time, such as merging social media with your customer contact center and merging your CRM with your back office centers.

5. Promote Quality Self-Service Options

While many people consider providing customer service as something that must be done directly, improving on indirect means of providing service can increase customer satisfaction dramatically. By promoting quality self-service options, many customers’ complaints are avoided and happiness with the company increases as they are able to get what they need more conveniently.  Whether it’s updating equipment, or just providing better instructions, great customer service can be about how easy you make it for customers to get things done on their own.

6. Polish Listening Skills

Better customer service often means improving listening skills. Sometimes a listening ear, one that truly understands, is all that’s desired. It enables you to give them what they want, and can even reduce the amount of organizational resources needed.

7. Be Empathetic 

Empathy is basically the definition of great customer service. How else can you satisfy customers that come to you with their needs? Empathy is a skill that both you and your team must possess in order to provide better customer service.

Working to improve customer service as your company’s New Year’s resolution can boost both customer and employee loyalty, revitalize the organization’s work environment, and much more. These seven tips can help you accomplish just that.