Customer service is not a static process. It is not something you can develop, put in place and then move on to the next project. Instead, it is a moving target. Change is a constant. Our existing customers have ever-changing needs and hopefully, our customer base is growing, making our mix of customers and their needs more and more diverse. What does all this mean? It means that we need processes to address the moving target.

Many companies do customer surveys and focus groups in an attempt to identify the needed changes. And that's good. However, your employees who interact with customers are also a great resource for identifying possible improvement opportunities. These are the individuals who know first hand what frustrates your customers; what your customers like and what they dislike. All too often, this valuable information is not captured because employees don't feel empowered enough to communicate the issues to the decision makers who can lead the necessary change.

Don't allow your greatest resource for understanding customer issues to go untapped. Eliminate the "that's the way we've always done it" mentality and challenge service providers to offer their ideas for improvement.

As mentioned above, listening to employees is a good way to keep current with your customer service process. It's also a good way to increase employee satisfaction. There is an enormous amount of research that indicates customer service providers do their best work when they feel part of a continuous improvement process. They want to offer ideas and know that those ideas are taken seriously. With that in mind, consider the following:

• Create a Customer Service Improvement Form that all employees have access to. When the forms are submitted, be sure they are reviewed weekly and considered for their merit.
• Create a team to review all ideas and be sure that company "decision-makers" are part of the team or process.
• Always acknowledge ideas that are offered, even if they are not implemented.
• If a submitted idea has future potential, communicate that to the employee and revisit the idea at appropriate intervals.
• Recognize and/or reward employees who submit customer service improvement ideas that are used.

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