Building strong internal customer relationships.
In our latest newsletter we started to discuss the differences between internal and external customers. There is a lot of focus on providing exceptional customer service and experiences for the external customer, but what about the internal?
Internal customers are people who make up the other departments that work inside or parallel to your business. For example, accounting, sales, engineering, production, marketing, suppliers, service providers and contractors.
The hard truth is that it’s difficult to maintain happy external customers if you have unhappy internal customers. Every point of contact made by an unhappy employee will negatively impact the external customer relationship eventually.
If communications run smoothly across all departments then overall productivity and profitability increases.
Here are a few quick pointers on how to maintain good internal customer relationships.
- Where possible, engage in face to face contact.
In the digital world it’s easy to send off a quick email, text or phone call however over the long term that has a negative impact on human relationships Instead, engage with people outside of your immediate network and improve overall communication.
- Be respectful of those who do a different job to you.
Just because it may seem menial or less challenging doesn’t mean their job isn’t valuable. Think of everyone as an important cog in a high functioning machine.
- Practise strong communication.
Be clear in instructions and take time to write them down if overly involved. Be transparent and approachable when someone needs help and avoid making assumptions, always clarify with the most relevant person.
- Ensure clear processes.
Make sure everyone follows the same processes and has basic understanding of other internal processes. This allows for better communication between all facets of your business or organisation.
- Take time to clear the air.
When a group of people spend large amounts of time together cliques start to form, personalities clash and tensions can rise. Try to address any toxic behaviour before it has a chance to fester and impact the morale of other staff and then eventually impacting on your external customers experiences.
Open communication will be your biggest asset in building a strong, happy and productive team. Not everything can smooth sailing all the time, however encouraging strong internal relationships will ultimately lead to positive external customer experiences.
Is it time for your team to sharpen up their customer service skills? Click here to find out more.