Empower your reps to handle situations on the spot instead of calling a supervisor and escalating the call. Give them the tools to use with confidence, in most situations they might encounter.

Give customers ample time to vent before questioning and problem solving begins. Don't fuel the fire by interrupting, not listening or not responding soon enough. Sometimes timing is everything.

The caring service culture your customers experience starts and ends with your collective management team attitudes. Listen to what they talk about and what's important to them and how they express those thoughts.

Become the Employer of Choice where people will stand in line to work for you, the manager of choice... because the quality of their life is richer because they work for you.

Treat your staff the way you want your customers treated and they come closer to meeting your expectations on taking care of the customer.

Tell your perfectionist CSR's to meet customer's expectations on callbacks. They have a tendency to wait until every detail is in place before calling. In the meantime, the customer thinks the CSR is inefficient, uncaring and providing poor customer service.

If you manage or supervise others, you have an UMBRELLA over those who report to you. You can create the culture that will motivate, educate, excite and inspire them. They can help you create it too. Mentor your people to be the best they can be personally and professionally.

If you move a CSR to Supervisor status, immediately give them management training (coaching, counseling and managing conflict and attitude changes from the former peers). It will reduce conflict, misunderstandings, and turnover.

Outbound calling from a customer service or order entry dept can drastically affect several departments in the company. Ex: By asking customers their opinion, a catalog company found their new leather purses needed to be redesigned with different hardware, displayed in the catalog differently and priced in a more affordable range. The outbound callers heard the feedback and gave it to R&D, manufacturing, marketing and customer service, so changes could be made and more purses sold.

If you have inherited or new people reporting to you, and the personalities aren't meshing, efficiency and productivity are lacking, or you're getting more customer complaints, it's probably time to FEED & WEED. Feed them all the tools they need to succeed and then weed out those who are not productive, goal-oriented team players. Have the courage to clean house.