Zappos employees having fun

Developing a service culture is a key step to providing exceptional customer service. Everyone in your organization is part of your service culture. From your managers to payroll department and even your janitor should align with the values of your business. This means customer service should be at the forefront of every idea and interaction, whether it be with co-workers or customers.

For example, many of us don’t think that people who handle payroll and employee benefits are not integral to customer service. But think about it. If employees are not paid on time or are unhappy with their benefits, this affects them. Who wants to perform their best or offer great service when their employer doesn’t take care of them?

Perhaps I’m preaching to the choir, but you’d be surprised how many businesses disregard the well-being of their employees. If you study companies like Nordstrom or Zappos, you’ll start to understand why they’ve been so successful. Their owners and executives have established a service culture which consists of values that everyone in the organization supports such as honesty, integrity, and compassion for other people. They live by these values not only in their business life, but in their personal life as well.

Now is the time to reevaluate your customer service initiative. Start with taking care of your employees and everything else should take care of itself.