Robbie King and Erik Smith want to help local businesses provide great customer service despite the numerous challenges employees face every day.
King – founder of Lead Augusta and Smith, owner/operator of Chick-fil-A’s Grovetown location, will hold an event called Building a Culture of Exceptional Customer Service, a customer service workshop designed for local business leaders on Tuesday, Nov. 9 from 9 a.m. to noon at 930 Stevens Creek Road in the ABD boardroom. “We want them to get some fresh, actionable ideas that they can implement into their own teams and organizations,” says King, who used to own Belair Donuts stores. “A lot of customer service skills don’t seem to be as sharp as they once were.” Only 20 tickets will be sold, and as of Monday, Nov. 1, eight or nine people had already registered.
He states the workshop will be interactive and include both discussion and team exercises. They will ask participants to share personal examples of both great and poor customer service. King and Smith also plan to discuss companies known for providing superior customer service, such as Chick-fil-A, Disney, and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. King says Ritz-Carlton’s customer service philosophy is “The answer is yes; what’s the question?”
For Smith, providing excellent customer service starts with hiring the right team members, so some of his job interview questions gauge how much a candidate cares about other people. “There are certain things you can’t train,” such as character, says Smith. He expects his employees to provide excellent customer service even when they feel tired or have a bad day. “Regardless, we need your best performance here on the stage,” Smith states. “We hold them accountable for that.” He also trains them to deal with the inevitable irate customers. But Smith explains providing excellent customer service doesn’t mean automatically saying yes to every customer request. “We still say no,” he says.
To register for the workshop, click on the QR code. Tickets are $49 each, which includes materials and a light breakfast, but Augusta Business Daily readers can save $10 by using the code abd1.
