11 Smart Ways to Improve Employee and Customer Communication

How well do your employees communicate with customers? “Researchers have shown a direct connection between employee and customer behaviors in which employee attempts to improve customer satisfaction led to increased customer spending and therefore profitability,” according to Cutting Edge PR.

How employees interact with customers is directly linked to profitability. So we asked entrepreneurs to reveal their best tips on how to improve employee and customer communication. Here’s what they had to say:

1. Teach employees “how to” communication.

“It is important that you focus your employee training on the ‘how to’ areas. Try to make it as simple as possible, but also make sure that you are specific. Give your employees realistic scenarios. Details will help your employees understand better. So will practical examples and demonstrations.’

– Dan Adika, CEO of WalkMe, @DanAdika

2. Be forgiving at first.

“Starting a new job means it will take some time to become familiar with procedures, so mistakes can happen. If your new hires are honest and admit to their mistakes, be forgiving toward them. This will encourage good communication, which will reflect in their communication with customers.”

– Joshua Swanson, Co-Founder and CEO of GoToMyApartment, @Joshua_Swanson

3. Emphasize company values.

“Internalize company’s values among your employees during the on-boarding period. Your new employees invariably will come across situations that they haven’t been trained to deal with. Values don’t change when a situation evolves into something unique, and as long as the new employee knows what values they are expected to adhere to, then those values will be expressed in their communication.”

– Matthew Murray, Managing Director of Sales Higher, @Sales_Higher

4. Train employees on customer profiles.

“Train new hires on understanding your ideal customer(s) by [creating] customer profiles. Share with them details on who the customer is, what their motivations for buying from the business are, what their life situation is, and what fears they may have when dealing with your company.”

– Casey Gollan, Director of Casey Gollan Business Coaching, @caseygollan

5. Ensure employees understand they are customer advocates.

“New hires are launched, head first, into a wide variety of customer communications. We are responsible to hire for intelligence, empathy and cultural fit.  We must then train them to quickly understand exactly what the customer is expecting to accomplish by using our products and communicating with us.  Only after understanding their primary role as a customer advocate can we train them on processes and procedures.”

– Daniel James Scott, Founder of Alorum, @sparkcatalyst

6. Train employees with three tools.

“Ensure the success of your employees by using the following three tools. First, a talking script that they use when calling and communicating with customers. Secondly, train with mock situations, workshops, and procedural/training manuals. Finally, use a shadow program where each new hire is buddied with a mentor or more experienced employee.”

– Laura Lee Rose, Business and Efficiency Coach at Rose Coaching, LLC., @Laura_Lee_Rose