A common complaint from customer service representatives is: 'We are ordered to provide excellent service, but when there's a problem and we need another department's assistance, they don't come through.'
Internal customer service is crucial if organizations expect to provide value to external customers. Creating internal service standards that other staff members can count on is a beginning.
Members of each department should be part of a team, in league with management and other departments, when developing service standards. Each department then publishes the promises they make to the employees they serve in other departments.
Some issues you may wish to consider and quantify include:
- The minimum number of incoming telephone rings before answering
- The time frame in which to expect a check request to be fulfilled
- The number of days for claims to be processed/closed
- The time frame for information to be distributed from the printer(s)
- Turnaround time for a proposal to be prepared
Survey Internal Service Standards
Accountability is a critical key to eliciting desired behaviors. When employees are held responsible for services they've agreed to perform, they'll be more aware of producing positive results.
I recommend to clients that an internal measurement survey be completed quarterly. The survey should be quantified in order to calculate accountability. Evaluate support and cooperation received from other departments against their published service standards. Measure conformance to standards with a five-point scale.
5 = Always conforms
4 = Usually conforms
3 = Sometimes conforms
2 = Rarely conforms
1 = Never conforms
To achieve superior internal service, evaluate your own department as well as others, continually calculate your delivery points total, compare scores to those tabulated by other departments and in previous evaluations, and then establish the action steps necessary to enhance internal customer service.