Customer Service Tips for Safety People

OHS professionals have many customers-Their boss, managers, supervisors, workers, unions, employer associations, regulators, contractors, visitors and fellow professionals. You must adjust your mind-set to these people being customers and seek to satisfy their needs.

Customer service

The customer is king and you are stuffed without them. Always treat your customer like a king or queen or your competitors will.

There will be times when your customer is disorganised and a pain in the bum, when this occurs refer to the above.

I advise most people in organisations, regardless of how lowly their position, to think of themselves as an internal consultant. Their “customers” are their boss, their boss’s boss and everyone else they interact with and who rely on them, even though it may be in a small manner. Your success and future advancement relies very heavily on these people being satisfied customers.

The saying that “The customer is always right” is often wrong in my experience. Customers often have only a superficial understanding of their needs and frequently confuse wants with needs. A core skill of any consultant is to help customers define their needs and scope the work they want you to do for them. If you do not do this you can do what they think they want done and you run the risk of getting the blame when it does not get the desired results.

The following tips are given on customer service-

People always remember the person who served them better than the product
Remember your example will affect others
Remember people’s names
Be visible
Go the extra mile for a good customer
Never try to win an argument with a customer
Ask for regular feedback
What you do speaks louder than what you say
Always answer the phone personally
Keep promises
Listen to your customers
Be helpful even when there is no immediate profit
Always throw in something extra free

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More about George

George Robotham

George was a Legend in the Safety World who passed away in Sept 2013 but left us with a great legacy

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I have worked in OHS for most of my working life, many years in the mining industry including over 10 years in a corporate OHS role with BHP. Since leaving the mining industry I have worked in a variety of safety roles with a variety of employers, large & small, in a variety of industries. I was associated with my first workplace fatality at age 21, the girl involved was young, intelligent, vivacious and friendly. Such a waste! I was the first on the scene and tried to comfort her and tend to her injuries. She said to me “George, please do not let me die” We put her on the aerial ambulance to Rockhampton base hospital where she died the next day. I do not mind telling you that knocked me around for awhile. Since then I have helped my employers cope with the aftermath of 12 fatalities and 2 other life-altering events. The section "Why do Occupational Health & Safety" provides further detail but in summary, poor safety is simply very expensive and also has a massive humanitarian cost. My qualifications include a certificate I.V. in Workplace Training and Assessment, a Diploma in Frontline Management, a Diploma in Training & Assessment Systems, a Bachelor of Education (Adult & Workplace Education) , a Grad. Cert. in Management of Organisational Change and a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Hazard Management. I am currently studying towards a Masters in Business Leadership. Up until recently I had been a Chartered Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia for 10 years and a member for about 30 years. My interest is in non-traditional methods of driving organisational change in OHS and I have what I believe is a healthy dis-respect for many common approaches to OHS Management and OHS Training. I hold what I believe is a well-founded perception that many of the things safety people and management do in safety are “displacement activities” (Displacement activities are things we do, things we put a lot of energy into, but which when we examine them closely there is no valid reason for doing them). My managerial and leadership roles in OHS have exposed me to a range of management techniques that are relevant to Business Improvement. In particular I am a strong supporter of continuous improvement and quality management approaches to business. I believe leadership is the often forgotten key to excellence in most aspects of life. I hold the Australian Defence Medal and am a J.P.(Qualified). I have many fond memories of my time playing Rugby Union when I was a young bloke.