Ask the expert: Letters are embarrassing

By MARIE WILSON


Q: I am the customer services manager for a fairly large firm and have six staff working for me. Most of them write atrociously.

They are fine when they are dealing with customers on the phone, but their follow-up or resolution letters are full of grammar and spelling errors.

I don't want to play schoolmaster all day long and I don't have time to approve every letter that they write. What can I do? Poor communication reflects badly on the company.

A: Any performance problem requires that you communicate to your staff what is expected of them.

Discuss how their performance does not meet that standard, and then try to work with your staff to identify ways of making sure performance is improved.

So, first you will have to communicate your concerns. But what happens if they can't see their errors?

If they are word-processing their letters, most software has spelling and grammar checking included.

The first step may be to make sure these functions are turned on, and coach staff in how to identify and correct spelling and grammar mistakes.

As a back-up option, many service operations have form letters for common responses, which are designed to ensure a consistent and well-structured response. A combination of these strategies should result in improvement.


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Dr Marie Wilson is associate professor of management at the University of Auckland Business School, research director of the ICEHOUSE business accelerator and a veteran of 20 years in corporate management and small business.