Winning The Customers

Winning the Customers.

WELCOME TO…. Customer Care and Complaint Handling

The “I’s” Have it! • Find a partner. • For the next two minutes, your partner and yourself are allowed to talk about anything in the world you would like to talk about. • There is 1 rule: • You cannot use the word “I”.

Aims of this workshop: • To understand what is meant by “Service Excellence” • To learn how to give “caring” customer service • To look at how we can change the customer’s perception of the quality of service that we offer

Remember! • We are committed to meeting other people’s needs • Today’s customers expect better service • By giving excellent customer service • WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

The Social Contract • We are all customers at some level. We give customers the respect and attention they deserve, simply because they are the CUSTOMERS. When we are the customers we expect the same in return. The Social Contract

Foundation for Customer Service ➤Let’s

look at the features of excellent customer care that would create a: ➤MEMORABLE

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE! ➤Time

work!

for you to do some

Exercise 1 Identifying your customers (1)Your

customers and internals partners depend on what you do to meet their needs?

Customer or internal partners.

What I do to meet their needs?

• --------------------• --------------------• ---------------------

• -----------------------• -----------------------• ------------------------

Exercise 2 (2) The work you do depends on the service you

get from your internal partners Internal partners.

• ---------------------• ---------------------• ----------------------

What they do to support me?

• -------------------• -------------------• ---------------------

Exercise 3 Memorable customer experiences 1.

Think of a time when you as a customer on the telephone experienced what you might describe as a extraordinary treatment. How would you describe the service?

2.

What did people say or do that was memorable?

3.

List the characteristics of your experience which led you to feel you were receiving extraordinary treatment.

Core and Customer Service • To give a memorable “ Lost for Words service” we need to give: • CORE SERVICE ( Action) • CUSTOMER SERVICE ( Approach ) • What’s the difference?

Core Service - Action • The product or service that you are providing, therefore: • customers expect the core service or product to meet their needs for quality

Customer Service - Approach • The “Service Delivery System” i.e. how you deliver the service • This includes how you communicate with the customer • Customers EXPECT polite treatment, you need to exceed their expectations

The Human-business model You communicate with people on two levels:  

The human level The business level

In Any Interaction Human level (To fulfill current human needs)

Business level (to accomplish external purposes and objectives)

Remember! • Starting and finishing all customer interactions on a human level makes the customers feel cared about and well treated. • RESULT: A Happy Customer!

Service Excellence • We can use these four steps to give excellent service: • Friendly Service • Flexibility • Problem Resolution • Recovery

Keys to Service Excellence • • • •

Knowledge Skills Attitude These are the key to success, you cannot give service excellence without all three

Service Excellence – Why Bother? Activity Consider the impact of good service on the following;

Group1 – Impact on our Customers Group 2 – Impact on our Business (B&Q) Group 3 – Impact on us - Staff

Barriers to Giving Service Excellence • • • • • • •

Computer Failure Fatigue Sickness Holidays Bad Communication Lack of Training ( As if! ) Personal problems

Exercise 4 Situations that cause concern • Think of a situation when customers you talk with over the phone are upset or angry. List specific situations that occur frequently and that are difficult for customers and causes concern for you. • Examples: customer placed on hold for a long time, customer complaining about service, charges, etc.for each situation note how often it happens (weekly, monthly etc)---------------------• -----------------------------------------------------------• -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exercise 5

Policies and Procedures-barriers to service • Choose a situation from ex-4 and write the exact words used to state your policy/procedure to customers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friendly Service • More than being polite. Customers need to feel that they are important. We can do this by:

• • • •

Showing Interest Listening carefully Giving Information Answering Questions

Flexibility • Customers don’t want to hear “No” • They want YOU to work out a way to get them what they want or need

Exercise 6 Practice Caring Responses •

1. 2. 3. 4.

Write a sentence representing each of the four A’s which you could use in your telephone conversation with a customer who made a typical request. Acknowledging---------------------------Appreciating-------------------------------Affirming------------------------------------Assuring-------------------------------------

Exercise 7 Applying the Caring Responses to your calls 1. Customer says: “ I’d like to extend the warranty coverage on my system.” Which caring response will you use?-----------------------------------------------------------------------What will you say?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2.Customer says: “I’d called back today to get a case number because I was told yesterday your system was down.” Which caring response will you use?-----------------------------------------------------------------------What will you say?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exercise-7 3. Customer says: “ I have a problem- I need to know where my certificate of authority is.” Which caring response will you use?-----------------------------------------------------------------------What will you say?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4. Customer asks: “when will the on-site technician arrive?” Which caring response will you use?-----------------------------------------------------------------------What will you say?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exercise-7 5. Customer says: “ I just spilled a soft drink on my keyboard. I don’t know what to do.” Which caring response will you use?-----------------------------------------------------------------------What will you say?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6.Customer says: “ my wife has just been promoted and we’re moving to Columbus. I need to know how to pack my computer equipment.” Which caring response will you use?-----------------------------------------------------------------------What will you say?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Problem Resolution • What is a complaint? • “A customer’s expression of dissatisfaction with any aspect of a company’s product or service.” • How do we deal with them? • The aim for us, as professionals, is to reach a positive outcome and leave the customer with a favourable impression.

Problem Resolution • Customers want to know that you will help them find an answer to the problem. You can do this by:

• • • •

Listening Acknowledging Solving Thanking

It’s The Way That You Say It! WORDS TO USE

WORDS TO AVOID

• • • • • •

No Choice: “You have to...” “You can’t…” Sounds Uncertain: “I’ll try…” Sounds Aggressive: • “What is the problem?

• • • • • • •

Choice: “Will you….” “I’m unable to because Sounds Confident: “I’ll do…” Sounds Interested “Can you tell me what the difficulty is..?”

I’m So Angry…..! • • • • •

Tips for dealing with irate customers…. Keep calm, don’t argue with the caller Find out what the problem is Use positive words Sound confident Don’t make promises you can’t keep!

Recovery • When a mistake is made, customers want it to be put right quickly and to their satisfaction.

• They want action that: • Recognises that a mistake has been made • Shows that you are trying to put it right

Tip! When you “recover”, your customer may often be more loyal than before.

Recap • Giving a combination of good quality “Core Service” that can remove barriers to loyalty, and “Customer Service” that relates to the customer on a human level can make a customer loyal by providing • “Lost for words service!”