Customer Service Flashcards
What is customer service?
Anything we do for the customer that enhances the customer experience
What must a service provider do to ensure good customer service is given? (3)
- get to know their customers
- get to understand their expectations
- strive to provide them with excellence
What is customer satisfaction? How does it develop?
The overall feeling of contentment with customer interaction
It can develop quickly or may be developed over a period of time
What are the two reasons excellent customer service is rare?
- companies don’t want to spend money on customer service
* they don’t want to take action to ensure customer service
What is customer service more than?
Having a great attitude or being a great people person
What are some reasons for change in the customer service industry? (3)
- people change (taste/eating habits)
- companies change their budgets
- the focus of a downtown/locale may change
What are the five needs of every customer?
1) Service - expect service level they believe is appropriate for the level of purchase they are making
2) Price - people want to use their financial resources as efficiently as possible
3) Quality - want products to be the best quality for the best price (much less likely to question price if company has good quality rep)
4) Action - need action when a problem or question arises
5) Appreciation - need to know that you appreciate their business (appreciation cards, member cards/rewards)
What is an external customer? What is an internal customer?
External: the customers we do business with outside of our organization (those we serve)
Internal: the people we work with throughout the organization (coworkers, managers, suppliers)
What are demographics?
Characteristics that allows customers to be categorized according to various criteria (such as age, Income, education, gender, marital status)
What are psychographics?
The study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria (like social class, hobbies, political affiliations)
What are firmographics?
Descriptive attributes of firms that can be used to aggregate individual firms into meaningful market segments.
They describe businesses, non-profits, and governmental entities in concern with things like number of employees, kind of business, hours of operation…
What are the four costs of losing a customer?
1) Loss of current dollars - over time can prove damaging
2) Loss of jobs - with loss of business, as many employees aren’t needed
3) Loss of reputation - word travels fast and dissatisfied customers will be quick to share their experience
4) Loss of future business
What are the 10 barriers to excellent customer service?
1) Laziness
2) Poor communication skills
3) Poor time management
4) Attitude
5) Moodiness
6) Lack of adequate training
7) Inability to handle stress
8) Insufficient authority
9) Serving customers on autopilot
10) Inadequate staffing
What is perception?
The way that we see something based on our experience
How is perception formed? (5) What influences perception?
Over time by:
- how we’re treated
- our values
- our priorities
- our prejudices
- our sensitivity to others
Influenced by momentary frustration and anger
What are expectations? What can they be?
Our personal vision of the result that will come from our experience
Can be positive or negative and can be based on customer perceptions
What are primary expectations? What are secondary expectations?
Primary: the customers’ most basic requirements of an interaction (ie. Hunger satisfied for reasonable price)
Secondary: expectations based on our previous experiences that are enhancements to primary expectations (ie. Good service, treated w/ courtesy)
What are the 6 techniques for exceeding customer expectations?
1) become familiar with your customers (likes and dislikes)
2) ask your customers what their expectations are (a sincere question may generate ideas)
3) tell your customers what they can expect (convey your commitment)
4) live up to their expectations
5) maintain consistency
6) communicate w/ customers using the method they want to use (face to face, email, phone)
What is credibility?
Made up of the combination of our current knowledge, reputation and proffessionalism
What are the 8 tips for cultivating credibility?
1) practice consistency
2) keep your word
3) develop your expertise
4) become a teammate w/ your coworkers
5) show your dedication to customers
6) treat all customers and coworkers with the same level of respect
7) apologize if you are wrong
8) remember credibility is harder to gain than to keep
What are values?
A combination of our beliefs, perceptions and ideas about the appropriate response to a situation
When choosing a workplace, one should consider how the values of the organization compare against their own as they may not always be the same
What are ethics?
A set of principles that govern the conduct of an individual or a group
What are important questions to ask in an ethically challenging situation? (5)
Is it illegal?
Is it fair?
How do you feel about it?
Would the court of public opinion find your behavior incorrect?
Are you scared of what those you trust would say about your actions?
What is problem solving? Why do most people avoid it?
An active resolution to a challenging situation
Most avoid it because of considerable stress and its perceived as unpleasant
What are the seven steps for problem solving?
1) identify the problem
2) understand the problems unique characteristics and possible outcomes
3) identify the requirements of a possible solution given the policies
4) identify possible solutions
5) select the best solution
6) implement the solution and inform the customer of details
7) observe and evaluate
What is negotiating?
The evaluation of the possible solutions to a challenge and the selection of the solution that is mutually beneficial
What are the seven steps to successful negotiating?
1) know your customers
2) ask questions (listen to spoken and unspoken messages)
3) know your policies and areas that are flexible
4) learn to handle yours and your customers anger appropriately
5) demonstrate a willingness to be flexible
6) consider what the customers may lose in the process
7) determine mutually beneficial solutions
What are the seven barriers to problem solving and decision making?
1) resistance to change (”we’ve always done it this way”)
2) habits (cellphones)
3) individual insecurity (confrontation vs discussion)
4) past history (“it worked before”)
5) fear of success or failure (unknown can be frightening)
6) jumping to conclusions
7) perceptions
What is follow-up?
Checking back to determine whether or not a situation is operating according to the initial plan
What is empowerment? What does it allow?
It is to enable or permit customer service providers to make a range of decisions to assist their customers
Allows providers to decide on their own whether or not a customers request should be granted
What is a purpose statement? What is a mission statement?
Purpose: declaring the reason for an organizations existence
Mission: declaring the mean by which the organization will fulfill it’s purpose
What are the 4 steps to empowerment?
1) paint a picture of what you hope to accomplish (inspiring reminder)
2) allow workers to own their empowerment choices (give responsibility and feedback)
3) reward and recognize positive examples
4) commit to the long term goal (changes don’t happen overnight)
What is coproduction?
When customers participate in providing at least part of their own service
ie. Self checkout lines, make your own salad bars, buying movie tickets online, paying at the pump, parents checking student grades online
What is self sufficiency?
Customers using new systems in place to meet their own service needs at a level that results in satisfaction
ie. Instructions, recipes, online bill payment (PayPal), shipment tracking info, how-to videos
What is communication?
The process in which information, ideas and understanding are shared b/w two or more people
What is customer intelligence?
The process of gathering information, building a historical database and developing an understanding of current, potential and lapsed customers
Customers provide this information
What is relationship marketing?
The process of cultivating a lasting and mutually beneficial connection with customers
What are the five methods of communicating?
1) listening (able to listen and understand)
2) writing (using the written word so there’s no ambiguity)
3) talking (using terminology others can comprehend)
4) reading (look at and comprehend the written word)
5) non-verbal expression (tone of voice, facial expressions, posture and eye contact)
What are the four barriers to good listening?
1) listener may be distracted
2) listener may have a closed mind
3) listener may be unwilling to make a commitment to the customer
4) listener may already feel that he/she has the solution w/out listening to the customer
