Customer Service

Question 1

What is customer service?

Answer 1

Anything we do for the customer that enhances the customer experience

Question 2

What must a service provider do to ensure good customer service is given? (3)

Answer 2

• get to know their customers
• get to understand their expectations
• strive to provide them with excellence

Question 3

What is customer satisfaction? How does it develop?

Answer 3

The overall feeling of contentment with customer interaction

It can develop quickly or may be developed over a period of time

Question 4

What are the two reasons excellent customer service is rare?

Answer 4

• companies don’t want to spend money on customer service

* they don’t want to take action to ensure customer service

Question 5

What is customer service more than?

Answer 5

Having a great attitude or being a great people person

Question 6

What are some reasons for change in the customer service industry? (3)

Answer 6

• people change (taste/eating habits)
• companies change their budgets
• the focus of a downtown/locale may change

Question 7

What are the five needs of every customer?

Answer 7

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)

Question 8

What is an external customer? What is an internal customer?

Answer 8

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)

Question 9

What are demographics?

Answer 9

Characteristics that allows customers to be categorized according to various criteria (such as age, Income, education, gender, marital status)

Question 10

What are psychographics?

Answer 10

The study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria (like social class, hobbies, political affiliations)

Question 11

What are firmographics?

Answer 11

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…

Question 12

What are the four costs of losing a customer?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What are the 10 barriers to excellent customer service?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What is perception?

Answer 14

The way that we see something based on our experience

Question 15

How is perception formed? (5) What influences perception?

Answer 15

Over time by:

• how we’re treated
• our values
• our priorities
• our prejudices
• our sensitivity to others

Influenced by momentary frustration and anger

Question 16

What are expectations? What can they be?

Answer 16

Our personal vision of the result that will come from our experience

Can be positive or negative and can be based on customer perceptions

Question 17

What are primary expectations? What are secondary expectations?

Answer 17

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)

Question 18

What are the 6 techniques for exceeding customer expectations?

Answer 18

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)

Question 19

What is credibility?

Answer 19

Made up of the combination of our current knowledge, reputation and proffessionalism

Question 20

What are the 8 tips for cultivating credibility?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What are values?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What are ethics?

Answer 22

A set of principles that govern the conduct of an individual or a group

Question 22

What are important questions to ask in an ethically challenging situation? (5)

Answer 22

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?

Question 23

What is problem solving? Why do most people avoid it?

Answer 23

An active resolution to a challenging situation

Most avoid it because of considerable stress and its perceived as unpleasant

Question 24

What are the seven steps for problem solving?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

What is negotiating?

Answer 25

The evaluation of the possible solutions to a challenge and the selection of the solution that is mutually beneficial

Question 25

What are the seven steps to successful negotiating?

Answer 25

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

Question 26

What are the seven barriers to problem solving and decision making?

Answer 26

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

Question 26

What is follow-up?

Answer 26

Checking back to determine whether or not a situation is operating according to the initial plan

Question 27

What is empowerment? What does it allow?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

What is a purpose statement? What is a mission statement?

Answer 28

Purpose: declaring the reason for an organizations existence

Mission: declaring the mean by which the organization will fulfill it’s purpose

Question 29

What are the 4 steps to empowerment?

Answer 29

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)

Question 30

What is coproduction?

Answer 30

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

Question 32

What is self sufficiency?

Answer 32

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

Question 34

What is communication?

Answer 34

The process in which information, ideas and understanding are shared b/w two or more people

Question 36

What is customer intelligence?

Answer 36

The process of gathering information, building a historical database and developing an understanding of current, potential and lapsed customers

Customers provide this information

Question 37

What is relationship marketing?

Answer 37

The process of cultivating a lasting and mutually beneficial connection with customers

Question 38

What are the five methods of communicating?

Answer 38

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)

Question 39

What are the four barriers to good listening?

Answer 39

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