CHAPTER 14

1. CHAPTER 14 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SKILLS

2. WHY STUDY CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SKILLS? • Important to satisfy both external and internal customers. • Outstanding customer service enhances a company’s reputation and leads to repeat business. • Employees who can satisfy customers contribute heavily to profits. • A good sales associate might be worth five or ten times an average one.

3. 11 CUSTOMER ORIENTATION BELIEFS (SAQ 14-1) • All work should be geared toward pleasing customers. • The real boss in any business is the customer. • Smiling at customers improves the chances of making a sale. • Dealing with customers is more rewarding than dealing with coworkers.

4. 11 Customer Service Orientation Beliefs, continued • Helping a customer solve a problem related to your product or service is enjoyable. • Offering steep discounts is not the best way to get repeat business. • In business, your customer is your partner. • A good customer is like a good friend.

5. 11 Customer Service Orientation Beliefs, continued • Being too friendly with a customer does not run the risk of him or her taking advantage of you. • Online shopping has not taken away the importance of the personal touch in business. • Satisfying a customer is fun whether or not it leads to a commission.

6. THE THREE COMPONENTS OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE • Functional clues are based on the technical performance of the service. • Mechanical clues stem from the sensory presentation of the service (smells, sounds, tastes, and textures). • Human interaction clues are detected from the behavior and appearance of service providers.

7. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION • Be satisfied so you can provide better customer service. • Receive emotional support from coworkers and management to give better customer service. • Understand customer needs and put them first. • Focus on solving problems, not just taking orders.

8. General Principles of Customer Satisfaction, continued • Respond positively to moments of truth (when customer forms an impression of the service). • Be ready to accept empowerment. • Enhance customer service through information technology. • Avoid rudeness and hostility toward customers.

9. THE SATISFIED EMPLOYEE • Interest in the work itself • A feeling of self-esteem • Optimism and flexibility • A positive self-image • Positive expectations about the job • Ability to handle customer abuse Satisfaction leads to service-oriented organization citizenship behavior.

10. EMOTIONAL SUPPORT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE • Emotional support of coworkers often leads to providing better service (more important than supervisory support). • Study showed that sales managers who were charismatic and visionary influenced use of customer-oriented selling. • Hair stylist study showed that charismatic and visionary leaders enhanced employee service (also increased repeat business).

11. UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER NEEDS AND PUTTING THEM FIRST • Basic principle of selling is to identify and satisfy customer needs. • Probing may be needed to help customer identify needs. • Add value to help satisfy customer needs. • Customer needs more important than needs of seller or company. • Active listening helps need identification.

12. FOCUS ON PROBLEM SOLVING, NOT JUST TAKING ORDERS • Effective selling uses sales representatives to solve problems not merely take orders. • Customer-centric sales process uses low-pressure selling, consultation. • Problem-solving focus enables sales reps to become partners in customer success. • Store associate can sometimes engage in problem-solving focus.

13. RESPONDING POSITIVELY TO MOMENTS OF TRUTH • Satisfaction or delight during moment of truth prompts repeat business. • Customer frustrated or angered during moment of truth may not return. • Customer perception of what happened during moment of truth counts the most. • Cycle-of-service chart summarizes moments of truth during service delivery.

14. EMPOWERMENT ACCEPTANCE • Empowerment refers to managers transferring, or sharing, power with lower-ranking employees. • Empowered customer-contact employees make decisions and resolve complaints. • Empowerment will still have limits. • For empowerment to work, employee must admit that company made mistake.

15. CUSTOMER SERVICE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY • IT plays role in recording customer preferences and individualizing service. • IT can help develop individualized appeals to customers. • Customer relationship management (CRM) software includes individualized appeals. • Preserve human touch when delivering customer service through voice mail and e-mail.

16. VOICE MAIL FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION • Vary your voice tone and inflection. • Smile while leaving your message. • Attempt to minimize telephone tag. • Use informative and friendly greeting. • Use specific, relevant information. • State name and telephone number clearly on your message.

17. E-MAIL FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION • Use customer’s name but check policy on first-name only (widely done). • Choose a human e-mail address, but to enhance professionalism do not have too cool an address (for example, fabgal23@gmail.com). • Be conversational, using human touch. • Use a signature, even if printed electronically.

18. AVOIDING RUDENESS AND HOSTILITY TOWARD CUSTOMERS • Rudeness and hostility toward customers is frequently violated rule of good customer service. • Store associates chatting with each other is frequent form of rudeness. • Rude treatment creates more lost business than poor product quality or high prices. • Hostility toward customer a problem, but less so when help is technically accurate.

19. CREATING A BOND WITH YOUR CUSTOMER • Create a welcoming attitude, including a smile. • Provide exceptional service. • Show care and concern. • Build a personal relationship (know personal details about your customer). • Invite the customer back (“Y’all come back now!).

20. DEALING WITH CUSTOMER DISSATISFACTION • Many companies survey customers to detect problem areas (see Figure 14-4). • Negative personality traits of customers can bring down your level of service. • Three approaches to dealing with dissatisfaction are (a) dealing with complaints and anger, (b) involving customer in problem resolution, and (c) handling an unreasonable request.

21. DEALING WITH CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS AND ANGER • Acknowledge the customer’s point of view. • Avoid placing blame on the customer. • Use six magic words to defuse anger (“I understand,” “I agree,” “I’m sorry.”) • Apologize for the problems created by you or your company. • Take responsibility, act fast, and be thorough.

22. Dealing with Customer Complaints and Anger, continued • Tell the difficult customers how much you value them. • Follow up on the problem resolution. • Do your best to make sure the problem does not happen again.

23. INVOLVING CUSTOMER IN WORKING OUT THE PROBLEM • Mistakes and problems in serving customers are inevitable. • To minimize perception of poor service, customer must be involved in deciding what to do about the problem. • Ideal condition is for customer service representative and dissatisfied customers to be partners in resolving the problem.

24. HANDLING AN UNREASONABLE REQUEST • An unreasonable customer request is almost inevitable at some point. • Customer who makes unreasonable request is usually aware of unreasonableness. • Stand ground with dignity and reasonableness. For example, be firm by repeating facts of situation, but keep your temper under control.

25. REALISTIC CUSTOMER RETENTION ATTITUDE • Some unrealistic customers may not be worth keeping. • Realistic goal is to retain as many profitable customers as possible. • Set limits for unruly customers, and see if their behavior changes. • Slow bill payers, non-payers, and high-maintenance customers might be dropped.