6.01B – FOSTER positive relationships with customers to enhance company image.

1. 6.01B– FOSTER positive relationships with customers to enhance company image. Business Management

2. Identify beliefs held by employees who have a customer-service mindset • Fostering positive customer interactions vs. negative • View negative customer interactions as a way to identify customer’s needs • View your work through the eyes of the customer • Define your functions with the customer in mind

3. Importance of exhibiting a customer-service mindset • Customer satisfaction = Profit • Goodwill/positive feelings develop • Gathers information about customer buying decisions • Avoids loss of sales • Avoids markdowns and sales returns • Avoids delays in sales

4. Occasions for exhibiting customer-service mindset When a customer is upset and angry, the employee should act quickly to correct the mistake. Employee should demonstrate a focus of attention on the customer when there is a problem.

5. Guidelines for exhibiting customer-service mindset • Measure regularly through customer feedback • Measure internally for employee satisfaction • Customer satisfaction = employee bonuses (incentives) • Link customer satisfaction to other business goals

6. Demonstrate a customer-service mindset • Employee shows clear, relentless, unwavering focus on the customers. • Internal customer (co-workers) satisfaction is important

7. Activity 1 • Divide Paper into a Clock- 12, 3, 6, & 9 • Make appointments for each time. • Write: Select an employee whom you can observe to identify that person’s efforts in exhibiting a customer-service mindset. Record your observations • Share them with 12 o’clock and 3 o’clock appointments. • 6 o’clock - Suggest/talk about how your experience could improve. What could they have done differently. • With your 9 o’clock create a list of the five most unique ways that employees exhibited a customer-service mindset.

8. Activity 2 • Read Article: “Creating the Service Mindset: Where does it Start?”

9. SERVICE ORIENTATION • Listening to and understanding the customer. Customer satisfaction is high priority.

10. The Relationship between communication and service • Clear communications from sales personnel will ensure customer buys the product that best suits his needs. • If there is a problem, then clear communication is imperative so that the employee can act precisely and quickly to clear up the problem for the customer. • Clear communication is again necessary in record keeping so that the data can be used to influence future business decisions • Clear communications to receive feedback from customers and employees on satisfaction levels

11. Different Ways employees demonstrate service orientation. • Greets the person promptly and courteously. • Pays attention to the person. • Asks questions to determine the person's needs. • Listens carefully and empathizes with the person's concerns. • Offers relevant information. • Summarizes to check for understanding. • Acts or agrees on a clear course of action. • Tries to do better than expected. • Asks questions to check for satisfaction. • Follows through. • Thanks the individual. • Takes surveys to determine people's needs. • Is courteous to citizens, clients, patients, etc. • Does not "pass the buck.” (Play the “blame” game)

12. Procedures for reinforcing a service orientation through communication • Use customer surveys to pinpoint areas for improvement • Use employee surveys to pinpoint areas for improvement • Develop a follow up procedure to determine levels of customer satisfaction after the sale

13. Activity Select a job in marketing, and write five ways or statements that an employee in that role could reinforce a service orientation through communication.

14. What is the purpose of Adapting communication to a client’s cultural or social community? • To avoid offending clients with your lack of sensitivity to their needs. • To better assist clients to make the right purchase for their needs.

15. What is the importance of context in communication? • Context is the surrounding story or thought process of a communicated idea. It is what helps get the point across. • The wrong context can completely skew the meaning.

16. Reasons for adapting communication to the cultural or social differences among clients. • Our market is very global and therefore impacts many different cultures socially and geographically. • The success of all companies depends on their abilities to understand cultural differences and work with them to keep all customers happy and well-informed to make the best buying decisions. • It is impossible to achieve customer satisfaction without clearly communicating product features and benefits. • Clients could be offended by your lack of understanding of their culture’s typical use of a product.

17. Skills associated with adapting communication. • Empathy – Risk taking – Problem solving • Being patient, flexible, and empathetic are key personality traits when dealing with communication barriers.

18. Different ways to adapt communication to the cultural or social environment of clients. • Language • Material culture (understand the way a country makes products and you will understand how they value the products) • Aesthetics (what a culture considers valuable or beautiful) • Social organization (what is acceptable in a culture) • Religious beliefs, attitudes, values, space and time

19. Activity – 1 2.02 Indicator Activity Scenarios • Partner with a classmate. • You will draw a scenario/situation and country. • You must develop a 3 – 5 minute presentation (EX: Powerpoint, skit, “how to” talk, life coach presentation for a client, “do’s and don’ts brochure) to show how you would adapt your communication style to the cultural/social differences among clients. • You will use www.cyborlink.com to identify cultural information, social differences, behavior expectations, and communication requirements. • Explain your situation to the class. • Present the information to the class and allow them to record how you adapted communication to the situation. • Ask classmates to explain what they observed about the country’s cultural information, social differences, behavior expectations, and communication requirements and how they could improve the communication.

20. Activity – 2 • With a partner, develop a skit showing how you would adapt your communication to the cultural/social differences among clients. • Explain the situation to the class. • Present the skit to classmates, while they identify and record how you adapted communication to the situation. • At the end of the skit, ask classmates to explain what they observed and how they could improve communication.

21. Explain the nature of customer inquiries. • Inquiries can be sincere or hidden • Ex: Sometimes “price” is the hidden problem and the customer will complain about color

22. Identify the types of customer inquiries • Merchandise • Defective, wrong size or color, damaged, improper labeling, not meeting customer needs, customer purchased the wrong product • Store personnel • High pressure sales, rudeness, providing insufficient product information, being inaccurate • Business • Unhappy with the number and types of services offered, unhappy with business policies)

23. Know your Company! • You must understand how to apply company policies to each situation in order to remain fair. • You must know the company capabilities in order to handle the customer inquiry rapidly and satisfactorily • Ex: Policies, History, Capabilities, etc.

24. Why product knowledge? • Product knowledge is a necessity in order to respond to the customer situation in the best manner. • Product knowledge is needed to understand the customer’s problem with a product • Understanding of the product makes it easier to understand the company policy in respect to the product

25. How to handle customer inquiries: • Listen to determine reason for complaint (shows a concerned attitude) • Restate the complaint (show your understanding of the problem) • Investigate the problem (determine how to handle) • Explain the store policy (desire to maintain fairness by following store policy) • Take action (quick action makes the customer feel important)

26. Demonstrate use of proper procedure for solving a customer inquiry in a marketing situation.

27. Activity • With a partner, create a skit that demonstrates the proper guidelines for handling customer inquiries. • Examples of possible inquiries: Merchandise, Store personnel, or business. • Using a performance checklist, evaluate the students’ demonstration. • Discuss your ratings with the class.

28. Term business policy: • General rule that personnel should follow in order to avoid misunderstandings and apply fair and consistent treatment to all situations

29. Characteristics of effective business policies • Goal should be customer satisfaction • Policy should be used consistently • Policy should be flexible • Policies should be well understood by employees

30. Why do business’ have policies? • The policies create a business image and help you to consistently maintain that image.

31. Types of policies that affect customers: • Purchase policies • Return and exchange policies

32. The employee’s role in interpreting business policies. • Employees are the ones dealing with customer inquiries and must learn how to apply business policies to each situation. • Clear policies must be communicated to employees so they will understand how to implement them.

33. Business policies should be interpreted when… • EVERY situation is unique and different, policies must sometimes be adjusted to fit the occasion while maintaining their initial integrity.

34. Guidelines for interpreting business policies to customers. • State the policy and explain how it applies to the situation. • Stress the desire to maintain fairness through the use of the policy • Remain calm. • Answer any questions on store policy

35. Demonstrate procedures for interpreting business policies to customers.

36. Activity 1 • Randomly put students into groups of 3 • “POLICIES & Customer Service – CAN YOU BLEND THE TWO?” • Complete ALL situations within your groups. • Draw for which situation your group with share their solutions to the class. Then discuss improvements as a class for each situation.

37. Activity 2 • Keep a record of the policies that have to be interpreted for customers at a school-based or work-based enterprise. • Discuss the findings with the class.