2.02 – FOSTER positive relationships with customers to enhance company image.

1. 2.02 – FOSTER positive relationships with customers to enhance company image. Marketing 6621

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 Select an employee whom you can observe to identify that person’s efforts in exhibiting a customer-service mindset. Record your observations, and share them with a small group of classmates. As a group, create a list of the five most unique ways that employees exhibited a customer-service mindset.

8. Service orientation • Listening to and understanding the customer. Customer satisfaction is high priority.

9. 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

10. 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)

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

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

17. 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

18. Activity • 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.