Customer service involves how organizations meet the needs of their customers. It is important for retaining existing customers and attracting new ones. Good customer service differentiates companies from their competitors. It includes listening to customer feedback, both positive and negative, to improve products, services, and the overall customer experience. Complaints should be handled respectfully, efficiently and consistently to restore customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customers have various needs that must be considered, and customer service roles involve interacting with customers at all stages of the customer lifecycle.

1. Customer Service

2. What is Customer Service?
Customer service
= the way
organisations
look after their
customers

3. Customer Service is Important
• Part of the package of benefits that a
customer buys – i.e. part of marketing mix
• Provides a way to differentiate a product
• Helps keep customers & win new ones
• Makes customers feel valued
• Important source of customer feedback
• It helps attract and retain good quality
employees

4. The Link with Quality
Quality Customer Service
Products and
The way a
services that meet
business looks
customer needs
after customers
and wants

5. Competition is Heating Up!
• Businesses can’t be complacent about
their customers
• E-commerce and email marketing -
businesses can reach customers 24/7
• Technology allows products to meet
individual customer needs more
closely
• Increasing customer confidence in
complaining!

6. Roles for Customer Service
• Presenting an appropriate image of the
organisation
• Ensuring that customer needs are met
• Providing information & advice
• Taking messages & keeping records
• Providing assistance
• Dealing with problems & handling
complaints

7. Many Contacts with the Customer
• When a customer is enquiring about the
product
• Taking a customer order or payment
• Delivering a product
• When handling a complaint or problem
• When making repairs or doing
maintenance
• Providing after-sales care

8. How Customers are different
• Individual v groups
• Age & gender
• Cultural & ethic backgrounds
• Language
• Technical knowledge
• Income

9. What Do Customers Need?
• Safety and security
• Clear and accurate information
• Rights to be upheld
• Impartiality and objectivity
• Complaint, enquiry and suggestion
procedures
• Cater for special needs
• Ethical delivery

10. Types of Customer Feedback
• Positive Feedback
– Information from satisfied customers
– Confirms business is doing something right / well
– Encourages & motivates staff
• Negative Feedback
– Information from unhappy customers
– Vital indicator about what may need to be done to gain
and keep hold of customers
– Often obtained from customer complaints
– It is often said that the worst customer is an unhappy
customer who doesn’t tell you about it

11. How to encourage customers to complain
• Make it easy to complain: e.g. free phone
number; complaint forms
• Customer service feedback forms
• Train staff to listen carefully / look for
problems
• Reward customer feedback with incentives
(e.g. discounts, special offers, entry into prize
draws)
• Thank customers when they submit
complaints

12. Handling Customer Complaints
• No matter how good the product, or the level
of customer service, complaints happen!
• Complaints should be dealt with…
– Quickly
– Efficiently
– In the same way (consistently)
• Objectives for dealing with complaints
– Try to restore customer satisfaction
– Try to maintain customer loyalty
– Behave in a way that develops the business reputation
for being fair but sensible

13. Top 10 Customer Complaints
No Complaint
1 Being kept on hold for excessive lengths of time, while being told repeatedly how much the
organisation values their custom
2 Organisations which ignore basic consumer rights, e.g. taking back faulty goods and being
refused a refund and told to change it for another product
3 Battling bureaucracy to resolve a problem. Staff should be empowered to tackle complaints
immediately
4 Rude or over-friendly staff - both extremes can make customers feel uncomfortable
5 Anonymous staff who refuse to give their names
6 Broken promises - businesses should not make promises to customers which they cannot honour
7 Inflexible delivery times - businesses which refuse to deliver beyond a narrow, fixed time, or at
weekends
8 Lack of customer-friendly complaints handling systems - if it is difficult to complain, most people
will not bother. They will simply take their business elsewhere
9 Premium rate advice lines. It would be better to provide a Free phone numbers
10 No human voices on the telephone - mechanised systems which take customers through a
lengthy process only to deliver them back to the beginning

14. Ways to Keep Customers Happy
Action Why
Listen Listen to complaints and compliments. Don't be defensive – accept
criticisms as they will highlight areas for improvement. Let customers
know if you are acting on their suggestions
Build trust Keep promises. Deliver when you say you will. If things go wrong put
them right quickly
Take complaints Don't be dismissive or patronising. Have a customer friendly system for
seriously dealing with complaints so that if things go wrong, staff are easily
accessible to put things right
Get it right first Saves you time and money if customers are handled well from the
time outset
Make the most of Invest in training. Value them. Empower them to deal quickly with
your staff complaints. This will build morale and happy staff lead to happy
customers
Go the extra mile A willingness to delight customers is what separates the best from the
rest
Put yourself in Would you be delighted by the service you receive? Would you do
the customer’s business with you?
shoes

15. Mystery Shopping
• Method of market research
• Mystery shoppers hired to test
customer service levels
– Transactions
– Quality of service
– After-sales
– Store ambience
• Powerful feedback if properly
organised

16. Test Your Understanding
http://www.tutor2u.net/business/quiz/customerservice/quiz.html

17. Customer Service