Great insight into the importance of appearance in customer service

1. Ken Barnes, DBA
Barnes Training and Consulting LLC

2. Class Objectives
Each and every one of us serves CUSTOMERS
By the end of this class series, you should be able to:
 Identify who the BHC customers are.
 State what customer service means in relation to all your customers, both
internal and external
• Recognize how your attitude affects customer service
• Identify your customers’ needs
• Use your outstanding of customer service to retain, attract and generate more
customers.
• Build good will through in-person customer service
• Provide outstanding customer service over the phone
• Connect with customers through online tools
• Deal with difficult customers
• Become a better employee.

3. Foundation-
Answer These Questions
 What is your job position
 What is your job description
 Who do you come into contact with while performing
your job functions?
 What comes to your mind when you hear the term
“Customer Service?”?
 What product does BHC Health sell?
 What do you perceive to be your weak areas when it
comes to customer service?

4. Importance of Customers
Customers are the most important people for any organization.
They are the resource upon which the success of the business
depends.
 Repeat business is the backbone of selling. It helps to provide
revenue and certainty for the business.
 Organizations are dependent upon their customers. If they do
not develop customer loyalty and satisfaction, they could lose
their customers.
 Without customers the organization would not exist.
 The purpose of the organization is to fulfill the needs of the
customers.
 The customer makes it possible to achieve business aims

5. Who are our Customers?
Customers are all the people we interact with, both
inside and outside our organization.
The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a
customer as “one that purchases a commodity or
service.”
There are two types of customers:
• Internal Customers
• External Customers

6. External and Internal Customers
 External customers : are what can be considered ‘traditional’ customers:
• They take our products and services and pay for them
• They exist ‘outside’ the confines of our own organization
• They are open to approach from our competitors
• They may not always be dependent upon us for products and services and may
switch away to our competitors
 Internal customers : are the people in our own organization who are
dependent on us for:
• Materials
• Information
• Instruction
• Participation
• Assistance
 Without which they cannot perform their tasks to maximum efficiency, and
this has either a direct or an indirect effect on the external customer

7. Who are the customers of BHC
Health
External
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Internal
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8. What is Customer Service?
Customer service is a series of activities
designed to enhance the level of customer
satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product
or service has met the customer expectation.
In our case, That our service meets and exceed the
expectation of our clients through what we do, say and
portray in our day to day service and ultimately our
company’s results.

9. 4 Types of Customers-The Ladder
 4 – Advocates
 3 - Regular customers
 2 - Occasional users
 1 - One-off purchasers
 The extent to which customers move up the ladder
depends on how well they are treated by the organization.
 Well focused sales methods and attention to individual
detail is likely to encourage customers to move up the
ladder

10. Effect
A lack of upkeep tells customers a few things.
 First, it tells them you don’t care what they think. If you
did, you’d at least make your facilities presentable.
 Second, it tells customers you don’t pay attention to the
details. For example, a restaurant that lets customers sit
on filthy furniture probably pays even less attention to its
kitchen, which customers don’t see.
 Third, a lack of upkeep usually means cost-cutting, which
might mean your business doesn’t have enough
customers to be successful. That tells a customer your
product or service doesn’t offer much value

11. First Impression
 It’s not possible to research every company you deal
with. Customers often let their first impressions guide
their evaluations of a business, according to the book
“Travel and Tourism,” by Hilary Blackman and
colleagues. If your facilities are rundown and filthy,
The employee appears unkept, new customers might
turn and walk out the door. Even if they stay, they’re
not going to be willing to pay much for your product or
service.

12. Discomfort
 Poorly kept facilities also make customers
uncomfortable. For example, suppose a lobby has
filthy windows, ripped seats and stale air. Customers
aren’t going to tolerate waiting long in that
environment, and if they do, they’re not going to be
optimistic about what your business can do for them.
Failing to make your facilities at least presentable
primes customers to expect a bad experience, which
could permanently damage their perception of your
customer service

13. Pleasant Atmosphere
 Contrast the bad feelings created by poorly maintained
facilities with the good feelings fostered by a clean and
pleasing atmosphere.
 When your facilities are in order, your customers know
you’re in control of your business and that you pay
attention to the details.
 A well-functioning business also indicates a steady stream
of customers, increasing the likelihood that your company
is good at what it does.
 The pleasant atmosphere puts customers in an optimistic
mood, improving their perception of your customer
service, according to the book “Services Marketing,” by Ravi
Shanke

14. Body Language
 • Always, when customers approach:
 Acknowledge their presence through eye contact, a
smile, or other positive indication that you know a
customer is waiting especially if you are on the phone
or with another customer;
 Project an attentive and welcoming body language;
and
 Stand up, move forward, or move closer to the
customer.
 • Always dress for success

15. Professionalism
 • Always be responsible and professional at all times.
 • Always have a great attitude.
 • Always take responsibility for knowing your subject.
 • Always be willing to go above and beyond
"reasonable" service.
 • Always follow through.
 • Always be responsible for uncompromising levels of
neatness.
 • Always take ownership of a situation.

16. Courtesy
 • Always be polite.
 • Always treat others how you would like to be treated.
 • Always make the customer feel at home.
 • Always, when possible, escort customers rather than
point out directions

17. Phone Etiquette
 • Always try to answer calls on the first ring, if possible.
 • Always when transferring a call, give the caller the
phone number first.
 • Always, when you put a caller on hold, check back
with them as quickly and as often as possible.