Customer Service

BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

What is Customer Service? Teacher’s Guide SMSVCCU BPA/P Service Culture

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Overview

Purpose

This module was designed for students to realize the value of customer service and in doing so, set out to develop a service orientation. As an introduction to Customer Service Principles & Practice, a series of five modules, it seeks to create a holistic view of the practice of Customer Service and its significance to the current market set-up.

Participants

The participants of this module are students in the collegiate level.

Training Goals and Objectives

By the end of this session, students should be able to: Define and explain the importance of customer service in their own terms Discuss key customer service concepts and how they relate to each other Analyze the customer service component of different service companies

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Training Preparation

Checklist

Ensure that you have the following items during the training:  Standard classroom setup  Teacher’s Guide  Adequate amount of student handouts  Speakers  Projector (if available) NOTE: If a projector is not available, handouts will suffice.  Easel Sheets (should always be placed in front, visible to everyone in the class)  Writing implements: pen, paper, white board markers

Facilitator Tip

Before you deliver:  Have all training materials ready  Ensure that a projector is available NOTE: If a projector is not available, handouts will suffice.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Key Icons The table lists the names and descriptions of the icons used in this module.

Icon

Name

Instruction

Activity

Conduct an individual, paired or group activity

Best Practices: Skills and Behaviors

Relay best practices of skills and behavior

Debrief

Debrief an activity

Instructions

State or emphasize important points for the instructor

Discussion

Initiate discussion in class

Flipchart Notes

Glossary

Note important points such as steps, actions, skills, behaviors, and spiels on the flipchart (or whiteboard) Define key words and terms

Demonstration

Show the right way of doing a process

Role Play

Conduct a scenario-based role play

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Mechanics

Video Homework

Show the discussion duration, presentation slides, and pages on the materials used in the topic Access and show a video presentation Give the trainees an assignment or take-home activity

Handout

Provide handouts for the class

Toolbox

List necessary tools

Assessment

Key

Presentation Library

Give quiz, test or assessment to check understanding and knowledge retention Check given answers for activities, assessments, and assignments Access and show a PowerPoint presentation Provide additional resource materials for further reading

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Time-based Agenda

Topic Introduction What is Customer Service? Components of Customer Service Effective Customer Service Activity

Subtopic

Duration 5 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 20 minutes 20 minutes

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Introduction Duration: 5 minutes Presentation: Student Workbook:

MAKE your introductions. REVIEW the Objectives. STATE By the end of this session, students should be able to: Define and explain the importance of customer service in their own terms Discuss key customer service concepts and how they relate to each other Analyze the customer service component of different service companies

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

DISCUSS this Section. STATE or PARAPHRASE We define a customer as being one who purchases, receives and/or consumes products (goods and services), and as having the ability to choose between different products or suppliers. As customers, we purchased a favored snack or item of clothing all with an eye to what we want and need. We assign values to these purchases accordingly based on what we feel we should be receiving in terms of value. We are upset when an establishment fails to deliver a sandwich or coffee blend in exactly the way they used to serve it—perhaps coffee with a double dash of cinnamon, an extra bag of sugar, and a sandwich with enough mayonnaise and no pickles, all with a smile and the effortless nicety of asking how our day has been thus far.

We are upset when our mobile phone charger does not charge or when our internet connection does not connect. We are upset when we receive our billing statement just a few days before it is due. And we get more upset if we are charged an extra amount of cash for cellular services we never used. In all likelihood, we’re left fuming when accommodation reservations were booked on the wrong dates and that you have to wait at least a half hour or more to speak to someone who may just know how to correct the impasse. Then again, we might just write off establishments or brands that have caused us some inconvenience and proceed to look for better options. Understanding, dealing, and resolving these issues, among others, are what makes customer service a ubiquitous part of our lives as customers. In this module, we will explore customer service and what it is all about. We will discuss key concepts or principles and later analyze a customer service case to weigh its customer service values. Exclusive property of BPAP. This material or any portions thereof may not be copied, reproduced or distributed in any manner and for any purpose without the prior written approval of BPAP.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

ENGAGE students. POLL for satisfying and dissatisfying customer service experiences. LEAD a discussion using the following guide questions for class participation: 1. Can you cite any customer service experience? 2. Did the experience involve you or someone you know? 3. Would you say it was a good experience? Or was it bad? 4. In what ways was the experience good or bad? 5. IF student was involved: How did you react? IF it is a second-hand story: What did you think of the overall experience? Facilitator Note: Encourage students to share details (date/time, location, circumstances). This exchange is not meant to take too long, one or two students sharing should suffice.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Glossary Accountability The quality or state of being accountable; the obligation or willingness to account for one’s actions Benchmark A standard or a set of standards used as a point of reference for evaluating performance or level of quality; it may be drawn from a company’s own experience, from experiences of other firms or company’s in an industry, or from legal requirements Commodity A product or service sold for a specific price Company A commercial organization Contact Center A customer service facility that houses inbound and outbound communication channels of a company such as phone, voice-mail, email, website, and regular mail CRM Customer Relationship Management Customer One that purchases a commodity or service; a party that receives or consumes products and has the ability to choose between different products or suppliers; end-user Customer Care A division variant like technical support; also used interchangeably with customer service; assistance provided over the phone, through email, or with a live-chat interface for issues of a non-technical nature Customer Driven Offerings, plans, or strategies motivated by customer demand

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Customer Expectation A perceived-value customers seek from the purchase of a good or service; a contact center benchmark Customer Relations

Customer Relationship Management Process or tool used to manage customer relationships; CRM; a management philosophy that states how a company’s goals may be achieved best through identifying and satisfying customers’ stated wants or needs; a computerized system for identifying, targeting, acquiring, and retaining the best mix of customers Customer Satisfaction A measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation; driven or determined by customers Customer Service A series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction; sometimes used interchangeably with customer relations or customer care Customer Support Range of services provided to assist customers in making cost-effective and correct use of a product and includes assistance in planning, installation, training, troubleshooting, maintenance, upgrading, and disposal of the product; used interchangeably and loosely with technical support Product A good, idea, method, information, object, or service that is the end result of a process and serves as a need or want satisfier; usually a bundle of tangible and intangible attributes such as benefits, features, functions, and uses, that a seller offers to a buyer for purchase; also, commodity Point of Purchase Location or medium by which a product is purchased by an end-user; may be a store, booth, or other retail outlet, or may consist of an electronic sales environment such as a telephone-based ordering service or a website Exclusive property of BPAP. This material or any portions thereof may not be copied, reproduced or distributed in any manner and for any purpose without the prior written approval of BPAP.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Reliability An ability to consistently perform its intended or required function or mission, on demand and without degradation or failure Responsiveness Quick to react or respond appropriately Service A valuable action, deed, or effort performed to satisfy a need or to fulfill a demand; also commodity or product Technical Support User-friendly assistance for individuals having technical problems with electronic devices where a technical support team is composed of individuals familiar with the ins and outs of a device; may be provided over the phone, through email, or with a live-chat interface Ubiquitous Existing everywhere, or seeming to exist everywhere

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

What is Customer Service?

Duration: 15 minutes Presentation: Student Workbook:

The Service Cycle

In order to understand customer service, it is critical to understand how customers behave when actively in the process of making a purchase.

CUSTOMER ENTERS STORE

CUSTOMER LEAVES STORE Figure 1.0 Customer Buying Cycle

CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT

This diagram illustrates the linear movement of customers at the point of purchase. The buying cycle is apparently the same when customers place orders through a website or visits a local grocery store. Nowhere in this illustration is customer service figured into the equation. If customer service efforts were added into the equation, several stops in the cycle would be inserted between these key points of entry, purchase and exit. Exclusive property of BPAP. This material or any portions thereof may not be copied, reproduced or distributed in any manner and for any purpose without the prior written approval of BPAP.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

It may look like this:

Gets Store’s Exclusive Rebate Card via mail

Gets Coupons in mail from Product

Customer Enters Store

Figure 2.0 Service Cycle

Customer Buys Product

Customer Receives Samples

Customer Visits Sample bar

Figure 2.0 discusses the customer service cycle showing how various methods of providing customer service figure in a customer’s normal purchasing cycle. Here, customer service may occur before a purchase (pre-sale), or afterwards (post-sales). Following is a contrasting view of customer service and how best to define it as we learn to identify with customers.

Facilitator Note: The diagrams may be used as visual aids to illustrate certain processes.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

What it is NOT

EXPLAIN/PARAPHRASE Customer Service is NOT: Advertising a Tagline a Catch-phrase a Joke

Advertising Advertising is activity involving producing information to promote the sale of commercial products or services. As a branch of marketing, it also plays a significant part in making products known to different households. It provides information about products or services but is, by itself, definitely NOT customer service.

Tagline A tagline is text placed at the end of advertising copy that aims to catch and hold the interest of prospective buyers, and persuade them to make a purchase. Now, while a positive reaction to great customer service may result in customers continuing their patronage of specific brands or services, a tagline is NOT a manifestation of customer service.

Catch-phrase Differentiated from advertising copy, a catch-phrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. They originate from popculture and may spread through a variety of mass media, in the same way that famous movie lines may be used casually in everyday conversation. Indeed, catch-phrases are identified with the character from which they originated. By definition, a catch-phrase may be used to wisecrack about a situation. The same could not be said of customer service; it is NOT a catch-phrase and should never be treated like one.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Joke A joke may be a thing, concept, or person that is made fun of, an insincere and insulting imitation, or something that may be said or done in order to cause laughter. Sometimes also considered a witticism, a joke spices up regular conversation—it adds interest to a conversational topic and during a discourse helps to keep an audience engaged and awake. But while it does serve to add to engaging conversation, it does not serve the interest of customers per se. It cannot be considered a part of customer service no matter the perceived communication. It is unheard of that customers would think of substandard software as funny. In fact, and in all seriousness, customer service is NO joke.

Facilitator Note: Visual aids such as logos of well-known brands and their taglines, actual advertisements, some famous catch-phrases or jokes could be used to illustrate the points in this section. Some examples:

Advertising:

Image 1.0. Print ad version for Norton Symantec’s campaign on data protection

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Tagline: “It’s more than just data. It’s your life.” ALSO: “Protecting the Stuff that matters.” As shown (Image 1.0 on previous page) in a Norton Symantec campaign on data protection.

Catch-phrase: “Warning: This program can be habit-forming.”

DELIVER a joke.

ENGAGE students. POLL if the students can identify other advertising, tagline, catch-phrase and joke examples involving famous brands or companies, local or otherwise. Facilitator’s Note: A categorical differentiation is important.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

What it IS

EXPLAIN/PARAPHRASE Customer Service IS: • Process • Value • Opportunity • Orientation • Goal • Objective

Process As a series of actions or events, customer service does follow a series of steps that occur at the onset of a customer communicating an issue or concern, progress to actual issue resolution, and end with receiving customer feedback about the resolution they received. The steps taken in such a process differ from one organization to another. These processes are usually identified based on an organization’s goals or and/or objectives.

Value Also referred to as the relative usefulness or importance of something measured against specific qualities, value is normally assigned by the individual who perceives the object that is assigned this relative measurement. As such, the value of customer service is measured based on customer feedback, such as those received through voice of customer (VOC) or customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys from the end-consumer of this service: the customer. It is measured, more accurately, based on the customer’s subjective perception of the service they received. Therefore, this value is also a standard by which companies strive to work parallel with in order to meet or exceed a customer’s subjective perception. Exclusive property of BPAP. This material or any portions thereof may not be copied, reproduced or distributed in any manner and for any purpose without the prior written approval of BPAP.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Opportunity Opportunity precludes a favorable combination of circumstance, time, and place. As an opportunity, customer service is a means for a company to showcase the best that they can offer by way of pre-sales or post-sales support. In doing so, customers who are pleased by purchased products and services and other pluses develop a level of trust for the company that produces the quality output they appreciate. A relationship is born—and customer loyalty is it is biggest reward. Customer service is also an opportunity for customers to provide detailed feedback about what performance areas a company needs to work on, some ideas for developing new products, or about competitors and what they have to offer.

Orientation An orientation underscores the direction or way towards which companies are steering themselves. From this perspective, customer service may be the goal as much as it is a means to get there. Knowing the customer is an essential part of creating or programming a customer service orientation. Customer service entails seeking the customer’s point of view, “anticipating and responding to customer needs”, and seeking to develop solutions to customer concerns or problems. If we compare companies who have a customer service strategy or program against those which do not, often it is the company that practices customer service and shoots for service excellence that shows the active involvement of customers in the improvement of the products and services they provide. Indeed, listening to customers can help in all areas of a business from developing new products to finding out more about potential competitors.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Goal Referred to as a purpose towards which effort is directed, a goal consists of several individual objectives with an observable and measurable endresult. Broader in scope compared to objectives, it typically covers longterm planning and more generalized concepts. As a goal, customer service is evident in seasonal changes in how information about goods and services are communicated, made available, and managed across markets and geographies. It is also evident in longterm programs formulated by companies that have a service orientation.

Objective From a business standpoint, an objective is a more specific end that can be reasonably achieved within an expected timeframe and with the available resources. It is what is underlying all the planning and strategic activities of a company and serves as the basis for policy and performance appraisals. Typically, objectives are expected to be specific, measurable, achievable, repeatable, and time-bound.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Identifying with Customers

EXPLAIN Aligning with Customer Expectations When companies align with customers and their expectations, this means that they have resolved to employ every means available to find out more about their customers and what they value.

Venn diagram Company

SWEET SPOT Qualitative Approach

Quantitative Approach

Figure 3.0 To understand their target customers, companies align with customer wants and needs results gathered from both quality and quantitative approaches.

Essentially, understanding customer service means placing a considerable amount of effort into enhancing the customer’s overall experience with a product or service from pre-sales to post-sales. It occurs the moment the customers come into contact with the products or services that the different firms, manufacturers or service organizations offer.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

In Figure 3.0, the sweet spot corresponds to the best mix of customer expectations, wants, and needs, and the ability of the company and its products to meet those needs. From a broad marketing perspective, this may mean deploying personnel to conduct product surveys, to observing market trends through their stock market performance, studying their competition, and going to specific locations to observe the behavior of their target market or what approach works best. The process is both qualitative and quantitative in nature and the biggest companies today are known to practice a creative combination of both. Similar research is, in fact, done periodically to make sure they strategically align with their customers as accurately as possible. Assuming results of qualitative (discussions, informal interviews, observation, etc.) and quantitative efforts (survey, product feedback surveys, etc.) are accurate, this win-win situation benefits both the customers and the company wooing them.

Benefit(s) Customer

Company

Satisfaction, excellent product/service, comfort, convenience, post-sales service, discounts/freebies, accurate information, quality service Profit earnings, market share, satisfaction ratings, customer loyalty, positive or developmental feedback

Table 2.0 Benefits of being able to deliver what customers expect

Note that the terms satisfaction, excellence, comfort, convenience, accuracy, and quality and loyalty, are qualitative terms that cannot easily be assigned specific numerical value.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Components of Customer Service

Duration: 15 minutes Presentation: Student Workbook:

Understanding the Customer

EXPLAIN Meeting Customer Expectations When we talk about meeting or exceeding customer expectations, what we ultimately want to find out is if the customer’s perceived value of a product or service is met by the kind and quality of service they received. Ultimately, this means knowing what customers need. Professor Noriaki Kano of Tokyo Rika University, and his colleagues classify customer needs in an effort to measure their satisfaction levels: Basic Needs These are expected features or characteristics of a product or service (easy and legible forms, basic functionality) and are typically “unspoken” or left unsaid. If these needs are not fulfilled, customers are very dissatisfied. For example: Joey loves fries with his burger. Always. He wants them crisp-fried, slathered in ketchup and with a side of mustard and mayonnaise. He wants his burgers well done but not burnt. He wants them served hot or hot enough that you sweat when you take your first bite. Twice he found himself staring in disgust at cold fries; and he was sure he looked odd in response when the waitress said they had no mustard available. These were musts to him! So, he’d gone and brought his patronage to another store at least two times. Shaking his head he wonders: Why have burgers with no fries? What’s the point in having fries if they looked soggy? Why have ketchup, pickles, and chili sauce, but no mustard? Really! Why serve burgers and fries at all if no one can get them right?!

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Performance Needs These are standard attributes that can increase or decrease a customer’s satisfaction based on their degree such as cost/price, ease of use, and speed. Typically, these needs are “spoken” or voiced. For example: Anyway, Joey thought he’d try that burger joint near his place of work. It was convenient. The burgers and fries combos were affordable—he really didn’t mind them being slightly overpriced as long as it matched the quality of the burger AND fries. He’d been going to that store at least three months now—at least three times a week, one of these to get something for the kids for the weekend. On the third weekend, he saw the effects of the repeated Oil price hike and of course he had to say it (WOW five in the last two months?? he shakes his head). And now this…—the manager said they’d been putting off any price increase nearly a year now. OK. Joey didn’t mind. That is, not until the third month when he started noticing that there seemed to be a little less of everything: the fries box appeared looser, the burger patties appeared thinner than usual, and there was this one day when the ketchup could not have been more than a teaspoon. Hmmm… He’d better look for an alternative just in case.

Excitement Needs Also referred to as ‘delighters’, excitement needs pertain to unexpected features that impress customers and earns the company some “extra credit”. These needs are “unspoken”, and customers may or may not visibly or verbally express their delight. In contrast, while not getting these would not increase a customer’s dissatisfaction, receiving them would most certainly increase their satisfaction.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Example: So, now, Joey only went to this joint near work IF he had no time to go around town AND IF was in a hurry (he was hoping they wouldn’t be shrinking the burger any time soon!)… Now, this last place was just as plain as the other three. Joey thought they all had great fast-food ambiance. All clean they were. No weird greasy smell or greasy floor… But besides giving him what he wanted (crisp fries, ketchup to slather it in, plus mustard and mayo, and a great fresh-cooked fat burger), he was surprised when he got a Frequent Customer card that they stamp with cute animal shapes when you got the same product a few times. Four burgers and they gave you a little toy for your kid or a free sundae if the kids were too big for toys. For ten stamps, you got a balloon to go with a little toy or sundae, or x% off your next food combo purchase for your kid. What really got him though was that the bus boy was always smiling when he asked to be excused to clean Joey’s table. And the lady at the cashier’s was spontaneous as butter when she asked how he was, if he was having the usual, if he maybe wanted to try a new product, or if the traffic was bad and the weather manageable. What a great place! It always reminds him of that little burger joint from when he was a kid himself. Sure the place was no more and a few decades forgotten but it was all the really great people there that got him hooked on burgers (AND fries) in the first place. Understanding and identifying with a customer’s needs is the starting point of service-oriented staff. Then, after finding out what customers need, companies find and identify ways of making sure that these needs are met. From this perspective, ‘meeting customer expectations’ is really all about seeing eye to eye on matters of personal interest. It is a meeting of minds. Bottom line: ‘Meeting Customer Expectations’ makes customers feel valued. Exclusive property of BPAP. This material or any portions thereof may not be copied, reproduced or distributed in any manner and for any purpose without the prior written approval of BPAP.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

EXPLAIN Exceeding Customer Expectations WRITE this on the Board: Is it possible to exceed customer expectations? ASK two students what they think.

Facilitator Note: Students may feel intimidated once this is asked. If no one answers in the negative or even in the affirmative, very spontaneously: STATE

Yes.

CHECK for comprehension 1. CALL on a few students 2. SOLICIT an example or brief description for each listed point based on what they understand about what is listed 3. ENCOURAGE them to provide an example as well 4. ASK “How?”

STATE In providing an affirmative answer, there are critical points service organizations should always take into consideration: 1. An expectation is subjective 2. Individual expectations differ from one person to the next by degrees 3. Customers are human 4. When a customer makes contact with customer service personnel, it is because they need help 5. Sometimes, customers call because they have lost hope for issue resolution 6. Customers drive the success of a business 7. The difference between meeting an expectation and exceeding it is the extra cherry on a piece of cake

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

EXPLAIN each listed item. USE the students’ input if the answers are accurate. They should be able to provide a ‘how’ tangent to match the listed points. That is, how: 1. … is an expectation subjective? 2. … do individual expectations differ from one person to the next? 3. … can we say that ‘Customers are human’? 4. … can we determine how much help customers need when they make contact with customer service personnel? 5. … can we say that, sometimes, customers do indeed call because they have lost hope for issue resolution? 6. … is it that customers drive the success of a business? 7. … is the difference between meeting an expectation and exceeding it much like extra cherry on a piece of cake? CHECK for comprehension/retention re: Identifying with Customers Customer expectations Aligning with customer expectations Reliability Meeting expectations Exceeding expectations ACKNOWLEDGE all answers. If the answers are off-tangent, LEAD the student back to an earlier point of discussion or to the given examples.

ASK 1. What leadership skills MUST service personnel possess? 2. Do you have questions? (PROVIDE answers.) ACKNOWLEDGE answers and follow-up questions.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Building a Customer Service Strategy

STATE Part of ensuring that we focus on what customers need is making sure that we translate this understanding into a solid structure by building an environment that supports this exact orientation. One that works as a repeatable process. Remember that strategies are plans or patterns that generally puts together into a cohesive whole all the elements and aspects that complete it. In the case of customer service, this means identifying and then defining the critical items that will contribute to a service organization’s objectives.

EXPLAIN To build a customer service strategy: 1. Identify the target customer. Knowing our customer is really the first step in planning. When we plan, we identify and create processes that resolve issues, we draw up contingency plans, emergency and escalation processes and ways to effectively deliver the kind of service that demonstrates our commitment. It helps us anticipate and prepare for any eventuality. 2. Determine what customers WANT. Next to identifying our customers, we need to find out exactly what they need and want (or expect). What makes them tick is what makes our registers ring. 3. Establish an Organizational Culture supportive of Customer Service. Creating an organizational culture involves getting the buy-in of everyone in the team across the different departments and functions, and management. It involves capitalizing on individual and organizational values that would support the attainment of service goals. It involves hitting the right targets and making sure that processes are being put in place to contribute to the growth of the organization.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

4. Implement an Externally-Oriented strategic service concept. When we create a complementary culture, we really are establishing how the organization’s service is designed, marketed, and delivered to target customers. This is what people on the outside will perceive and learn about the company. 5. Implement an Internally-Oriented strategic service concept. Here, we establish how the organization’s internal processes will support the customer-focused vision. Happy employees generally give more to the organization and advocate its continued growth. Having them also means a fairly stable or consistent scoring on the customer satisfaction front. At the same time, leaders are expected to exhibit and promote the company’s values and support employee decisions and judgment calls. In a general sense, it means focusing on training and employee development, identifying the right objectives that would result in quick returns on invested training, and empowering staff. The Right People

DISCUSS An organization, company, or team is a living organism. It is made up of different parts that perform a function separately, and then together, while contributing to a service strategy. This is why organizations screen and then select the best possible people for different tasks. Apart from finding out what people could bring to the table, companies are now making it part of their priority to look for competencies that would help potential employees to work effectively and more efficiently within a diverse setting.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Service Standards

STATE Service standards are measurable performance levels or expectations that define the quality of customer contact. They might include, among others: Response time (or average speed of answer) Behavioral standards (quality legends) Customer satisfaction (rate of customer satisfaction vs. expectations) Service level

We also refer to service standards as performance metrics and they often coincide with previously identified service objectives. If anything, service standards allow leadership to evaluate, monitor, and then coach employees to performance in efforts to drive, attain, reach, maintain, or recover high performance. They are mostly achieved if and/or when key performance indicators (KPI) or conditions are met. Identifying specific performance indicators are also indicative of a company’s core values. Engaging the Customer as Partner

Customers are human beings who, more often than not, will be very happy to share what they know will work for the company. When they actively voice expectations and recommendations, they express a level of engagement in non-verbal terms. We can leverage this by treating them as partners in our development. Remember that when we treat our customers like business owners, we help create value for the company and build a more loyal customer base.

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Effective Customer Service Requisites of Effective Customer Service

A Word on Respect and Integrity Central to the practice of customer service are the concepts of respect and integrity as they apply to the principles of reliability, responsiveness, accountability and communication. As values, they provide a stringent framework by which service organizations operate. By stringent, we mean hard-line and uncompromising rules that expectedly enhance the customer experience. Most of these are based on sound common sense while some embrace the borderline between organizational policies and effective interpersonal communications.

Common Principles in Delivering Exceptional Customer Service: 1. Build a customer-focused business and sales will follow. 2. Understand customer needs and exceed their expectations. 3. Build a loyal customer base. 4. Welcome customer complaints and resolve them with integrity and efficiency. 5. Consistently study the customer and reevaluate the service. Notice that these principles reinforce the creation of a customer service strategy.

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Delivering Effective Customer Service

DISCUSS A Word on Respect and Integrity Central to the practice of customer service are the concepts of respect and integrity as they apply to the customer service ethic. As values, they provide a stringent framework by which service organizations operate. By stringent, we mean hard-line and uncompromising rules that expectedly enhance the customer experience. Most of these are based on sound common sense while some embrace the borderline between organizational policies and potentially clashing customer expectations. Moreover, effective customer service is simply an ideal concept towards which service organizations or companies with customer service leanings move. Simply: An organization is usually just as effective as they aim to be based on customer feedback regarding support received. Over and above this, respect and integrity are the very values that help sustain a service orientation. Without them, companies have been known to fail, fold, and consequently go bankrupt.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

Activity Duration: 20 minutes Presentation: Student Workbook: Case Study

Lemons and Lemonade CONDUCT an activity. GROUP the class into five (5) whole teams. ASK for a volunteer to READ the entire Case Study narrative. TIME the group discussions to only 10 minutes. READ Directions: 1. READ the case study and DISCUSS your answers. You will have 5 minutes to discuss the case study based on the guide questions in your student workbooks. 2. ASK the students to answer the discussion questions in an itemized manner on paper.

WRITE these on the board while discussions are ongoing: 1. IDENTIFY the main characters 2. EXPLAIN what caused the Client to decide that they would pull out of their service contract 3. From the problems or issues in the case study, RANK and STATE which problem the managers should have addressed first 4. EXPLAIN why your team chose to believe that this was the more urgent problem in the center 5. RECOMMEND a new customer service strategy in order to REDESIGN the center’s customer service orientation

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

When time has run out… STATE Before you begin working on what is written on the board…. READ second set of Directions: 1. ASK the students to ASSIGN a three-person team to represent them and have them go in front of the class. 2. Once all representative groups are in front, STATE that they will have to pretend to be the managers in the case study. 3. ASK one random team to answer a random question lifted from the Discussion Guide list. Each team will have their turn to answer the question assigned to them. Remind the students that they should answer as briefly and concisely as possible because they will be timed. 4. TIME team answers and stop the team from answering once the two-minute mark has been reached. 5. INVITE applause when the team finishes answering. 6. MAKE SURE all five teams get their turn to answer. 7. DEBRIEF the Activity. Facilitator’s Note: For this second set of directions, make sure the teams have only 2 minutes to answer. Only 10 minutes in total will be spared to this speed answering session.

DEBRIEF the activity ASK Why do you think we only allowed two minutes for you to answer the question you were given in front of the class? Do you have questions? STATE In a leadership role, managers are often faced with multiple issues for which they are given very little time to resolve the problem or provide an answer. In a mature and well managed service organization, however, leaders are ideally most prepared to deal with issues as they come, and in a holistic manner. In cases of leadership failure, a service-oriented organization would have been able to make adjustments to meet the needs of their customer.

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References and Additional Reading

Goleman, Daniel; Boyatzis, Richard, and McKee, Annie. Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Harvard Business School Press, 2002. ©2002 Daniel Goleman Evans, James R. and Dean, James W. Jr. Total Quality, 2nd edition, pp. 6785. c2000. Bell, Chip R. and Patterson, John R. Customer Loyalty Guaranteed: Create, Lead, and Sustain Remarkable Customer Service. Copyright 2007 Adams Business. ISBN-10: 1-59869-468-5. Turban, Efraim (2002). Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective. Prentice Hall. ISBN 0131854615.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

APPENDIX A: Case Study Lemons and Lemonade

The last few months have been hectic. All mid-level managers in an IT-BPO company, CTQ&A Ltd., are being asked to submit performance reports urgently after League, Inc., a leading software development company, declared their intention to discontinue their contract because of poor issue resolution. Should the contract end, at least 400 inbound technical support representatives would be left floating, if not out of jobs. In the long run, this would take its toll on the business since it would be costly to maintain the frozen headcount. The Client’s virtual call center was divided into two polarized groups: performers and slackers. At the moment, CTQ&A Ltd. is deemed a slacker. Management was hoping their business analysts would be able to provide an accurate picture of the crisis situation and reflect in their reports what issues needed to be addressed at once. A report submitted translated the results to be the result of poor employee morale and a need to revisit how frontline managers were managing Client policy changes that were put into effect within the last two quarters. Armed with this information, the Board of Directors tasked senior level management to work on a plan to salvage this account, save jobs, and keep the company afloat. The team decided on several means of addressing the multiple fires that appeared to be springing from different areas.

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BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

On top of calling for focus discussion groups and revisiting key performance indicators, management studied agent revenue generation performance for up-selling efforts and found a significant dip in actual sales right around the time when the update to Client policies was implemented. However, there was no apparent correlation between the company’s sales performance downturn and actual employee morale. In fact, it was almost ironic that CTQ&A Ltd. did not appear to have critical shortfalls in terms of customer feedback; the surveys were all returning— except that the scores were not exactly filled with praise. As a contingency, senior management felt that a meeting with the Client would require focusing on the enduring relationship between CTQ&A Ltd. and League, Inc. in order to buy time that would eventually allow them to turn their customer service performance around. Part of the contingency plan involved pushing intensive training that would help make the policy update easier to communicate to customers. General customer feedback from recorded escalation calls stated that the added security layer was not getting their issues resolved and this was turning them off from purchasing software upgrades or services. Clearly, there was a need to identify what issues did drive customer dissatisfaction. It is simply hard to resolve an unidentified issue. On top of this, the dynamic needs of the market only served to reinforce that there was simply very little time available to get agents off the phone and arm them to deal with the changes in client direction.

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Management decided that more candid feedback was perhaps critical if this was to be gathered from a sampling of agents that come from the different teams experiencing a higher attrition rate than most. Off the bat, it seemed the best solution was to employ the use of performance incentives as reward for milestone achievements, especially for tenured staff, and conducting program-wide activities to engage those who were less tenured. To-date, management has met with the Client and engaged their support in making use of pocket but high-impact training to roll out the new process and arm staff with information that would help address customeragent communication gaps. Meanwhile, the decision to address internal disquiet within the ranks has yet to be made. Naturally, another round of internal disquiet appears to be simmering in waves around the Operations floor and team managers are starting to see how it is taking its toll on resolution and compliance metrics.

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Discussion Guide

Following is a recommended list of discussion questions you may also use to develop quiz or homework items: 1. Based on the case presented, what problems are the managers faced with? 2. What caused them? Can you describe how these problems developed? 3. Do you think the situation should be treated as a crisis situation for customer service? 4. Do you think that employee morale has any bearing on customer service? Why or why not? 5. What characterizes good customer service?

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APPENDIX B: Syllabus

Course Outline I.

What is Customer Service? This module was designed for students to realize the value of customer service and in doing so, set out to develop a service orientation. As an introduction to Customer Service Principles & Practice, it seeks to create a holistic view of the practice of Customer Service and its significance to the current market setup. Case Study: Lemons and Lemonade A. Introduction 1. Objectives By the end of this session, students should be able to: Define and explain the importance of customer service in their own terms Discuss key customer service concepts and how they relate to each other Analyze the customer service component of different service companies 2. Glossary B. What is Customer Service? 1. What it IS NOT 2. What it IS 3. Identifying with the Customer a. Customer Expectations b. Aligning with Customer Expectations C. Components of Customer Service 1. Understanding the Customer 2. Building a Customer Service Strategy 3. The Right People 4. Service Standards 5. Engaging the Customer as a Partner

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D. Effective Customer Service 1. Requisites of Effective Customer Service 2. Delivering Effective Customer Service E. Activity: Case Study F. Summary

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