Skills in customer service: A handbook

Communication skills

below please explain how each step would be used to provide excellent customer service skills.

• Face to face

Face to face helps provide excellent customer service by delivering/developing good interpersonal relationships. It allows the customer to engage with the agent better. In addition it allows the customer to feel important because the agent has given dedicated time to that customer.

By having a face to face it helps the agent gage what the customer needs and provide better customer service as a result.

• Telephone e.g. call centre

A telephone call to a call centre allows the customer to discuss their needs as and when it suits them. For example they are not governed by the shop opening times of Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm.

As it can be harder to understand communications via phone it means that the agent needs to listen more meticulously, this should therefore help the customer feel understood and appreciated.

• Building rapport

By building a rapport the customer feels as if the agent is interested in what the customer has to say and the customer feels as if they associate with the agent. By the customer feeling understood the customer is more likely to be free coming with information and this will assist the agent in providing the customer a better service.

• Effective listening

By the agent demonstrating good listening skills the customer feels as if he/she is important and that the agent wishes to assist the customer.

Affective communication is a two way process you have to listen in order to understand the problem then you have to be able to ask the customer relevant questions to develop as good a relationship as possible.

• Questioning

By probing the customer with relevant questions you can show that you have listened. It also assists you in aiding the customer to develop their travel plans. This ultimately gains higher commission levels for the agency.

• Developing a dialogue

Verbal communications is a key feature of as a sales consultant. By developing a dialogue you show interest in the customer, you can also show that you care and want to understand the customers individual needs to best serve them

• Non-verbal communication e.g. body language, eye contact

All though verbal communication is important, it is not the most used. Non-verbal communication is used around % of the time.

By keeping good eye contact with the customer you help to develop a sense of interest with that customer. In addition by ensuring that you do not cross your arms and leave your body as open as possible. This is because crossed arms demonstrates that you are feeling defensive and this creates an atmosphere of anticipation and potentially physiological discomfort.

• Written Communication

It is important to ensure that all written communications are written with good grammatical structure, that there is no spelling issues and that correct punctuation is used.

It is important to use the correct salutations as to not cause offense to the customer.

By ensuring that all documents are correctly structured helps to ensure that the customer is dealing a boni fied professional organisation.

Complaint Handling

Which skills could you show throughout each procedure?

• Listening

When dealing with a customer complaint it is important to show that you care. One important part of this to allow the customer to talk. By listening to what the customer has to say you can then start to work out how to deal with this problem. It will also allow you to prepare any questions you need to ask in order to develop the full scenario of the compliant.

• Questioning

By asking the customer relevant questions you can help develop a case file you need to best assist the customer. It also demonstrates to the customer that you have been listening to their problem and that you wish to help them resolve it where possible

• Empathising

By empathising with the customer you demonstrate to the customer that you care about what has happened and that you wish to do all within you power to help them.

Empathising can help the customer to feel as if they are being taken seriously.

By the customer feeling as if they are being taken seriously it means that they can believe that the situation will be dealt with in a professional manner.

• Understanding the problem

By understanding the problem at hand the agent can work out the best solution to resolve the problem. This may mean talking with other colleagues or referring the matter.

The agent can ensure that all segments of the situation are accounted for and dealt with.

• Taking control of the situation

By having one member of staff being in charge of dealing with the complaint it helps to ensure that the situation is dealt with correctly.

It also reassures the customer that they will be dealt with in a professional and competent manner.

• Agreeing solutions

Once the employee has deemed at least one suitable solution

• Follow up

Presentation of yourself

Show how a member of staff should be presented

Presentation of the organisation

Below explain how the environment should be presented

The exterior: The exterior of the store should be clean, this means ensuring that windows and doors are washed and that the path is swept and looks presentable.

Window displays should be structured: – They should be level, crisp and eye catching. The information should be clear and concise.

The interior: The interior should be well lit. The floors should be hovered and kept clear from rubbish and clutter.

The racks should be well stocked and the brochures on display should not be ripped or creased. Those that are ripped or creased should be removed.

The brochures should have a structure for easier allocating, i.e. brochures that are for worldwide travel should be in the worldwide travel section where as brochures that are UK tourism should be located in the UK tourism section. Staff should ensure that when they place brochures on the shelf’s they follow the companies racking policy.

Staff desks should be neat and tidy. This will help customers feel as if they are dealing with professionals.

Teamwork

Please explain the importance of the following when working in a team – ensure you explain each step and the possible outcome.

• Motivation

Motivation is important because it helps regulate an organisations productivity. Keeping teams motivated means that everyone feels responsible and helps staff develop a sense of importance and means that they put all there effort into their work.

By developing motivation sales are more likely to be higher and therefore the agent is of more benefit to the agency

• Team roles

When roles are defined to staff it helps to develop a structure, in return this helps to define what each employee is responsible for doing to achieve the business goals and objectives.

By developing a clear structure of who is responsible for what role means that employees can do work without necessarily interfering with others work, this means that work is done to a quicker and higher standard.

• Delegation of tasks

By delegating staff with tasks means that they have clear objectives and tasks that they must complete in order to be successful.

By ensuring that employees know what is expected of them they can develop a plan on how they will achieve this task and if possible exceed it.

This is then beneficial to the employer as it means that revenue is high, staff and customer moral is also high and will most likely lead to repeat business as the customer is happy with the outcome.

• Lines of authority

By having set outlines of authority it helps all subordinates to know who they speak to regarding problems In the long run this assists with ensuring that the organisation maintains effective communication.

By ensuring that clear lines of communication are kept it allows for problems to be dealt with in a quick and easy manner.

This means that a customer can have their problems dealt with in an effective manner. This will ensure that the customer remains satisfied with any problems that may have occurred.

What are the benefits of teamwork to colleagues, customers and the organisation?

The benefit of teamwork for colleagues:

By employees working together it allows them to tackle an issue with multiple views. This can assist them in finding the best outcome for that given situation.

Team work can help employees develop their communication skills. This can help them to become more assertive and feel as if they settle within the organisation.

By ensuring teamwork is a strong ethic it helps to develop a multi-cultural environment where diversity has a strong place within the organisation.

By developing a diverse environment it helps all employees to bond.

The benefit of teamwork to customers:

Good levels of team work means that employees feel happier and this can be sensed by customers.

By ensuring that customers feel good vibrations from customers from employee’s means that a customer is more likely to feel comfortable and purchase.

By employees working as a team it allows the employees to develop their competencies and demonstrates professionalism to customers. This helps to make customers feel more confident with the service they are to be offered.

The benefit of teamwork to organisations:

By an organisation having staff that work well within a team setting it allows the business to develop a good culture that allows for productivity to be at an optimum and in return means that profitability is likely to be higher.

This means that employees are more able to satisfy the needs of the customer and the customer more likely to offer repeat business.

If employees work as part of a team it can help an employer abide with discrimination laws as the employees feel more connected and less likely to discriminate against one and other.

Business Skills

What is the importance of having these skills for an organisation? Where could they help you within your employment?

• Completion of documentation e.g. tickets, forms
• Use of IT e.g. email, computerised reservations system (CRS), internet
• Business standards e.g. accuracy, legibility, business conventions