Building Great Customer Service
2014 MICHIGAN WORKS! CONFERENCE
Purpose of this Presentation
Review the basic tenets of providing good customer service
Discuss the two types of customers
Examine the traits of healthy helping relationships
Reveal what customers really need
10 action steps
“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not
dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in
our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He
is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a
favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”
Activity
Customer Service Defined
 At your seats, please answer the following questions:


What is Customer Service?
What are the two types of customers?
 With someone seated next to you, take a minute and share a personal story
regarding the best or worst customer service you have experienced.
Self Assessment
1 = Underutilized
2 = Satisfactory
3 = Very Good
1.
Greeting customers with a smile
2.
Being helpful, even if there is no profit in it (above and beyond?)
3.
Knowing your product or service (other programs?)
4.
Listening to customers (content and feeling)
5.
Making customers feel important and appreciated
6.
Making things (services/processes) easy for customers
7.
Throwing in something extra (what was/is it?)
8.
Saying thank-you
N/A=Not Applicable
Ingredients of a Helping Relationship
Acceptance
Warmth
Respect
Healthy
Relationships
Empathy
Trust
Understanding
Ingredients Defined
 Acceptance is the act of relating to another person without judging him or her.
 Respect is an attitude of giving dignity to each individual.
 We practice empathy when we put ourselves in our clients’ shoes and try to experience their lives
as they experience them.
 We feel and experience understanding when we believe that another person has listened to us
carefully and thoughtfully enough to relate to our experience.
 Trust is a feeling that individuals experience when they believe that they are safe.
 Warmth? “An authentic sincerity.”
Egan, G. (2009). The skilled helper: A problem management and opportunity development
approach to helping (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks Cole.
Customer Service Skills
Attentiveness
Reflection
Active
Listening
Clear
Patience &
Communication
Professionalism
Attentiveness
Being attentive involves a sustained, committed effort to hear – truly hear – what another person is
saying, going beyond listening to the content of the message. Within a helping relationship, attentiveness
is communicated largely by how we orient ourselves physically toward the client (Egan, 2009).
S: Squarely
O: Open
L: Lean
E: Eye Contact
R: Relaxed
Reflection
 Providing good customer service requires individuals to serve as a mirror, reflecting back both
the content and feeling of their client’s messages.
1.
Since the car accident, I seem to have lost a lot of my self-confidence, and that makes
starting all over again even more frightening!
Reflection: You feel…………..
2.
I don’t have time to read all this stuff – just give me your summary of it!
Reflection: You feel…………..
3.
With three kids to take care of, there’s no way that I can consider going back to school to get
some new job skills.
Reflection: You feel…………..
Active Listening
 Listening is much more complex than
just hearing what is being said.
 It involves paying attention to both
content and feeling.
 It requires engagement and
confirmation.
Clear Communication
 Clear communication is essential to customer service – you need to know
what the customer wants and possess the ability to articulate what you can do
for them.
 Enunciation, speaking loudly enough, and employing an upbeat/positive tone
are essential.
 When writing or emailing customers, be sure to use proper grammar and
spelling, and choose words and phrases that convey an upbeat attitude.
Clear communication skills are essential in phone communication as well.
Telephone Etiquette Tips
1. Answer promptly (on the third ring at the latest).
2. Before you pick up the phone, end any other conversation you’re having.
3. Greet the caller, identify yourself, and ask if you can help (standardized).
4. Speak clearly and in a pleasant tone of voice (avoid speaking too quickly).
5. Be patient and accommodating.
6. When you put someone on hold, ask permission first.
7. When you end a call, let the customer hang up first—this will ensure that you
don’t cut the customer off prematurely.
Professional Appearance
“THE PROFESSIONAL IMAGE OF WORKERS
MAY BE WEAKENED IF CLIENTS FEEL
EMPLOYEES ARE TOO CASUAL TO BE
ENTRUSTED WITH THEIR BUSINESS”
(GUTIERREZ & FREESE, 1999).
“THE WAY YOU LOOK DIRECTLY AFFECTS THE
WAY YOU THINK, FEEL, AND ACT” (KAPLANLEISERSON, 2000).
Professional Workspace
A NEW SURVEY BY RETAILER OFFICEMAX
FINDS THAT 90% OF AMERICANS BELIEVE
CLUTTER HAS A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THEIR
LIVES AND WORK.
“YOUR PERFORMANCE COINCIDES WITH
YOUR WORKSPACE. WHEN IT’S ORGANIZED
AND PRECISE, YOU HAVE THE MINDSET AND
MOTIVATION TO WORK” (DEDE, 2012).
Professional Internal Customer Service
WHO IS AN INTERNAL CUSTOMER?
DEVELOPING OUTSTANDING
INTERNAL CUSTOMER SERVICE
Internal customers are our co-workers,  Acknowledge teammates with a
our immediate supervisors, and our
smile and a greeting
partners-- all of the contractors and
administrators within the organization.  Get to know your teammates
 Get the “big picture”
 Always close the loop
 Make your co-workers feel valued
 Identify and anticipate needs
“There's a remarkably close and consistent link between how internal
customers are treated and how external customers perceive the quality
of your organization's services. A commitment to serve internal
customers invariably shows itself to external customers. It's almost
impossible to provide good external service if your organization is not
providing good internal service." – Benjamin Schneider, University of
Maryland
What Customers Need
Providing Unbelievable Customer Service
Friendliness
Friendliness is the most
basic of all customer needs,
usually associated with
being greeted graciously and
with a smile. We all want to
be acknowledged and
welcomed by someone who
is glad to see us. A customer
should never feel that they
are an intrusion on your
work day.
Question: How do you ensure friendliness is conveyed?
Understanding
and Empathy
Customers need to feel
that you understand and
appreciate their
circumstances without
criticism or judgment.
Question: What can be taken from the message above?
Fairness
We all need to feel we
are being treated
fairly. Customers may
get annoyed and
defensive when they
feel they are subject to
unfair treatment.
Question: What characteristics/actions can we
display to relay the message of fairness? Does it
always work?
Control
Control represents the
customers' need to feel
they have an impact on
the way things turn out.
Question: How can you empower customers to take control
of their situation?
Options and
Alternatives
Customers need to feel
that other avenues are
available to getting
what they want
accomplished. They
realize that they may
be in uncharted waters,
and they depend on us
to be "in the know".
Question: What is your scope of practice and do you
have a referral resource network?
Information
Customers need to be
educated and informed
about our products and
services, and they don't
want us to leave
anything out!
+
Question: Who are your partners, what are their programs,
and do you know all of the resources available within your
office (not just your program or department)?
Ten Tips
Greet customers with a smile
Be helpful
Know your product or service
Don’t make customers feel inadequate
Listen to your customers
Employees will treat customers the way they are treated
by management
Feel important and appreciated
Make things easy
Throw in something extra
Say Thank You
Questions?
Contact Information
Aaron Leson
(269) 967-5460
aleson@michiganworks14.org
www.linkedin.com/pub/aaronleson/5/ba1/152/