1. Delivering Customer Service Dr. Jean-Marie Jean-Pierre Sherita Mance Brian Villalva

2. Agenda What is Customer Service? Why Focus on Customer Service? Service Quality Give ‘em the Pickle Video! Four Things Customers Want Meet the Customers Key Points to Remember

3. Objectives To reflect on your customer service skills To challenge you to enhance your customer service skills To stress the effects of service quality on satisfaction and loyalty to customers To make customer service excellence a way of life in our organization

4. What is Customer Service? Customer service is an attitude on the part of every employee that the customer is important. Bill Peters, Vice President at Outrigger Enterprises, argues that a high quality customer service experience and live interaction between customers and agents are essential ingredients to a successful business. (Communication News, March 2006, 43, 3.)

5. Customer Service Encompasses: Attitude Knowledge Care Helpfulness Reliability Enthusiasm Responsiveness Concern Courtesy Expertise

6. Why Focus on Customer Service? Dissatisfied customers will tell 10 others while satisfied customers tell only 5 It takes 20 positive customer interactions to compensate for one negative one 96% of unhappy customers will not complain 68% of unhappy customers become dissatisfied because of poor service It is five times more expensive to get new customers than it is to keep existing ones

7. Service Quality Delivery No agreed definition on service quality among scholars. Consensus: Service Quality is dependent on consumers’ needs and expectations, and whether the level of service meets these needs and expectations.

8. Service Quality and Employees Commitment to service quality is dependent on the staff members who provide a high proportion of the products/services as well as loyalty. Loyalty depends on the development of interpersonal relationships, and the person-to- person interactions between customers and staff members are essential in building loyalty (Czepiel and Gilmore, 1987). There is a strong link between customer satisfaction and loyalty.

9. Service Quality and Trust Trust is a vital component of efforts to increase the visibility of a product/service. Trust is a belief that people should treat others the way they want to be treated. Trust is intangible and requires a social bond: One person relying on another, Connection to one another and to a community. It is earned through positive experience. A belief that an honest and open environment can bring out the best in people. Our service delivery must be sustained by trust if we have to enhance our image and improve our perception. Trust starts by putting the customer first.

10. Give ‘em the Pickle Video! Service – Make serving others your number one priority. Attitude – How you think about the customer is how you will treat them. Consistency – Set high service standards and live them every day. Teamwork – Look for ways to make each other look good.

11. Four Things Customers Want Friendly Care Service –Thank You Flexibility –Go the extra mile to meet my needs Problem Solving –Stay with me until we get it resolved

12. Four Things (cont’d) Recovery –Customers have no tolerance for mistakes occurring over and over again I am sorry for the inconvenience, apologize Fix it Do something extra Follow up (Is everything OK)

13. Key Points to Remember Everyone should be interested in how well you are meeting external customer needs. If a customer requirement changes, be prepared to change your process or system too. Customers buy your products/services because of the benefits they offer them. Today’s customers expect first-class service. If they sense that you are not putting them first, they will feel disappointed.

14. Key Points (cont’d) Customers will judge you against what you promised to deliver and what they believe to be acceptable standards. Help your customers succeed and you will succeed too. Make a list of your top 10 customers and talk to them frequently. Keep in regular contact with your customers. Remember that the end customer is the lifeblood of your organization

15. Meet the Users Open Dialogue with Users

16. References Presbury, Rayka et al (2005). Impediments to improvements in service quality in luxury hotels. School of Management, University of Western Sidney, Australia. Asher, M (1996), Managing Quality in the Service Sector, Kogan Page London. Crompton, J.L.and Mackay, K.J (1989). “Users’ perception of relative importance of service quality dimensions in selected public recreations program,” Leisure Sciences, Vol 11, pp.367-75. Cziepel, J.A. and Gilmore, R.(1987). “Exploring the Concept of loyalty in services,” in Czepiel, J.A., Congram, C.A. and Shanahan, J. (EDS), The Services Marketing Challenge: Integrating for Competitive Advantage, AMA,Chicago,IL, pp. 91-4. Crosby, L.A, Evans, K. and Cowles, D. (1990). “Relationship quality in service selling: an interpersonal influence perspective,” Journal of Marketing, Vol 54 No 3, pp. 68-81. CRM News Update #20 (October 2005). eBay: Managing Trust with 100 million customers. Groonroos, C. (2000). Service management and marketing: A customer relationship management approach, John Wiley, Chichester.