1 Arrangements

Learning Intention To understand the importance of Customer Service By the end of this lesson you will: Understand the different types of customers an organisation deals with Understand what customer satisfaction is Research methods of gathering information from customers

3 IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE SUCCESS OF THE ORGANISATION IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE CUSTOMER LIES AT THE HEART OF EVERYTHING THEY DO!

4 Who is the customer? INTERNAL Another employee within the organisation. Co-worker, another department, or a distributor who depends upon the employee to provide a product or service to them to be finished In general, internal customers don't have a choice. For example, if the sales department doesn't like accounting's credit policies, they can't fire that department and hire another. EXTERNAL Someone who purchases the companies product/service Have choice, and if they don't like your product or service can take their business elsewhere “anyone affected by the product or by the process used to produce the product” “anyone who receives goods or services produced elsewhere in the firm as inputs to his/her work in the firm”

5 What is Customer Satisfaction? Customer satisfaction is a measure of how the good/product or service provided by the company meets or surpasses the customers expectations – the extent to which customers are happy with a good/product or service Gaining high levels of customer satisfaction is very important to a business because satisfied customers are most likely to be loyal and to make repeat orders and to use a wide range of services offered by a business.

6 How do you know your customers are satisfied? Organisations regularly gather information regarding customer satisfaction this allows them to constantly develop and improve on the product/service which they offer. They can gather this information via: Questionnaires/survey - list of questions to be answered by customer by writing their response on a sheet Comment Cards – written opinions from customers which are placed in a suggestion box Telephone Interviews – customers are contact via the phone and asked their opinions Interviews in street/outside shop - discussions with customers on a face-to-face basis to find out their opinions Online Survey - questionnaire to be completed on the Internet either on own website or hyperlinked from another. Can offer incentives to complete e.g. free prize draw entry

7 Customer Service Policy A written statement of principles to ensure that the customer gets what they want at the correct standard, quality and price. Customer Service policies cover many areas and may include the following: Customer service statement Service standards Loyalty schemes Complaints procedure Market research Mystery customer Quality management systems