Customer Service -- 101 Training Nuggets: Customer Service – 101 This is one of the PowerPoint information presentations in a series of “training nuggets” designed for US Navy Community Support Program (CSP) employees, supervisors and managers. This one is intended for new CSP employees. You may also find useful for your locally conducted customer service training, for refresher sessions, as a “lunch-n-learn” starter, or as a meeting warm-up. Designer/Developer: Dave Hobson, June 2005 Extraordinary businesses are those that do ordinary things extraordinarily well.

Let’s Discuss… Who are customers? Your role – why care? Being the best! How to keep ‘em! How to lose ‘em! Loyalty Facts Responsibility Additional Info This training nugget covers:  Everyone is a “customer” – external and internal.  Why customer service is important.  Providing extraordinary customer service – what to do.  What NOT to do.  Everybody’s customer service responsibility.  Resources for improving customer service and developing professionally.

Who Are Customers? Everyone at work with whom you interact are your customers Everyone who purchases or uses your activities, events, products and services are your customers Your supervisor, your manager, and all of your employees are your customers, too You help achieve extraordinary customer service when you make each interaction one that is positive, effective, efficient, courteous, competent, thorough, and professional. This is your job! Customers include: • Sailors • Active duty from the other Armed Services and Homeland Security • Family Members • Reservists • Retirees • DoD Civilians • Guests • Co-workers • Your chain of command

Your “Service” Role – Why Care? Serving every customer well helps you, your program, and your organization stand out Providing good customer service is essential to: your job security future job/career opportunities how you feel about what you do When was the last time you experienced really top-notch customer service? Now, think about the last time you experienced awful customer service. Chances are you probably have stronger memories of bad customer service experiences than good ones. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), customer satisfaction continues to drop across most industries. ACSI is an economic indicator that measures customer satisfaction. In the fourth quarter of 2002, for example, retailers scored 74.6 (out of 100) in overall customer satisfaction. This was down 1.3 percent from the preceding quarter and down 3.9 percent from 1994.

Being The Best -- Everyday! HIGHLY EFFECTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE: Exceed customer expectations Find out how customers want to be treated Know the customer's needs are a priority Listen effectively to ensure they understand the customer Don’t take complaints personally Look and act like a professional Keep learning Keep teaching Smile genuinely Respect the customer Good customer service is not “rocket science”  Be nice, be genuine, be honest  Smile, make eye contact  Acknowledge each customer as soon as possible  Know your business  Serve each customer quickly, but completely  Determine what the customer needs/wants  Answer phone calls quickly  Resolve phone request without using hold or transfers  Have fun – enjoy your job – enjoy each customer interaction

How To Keep ‘em! #1 1. Be professional. Maintain a neat appearance and keep your workspace clean, organized and tidy. 2. Make every customer feel welcome. Forget the problem behavior you may have just dealt with – focus your energies on serving the current customer. 3. Always be courteous - manners matter. Treat customers the way you want to be treated as a customer. 4. Take each customer-problem seriously. When customers have a concern or a complaint, listen attentively and try to solve their problem yourself…, and as quickly as possible. 5. Follow through! Do what you must to solve the problem. Not every problem can be resolved the way the customer wants, but that doesn't mean he/she should receive poor service. Self Explanatory Discuss the 10 points on this and the next slide.

How To Keep ‘em! #2 6. Understand your customers’ needs and match those needs with correct solutions. 7. Know your organization and your activities, events, products and services. You will be better able to serve your customer, resolve problems, and direct them to another department, when needed. 8. Learn your lines. Take the time to master the technical and procedural ins and outs of your job. 9. Be a team player. Help those you work with. When a coworker is trying to help three people at once, pitch in. If the phone is ringing on someone else's desk, take the call. 10. Enjoy your work! Customer service is a demanding job. Find joy in the fact that you are helping people meet their needs. Let participant/s read this information. Ask if they have questions.

How To Lose ‘em! SURE-FIRED WAYS TO DRIVE ‘EM AWAY Ensure long waits Give ‘em the "run-around" Answer with, "That's not my job", "I just do what they tell me ", "We can't do that", and "our policy… " Bad-mouth your program, the organization or the competition Demonstrate your lack of product or service knowledge Be an "uncaring" customer service person Fail to follow-up Use the voice tone that says you don’t care Confuse ‘em with inconsistent body language Don’t Drive Your Customers Away! Ensure that these, and everything thing that makes you angry as a customer, never happens on your shift! If you do these, you should not be in a customer service job. If your employees do these to customers, they should not be in customer service jobs, either. That said, if in the press of work, you or an employee does one or more of these, do whatever is necessary to recover. Apologize, tell the customer what you did, apologize, then right the wrong. Recover every time you can. And exceed your customer’s expectations at every opportunity. Don’t do these!

Loyalty Facts! 1of 7 Did You Know? Only 5% of customers who have had a problem will ever complain to management; although 45% tell front line employees Most customers just go away because they believe their complaints will not do any good For every complaint you hear, there are 26 additional customers with unresolved problems or complaints and 6 of these are serious You will never hear from these 26 again – and they are the ones who could tell you how to make your business better Don’t Drive Your Customers Away! Ensure that these, and everything thing that makes you angry as a customer, never happens on your shift! If you do these, you should not be in a customer service job. If your smployees do these to customers, they should not be in customer service jobs, either. That said, if in the press of work, you or an employee does one or more of these, do whatever is necessary to recover. Apologize, tell the customer what you did, apologize, then right the wrong. Recover every time you can. And exceed your customer’s expectations at every opportunity. From the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

Loyalty Facts! 2of 7 Did You Know? 56%-70% of the customers who complain to you will do business with you again if you resolve their problem. If they feel you acted quickly and to their satisfaction, up to 96% will do business with you again, and they will probably refer other people to you A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about it. And approximately 13% of your dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people about their problem Your Program cannot possibly afford the advertising cost it would take to overcome this word-of-mouth, negative publicity Don’t Drive Your Customers Away! Ensure that these, and everything thing that makes you angry as a customer, never happens on your shift! If you do these, you should not be in a customer service job. If your employees do these to customers, they should not be in customer service jobs, either. That said, if in the press of work, you or an employee does one or more of these, do whatever is necessary to recover. Apologize, tell the customer what you did, apologize, then right the wrong. Recover every time you can. And exceed your customer’s expectations at every opportunity. From the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

Loyalty Facts! 3of 7 Did You Know? Happy customers who have their problems resolved will tell 4-6 people about their positive experience. You have to satisfy three to four, for every one that is dissatisfied with you. It's tough to work with a 4:1 ratio against you, which is why your customer satisfaction efforts are so important. Programs that provide extraordinary customer service can charge more, realize greater profits/participation, increase market share, and will have customers who willingly pay more for (or use) their products and services simply because of the extraordinary service Don’t Drive Your Customers Away! Ensure that these, and everything thing that makes you angry as a customer, never happens on your shift! If you do these, you should not be in a customer service job. If your employees do these to customers, they should not be in customer service jobs, either. That said, if in the press of work, you or an employee does one or more of these, do whatever is necessary to recover. Apologize, tell the customer what you did, apologize, then right the wrong. Recover every time you can. And exceed your customer’s expectations at every opportunity. From the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

Loyalty Facts! 4of 7 Did You Know? It costs five to six times as much to get a new (first time) customer as it does to keep a current one Customer loyalty can be worth up to 10 times as much as a single purchase The lifetime value of any single customer is worth more than the cost of returning their purchase price on a single item The rule of 10's: It costs up to $10,000 to get a new customer; 10 seconds to lose him/her; and up to 10 years for the customer to get over whatever made him/her leave you Don’t Drive Your Customers Away! Ensure that these, and everything thing that makes you angry as a customer, never happens on your shift! If you do these, you should not be in a customer service job. If your employees do these to customers, they should not be in customer service jobs, either. That said, if in the press of work, you or an employee does one or more of these, do whatever is necessary to recover. Apologize, tell the customer what you did, apologize, then right the wrong. Recover every time you can. And exceed your customer’s expectations at every opportunity. From the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

Loyalty Facts! 5of 7 Did You Know? It costs 6 times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an old one Customer loyalty is, in most cases worth 10 times the price of a single purchase A typical business hears from only about 4% of its dissatisfied customers --- 96% just go away! … and 91% will never come back! 13% of the people who have service problems tell 20 others It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident 7 out of 10 customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favor Don’t Drive Your Customers Away! Ensure that these, and everything thing that makes you angry as a customer, never happens on your shift! If you do these, you should not be in a customer service job. If your employees do these to customers, they should not be in customer service jobs, either. That said, if in the press of work, you or an employee does one or more of these, do whatever is necessary to recover. Apologize, tell the customer what you did, apologize, then right the wrong. Recover every time you can. And exceed your customer’s expectations at every opportunity. From Ruby Newell-Legner’s “Understanding Customers”

Loyalty Facts! 6of 7 Did You Know? If you resolve a complaint on the spot, 95% will return and do business with you again On average, a satisfied complainer will tell 5 people about the problem and how it was satisfactorily resolved Of the customers who quit your business, 68% do so because of an attitude of indifference by the company or a specific individual Long term customers are usually more profitable. A 5% increase in customers retention can boost profit by 25% to 125% A company can improve revenues by 49% with a 10% increase in customer retention Don’t Drive Your Customers Away! Ensure that these, and everything thing that makes you angry as a customer, never happens on your shift! If you do these, you should not be in a customer service job. If your employees do these to customers, they should not be in customer service jobs, either. That said, if in the press of work, you or an employee does one or more of these, do whatever is necessary to recover. Apologize, tell the customer what you did, apologize, then right the wrong. Recover every time you can. And exceed your customer’s expectations at every opportunity. From Ruby Newell-Legner’s “Understanding Customers”

Loyalty Facts! 7of 7 Where Do They Go? Where do customers/patrons go when they disappear? 1% Die 3% Move away 5% Float/seek alternatives or develop other business relationships or are influenced by friends 9% Are lured away by the competition 14% Are dissatisfied with the products/services/pricing 68% Are upset with the treatment they received..., or an attitude of indifference on the part of an employee Don’t Drive Your Customers Away! Ensure that these, and everything thing that makes you angry as a customer, never happens on your shift! If you do these, you should not be in a customer service job. If your employees do these to customers, they should not be in customer service jobs, either. That said, if in the press of work, you or an employee does one or more of these, do whatever is necessary to recover. Apologize, tell the customer what you did, apologize, then right the wrong. Recover every time you can. And exceed your customer’s expectations at every opportunity. From the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

Your Responsibility Work as if you own the business. Take ownership of customer problems. Make sure problems get resolved. You may have to ask for help, but be responsible. Customers are tolerant when somebody is willing to follow up and make sure problems are handled. Serve! Always be the customer’s solution, never their problem! Discuss your local customer service policies and practices.

Additional Info… #1 Read about customer service Attend additional customer service training Attend training relevant to your job Learn about your program’s activities, events, products and services Continuously develop your career You Can Do It! Extraordinary customer service providers sometimes seem like an endangered species, but there's always time to save it. Do something special for National Customer Service Week (October 6-10); it’s a great time to refocus on improving customer service – on improving how you do your job and how you behave at work. Commit to ongoing customer service improvement. Talk about customer service every week. Explore what customer service means to each employee, supervisor and manager. Videos: Borrow the “FISH” video from the Media Resource Center! Read the FISH book; introduce it to your team; and tell them what you liked about it. Buy copies of the book for your employees. Change/improvement will take on a life of its own when you read a book and are inspired to share it with your employees, supervisors and managers. Others Reading Recommendations: "Give 'Em the Pickle!" by Bob Farrell and Bill Perkins “Fabled Service” by Betsy Sanders “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles “Knock Your Socks Off” a series by Ron Zemeke, et.al “Service America” by Karl Albrect and Ron Zemeke … and many others

Additional Info… #2 Attend the following training opportunities: Star Service: Achieving Extraordinary Customer Relations (AECR) Star Service: Coaching for Extraordinary Customer Service (CfES) Star Service: Keeping the Skills Alive (KSA) MWR Managers’ (MWR MGR) Leadership Skills for Managers (LSFM) Professional Speakers: Consider using professional speakers to educate and motivate your customer service employees. Ongoing Programs: While indoctrination briefs, customer service training, one-time videos, and speakers each provide motivation and excitement, ongoing work is a must to create lasting change. uses a series of exercises designed to create discussion on how employees are dealing with customers and each other. Internal Programs: While companies have success with internal programs, external facilitators are often helpful. It's sometimes better to bring in someone from the outside because there is some more credibility. It's the idea that an expert is somebody from out of town." Making Change: Employees can create change. People hold the power to choose how they look at the situation and what they make of it.

That’s All There Is To It… Suggestions and requests to: Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) F&FR Training Branch, N947 Millington, TN 38055-6540 Com: (901) 874-6727 DSN: 882-6727 helen.turner1@navy.mil How Are We Doing? Please let us know if this meets your needs, how you use it, what you would add, delete, or change, and other “training nugget” subjects you would like to have. Thanks! Suggestions and requests to: Commander, Navy Installations Command F&FR Training Branch, N947 5720 Integrity Drive Millington, TN 38055-6540 Com: (901) 874-6727 DSN: 882-6727 helen.turner1@navy.mil