Question

1. Define customer service and list its goals and challenges. 2. What is the difference between internal and external customers? What are the benefits of serving both internal and external customers? 3. List the needs of customers. 4. What are the characteristics of a social customer? Why are “listening tools” important for providing excellent customer service? 5. What is a contact point? 6 - 7. Type the 2 customer service tips in chapter 1 word-for word.

Answer 1

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met.

Characteristics/Tips of Good Customer Service

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer's requirements are met. Customer service is meeting the needs and desires of any customer. Some characteristics/tips of good customer service include:

• Promptness: Promises for delivery of products must be on time. Delays and cancellations of products should be avoided.
• Politeness: Politeness is almost a lost art. Saying 'hello,' 'good afternoon,' 'sir,' and 'thank you very much' are a part of good customer service. For any business, using good manners is appropriate whether the customer makes a purchase or not.
• Professionalism: All customers should be treated professionally, which means the use of competence or skill expected of the professional. Professionalism shows the customer they're cared for.
• Personalization: Using the customer's name is very effective in producing loyalty. Customers like the idea that whom they do business with knows them on a personal level.

A customer service represent the company and help to develop the public's perception of the company. Customer service goals are specific goals and guidelines that a company puts into place to ensure every single customer is 100% satisfied with the services the company provides. Excellent customer service means meeting the needs and wishes of every customer in a timely manner. A customer should never get off the phone with a business or leave a place of business unhappy.

To put customer service goals in place, a company should make it clear to the customer service department what their responsibilities and expectations are. Having them set goals for themselves and defining how they believe they can provide the best help to a customer is also a way for them to familiarize themselves with customer service.

Some examples of customer service goals include statements such as:

• The customer always comes first. Your employees and your customer service department should always be available to help a customer or respond to their requests.
• Customers should be kept up to date and informed about your services.
• Know how to resolve every single customer service problem and who to contact if the employee is unable to fix the issue.

Challenges:

1. Having to serve multiple customers at the same time
2. Being time-pressed to give a response when you don’t have one
3. Facing an irate customer
4. Having no solution to the customer’s problem
5. Not being able to give a bigger discount
6. Admitting the lack of a feature or a product

Difference between Internal and External Customer:

Internal Customers and External Customers are basically those who purchase or buy the product of an organization / company / factory. The customer may be the vendor, distributor, and supplier or may be the end user. Internal customers and External customers are differing from each other in many aspects. Internal Customers are those individuals, division or employee who purchases the product of the company / organization being the part of the company in a way or other. External Customers are those individuals who do not belong to company / organization in any aspect or may be the end user of the product. Quality and quantity of the product should meet the demands of the External customer as he the end user of the product.

Valuing External Customers:

Without external customers, your company would have no revenue and no reason for being in business. You design products and services with the goal of pleasing these customers and meeting their needs. You solicit their opinions via formal surveys and informal conversations, and you may even adopt the customer service adage, "The customer is always right." When your external customers have negative experiences with your business, they may spread unflattering comments via online forums and in person by word of mouth. When they have positive experiences with your staff and your products, they'll give you repeat business.

Valuing Internal Customers:

The workplace experience your business gives your workers should be satisfying as well -- or else they'll have no reason to work for you, other than the fact that you sign their paychecks. When your business meets employee needs, the employees come to work with positive attitudes and the intention of doing a good job. If you treat your employees badly, your workplace environment will become toxic. Your employees will perform as well as necessary to keep their jobs, but they're unlikely to go the extra mile to do creative work and come through for you in a crisis.

Needs of Customers:

1. Friendliness
2. Understanding and empathy
3. Fairness
4. Control
5. Options and alternatives
6. Information

Characteristics of a Social Customer:

• The Conversationalist

The Internet is one huge water cooler and you have conversations about everything – spreading across a wide range of communities. Your customer is an incurable conversationalist. She gets out to talk, to share, and to ask questions. She seeks answers to her burning problems and looks for solutions from a morass of answers that’ll pile on top of one another.

• The Review Addict

Your social customer is a review addict. She thrives on social proof and she’ll do all she can to find out more about you. Everything about you that isn’t on your advertising, sales letters, emails, or website.

• The Natural Communicator

Basically, businesses and brands ought to behave. You have to respond to comments, attend to issues, solve problems, and cater to demands customers make. Social customers don’t tend to send out one-on-one emails on your ticket support system. Even if they do, what you do next determines what goes out on their social network feeds. They know how to communicate with power, passion, and authority. In fact, their followers or readers trust them more than they trust you.

• The Demanding Expectant

Today’s customers just expect. They want you to be proactive about your business. You can’t just launch and sit down to count cash. You’d, in fact, have to be on your toes – from launch to close. Your customer is demanding, almost child-like, emotional, and unforgiving. They now demand with a huge soundboard that involves tools such as social media, blogs, and communities.

Top benefits of listening to your customers

• YOU BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS

When a customer comes to you with some sort of a problem, your job as a customer service agent is to get to the point of their issue. You can do that by asking questions, listening and trying to understand their needs. This kind of approach, instead of talking and insisting on the one resolution that you think is the best, will benefit for you. Once a customer feels that they can depend on you, they will become loyal.

• YOU ASK AND RECEIVE FEEDBACK

Customers’ feedback can be a great source of learning. Especially when it comes from customers who are not happy with your product. They can give you an insight that will allow you to fill the gap between their expectations and what a company is able to deliver. Just don’t send them surveys that contains tons of questions. Learn how to get feedback from customers in the first place.

• YOU INCREASE SALES

There’s a big difference between a salesman and customer service rep who listen instead of just talking and selling. When you ask questions and focus on listening to the customers’ answers, you get to the bottom of their needs. This allows you to provide the solution that is right for them, not just the one that you want to sell. You also put customers at the first place, which they can feel and it makes them more likely to purchase from you.

• YOU GAIN NEW CUSTOMERS

Regular customers spread the word of mouth about good experience they got from your company. They are more likely to talk about it using social media. Invest in tools that will notify you whenever a discussion about your company occurs (I can recommend Mention). You can also look for discussions by using hashtags. Join the conversations and let customers know that you appreciate their opinion.

• YOU AVOID CRISIS

It may happen that you will not always get a good word of mouth. By monitoring your social media, you can react just in time to avoid crisis. Set up notifications from your Twitter and LinkedIn. Check your Google+ and Facebook few times a day. Read messages from your customers and respond to their comments under your posts. By being available to your customers on a short notice, you increase their comfort and trust in you. As the result, they can rest assure knowing that they can rely on you.

• WIN CUSTOMER’S HEART

There are many benefits of listening to your customers. But the most important is the strong relationship you create with them. When you listen to customers, you learn about their problems and pain points that need to be solved. You are also strengthening the bond of trust and that’s the most important part of any relationship.

Contact POINT:

Contact points are those points of contact at which businesses interact directly with their customers. This can include, for example, in-person communication, telephone conversations, interaction through the Internet, company-sponsored kiosks, and in-person customer support. Most businesses generally know what their customer contact points are, but many don’t seem to realize the importance of them!

When you think about it, most businesses have a very limited number of opportunities to come into direct contact with their customers. In fact, many businesses pay tens of millions of dollars (in the form of advertising) to fund a wide variety of ways that they can get their names and their products in front of their customers. What is amazing is how many businesses will pay big money on advertising, but then neglect (or mess up) the contact with their customers that they can get on the cheap, or even for free.

Customer Service Tips:

1. Your customer service team needs to have the right tools - There is just no substitute for knowing your customers. The right support tools make it easy. You’d be surprised at the number of meaningful conversations you can have when you no longer have to stumble around in the dark.It’s frustrating to be on the receiving end of support when the team isn’t outfitted correctly. I watched such a scenario unfold a while back with brand new software I was using.

2. Practice clear communication with customers

   Excellence in anything increases your potential in everything. There are few positions for which this applies more than support clarity in communication is paramount because it affects everything you do.