Effective Customer Service

Pages 54-57

Aims for today

• To understand the meaning of the term ‘Customer Service’.

• To appreciate the link between effective customer service and repeat custom.

Mary Portas: Secret Shopper

To understand the meaning of the term ‘productivity’ and how it helps a business

to improve competitiveness.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/mary-portas-secret-shopper/4od#3153701http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WV0SZN935g&has_verified=1

Marys 10 Top Customer Service Crimes!

• 1 Keeping too few tills open “So many stores are guilty of this. The worst is Tesco Metro when they

ring the bell to get someone from out the back and leave their finger on it, so it’s just Bzzzz. You’re in the queue thinking, ‘That bloody bell.’ I can’t bear it.”

• 2 Mute cashiers “Till workers don’t even say the price. They’ve lost basic

communication. You’re supposed to spot the price popping up on the screen, then they grumpily shove the Chip and PIN machine at you. Even worse is when they dump the receipt and the change into your hand in one ungainly lump. You have to faff around un-crumpling the receipt and fiddling the change into your purse. Horrible.”

• 3 Plugging inappropriate offers “At WHSmith, you go to the counter to buy a newspaper and

they offer you a £1 Galaxy bar. A massive slab of chocolate at 7.30 in the morning at Paddington station? Are you having a laugh? Yeah, you’re really understanding the mindset of the commuter there. How about just smiling and saying good morning?”

• 4 Assistants who don’t know their stuff “I was in Tesco Metro last weekend and asked for Yorkshire

puddings. He said, ‘Pudding, pudding…’ and sure enough, led me over to the bloody cheesecake. Staff who don’t have English as their first language – I’m sorry, that has to go in, whether it’s PC or not. Coffee shops like Costa are bad for this too. Full of people who don’t know what the hell you’re on about. DIY shops are the worst. Winding queues, nobody on the floor. Bank Holiday Monday in Homebase? I’d rather stick pins in my eyes. And ears.”

5 Shoddy fitting rooms “Primark and other ‘fast fashion’ stores? Loathe them. There’s a long queue to try anything on, but they say, ‘Only four items.’ You should be able to take a big armful in. And there’s nowhere to hang your clothes, so you have to put them on the floor. Except the floors are filthy.”

6 Too much stock on the shop floor 7 It’s a shop, not a social club 8 Signage overload 9 The hard sell 10 Most annoying phrases in retail

•‘If it’s not out on there, we haven’t got it.

8 Rules of Customer Service

1) Answer your phone.

• Get call forwarding. Or an answering service. Hire staff if you need to. But make sure that someone is picking up the phone!

2) Don't make promises unless you will keep them

• Reliability is key to any good relationship. • If you say, “Your new bedroom furniture will

be delivered on Tuesday”, make sure it is delivered on Tuesday.

• Think before you give any promise - because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one.

3) Listen to your customers.

• Is there anything more exasperating than telling someone what you want or what your problem is and then discovering that that person hasn't been paying attention?

• Let your customer talk and show them that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve the problem

4) Deal with complaints.

No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, "You can't please all the people all the time".

Maybe not, but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time - and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.

5) Be helpful - even if there's no immediate profit in it.

If you can do something now to help, do it. You may not make money from it now, but customers will be more likely to come back if you have helped them(E.G. Assisting a blind man in a Restaurant).

6) Train your staff to be helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable.

Do it yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to them about good customer service and what it is (and isn't) regularly. Most importantly, give every member of your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so he never has to say, "I don't know, but so-and-so will be back at..."

7) Take the extra step

• If someone walks into your store and asks you to help them find something, don't just say, "It's in Aisle 3".

• Lead the customer to the item. • Better yet, wait and see if he has questions

about it, or further needs.

8) Throw in something extra.

• Whether it's a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they were getting.

• The gesture doesn’t has to be large to be effective. • If you apply these eight simple rules consistently, your

business will become known for its good customer service.

• The irony of good customer service is that over time it will bring in more new customers than promotions and price slashing ever did!

What are the impacts of poor customer service?

Tommy’s new job

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=919IA_Lj0Ko

Melody And Keeley!

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOrhMcqx6vw&NR=1

Case Study: Pelstone Hotel

• Read Page 57 & answer questions

Homework

• Research and describe 4 Consumer Protection Laws including:

• The Sale of Goods Act• Trade descriptions Act