Chapter Six Recognize and Deal with Customer Turnoffs

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 2 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Everyone has pet peeves about the way they are served, or not served. Often these little annoyances have a cumulative effect, making a dissatisfied customer or, minimally, an indifferent one.

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 3 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Typical pet peeves include: Being ignoredWaiting Poor quality workDirty restaurants High-pressure salesUnknoweldgeable employees Condescending employees Out-of-stock sale items Unmarked merchandise Deep telephone menus

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 4 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Reducing turnoffs can be the best form of advertisement. Reducing turnoffs can be the best form of advertisement. Customers whose problems are addressed by a company are actually more likely to do repeat business than customers who have never had a problem.

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 5 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Customer turnoffs fit into three areas: Value problems Systems problems People problems

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 6 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Value Value is the apparent quality of a product or service relative to its cost. Company leaders are the only ones with the power and authority to make changes to the value of a product or service.

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 7 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Systems “Systems” refers to anything involved with getting the product or service to the customer. (processes) Company managers are best suited to solve problems with process systems within a company.

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 8 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Typical systems turnoffs include: ProceduresPolicies TechnologyTraining StaffingLocations Facilities Systematic actions

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 9 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. People People problems are communication problems. Employees communicate poorly by their words or nonverbal actions. Everyone can help eliminate people problems through improving interpersonal skills.

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 10 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Service recovery Seeks to win back customer who had bad experience Attempts may build stronger loyalty

Customer Service, 5e Paul R. Timm 11 © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2001 Pearson Higher Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ All Rights Reserved. Regularly identifying and working to reduce possible customer turnoffs can provide a basis for building customer loyalty.