Supply Chain Management Customer Service Operations LB IV Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

10-2 Why Customers become Challenging Recognize the barriers that create challenging customers How to establish trustworthiness with challenging customers Managing Challenging Customers LO1

10-3 What is Customer Service? Good customer service is important for a company’s success and must take center stage LO1

10-4 Customer Service Customer Service should be a priority Excellent customer service requires: Time investment Management effort Employee energy LO1

10-5 Characteristics of Good Customer Service On time delivery Politeness Professionalism Personalization LO2

10-6 Types of customer service Businesses provide different types of customer service based on the product or service privided LO2

10-7 Call Center – One of the basic means of providing customer service Take orders Deal with customer questions and issues Technical Customer Service Respond to inquiries regarding product functions Repairs or replacement Types of Customer Service LO3

10-8 Barriers to Good Customer Service Lack of proper training and staffing - Communication is a human art form Insufficient authority to manage requests – authority to involve other departments Inability to handle stressful environments – Managing emotions LO4

10-9 Setting and Meeting Customer Expectations Customer expectations should be set early and fully transparent Customer service provider needs to reassure the customer that he/she will meet or exceed their expectations LO4

10-10 Setting and Meeting Customer Expectations Meeting and exceeding customer expectations include: Finding the root cause of a problem Show empathy, be calm and respectful Provide assurance LO5

10-11 Trust and Ethics Establish trust early, be calm, and show a sense of responsiveness If the solution is beyond the immediate ability of the customer service provider, then address this as soon as possible If solution is within the ability of the customer service provider, communicate this early and take corrective action LO5

10-12 The Need for Ethics Ethics are the principles that govern the conduct of an individual or group A customer service provider must always do the right thing – even though it may not be popular

10-13 Ethics Questions we must ask are: Is it legal? Is it fair? Would I want it published in tomorrow’s newspaper?

10-14 The Need for Ethics Research shows that organizations with strong ethical principles also tend to have higher profits Unethical behaviors can damage an organization’s image, reputation and can lead to low morale, high employee turnover, and lost customers Credibility is a huge competitive advantage

10-15 Dealing With Challenging Customers We each have individual personalities with poor communication skills and negative past experiences with customer service. These individuals can appear to be defensive or negative

10-16 Dealing With Challenging Customers Challenging customers fall into the following basic categories: Clearly upset individuals Lack appropriate skills of expression Arrogant attitude – feeling supreme Personal attack - bias against you Overly talkative customer

10-17 Avoiding Challenging Customers Customer service representatives can “create” challenging customers by: Making customers wait Sharing ones bad mood Not knowing or learning about customers (Smile, Know their names) Making negative comments Be proactive: Never think “It is not my job”

10-18 Listening To Customers When we listen well, we hear, understand & respond to the message appropriately Hearing is not necessarily listening Listening can be affected by: Internal noise – preoccupied External noise – loud bell, machinery

10-19 Listening to Customers We deal effectively with challenging customers when we: Listen to understand their frustration Relay the information back to them for confirmation Share the solution we plan to provide

10-20 Key Steps to Customer Issue Resolution Listen – Let the customer speak Acknowledge – Apologize for the situation Solve - Offer real solutions Thank – Thank the customer for shopping with you

10-21 Issue Management Plan Document all customer issues List actions to be taken Indicate how issues will be escalated State clearly how customers will be handled from issue identification to resolution