1. Handout 2: Providing customer service
PowerPoint presentation
Principles of providing administrative services
Handout 2: Providing customer service

2. Customer expectations
What customers think should happen.
How they believe they should be treated when asking for or receiving customer service.
Customers’ expectations may be high or low, depending on their previous experience with an organisation or its reputation.
When expectations are low, it is relatively easy to exceed them and delight a customer.
When expectations are high, it is important to ensure they are met by providing the best service possible.

3. How customers form their expectations
Expectations are formed by
what they hear and see
what they read and the messages the organisation sends (ie via its reputation and brand)
what actually happens to them in their dealings with an organisation.

4. ‘How would I like to be treated?”
How to treat customers
‘How would I like to be treated?”
Good service is where the customer is reasonably satisfied with the service and may use you again.
Excellent customer service is where the customer is delighted and tells friends and colleagues and uses your organisation again.
Many people will even pay extra just to get that excellent customer service.
The way you behave towards customers will form their impression of the organisation.

5. Create a good first impression
Greet the customers in a warm and friendly manner.
Body language is important – look (and feel) approachable and welcoming.
If you get it wrong and you will have a disinterested customer.
Excellent customer service starts with the way you greet customers.
It is important to create a good first impression in your approach, communication and professionalism as the customer will form an impression of your organisation based on your performance.
Greet the customers in a warm and friendly manner but don’t be over-friendly as you need to maintain your professionalism.
Your body language is as important as what you say and do.
Try to look (and feel) approachable and welcoming and then go on to establish what the customers’ needs are.

6. the way you communicate the way you act
Professionalism
Having the right attitude to achieve customer satisfaction whilst meeting the needs of the organisation:
the way you look
the way you communicate
the way you act
your knowledge of your products and services.
Being professional means having the right attitude to achieve customer satisfaction whilst ensuring the needs of the organisation are also met.
The way you act with customers reflects on your organisation.
Being professional covers:
the way you look – are you dressed smartly and according to your organisation’s standards?
the way you communicate – do you always speak clearly and courteously with your customers?
the way you act – do you look approachable? Are you representative of the image your organisation wants to create? Do you take responsibility for dealing with queries and problems?
your knowledge of your products and services – is your knowledge up to date? Do you know who to ask when you don’t know something?
You should always act professionally despite difficult circumstances, eg being under pressure through lack of time or during busy periods, and you should be aware of what your organisation expects of its service deliverers and act accordingly.
Being professional means having the appropriate knowledge and knowing what you can do within the limits of your authority.

7. your facial expressions.
Body language
In face-to-face communication, your body language will have an effect on customers:
the way you stand
the gestures you make
your facial expressions.
Body language can signal pleasure, anger, frustration or aggression without the service deliverer realising it and can affect the behaviour of the customer who reacts to what they perceive the message to be and vice versa.
This non-verbal communication should not be considered in isolation but should be considered along with the words being used.
Both a service deliverer and customer convey messages through their body language which can impact dramatically on the outcome of the interaction.

8. Effects of body language on the customer
Standing straight makes you appear confident and interested in your job.
Crossed arms can indicate that you are on the defensive and convey the message of being unapproachable.
Putting your hands on your hips makes you look stern and confrontational.
Standing very close to a customer can be intrusive and forceful.
Drumming fingers on a table communicates impatience.
Slouching and not making eye contact will make the customer think you can’t be bothered.

9. Impact of poor customer service
Customers will go elsewhere meaning reduced profits and market share.
Customers will not repeat business – it is much harder to attract new customers, which can be costly and unpredictable.
Customers will tell others about their poor experience leading to a damaged reputation for the organisation.

10. Customer relationships
Acknowledge and recognise frequent customers by remembering their names and needs.
In developing a long-term relationship with a customer, it is likely that you will communicate on a regular basis, giving you the opportunity to seek their opinion as to how service could be improved.
Ask customers for their feedback – they will feel their opinion is valued.
Offering customer service second to none means that the customer needs to be treated well from the moment they make their first contact with the organisation and on an ongoing basis.
It is important to communicate any feedback, formal or informal, positive or negative, to a higher authority.
It may be that, following a discussion with your customer, you have identified that a change in procedures could improve the customer experience and whilst you may not have the authority to implement that improvement yourself, you could make recommendations, backed up with reasons for the change and evidencing the customer’s feedback.