The Key to Customer Service

The Key to
Customer
Service
A presentation by
Klaus Hilgers

© 2005 Epoch Consultants, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Epoch Consultants, Inc.
1156 NE Cleveland Street
Clearwater, Florida 33755
727-447-1773 phone
727-449-0931 fax
epochconsultants@verizon.net
www.epoch-consult.com

PURPOSE:
Purpose
To empower the participants to provide courteous, quick and friendly
service to their customers to help generate new and repeat business.
Intended Results:
1. Each employee is committed to providing excellent service.
2. Each employee knows the cycle of customer service.
3. Employees recognize that each interaction with the customer is a "moment
of magic."
4. Employees know how to identify and avoid she mistakes of poor
service.
5. Employees know how to effectively handle customer
problems and/or complaints.
6. Employees understand the relationship between Service, New
Business and Repeat Business.
7. The company is well-known and well-thought of in the community.

Customer Service Management
Customer Service Management is a business
strategy that includes acquiring, storing,
evaluating and distributing knowledge about
the customer to the various contact points m
our organization in order to:
COMMUNICATE
UNDERSTAND
ANTICIPATE
& MANAGE
THEIR NEEDS
so that we exceed our customer's expectations.

Definition of Customer
1. A customer is someone with whom you exchange
something.
2. A customer is someone who has not found a better
alternative.

MEASURING CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION
1. Who are my customers?
2. What do they want and need?
3. What is our product or service?
4. Is there agreement between the parties as to what the product or
service is and the conditions of satisfaction?
5. Does our product or service meet their expectations and/or
standards?
6. How do they and we measure our success?
7. Does our product or service exceed their expectations?
8. Are we efficiently organized to produce that product or service? What's
our process? What technologies are we using and need? Is our staff
trained in our process and technology so that the product or service is
produced?
9. Is there an effective communication system in place and operational
between our customers and us?
10.1s there an effective tracking system that provides information on our
operations and our customers?
11.Do we have a Quality Assurance Program that inspects, corrects and
validates our policies, procedures and people?
12. Are our customers happy and acknowledging and promoting our
products and services? Are we well known and well thought of?

Your Customers
Take a few moments to identify the various customers of/in your organization.
External Customers:
1._____________________________________________________________
2.__________________________________________________________________
3.________________________________________________________________
4.___________________________________________________________________
5. _________________________________________________________________________
Internal Customers:
1._____________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________
3._________________________________________________________________
4.____________________________________________________________________
5. __________________________________________________________________

Customer Survey:
Property Tax Division
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
This survey is designed to help the Comptroller meet your needs. Your responses will help
us determine:
• what services we should provide,
• what services we should not provide and
• what services we should improve,
You may sign your name or respond anonymously. The survey results will be published in
the March issue of STATEMENT.
Please check your place of employment:
County appraisal district
Tax office
School district
Private law firm
Taxpayer
Private appraisal firm
other
Overall Perception of the Property Tax Division
1. Does the division meet your needs as a customer?
Yes
Frequently
Sometimes
No
2. Does the division work well with the appraisal districts?
Yes
Frequently
Sometimes
No

3. If no, how could we improve our services?
4. If you could change or improve anything in our process, what would it be?
5. What would you consider to be superior service from our division?
6. Based upon your past experience with the division, how would you describe the
overall attitude of the staff?
Operations
7. Do you use the results of the Annual Property Value Study for any purpose other
than as a factor in the school funding formula? (For example, do you use the study to
gauge property values for planning purposes?)
Yes
No
If yes, please explain:
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
8. Is the Annual Property Value Study easy to read and understand?

Very easy
Somewhat easy
Somewhat difficult
Very difficult
9. If you find it difficult, please explain your suggested changes.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
10. Do you like the format?
Yes
No
11. If no, please explain below how you would change the format.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
12. Should we offer the study on diskettes as an alternative to mailing out paper
reports?
Yes
No
13. Should the division include statistical measurements in addition to the Median
Appraisal Ration, Coefficient of Dispersion and Price-Related Differential?
Yes
No

Excerpts from Customer Survey: Property Tax Division

1.
2.
3.
4.
Four Types of Exchange

EXERCISE: Knowing Your Product!
1. Write down what your real product or service is. Look at it from the customer’s
viewpoint.
2. Write down five features of your product or service.
3. Turn each feature into a benefit.
4. Meet with your customer and ask them if they agree with your product
statement and the benefits you feel they receive from your service. If they
disagree, find out what they think it is.
5. Ask your customer how they would measure your success. What are
their conditions of satisfaction?

SERVICE:
• Help;
• Use;
• Benefit;
• Advantage;
Definitions
• Conduct tending to or contributing to the welfare or advantage of
others;
• The act of furnishing or supplying with something needed or wanted;
• Assistance.
ASSIST:
• verb: To give help or aid.
• noun: The act of a player who passes a ball or puck in such a way
that a teammate can score a goal.

The Assist Drill
1. Write 2 examples of a failed assist.
2. Write 2 examples of a successful assist.
3. What is the difference between 1 and 2?

Creating Customer Loyalty
GREETING
Warm and professional
Begin with “Open Question”
State your delight to help

Determine Needs
Find out what is wanted and needed
Take notes, use names
Get agreement between parties on what’s
wanted and needed

Respond
Give clear, relevant information, answer
question and acknowledge statements
Check for customer understanding
Confirm order, summarize

Exchange in Abundance
Provide additional information
Provide additional suggestions
Provide abundant service

Closing
Review agreements
Thank the customer
Follow – up
Stay in touch for the future

HOW TO BE
"CUSTOMER CENTERED!”
The Marketing Science Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts asked
CUSTOMERS of a wide range of service businesses what factors
they considered most important in assuring their satisfaction. This is
the response:
1. RELIABILITY: This topped the list of what customers expect. A major
source of customer dissatisfaction is the "unkept promise."
2. RESPONSIVENESS: Be helpful and provide prompt service.
3. ASSURANCE: Employees should be knowledgeable and courteous
and should convey confidence in the service they provide.
4. EMPATHY: Customers want individualized attention and people who
will listen to them.
5. TANGIBLES: Physical facilities and equipment should be attractive
and clean. Employees should be dressed and groomed well.

Drill: Customer Centered
Write down 1 example of how you can improve these points.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Customer Communications
The Six Most Common Complaints
1. Over-promising / Under-delivering.
2. Failing to stay in touch.
3. Using too much industry/inside jargon.
4. Failing to listen to customers' concerns/ideas.
5. Telling rather than explaining.
6. Communicating without courtesy
— Source: Gallup Survey

Chapter 12
Statements to Avoid
TELEPHONE TECHNIQUES:
SOME STATEMENTS TO AVOID
Sometimes we make statements on the phone and
we don't realize how the caller may interpret them.
"He is not in today." (This may sound like he's
playing hooky.)
"She has already left for the day." (This sounds like
she left earlier than she should have.)
"He is not in yet" (This sounds like he is late for work.)
These statements do not help a co-worker's
reputation or make a positive impression on the
office. You want your office and its entire staff to be
well regarded. You always want to make sure that
you don't say anything, that is untrue. You do want to
make positive comments that will help the person
with their problem. If the person being called is not
available, take all the information and give the caller
an idea of what the next action will be.

DRILL
Take the following statements and replace them with appropriate
responses.
1. I don't know anything about that,
2. The manager is not here.
3. I'm sorry, Mary's not in yet, and I don't know
when she'll be here.
4. The ____(staff member) has not taken care of
your problem yet? I don't know what his problem is.
5. Yes, Mrs. Jones is here today for an
appointment. (Confidentiality issues.)
6. You're right, your bill does sound high.
7. We can't schedule you until next week.
8. Mary's on vacation in Greece right now.
Can someone else help you?
9. I'm sorry, she's in the bathroom. Do you want to
hold? She might be in there for a while.
10. I have no clue as to what is going on. It's not my
job.
11. He is in with a woman and I don't know how long
he will be in there,
12. She is in a meeting and you never know
when those things will end.
Excerpted from the book, Telephone Courtesy
by Klaus P. Hilgers

THE
CUSTOMER
EXPECTS
YOUR
SERVICE TO
BE …
1. Problem Free
2. Timely
3. AND …
Rendered by
competent,
courteous
people who
can act on their
behalf!

The public sees timeliness, number of
contacts, accessibility, reliability,
responsiveness and cost as fundamentals
of quality service. The factors that most
strongly affect ratings of service
performance are the number of contacts
needed and the time required to
complete the service. Customers are
"reasonable" in their expectations and
they can be satisfied.
Ontario Public Service Survey

Customer Service Drill
1. In your own words define customer service and give the key
ingredient.
2. Give three examples of poor service.
3. Give three examples of excellent service.
4, Write a brief paragraph showing the relationship between
assisting a customer and that person obtaining a benefit,
advantage or success.
5. Write a brief paragraph showing the relationship between
customer service and maintaining the account.
6. List five ways you can improve your service to your customers.

The major barriers and opportunities to be addressed in
service quality improvement as identified by the OPS
include:
♦ lack of staff and high workloads
♦ slow approval processes
♦ internal bureaucracy
♦ lack of incentives for good performance
♦ lack of staff training
Ontario Public Service Survey

Attitude:
Respect:
CUSTOMER SERVICE QUOTES
" We hire attitudes!"
a manner of acting, feeling or thinking that shows one's
disposition, opinion etc.
- How you sound (your voice)
- How you look (facial expressions)
- Your sincerity
- Your interest
- Your caring
- Your manners
- Treating the customer as important
to feel or show honor or esteem for; to hold in high regard
- Giving your 100%, undivided attention
- Listening (no interruptions)
- Responding to their requests and concerns
appropriately
"We believe that service
quality must be
mathematically
measured."
— Colleen Barret,
Executive VP Southwest

RESPECT DRILL
1. List seven behaviors that show respect.
— Fred Smith,
Chairman and CEO Federal Express
2. Form Groups of 4. Each person reads his or her list of behaviors. After
each person has read their list to the group, the group must reach consensus
on what you consider being the top 7 behaviors.
1. Based on the 7 behaviors how would you measure customer service?

Customer Service Definitions
Below are approved Data Services training curriculum customer service definitions. These terms
were developed for their relationship to the customer service training curriculum soft skills. Against
additional customer service definitions are required for a complete customer service glossary and
program. The additional customer service definitions will be published as they are developed and
their need arises.
Customer Service
Term
Achieving
Customer
Expectations
Behavioral
Styles
Collaboration &
Consensus
Conflict
Management
Cultural Diversity
Customer
Customer
Service
Effective Meeting
Empathy
Integrity
Interpersonal
Communication
Customer Service Definition
the timely, effective and accurate delivery of services that completely satisfies
every customer expectation including having a positive experience with the
service provider.
the understanding of various needs, personalities and actions of individuals in
order to determine the most effective communication for successful customer
service.
the interaction between service staff, customers and all other parties necessary to
understand and identify a customer's needs in order to negotiate a mutually
acceptable service solution.
the ability to resolve uncomfortable situations in a professional, courteous
manner which leaves customers with the feeling that their needs have been
addressed.
the appreciation and sensitivity of those differences between people, whether it be
age, sex, race or other divergent types of background, which prevent barriers
from being built based on those differences.
the receiver or purchaser of a product or service.
the experience created by a service provider when delivering a product or
service to a customer.
an organized session to necessary individuals assembled for the purpose of
exchanging sufficient relevant information to achieve a desired result in the
shortest amount of time, where the individuals leave with the same understanding
of next action items and who is responsible for the action . items.
the ability to understand, be aware of, and be sensitive to the needs and
frustrations of a customer's experience.
the ability to demonstrate the highest standards of customer service through
honesty, ethical behavior, reliability and dependability in order to promote
customer trust and satisfaction.
the manner information is presented, whether it's written, verbal or through
mannerisms, which promotes complete understanding by all parties of the
original intent of the information.

Customer
Service Term
Listening
Managing Change
Positive Attitude
Problem
Solving
Professionalism
Reliability
Service
Opportunity
Service Provider
Stress
Management
Team Building
Telephone
Etiquette
Tune
Management
Customer Service Definition
the ability to hear and understand the verbal and non-verbal message of the
customer and accurately identify the needs of a customer during a service
opportunity.
the ability and willingness of an individual or organization to adapt, adjust,
accommodate and provide services to a process that seeks to improve a
customer's business operation.
(he ability to convey to others that every service situation is an opportunity to
provide excellent customer service and to deliver a needed service to others.
the process of defining a problem, then establishing the criteria for the best
solution given known resources and objectives, and finally evaluating all sets of
possible solutions against the established criteria to determine the one solution
that best meets the criteria.
the ability to conduct oneself in a manner which exemplifies the role of service
provider to government agencies as an honorable, respected profession
promoting customer confidence and respect.
the ability to make individual actions match verbal and non-verbal commitments
thus meeting the customer's needs and exceeding their expectations by insuring a
consistent resolution to their service opportunity.
a request by a customer for a service provider to deliver a desired product or
service.
a person who accommodates a request by a customer by delivering the requested
product or service.
the ability to manage service situations in a mutually positive, responsive,
progressive and respectful experience for both customers and service staff.
the activities involved in teaching individuals with varying backgrounds,
knowledge, and skills to develop and appreciate a professional working
relationship as a member of a larger group that accomplishes common goals.
the manner and style service staff use when communicating with customers over
the telephone. This communication must be timely, friendly, effective, and the
customer must feel their problem was heard and understood, leaving them
satisfied with the service response.
the ability to arrange multiple tasks with different priorities in order to meet or
exceed customer expectations.

ANTIDOTES TO BUREAUCRATIC
BEHAVIOR
Create a customer-focused vision to get the real mission of the organization back in focus.
Delegate decisions and authority as close to the customer as possible (will flatten the
organization).
Develop guidelines to replace rules and empower employees to use good judgment in
administering them.
Re-create procedures taking the customer's point of view.
Train, coach and empower employees to be flexible, responsive, friendly and
caring,
Train managers to coach employees, to support and facilitate their work, and to
remove barriers to work accomplishment.
Make all non-strategic information widely available.
Link promotions to feedback collected from peers and customers.
Reward a participatory management style.
Replace in-focused standards with customer-focused indicators. Collect customer
feedback continuously.
Enlist everyone in the fight against the negative attributes of bureaucracy.
Place a premium on trust, risk-taking.
Constantly look outside the organization for models of good practice.
Federal Quality Institute

The Heart of Customer Service is caring about
the person in front of you. Each interaction with the
customer, whether internal or external is a "moment of
truth." It is an event where the customer forms an
opinion about you and the company. What kind of
impression will you make? Here is an opportunity.
What will result?
REPEAT SALES/LOST SALES
RAVING FAN/JUST SATISFIED
POSITIVE/NEGATIVE
People naturally want to contribute and when they
feel they can't, don't know how or blow it, they get
upset. Providing your staff with the knowledge and
having them control the interaction with the customer
makes them feel confident, secure and experience
satisfaction. The staff wins by having the customer win.

Quiz: Creating Customer Loyalty
In order to create customer loyalty, you should:
Give them special discounts
Deliver what you promise
Constantly analyze their needs
A survey done on why customers don’t do repeat business with you is:
They found a better alternative
They have no personal relationship with you
Failure to stay in touch with them
One of the biggest complaints that customers have and why they leave
without purchasing is:
Price
Too much industry/technical jargon
Not listening to their concerns.
If a customer has a complaint about your product or service, you should:
Remain calm and listen
See if they have a receipt
Solve the problem by finding out what they really want.
If we don't have exactly what the customer is looking for, you should:
Suggest options and alternatives
Tell them we don't have it
Tell them we will order it if we can.
In order to anticipate future needs of our customers, we should:
Send them promotional materials on our products
Should send them a survey to find out what they want and need in
the future
Take them out to lunch on a regular basis
In order to have excellent customer service, we should:
Meet their expectations
Exceed their expectations
Be timely and courteous.

In order to make sure our staff is providing excellent customer service, we
should:
Keep statistics on their production
Check their morale
Train them in Customer Service Skills
When confronted with a customer complain, you should:
See it as a problem
See it as an opportunity to improve our service
Empathize with them
You know when you have done excellent customer service by:
Getting re-orders from them
By getting referrals from them
If your business is expanding.

QUALITY IS:
Continuous
Improvement
To Meet
Or
Exceed
CUSTOMER

EXPECTATION
A Can-Do Customer Service Attitude
Is Key to Success on the Web
(Includes experts from The Power of Agreements by Klaus Hilgers and Jere Matlock)
By Jere Matlock
In our book, "The Power of Agreements," Klaus Hilgers and I summarize what customers want:
"In a recent survey done by the Marketing Institute of Cambridge, Mass., on a variety of customers of
service businesses, they wanted to find out what created customer satisfaction. This gives you a list of
the implied agreements with your customers, that you or they may never come right out and state but
which underlie all transactions.
1. Reliability: This topped the list of what customers expect. A major source of customer dissatisfaction is the
'unkept promise'.
2. Responsiveness: Be helpful and provide prompt service.
3. Assurance: Employees should be knowledgeable and courteous and should convey confidence in the service
they provide.
4. Empathy: Customers want individualized attention and people who will listen to them.
5. Tangibles: Physical facilities and equipment should be attractive and clean. Employees should be dressed
and groomed well."
Think of these points as implied agreements between your customers and you. Once we know these
agreements, we can organize and train ourselves and staff to meet our customers' desires.
Periodically survey your customers to find out what they really expect from you. What should you be
delivering to actually satisfy them?
Each of these points is relevant to the design of websites (including what you keep track of for each
customer and how that gets used). Here are just a few ways to improve real marketing through your website:
1 - Reliability: How reliable does a website make your company look? Is it chock full of ads for other
sites? Is there a testimonials section? Some previous customers they can contact? Is there a street

address anywhere? A phone number they can call? Is there any way at all to contact the people behind
the website? Personally, it bends me out of shape when I have a question to ask, and there's no way to
contact anyone. In a large company in which everyone has email addresses, how hard is it to put their
names, or at least the positions they hold, down on a contacts page? Reliability implies accountability in
the event of problems. Yet, too often, web pages are designed to obscure all lines into the staff of the
company, excepting only the order line.
2 - Responsiveness: Auto-responders are just not enough. A company's attitude toward its web
customers shows in how hard or easy it is to get an answer to a tough question. Recently I tried to buy a
network card for my Dell laptop. Going through their web page (very well designed and very useful as
it was) and emailing someone who should have known got me the unsatisfactory answer "No, we don't
carry them. Here's the name of some third party vendors who might." Yet I called Dell's order line and
within one minute I had located and ordered the network card I had asked about. Of course they had it -
- the guy who emailed me was just brushing me off--he wasn't willing to make the same call I made,
inside the company. This can only be solved by training the individual staff member to be more
responsive to customers. Try this on your own website --ask a tough question by email and see how
long it takes to get an answer, if you get one at all, and if that answer is correct.
3 - Assurance: Does your website convey to its visitors the impression that you know your business? Is
it all buzzwords and glitzy graphics, or can they get the specs? It's a turn-off to visit websites where no
one can figure out WHAT they're about. Don't forget about all the slow computers and slow modems
out there that can't download a meg a minute. Can they turn off the images and still find out what you
do or what you're selling in text-only mode? Do you have so much Java script and so many extra popup
screens that you'll blow somebody away from the site? One of the reasons for Amazon.com's
amazing success is that their site exudes assurance. You know they know what they are doing.
4 - Empathy: Something an auto-responder cannot give is empathy. If someone emails your staff (or
you) with a valid complaint or some kind of critical remark, do they get a form letter brushing them off,
or do they get a phone call or email from quality control? Does your company have a quality control
person who is responsible not only for the quality of the product or service you provide, but also for the
quality with which that product is presented, marketed, promoted, talked about by staff to customers? Is
there an incentive program in place inside the company to ensure that the staff actually do care what
happens when someone has a problem? Is anyone in the company verifying that your tech support
person actually answers his or her emails, and that the answers he or she gives are correct?
5 - Tangibles: In a website, the only tangibles are what you see on each screen. So each screen had
better be clean, clear, legible, and actually HELP the person get closer to buying or getting what he/she
wants. Do all the links work? When were they tested last? Is there a "no frames" button somewhere? Do
the pages all work with ALL the browsers?
My point: If the visitor to your website has an agreeable experience, he or she is more likely to buy
(especially on an impulse item). But if that experience is disagreeable, you've most likely lost them, and
you've defeated the purpose of having a website in the first place.

Jere Matlock is a writer and professional web marketer living in Clearwater, Florida. His non-fiction works
include "The Power of Agreements -- Harmony or Upset in the Workplace -- Your Choice" (with Klaus Hilgers)
and "Confronting Diabetes" with Frank Davis, DPM. Both books are available from Epoch Consultants at
Braving (727) 447-1773.. the red face and angry
voice of a complaining consumer is
not just a test of patience; it is an
opportunity, if you take it, to keep
a customer.
There are worse reactions than
complaints. Asked what happens
when they make a mistake, one of
the workers in a chain of dry
HANDLING COMPLAINTS
CREATIVELY
By Klaus P. Hilgers
cleaning stores said,
"Sometimes the customer gets
upset and complains to the boss,
and then we get it. But usually
they won't bother to come back and
complain. They just decide never
to do business with us again."
That is just what you do not
want to happen.
You can turn criticism to your
advantage if you keep in mind
that people who complain are
really presenting you with an
opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding
and get on with the
relationship. Or they may be
telling you how to improve your
business.
When customers are willing to
take the time and suffer the
discomfort that complaining
involves, they are saying they are
committed to doing business with
you. Keeping complaints in this
context is the first- step in
handling them effectively.
Learn to listen. Every complaint
contains two essential
components; emotion and
information. Both must be dealt
with.
The key to defusing the
situation is to listen carefully
without interrupting and without
getting caught up in the emotion;
otherwise, you will be of no help
in resolving the complaint. Be compassionate
and realize that the
emotion is clouding the real issue.
Absorb the upset. Think of
yourself as a baseball catcher who
never throws the bail back.
When the emotion begins to
subside, begin asking questions
that will elicit any information
Then, listen to the answers. The
information generally will consist
of two types of statements: an
allegation and a request for
something.
Once you have heard the
allegation, you may need more
information to verify -it. For
example, you may want to ask:
• Do you have your receipt?
• Who told you that?
• What was the original
agreement?
• When did you make your agreement?
• After you made the agreement,
what happened?
If the complaint is valid,
acknowledge that you (or your
company) are at fault, and
apologize without giving an
excuse. An excuse is only an
irritant. Instead, explain that you
regard the complaint as an
expression of the customer's
intention to keep doing business
with you and offer your thanks.
Now that you have defused the
emotion, you need to find out how
the customer wants you to resolve
the complaint by asking additional
questions:
• Given the situation, what can
give away the store. Remember,
whatever the customer asks for,
you still have three options: You
can accept, decline or make a
counteroffer.
Of course, not every complaint is
valid. Customers and colleagues
frequently present complaints
based on either incorrect
information or unreasonable
expectations. Sometimes, simply
uncovering the facts will clear up
an unfounded complaint.
Then there are the chronic
complainers, people who always
have the same complaint or who
gripe about everything. When an
upset customer delivers an invalid
complaint or one that should be
directed elsewhere, any attempt to
correct or redirect the person will
simply sound like the runaround.
You must quietly listen long
enough to defuse the emotional
situation and to get the necessary
information. Then you can assist
by giving the customer the correct
information or by getting him or
her to the person who should hear
the complaint.
Complaints, particularly from distraught
people, certainly create
stress. But if you remember to think
of a complaint as the person's
commitment to continue the
relationship, whether business or