Customer Service

There are many businesses offering products and services which are the same, or which are sufficiently similar that they may meet the needs of the same customers. Why, then, should someone buy from your business rather than someone else’s? One of the major deciding factors - perhaps more so than price - is the quality of customer service.

The quality of service offered to customers may be seen in everything, from promotional material to premises, from staff to stationery. Service matters in all customer - or potential customer - contact. Service becomes crucial, however, when things go wrong.

Objectives

The aim of this section is to improve your skills as a giver of service, to raise awareness of the importance of customers to the success of any business and of the role of quality customer service in gaining and keeping customers. It will help you to:

• present a confident and positive image to your customers at all times;
• identify and satisfy core customer needs;
• encourage customer complaints;
• handle difficult customers effectively; and,
• develop a customer service strategy.

Notes

To make full use of the information in this section, we would recommend that you work through the numbered articles in order, and attempt the assignments.

The information in this section is intended as a starting point only. We would recommend that you contact your Business Adviser id you are in any doubt about the content.