The Difference Is You

Transcription

1 This workshop is provided free of charge by HRD Press. You can use this workshop without limits in your organization. This workshop cannot be distributed outside your organization or resold. 1 The Difference Is You Background and Purpose Customer service does not work unless people are committed to it. Many factors influence that commitment: for example, the organization s reward system, whether procedures and policies are customer friendly, and whether or not the organization emphasizes its importance. One simple but important factor is whether employees see customer service as a good thing something that will benefit the organization, customers, and themselves. The purpose of this workshop is to answer the question, Why bother? Objectives By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to determine the costs and benefits of customer service (in general terms). how they and their organization rate (in customer service terms). Duration 1 hour and 30 minutes Materials Required Equipment for showing PowerPoint slides Exercise 1.1 Handout 1.1 PowerPoint slides Related Workshops 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 17 1

2 Trainer s Guide Steps Training Aids Time 1. Introduce the workshop by making the points that most organizations no longer have a large amount of cheap labor to look after their customers; customer expectations are rising; two factors are focusing people s attention on customer service. First, the way many products and services are the same or very similar (e.g., automobiles, loans, food). Second, the expansion in developed economies of the service sector where the product is nontangible and therefore difficult to differentiate. Many companies are asking what it is that customers want and are finding that they want to feel that their suppliers deserve their money. Customer service places demands on individuals. (Note: These points are expanded in Handout 1.1) Slide 1.1 Refer to the workshop objectives. Slide Explain that you are going to look at six scenes in which customers are treated properly as well as badly and that participants have to examine customer satisfaction in each case and its reasons. 10 min. 30 min. 3. Group participants into pairs, threes, or fours, and distribute Exercise 1.1. Ask participants to work up to and including question #4. Exercise 1.1 Discuss the answers to each question (using your copy of the exercise as a guide). 30 min. 3

3 Trainer s Guide (concluded) Steps Training Aids Time 4. Before moving on to questions 5 and 6, make the following points: Our husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends are all made up of 72.8 percent water. (That does not leave much to get excited about.) Thankfully, the big difference between people is the bit we cannot see but soon makes itself known their personality. Many products and services are like people: 72.8 percent the same. Again, the big difference is one we cannot see but one that soon makes itself known. It is the people behind it: the people who make it, sell it, and service it. People come in many shapes and sizes, but when they are supplying something to us, only two categories count: those who are concerned with our satisfaction and those who are not. Those who are concerned with our satisfaction turn in superior results, which is good for the organization and for its customers. They also derive more job satisfaction from what they do, which is good for them. 5. Ask participants to complete questions 5 and 6 individually. Discuss answers in relation to costs and benefits to the company, the customers, and themselves. Slide 1.3 Slide min. 15 min. 6. Finally, distribute Handout 1.1. Handout 1.1 TOTAL: 1 hour, 30 min. 4

4 Exercise 1.1 Directions: 1. Below are six scenes from a variety of customer situations. Each scene has two alternative endings. Compare the two and state which one would satisfy a customer more and why. Finally, identify what caused the two endings to be so different. Scene 1 Situation: A young man has been saving money for two years. Every month, he takes his paycheck to the same bank, cashes it, and transfers the same amount of money to a savings account. On this occasion, there is a new teller who smiles, accepts his paycheck, effects the transfer to the savings account, and wishes him a nice day. smiles, accepts his paycheck, notices that he is a regular saver, and asks, Will you continue this rate of saving into the future, Mr. Smith? If so, you can switch to this other account especially designed for regular savers. It would pay you a lot more interest. 5

5 Exercise 1.1 (continued) Scene 2 Situation: A party of four has booked a table at a restaurant. When they arrive, the owner apologizes and informs them that the table will be another 20 minutes so would they mind waiting in the bar. and that he will understand if they wish to cancel the reservation but if not, perhaps they would care to enjoy a drink in the bar with his compliments. 6

6 Exercise 1.1 (continued) Scene 3 Situation: A technician has just finished a routine service call on the heating furnace of an elderly widow and says OK. That s all done. If you ll sign here I ll be on my way. I ve got a really busy day today. OK. That s all done. No problems there, it s all in good condition. I also checked the pipe leading to the oil tank; that s fine too. By the way, the door was a bit loose so I tightened up the hinge. It only took a second. 7

7 Exercise 1.1 (continued) Scene 4 Situation: A husband and wife are looking at curtains with a sales assistant. They are clearly having difficulty deciding which ones to buy. How about these? They re on sale as clearance items. Perhaps if you describe your room to me the color of the walls, carpet, type of furniture, etc. I might be able to make some suggestions. 8

8 Exercise 1.1 (continued) Scene 5 Situation: On picking up her car from routine servicing, a young woman is told See you again in six months. Drive carefully now. Everything s fine, Ms. Smith, but your brake pads are a bit worn. They ll last until your next service, but not much more. So, see you in six months. Drive carefully now. 9

9 Exercise 1.1 (continued) Scene 6 Situation: A man in a supermarket has brought a small number of heavy items to the checkout. At the checkout, one person operates the register while another places the goods in a bag. This bagger ensures that the heaviest items go at the bottom of the bag, fills the bag, and hands it to the customer. before beginning to pack, places one bag inside another, saying, We don t want the bag to break in the parking lot. He then packs the bag, heaviest items first. 10

10 Exercise 1.1 (concluded) 2. Consider the first ending for each scene. In what ways did the organization gain or lose? 3. Similarly, for the second ending, in what ways did the organization gain or lose? 4. Consider your own organization and a typical situation depicting how a customer was treated. Which alternative ending would apply? 5. Consider your own dealings with customers and colleagues. Which ending would apply? Give some examples. 6. For every ending 1, write down how it should change to qualify as an ending 2. Reproduced from 20 Reproducible Customer Service Workshops by Terry Gillen Amherst, MA: HRD Press, Inc.,

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12 Trainer s Exercise Below are six scenes from a variety of customer situations. Each scene has two alternative endings. Compare the two, and state which one would satisfy a customer more and why. Finally, identify what caused the two endings to be so different. Scene 1 Situation: A young man has been saving money for two years. Every month, he takes his paycheck to the same bank, cashes it, and transfers the same amount of money to a savings account. On this occasion, there is a new teller who smiles, accepts his paycheck, effects the transfer to the savings account, and wishes him a nice day. Ending 2 smiles, accepts his paycheck, notices that he is a regular saver, and asks, Will you continue this rate of saving into the future, Mr. Smith? If so, you can switch to this other account especially designed for regular savers. It would pay you a lot more interest. He feels the teller has his interests at heart and is knowledgeable and confident about her job. The teller enjoys the job and enjoys using initiative. 13

13 Trainer s Exercise 1.1 (continued) Scene 2 Situation: A party of four has booked a table at a restaurant. When they arrive, the owner apologizes and informs them that the table will be another 20 minutes so would they mind waiting in the bar. Ending 2 and that he will understand if they wish to cancel the reservation but if not, perhaps they would care to enjoy a drink in the bar with his compliments. They would feel that the owner is not taking their business for granted and wishes to apologize for making them wait. The owner is a shrewd businessperson who regards the job as not just feeding people but helping them enjoy themselves. Scene 3 Situation: A technician has just finished a routine service call on the heating furnace of an elderly widow and says OK. That s all done. If you ll sign here I ll be on my way. I ve got a really busy day today. Ending 2 OK. That s all done. No problems there, it s all in good condition. I also checked the pipe leading to the oil tank; that s fine too. By the way, the door was a bit loose so I tightened up the hinge. It only took a second. She feels the technician is pleasant, friendly, thorough, and helpful. The technician has professional pride and thinks of the customer, not just the furnace. 14

14 Trainer s Exercise 1.1 (continued) Scene 4 Situation: A husband and wife are looking at curtains with a sales assistant. They are clearly having difficulty deciding which ones to buy. How about these? They re on sale as clearance items. Ending 2 Perhaps if you describe your room to me the color of the walls, carpet, type of furniture, etc. I might be able to make some suggestions. They would feel the sales assistant is genuinely interested in them, not in selling slow-moving stock. The sales assistant wants them to be happy with their purchase and confident that they chose the right store in which to shop. Scene 5 Situation: On picking up her car from routine servicing, a young woman is told See you again in six months. Drive carefully now. Ending 2 Everything s fine, Ms. Smith, but your brake pads are a bit worn. They ll last until your next service, but not much more. So, see you in six months. Drive carefully now. She feels they are thorough and concerned for her safety and for their longterm relationships with her. The garage employee wants the customer to become a loyal customer. 15

15 Trainer s Exercise 1.1 (concluded) Scene 6 Situation: A man in a supermarket has brought a small number of heavy items to the checkout. At the checkout, one person operates the register while another places the goods in a bag. This bagger ensures that the heaviest items go at the bottom of the bag, fills the bag, and hands it to the customer. Ending 2 He feels the bagger is helpful and thoughtful. before beginning to pack, places one bag inside another, saying, We don t want the bag to break in the parking lot. He then packs the bag, heaviest items first. The bagger wants to ensure that customers avoid accidents. 2. Consider the first ending for each scene. In what ways did the organization gain or lose? The organization gained little or nothing. For example, the bank teller might have prevented a line from building up; the restaurant owner saved a round of drinks; the furnace technician saved about two minutes. They all lost an opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors and secure satisfied customers. 3. Similarly, for the second ending, in what ways did the organization gain or lose? They have lost nothing but gained customer loyalty (satisfied customers), free advertising (satisfied customers tell their friends), and an edge on the competition (who now have something to compete against). 16

16 Handout 1.1 The Difference Is You At one time, labor was cheap and plentiful, and providing good service was relatively easy. There were many people to make sure that the customer was satisfied. Over the decades, however, the situation has changed. Labor is now relatively expensive and, combined with increasing automation and the use of information technology, there are fewer people to make sure that the customer is satisfied. Paradoxically, however, customers expectations of the level of service they regard as satisfactory are rising. Another significant factor in the background to customer service is the gradual shift in developed economies away from raw material extraction and manufacturing toward service industries. It must be difficult enough these days to differentiate between compact cars, but suppose you are a bank how do you distinguish between money you supply and money supplied by the bank next door? It is this severity of competition that has led many companies to recognize a simple truth if you give the customer what he or she wants, he or she will pay you for it. Thus, many companies are going back to basics and looking very closely at just what it is their customers want. The answer is: customer service. That is, customers want to feel that the people taking their money actually deserve it in terms of the service they provide. This places an increased demand on people to perform, not just in terms of productivity, but in terms of customer-satisfying behavior. People also have an increased opportunity to perform, since many companies, in a desire to reduce costs and increase responsiveness, are cutting bureaucracy and layers of supervision. There are more opportunities for self-managing individuals to use their initiative more freely. This last point is important, as some companies are becoming refreshingly aware that success does not require 20 percent improvement from working parties here and 30 percent improvement from think tanks there. All it requires is an environment where hundreds or even thousands of employees each make a 1 percent improvement. In short, the difference between successful and unsuccessful companies, efficient and inefficient departments, and cooperative and uncooperative departments is seen less in terms of products, systems, and facilities and more in terms of the people they employ the individuals they employ. Whichever way you look at it, the focus of attention in all successful organizations is on individuals because it is the behavior of individual people that makes the difference. Or, from your point of view, the difference is you. If you want to work for a successful organization and enjoy your job, you have to commit yourself to providing the highest possible levels of service in every aspect of your work. Reproduced from 20 Reproducible Customer Service Workshops by Terry Gillen Amherst, MA: HRD Press, Inc.,

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18 PowerPoint Slides

19 PowerPoint Slides (concluded) 20