Customer service contributes to customer satisfaction Essay

Introduction: In this Assignment I want to describe how consistent and reliable customer service contributes to customer satisfaction, explain why presentation, interpersonal and communication skills are important to customer service. And I will also anticipate and meet the needs of at least three different customers in a range of situations. Task 1 In this task I should describe how consistent and reliable customer service contributes to customer satisfaction. The national consumer council believes that smart businesses should ensure that the same member of staff deals with an individual customer from the beginning to the end what means if you welcome a customer you should try to deal with the customer and help the customer till the customer wants to go or dos not need your help anymore or till he buy something. Whilst this is the ideal, it isn’t always possible. Therefore, most organisations provide special training to staff to ensure that each person has the same approach with external customer. This is likely to focus on the following aspects of the job. * Scope of job role – You should know what you can do and what you can not do as part of your job and the type of issues you must refer to a supervisor. This should not stop you using your initiative to resolve a straightforward problem quickly, for example if you have nothing to do you should use your own initiative to look for something to do till a customer comes or if a customer has a problem by not finding what he wants to buy you can ask them if they need your help and if you can help them you should help by explaining where they can get it from and you should take care that you do not overstep the limits of your job role by making arrangement or promises that is outside your authority. * Type and quality of product or service – That means you should know the range of goods or services that are available, if you are selling consumable items, such as chocolates. Anyone who sells expensive items or complex services should also be able to give good advice on the best buys or most reliable suppliers, based on their own knowledge, feedback from other costumers and press reports. * Accessibility/Availability – There is nothing more irritating for customers that to want something and then find they are not available. This can relate to a product they have seen advertised but which has now sold out for example if you have an appointment with someone who cannot see you for some time or a room in a hotel which is fully booked. In this situation your job is to sympathise with the customer’s disappointment; try to help them if you can and pass on the information to your employer. This is important. If you have received many enquiries for the same thing in a day and disappointed most people, the stock levels for this product should be reviewed. * Staff attitude and behaviour – The importance of all staff having a consistently positive attitude and behaving courteously and professionally to customers cannot be underestimated. This means if your staffs have good attitude and behaviour the customers will feel comfortable and free to talk to the staff and it also makes customers feel valued and respected. * Timing – Approaching people at the wrong time, or if they are stressed, upset or busy can get a bad response. If you do this by accident, simply apologise and say you will contact them later. Being aware of your timing also means not keeping people waiting unduly; arranging appointments, phone calls and deliveries at your customers convenience, not yours; and never failing to call people back exactly as you promised. By this way you appear reliable to the customers. * Meeting specific customer needs – The skills of meeting customer needs involves identifying these by talking to the customer, and then matching them to the range of goods and services that you can offer. Most customers are pleased with this aspect of customer service because it gives them a sense of importance. Task 2 In this task I should explain why presentation, interpersonal and communication skills are important to customer service. Presentation skills – These skills relate to me as a person. What do other people see as I approach? Do I attract them or alarm them? This has nothing to do with good looks but everything to do with a welcoming smile, appropriate clothes and a smart appearance. Presentation skills include: * Body language; Body language is one of the presentations skills. Body language is a term of communication using body movements. One of the basic body language signal is when a person is crossing his arms across the chest this can mean that the person is putting up a barrier between himself and others but it can also mean that a the person is expressing opposition this is specially so, if the person is leaning away from the speaker. But crossing his arms across the chest can also mean that the person is deeply thinking about something. You can show someone that you are interested in what he is telling you if you keep eye contact. * Another presentations skill is also the dress code which means if you work in an office you have to wear a dress or if you are working somewhere else where they have their own uniform you must wear their uniform and it has to be clean. Many people will consider it impolite if your dress is too far above the dress code. Too far means if you are working for example in ASDA and you are wearing a coat to work, many customers will not know that you are one of the staffs. But if you are working in an environment where they don’t have to wear any uniform, then you must have a good sense to dress properly. * Facial expression is also a presentation skill; facial expression is a result from one or more motions of the muscles of the face. This movement convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. Expressions are closely tied to emotion. It can be nearly impossible to avoid expressions for certain emotions because if you see someone that you think he or she is highly unattractive you might show a brief expression of disgust before you will be able to reassume a neutral expression and if you don’t have this skill it may be hard for you to work in an environment with different customers or other staff members. Interpersonal skills are how people relate to one another, in other words it means how you behave when you are dealing with other people. Having positive interpersonal skills increase the productivity in a business. Interpersonal skills include: * First impression; your interpersonal skills are on show from the moment you greet a customer to the time you say goodbye and if your first impression to a customer is good the customer might come again. * Behaviour – This is what you do and why you do it in other words it is the actions or reactions from you, for example if you are a positive person, you will normally behave in a cheerful and friendly way to other peoples. * Attitude – Your attitude is the way you think. For example if you are depressed you will be negative, if you are fed up then you will be bored and if you are happy you will be friendly to other people. Communication skills – communication is a process whereby information is imparted by a sender to a receiver in other words you need to speak to you customer as well and how you do this is important. If you are communicating with a customer you must look after your * Your speech – this means that you should speak loud and clearly because if you are speaking too quietly or miss the endings of words, then the customer might have problems to understand you. * Your language – this means that you should use appropriate language for your customer because it is not appropriate to use slangs and jargons since the customer will not understand what you are talking about. * The pitch of your voice – this means that you should take care of how you sound. For example if you have to talk to a group of people you should raise your head and speak more loudly and clearly but without shouting. And you should know how to pitch your voice to hold the interests of your customer because if you sound monotone the customer will soon lose the interest. Task 3 In this task I should anticipate and meet the needs of at least three different customers in a range of situations. * Accessibility for disable peoples for example those with wheelchairs. The business makes their stores accessible for wheelchair user by having big signs that are clear and easy to read, a ramp as an alternative to steps, the doors should also be wide and easy to open and the widths are allowing wheelchairs and the height of counter areas and shelves also allows wheelchairs. The business should also have toilets that meet the needs of wheelchair users. And the staff should also take time to help peoples in wheelchairs if they need help. * Health and safety – The business makes their store healthy and safe by making sure that all selling environments are assassed for risk so that any hazards are minimised, it means, the business must keep the workplace clean, they must make sure that their floors, steps, stairs, passages and gangways are properly maintained and it is kept from any obstruction and any substance likely to cause a person to slip and fall. If you, as a staff member, see something that can affect the health and safety in the business then you should do something about it before something happened, for example if you see something on the floor that can make someone fall then you should take the thing away from the floor or if the floor is wet you should put a sign there that the floor is wet so that no one can fall. * Email – The business makes sure that they have a email account so that they can send emails to customers and others. If you send a email you should make sure that you chose the right message style and layout and that you follow the recommended business format. And the email should also be written in a courteous and tactful way and also the wording should be appropriate for the situation. But it will be useful if for example you want to send an email to a customer you should mark the email as high priority if it will be important for the customer. And for you as a staff member you should have the skills to send an email which means that you should be a able to apply the appropriate customer service an to make sure that you chose a good tone and degree of formality depending upon the person and your reason for writing and it is important that the business mails should comply with organisational rules and recognised standards.