Better Customer Service

Simple Rules You Can Apply Today

Edward C. Brewer, Terence L. Holmes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000394894
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Rapporti con i clienti
• Index: Business

This readable and concise research-based book discusses seven simple rules that will help businesses and individuals improve their customer satisfaction and workplace environments – and make the world a little better and more pleasant.

An author team with extensive cross-sector experience provides a foundation that will help improve customer service no matter the type of organization or situation, allowing customization according to industry standards and expectations. Although the basic steps are simple – going all the way back to preschool and kindergarten – they can have a significant positive impact on customer service and on basic human interaction. If an employee follows these simple steps, not only will relationships with customers improve, but so will relationships with co-workers, increasing overall organizational satisfaction. Readers who adopt the principles in this book may find that their personal relationships improve as well.

The primary audience of this work includes any business that desires to improve customer service. However, anyone who works with people will appreciate the conversational tone and specific illustrative examples in this clear and immediately actionable book.

1
COME TO CLASS PREPARED

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

Our daughters were in the Girl Scouts. The motto of that organization is “Be prepared.” We also learned the importance of being prepared in kindergarten. This still seems like a good idea, although certainly not everyone providing customer service seems to feel that way! We remember the emphasis on preparation and common sense. This was true in our schooling as well. Coming to class prepared made learning much more effective; it also allowed us to adapt to changes and discuss the day’s topics intelligently. Being prepared in the realm of customer service starts with a good understanding of how services differ from products, and thus how we can improve our knowledge and skills to deliver service that meets (at a minimum!) customer wants and needs. In this chapter we will show you how your preparation can make a significant positive impact on the customer’s experience.

The Business of Services (versus Products)

As a services professional, your desire is to be prepared to provide excellent service, whatever the situation you find yourself and your customer in. To ensure both you and your employees are prepared to do so, you should first have everyone involved understand the general nature of a service-based business versus a product-based one.

While they are important for products as well, some variables that may take on even more significance in the service industry are trust, time, reliability, and relationships. The people factor is of monumental importance. With the ubiquitous nature of online shopping, you may or may not interact with a person. But in most cases with service, a person is vital. Thus, there is much more chance of human error. There are, of course, services that do not require a person (like your Internet connection, electric or gas utilities for your house, and the like). Of course if there is an interruption in the service, you want a person with whom you can talk. But a repair service, pest control, doctors, lawyers, etc., rely on the interaction with the service provider. And then businesses such as bridal shops, car rental dealerships, and restaurants involve service and a product.

As we have mentioned, organizations providing services face similar issues to those providing products regarding planning, management, marketing, and innovation. In your own experience, you have probably noticed that there are several notable dissimilarities as well! Researchers have documented, over a long period, many such differences in the marketing of products versus services. A service provider is the product. Thus, marketing a service means you need to instill trust and confidence in your abilities. Selling a service also means you are selling time. The customer expects you to deliver results within an agreed upon timeframe. Marketing a service means you must build a relationship. Remember the widely known “four Ps” in marketing products we described in the Introduction. An approach concerning the differences in marketing services isolates four of the most familiar differences, all of which begin with the letter “I” and thus give the concept its name, the “four Is of Services.” These factors are intangibility, inconsistency, inseparability, and inventory. Let’s look at each of these factors.

The Four Is of Service

Intangibility. While product purchase decisions can be based in part on the physical nature of the product being considered, the same is not true with services. Being intangible means that other ways must be used in place of actual examination of the product in advance of purchase. The goal for service providers is to “make the intangible tangible” as much as is possible in a consumer’s mind.

Inconsistency. Production standards have long been a part of the production of physical products. If you make bottled juices, then taste, color, and the amount of juice in each bottle will vary very little whether you buy a bottle at a Kroger store in Lexington, Kentucky or at a convenience store in Lexington, Massachusetts. When you go to McDonald’s, you expect your Big Mac to look and taste exactly the same in Las Vegas, Nevada as it does in Cincinnati, Ohio. Quality control and other operations management practices are in place to assure this. Services, on the other hand, tend to have greater variance in the quality level a customer receives. This can be because of the training and experience of a particular service provider, along with other environmental effects such as the number of customers or the time of day (just think of the service quality differences possible among the four cashiers involved in buying the juice or Big Macs). Even when machines provide a service, there can be variations from one time or place to another. Thus, the best service providers constantly seek to overcome inconsistency as much as is possible.

Inseparability. Judging a product’s quality and consistency is easy. If two bottles of juice from the producer described above are bought in two different places and then compared, they should be nearly identical. When a customer experiences a service, on the other hand, it is difficult to separate the service from who or what is delivering that service. Thus, service providers are always looking for ways to avoid having a service delivery person or machine negatively affect the perception of the service itself.

Inventory. Products are made and then shipped to places where they are stored until sold, with many categories of goods going through several stages of transit and storage in a channel of distribution. Services cannot be stored. If your classroom holds 40 students and only 20 students enroll in a given class, then you cannot save the unused capacity. An airline with a flight from Nashville to Orlando that can seat 140 passengers but only books 120 cannot save the unused seats and sell them later (yes, even deeply discounted!).

Know How the Four Is Relate to Your Business

So what about your organization? How are you handling the four Is of service right now? To what degree are your offerings tangible versus intangible? Do all employees perform at the desired level 100% of the time? Do your employees enhance the customer’s experience? Are you able to manage your demand to prevent lost business and lost opportunities? In short, are you prepared? Let’s take a look.

Tangibles. Restaurant owners would answer that they have both tangible and intangible elements in their business. They’re right, and many other types of service businesses do as well. In fact, there is a concept, the service continuum, which describes varying proportions of product versus service of particular market offerings. The closer a business comes to the “purely a service” side of the continuum, the more it should be prepared to fully address the four “Is.”

Figure 1.1

Customers judge services on several fronts. One of the first impressions they form is based on how well your organization appears to be able to provide the service they want. This appearance will differ depending on what type of service you offer and whether it is attached to a product or is a pure service. Physical facilities need to be in good repair, not necessarily fancy, but they should appear to your customers that you are set up to enable the promised service to be delivered. For example, if you repair automobiles, your facility can look busy and not be as clean as would be expected if you were offering a dry cleaning service. If your service is delivered on the customer’s premises, such as with windshield replacement or pest control services, the service person(s) should appear competent and prepared to do the job.

Terry’s son and his wife had an interesting experience illustrating these effects, good and bad. They were driving in from Texas for a visit and had car trouble. Because the warranty was still in effect, they contacted Honda Roadside Assistance which arranged for a tow to the nearest dealership. When the driver arrived, they were a bit concerned. He was dressed shabbily and wo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Come to Class Prepared
• 2 Complete Assignments Neatly and On Time
• 3 Pay Attention
• 4 Show Respect
• 5 Be Courteous and Kind
• 6 Follow Directions
• 7 Always Do Your Best
• Appendix
• Credits
• Index