Customer Service

Agenda

The concept Who is the customer? Customers’ expectation Qualifications of the CSR Call flow Start a phone call Kinds of transfer Qualities of voice

Agenda

Elements of voice Probing and questioning skills Listening skills

Good Customer Service is all about delighting customers.

THE CONCEPT

Excellent customer service = exceed the customer's expectations.

Good customer service is all about bringing customers back.

Who is a Customer?

A person who wants his/her expectations fulfilled

A person who needs appreciation and understanding just as much as we do

A human being with emotions and feelings

CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

He/She wants to have all his/her requirements met

He/She wants dependable service He/She wants a fast response He/She wants courteous service He/She wants correct information He/She wants consistent service He/She wants answers to his/her questions

Qualifications of good CSR

Quick

Eager to please knowledgeable

Optimistic Up beat

Friendly Efficient

Honest & Fair

Helpful

Solution oriented

Qualifications of good CSR…(cont’d)

Able to understand the customer’s requests

Solution oriented

Giving the customer a feeling of importance and confidence

Speak clearly

Listen attentively

Call Flow Greeting

Security check

Identify concerns

Provide solutions

Gain agreement

Hold

Closing

Extra mile Transfer

(summarize)

1- Inbound

Call Flow2- Outbound

Greeting

Information + sign post Define yourself/company Give directions: Why did you call?

What are you going to say on the call

Educate + identify concernsTell him/her about the item you’re selling What he/she is looking for

Provide solutions

Gain agreement

Extra mile

Closing

Start a phone call

1st ring

IVR Interactive Voice Response

Smile

Greeting / company introduced

Introduce yourself

Offer help

Start a phone call…(cont’d)

Listening / acknowledging (paraphrasing)

Hold procedure You’ve to seek customer’s permission You need to give a valid reason for the

customer to put him on hold To give a time frame

Thank the customer

Start a phone call…(cont’d)

Keep checking back: incase that you need much time to fulfill his/her needs

Return and thank the customer

Customer’s permission

Kinds Of Transfer

Cold transfer

The customer had a problem, he/she reached the wrong department

Direct transfer will force the customer to repeat the whole process

Kinds Of Transfer…(cont’d)

Warm transfer

The customer had a problem, he/she reached the wrong department

I briefed the problem to other department The customer won’t repeat all call

Open transfer

Kinds Of Transfer…(cont’d)

Similar to warm transfer, instead of putting the customer on hold I put him/her on line incase I miss any information or giving his/her input or correction

Closing

Summarize

Provide an extra service

Highlight the +ve things you’ve done

Qualities of voice

Clarity

Conversational tone (intonation/ don’t sound like machines

Expressiveness

Alertness

Pleasantness (smile)

Elements of voice

Pitch

Pace (match the pace of the customer

Volume : Right placement for the mic (2 fingers ahead

from your mouth) Too far from the mouth, the customer won’t

hear clearly

Elements of voice…(cont’d)

Energy

Tone (warm / friendly)

Articulation

Probing and questioning skills

Types of questions

Open – ended Questions

Aim to get someone talking

Are useful when you want general information

For example, “How may I help you?” “Why do you say that?”“What happened?”

Probing and questioning skills

Close - ended Questions

Aim to limit talking to control direction of conversation.

Are useful when you want specific information.

For example, “Is there anything else I can assist you with?”“Am I speaking with Mr. Smith?”“Have you checked your weight this morning?”

Probing and questioning skills

Alternate Choice Questions:

This question type provides choices for the caller to choose from.

These questions are useful when dealing with difficult callers.

For example, “I could mail this to you or would you prefer me to fax the information?”

Probing and questioning skills

Basic questions

These are the introduction to your conversation.

They tell you whom you are speaking with and allow you to access a customer’s profile.

For example, “May I have address and telephone number.”“May I know your Doctors name?”

Probing and questioning skills

Verification Questions

These enable you to verify the identity of the customer and hence preserve confidentiality of the customer’s information.

These questions normally focus on information that is personal to the customer such as date of birth, social security number, etc.

For example, “May I have your date of birth for verification purposes?”

Fact-finding Questions

Probing and questioning skills

You ask effective fact-finding questions to get a clear picture of the exact problem of the customer.

Fact-finding questions are mostly open-ended

For example, “When would you like to fix the appointment?”

Listening skills

Acknowledgment Acknowledging involves two things:1. Recognizing that the customer is an important person2. Communicating to the customers that you understand their situation

How to acknowledge:

Use customer’s name: Using the customer’s name helps to personalize the call and also build rapport.

Do not over use the customer’s name as it tends to get irritating after sometime.

Acknowledge by using:

Listening skills…(cont’d)

I can appreciate what you’re saying. I can see why you’re upset. I can hear that you’re annoyed. I understand your concern

Assurance

Listening skills…(cont’d)

Communicating to the customer that you can resolve his/her concern.

Here are a few examples of assurances: “I’ll personally take care of this for you.” “I’ll make sure this reaches you before Mondays.” “I can take care of that for you”

Communicating to the customers that you understand their situation.

Listening skills…(cont’d)

Assertiveness

being honest with yourself and with others

being able to say what you want, need and feel but not at the expense of other people’s feelings

understanding the other person’s point of view

behaving in a logical, rational (not emotional) manner

Listening skills…(cont’d)The benefits of being assertive are that you are able to:

handle others with confidence and courtesy

handle any encounter with efficiency, no matter how difficult

leave other people with a positive impression of you and your organization

say the right thing in the right way

feel satisfied with the outcome of a situation