Leader’s Guide and Handouts

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the first mile

The Essential ART of Customer Service

copyright © 2002 Edge Training Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Edge Training Systems, Inc. Edge Training Systems, Inc. 9710 Farrar Court, Suite P Richmond, VA 23236

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facilitating the training meeting

Display: Slide #1

Slide #1

Say: “In today’s workshop we are going to talk about First Mile Service and how we can deliver the level of customer service our customers expect.”

Explain: Welcome the participants and describe any ground rules for the session, schedule, and administrative details such as location of rest rooms, etc.

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Display: Slide #2

Slide #2 Ice Breaker Activity: Give Your Acceptance Speech! A fun way to “break the ice” is to have each participant give their “acceptance speech.” Explain that each participant has been awarded the Customer’s Choice Award for Outstanding Customer Service. Ask the participants to stand and introduce themselves and give their acceptance speech for this award, thanking those who helped them achieve this honor. Explain: Following the ice breaker activity, describe the importance of each participant’s active engagement in the training session, and the goal that each participant will carry away from the session an action plan for continued improvement:

• Much of what will be learned will be drawn from their own experience and everyone is encouraged to participate and discuss the topics openly and actively.

• At the end of the session each participant will have identified at least one key learning point that will help them continue to improve their customer service performance.

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Display: Slide #3

Slide #3

Distribute: Handout – Who are your customers?

Explain: Ask participants to take four minutes to review the questions on the handout sheet and think about how they would respond to each.

Discuss: After the participants have had time to review the questions on the handout sheet, ask for their responses to each of the questions and discuss the following ideas:

• Customers are more than just buyers, they are people with whom my organization has a relationship.

• There are external customers (people outside the organization) and internal customers (people who work inside the same organization).

• All organizations have customers, but we might call them by different names.

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Display: Slide #4

Slide #4 Distribute: Handout - Whose job is customer service? Explain: Ask your participants to take four minutes to review the handout and imagine that they were the owner of a popular restaurant. Ask them to place a check mark beside the description of each employee who would have an impact on how restaurant customers would perceive the level of customer service the restaurant offers. Discuss: Call time after four minutes and ask the participants how they responded to each of the employees described. Focus your discussion on the idea that each employee in an organization has an impact in some way on customer satisfaction and that customer service is important to keep in mind whether or not your specific job is considered a “customer service” job.

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Display: Slide #5

Slide #5 Ask:

• Have you ever received bad service as a customer?

• What happened?

• How did it make you feel personally?

• How did it make you think of the organization?

• Have you ever told anyone else about that experience?

Discuss:

Explore specific incidents of poor customer service described by participants and how these events shaped that person’s view of the organization involved. Be prepared to provide personal examples of poor service you have received, how it made you feel personally, and how it made you think about the organization involved.

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Display:

Slide #6

Slide #6

Say:

“Research on customer service conducted since the 1970’s until now has consistently shown that unhappy customers tell about twice as many people about a bad experience as happy customers tell about a good experience. For example, a 1981 study done for a large soft drink manufacturer found that a median of 5 people heard about a good experience and a median of 10 people were told about a bad customer service experience.” Note to trainer: The median is the number that falls at the 50th percentile in a group of data, meaning that half of the responses were greater than the median and half the responses were less than the median. This is slightly different than the average or mean of a group of data. Ask:

• Why is this important?

Discuss: If bad news travels twice as far as good news, we should try to minimize bad customer service and maximize good customer service in order to create positive word of mouth.

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Video Presentation

Say: “We’re now going to watch a fifteen-minute video that deals with the differences between bad customer service and good customer service. In the first couple of minutes, you’re going to see some examples of poor customer service. Notice specifically what is being done wrong when you see it and be prepared to discuss your observations when the video is finished. Later in the video you will also hear from real customers as they describe what they expect from you when you are providing customer service. Listen carefully to what they say – and how they say it. I think you’ll gain some valuable insights.” Play Video: Play “The First Mile: The Essential ART of Customer Service” Note to trainer: A black slide (Slide #7) has been provided in the accompanying Powerpoint presentation so that you can play the video without having to turn off the presentation projector if you so choose.

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Display:

Slide #8

Slide #8 Ask: “Take a look at this scene from the video we just saw. Is good customer service happening here? How many things can you identify from this scene that contribute to poor customer service in this case?” Possible Responses:

• Waiting for bill

• Waiter doesn’t stop by to check on them

• Can’t get waiter’s attention

• They’re gong to be late

• Uneaten baked potatoes – requested sour cream instead of butter

• Uneaten dessert – given by waiter to make up for the potato problem

Say: “Let’s take a look at three of the fundamental areas where Rick goes wrong.”

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Display: Slide #9

Slide #9 Ask:

• Do you think Rick views customers as his highest priority?

• How do you think Rick views customers?

• How do you think Rick’s customers want to be viewed by Rick?

Display: Slide #10

Slide #10

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Ask:

• How do you think Rick defines who his customers are?

• Is Rick’s definition of a customer the same as his employer’s definition of a customer would be?

Display: Slide #11

Slide #11 Ask:

• Do you think that Rick accepts personal responsibility for giving good customer service?

• What examples of Rick’s behavior from the video support your view?

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Display: Slide #12

Slide #12 Say: “We can avoid a lot of problems with poor customer service if we keep in mind these three fundamentals:

• Take personal responsibility for customer service.

• Know who your customers are.

• Make customers your highest priority.”

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Display: Slide #13

Slide #13 Ask:

• What event opens Rick’s eyes to the error of his ways?

Display: Slide #14

Slide #14 Say: “Becoming a customer himself.”

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Display: Slide #15

Slide #15 Say: “We all have a tendency to see the world from our own viewpoint and sometimes have difficulty putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes. It’s important to try hard to see how our service looks from the customer’s point of view. Imagine that you are the customer, not the customer service employee, and try to picture how your customer perceives the job you’re doing. “So far, we’ve been looking at some mistakes and misplaced priorities in a restaurant setting because that’s something we can all relate to. Even if we don’t work in a restaurant, we’ve all been customers in a restaurant. The lessons of “what not to do” that we learn from Rick can be applied to any customer service job, however. Let’s take a minute to think about how our customers might view us.” Ask:

• Do we ever make the kind of mistakes Rick has made?

• Do we understand who our customers are and recognize that they’re the ones who are really writing our paychecks?

• Do we make each customer feel important to us, our highest priority at that moment?

• Do we take personal responsibility for customer service?

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Display: Slide #16

Slide #16 Ask:

• What is the essential ART of customer service? (Attention, Respect, and Time)

Say: Let’s take a closer look at the ART of customer service and see how we might apply it where we work. Display: Slide #17

Slide #17

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Distribute: Handout – Paying attention Activity: Divide participants into groups of two to four, depending on the size of your class. Ask them to work together to complete their handout on paying attention. They will have eight minutes to complete the activity. Call time in eight minutes and ask each group to report their results. Record their answers on a flip chart and post the responses on the wall. Display: Slide #18

Slide #18 Distribute: Handout – Showing respect Activity: Divide participants into new groups of two to four, depending on the size of your class. Ask them to work together to complete their handout on showing respect. They will have eight minutes to complete the activity. Call time in eight minutes and ask each group to report their results. Record their answers on a flip chart and post the responses on the wall.

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Display:

Slide #19 Distribute: Handout – Giving time Activity: Ask your participants to individually review and complete the handout. Call time in five minutes and ask each participant to report one of the responses they wrote. Record their answers on a flip chart and post the responses on the wall. Say: “Today we’ve learned three fundamental ideas that will help prevent us from giving poor service and keep our focus on good customer service. And we’ve learned about the expectations our customers have of us, what we’ve referred to as the ART of customer service. Let’s review what we’ve talked about.” Ask:

• Do you remember what the three fundamental ideas are?

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Display: Slide #20

Slide #20 Say: “Take personal responsibility for customer service. Be proud of the job you do helping to meet customer needs. “Know who your customers are. They are the people who write your paycheck. Don’t adopt a narrow definition of ‘customer’ that excludes people who are important to you and your organization. “Make customers your highest priority. Customers want to know that you think they’re important to you and your organization. They are, after all, the ones who write your paycheck. They are your organization’s reason for existence. “Try hard to see things from your customer’s point of view. Always try to put yourself in their shoes, show empathy for their position, and understand that the way they perceive the service they receive can have a big impact on your organization’s (and your) level of success.” Ask:

• What are the customer’s most basic expectations, what we’ve called the essential ART of customer service?

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Display: Slide #21

Slide #21 Say: “Customers expect to receive your full attention, respect for them as individuals and for the value they bring to your organization, and to know that you will take enough time to understand and to meet their needs.” Distribute: Handout – Action Plan Say: “Now it’s time to turn our words into actions. Review the flip chart pages on the wall with ideas about how to show attention, respect, and give customers your time. Select one to three areas that you will commit to working on in the next month to improve your customer service skills. For each area, state your objective – what do you want to achieve? – and describe specifically what you intend to do to meet that objective. Write down ideas about people who can help you practice and develop, as well as any other resources you can use in developing this skill area. Finally, set target dates or milestones for completing these objectives.”

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participant handouts

• Who are your customers

• Whose job is customer service?

• Paying attention

• Showing respect

• Giving time

• Action plans

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Handout:

Who are your customers? Consider the following statements and decide whether you agree or disagree. Be prepared to discuss the reasons for your answer.

1. A person is only my customer if they buy something from me or from my organization. (Agree / Disagree) 2. Any person who expects to receive products, services, information, advice, or support from me or from my organization should be considered a customer. (Agree / Disagree) 3. People inside my own organization should be considered my customer if they receive my work product or depend on the work I do in order to do their job. (Agree / Disagree)

Some organizations have different names for some customers. They might be called subscribers, members, passengers, clients, patients, end-users, patrons, viewers, or guests. Does your organization have any special names for customers? If so, write them here:

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Handout:

Whose job is customer service? Imagine for a moment that you were the owner of a popular restaurant. Place a check mark beside each of the employees below whose job has a direct impact on the level of customer satisfaction your restaurant patrons would receive:

The employee who answers the phone, takes reservations and gives directions to the restaurant.

The employee who sweeps the outside sidewalk and removes cigarette butts from the planters beside the restaurant entrance.

The host or hostess who greets the customers entering the restaurant.

The wait person who takes the orders and serves the food.

The dishwasher who cleans the glasses, plates and silverware.

The maintenance person who changes burned out light bulbs in the hallway outside the rest rooms.

The cook who prepares the food in the kitchen.

The bus person who clears and cleans the tables. Now think about the people who work in your own organization. How does the job each person performs impact the level of customer satisfaction received by your organization’s customers?

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Handout:

Paying attention Customers want to know they have your full attention. Think about your workplace and answer the following questions: What are some of the things customers might see you do that would make them think you are not giving them your full attention?

What are some of the things you could do to demonstrate to each of your customers that you are paying attention to them? Are there any things in your workplace that might be distracting your attention away from your customers? How can you deal with those distractions?

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Handout:

Showing respect Customers expect to be treated with respect, both for themselves individually, and for the value they bring as a customer to your organization. Think about your workplace and answer the following questions: What might customers see you do or hear you say that would make them think you are not showing them respect? What are some of the things you could do or say to show courtesy and respect to each of your customers as people? What are some of the things you could do or say to show your customers that you respect their value to your organization?

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Handout:

Giving time Customers want to be given enough of your time to meet their needs and they want you to understand that their time is important as well. Think about your workplace and answer the following questions: What might customers see you do or hear you say that would make them think you are not taking enough time with them to understand and meet their needs? What are some of the things customers may expect of you that take more of your time? How can you handle a situation where a customer requires more of your time than you have available to give at that moment?

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Handout:

Action plans Use this page to create your own personalized action plan for developing your customer service skills. Select one to three areas to work on and make your objectives as specific as possible. Area to work on:

Objective:

Actions I will take:

People / Resources to help me: Target Dates:

Area to work on:

Objective:

Actions I will take:

People / Resources to help me: Target Dates:

Area to work on:

Objective:

Actions I will take:

People / Resources to help me: Target Dates:

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Notes: