Customer service refresher

5. Welcoming Behaviors A smile and a relaxed facial expression. Non-intimidating eye contact. Tone of voice and inflection. A comfortable pace. Open body language. Looking up from your computer frequently. Greeting people. 5

6. Share yours. Lynne Good morning Use theirs. Mrs. Smith! 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9

10. 10

11. 11

12. •Look for opportunities to renew staff customer service training. •Document improvement in customer service by developing a measurement tool and using it with staff. 12

13. 13

14. References “AT&T Store Employees 5 Key Behaviors – Good Customer Service?” at http://www.berryreview.com/2011/06/28/att-store-employees-5-key-behaviors-good-customer-service “Customer Service – Washington State Small Business Development Center” at http://www.wsbdc.org/customer-service “Developing an Effective Customer Service Strategy for Government Agencies” at http://www.howto.gov/customer-service/strategic-planning “Employee Behavior: Training, Guiding, Coaching” at http://www.wpex.com/index.php/newsletter/featured/employeee_behavior_training_guidi ng_coaching/ Hurley, R.F. “Customer Service Behavior in Retail Settings: A Study of the Effect of Service Provider Personality” at http://www.scribd.com/doc/54699495/Customer- Service-Behavior-in-Retail-Settings-A-Case-Study “Improving Customer Service through Effective Performance Management” at http://www.opm.gov/perform/wppdf/custdoc.pdf 14

Editor's Notes

At its most basic, customer service is really about your customer’s experience and how they feel while interacting with you. So after they leave you, they will remember how you made them feel. Think back to your own customer experiences. CLICK Did you ever have an experience in any of these places that left you with a distinct feeling? ENCOURAGE DISCUSSION CLICK How do we want them to feel when they see this brand?
The presentation today is focused on customer service behaviors. In researching this topic, I found that generally there are 5 behaviors that can contribute to a successful customer interaction. The five that we will be discussing are: CLICK THE WELCOME CLICK NAMES CLICK ATTENTION CLICK POSITIVITY CLICK THE THANKS Let’s look at each one.
Let‘s start with The Welcome. What do you think makes a library customer feel welcome? ENCOURAGE DISCUSSION Let’s analyze some pictures of working librarians. CLICK 1 st picture: open arms, smile, leaning forward slightly in a non-aggressive manner shows interest. Notice the public desk space – no clutter = clean and inviting. We are talking about welcoming behaviors in people today, but be aware that your work space can either invite or discourage interaction. CLICK 2 nd picture: and what about this one? What are her welcoming behaviors? Again the smile, standing instead of sitting, open stance, monitor is turned so that she can share what she finds with the customer so the screen is less of a barrier and more of a helping tool. CLICK 3 rd picture: Again the screen is turned to facilitate the sharing of information. Are they standing or sitting? What is the librarian doing that seems open and welcoming? CLICK 4 th picture: And finally, how can we seem welcoming if we are working on a computer or doing other necessary library tasks? Look up, make eye contact with people in your area, smile. CLICK In my research, I ran across an idea called the “10 Foot” rule. You should “own” all customers who come within 10 feet of you. What does “own the customer” mean? Do you see anything else in this picture that represents welcoming behaviors?
We identified many welcoming behaviors in the previous pictures. Here are some behaviors that were listed frequently as I was doing some research. Knowing what behavior to use each situation is what makes the difference between a good and a great customer service employee. CLICK Is smiling necessary? What do you think? Does a relaxed facial expression take the place of a smile? CLICK What do I mean by non-intimidating eye contact? (Difference between acknowledging someone and staring them down.) CLICK The tone of your voice can be tense or relaxed. Generally, the higher and tighter your vocal sound, the more stressed you are and people do pick up on that! CLICK What is vocal inflection? Means a change in pitch or tone. CLICK A comfortable pace is self-explanatory. CLICK What constitutes open body language? “Any and all body language that shows that a person is ready to communicate and accept ideas from others. It happens when no part of the body covers the midway-point of the bisected body. The arms and legs are not crossed and the palms are up.” CLICK How can you be open if you are working at your computer? Look up from your work frequently, especially when you see someone cross into your zone. CLICK And finally, greet people. What are some appropriate phrases to use? CLICK
Names are so important! CLICK How do you share your name? Employee badge? Introduce yourself? CLICK And how many of your customers can you call by name? CLICK
How does your customer know when you are giving them your complete attention? Most easily through eye contact ( CLICK) – how easy would our jobs be if all of our customers looked like this?! CLICK Practice Active Listening – can anyone tell me about active listening? Active listening is a communication technique that requires the listener to feed back what they hear to the speaker, by way of re-stating or paraphrasing what they have heard in their own words, to confirm what they have heard and moreover, to confirm the understanding of both parties. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening) Why would active listening be helpful in our library environment?
What does positivity mean to you? CLICK Seeing the glass half-full instead of half-empty. How can you promote positivity in our workplace? Start with yourself! The physical act of smiling can enhance your mood. What makes a customer feel good? Always be positive with customers. Never berate supervisors or county government, etc. Focus on what you can do to help the customer. If you cannot help, offer to take the problem to a supervisor – but NEVER MAKE THE CUSTOMER EXPLAIN THE ISSUE TO ANOTHER EMPLOYEE.
Do you every thank your customers for using the library? Be appreciative that they use the library’s service.
What result do we hope to achieve by practicing good customer service behaviors? In the private sector, excellent customer service should result in higher profits. But what about the government sector, of which we are a part? What should good customer service lead to? CLICK Customer loyalty – library advocates – perhaps a more educated citizenry who participate in government and their communities and help make our neighborhoods better places to live.
Is customer loyalty important in a library? Yes! Tax payers may not want to fund the library or recognize how important library service is to education, economic development, and general quality of life in the community. Reasons out of your control = 1% die and 3% move away Reasons within your control for the remaining 96%: 68% are upset with the treatment they received 14% are dissatisfied with the product or service 9% go to a competitor 5% seek alternatives or develop other relationships
The first outcome CLICK is ongoing and several librarians in the system have this same outcome. CLICK The 2 nd one, however belongs to me. I need your help to develop this measurement tool. If you are going to be observed and evaluated on your customer service behaviors, what do you want to be evaluated on? Take suggestions and write on a chart. ENCOURAGE DISCUSSION

Customer service refresher

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Customer service refresher

Similar to Customer service refresher (20)

More from Lynne Reed

More from Lynne Reed (15)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Customer service refresher

Editor's Notes