Page 264 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Unit 12: Creating a Service Culture

Listen intently, and then respond appropriately. Notes
Facilitate situations in which customer needs are met and you succeed in win/win
situations helping accomplish organisational goals.

Focus on developing an ongoing relationship with customers instead of taking a
one-time service or sales opportunity approach.

8. Work with your customer’s interest in mind. Think to yourself, “If I were my customer,
what type of service would I expect?” Then, set out to provide that service.

9. Treat vendors and suppliers as customers. Some customer service employees view vendors
and suppliers as salespeople whose only purpose is to serve them. In fact, each contact
with a vendor or a supplier offers a golden opportunity to tap into a pre-established
network and potentially expand your own customer service base while providing better
service to existing customers.

10. Share resources. By building strong interpersonal relationships with co-workers and peers
throughout the industry, you can develop a support system of resources. Sometimes
customers will request information, products, or services that are not available through
your organisation. By being able to refer customers to alternative sources, you will have
provided a service, and they are likely to remember that you helped them indirectly.
11. Work with, not against, your customers. Customers are in the enviable position of being
in control. At no time in recent history has the cliché “It’s a buyer’s market” been more
true, and many consumers know it. To capitalise on this situation, many organisations
have become very creative and proactive in their efforts to grab and hold customers.

One large Colorado-based national supermarket, Albertson’s, developed a series of
commercials touting “Albertson’s—it’s your store” and stressing that corporate efforts
were focused on customer satisfaction.
Your efforts should similarly convey the idea that you are working with customers to
better serve them.

!

Caution People remember how they are treated and often act in kind.
12. Provide service follow-up. Providing follow-up is probably one of the most important
service components. Service does not end when the service encounter or sale concludes.
There are numerous follow up opportunities to ensure that customer satisfaction was
attained.
This can be through a formal customer satisfaction survey or telephone callback system or
through an informal process of sending thank-you cards, birthday cards, special sale
mailings, and similar initiatives that are inexpensive and take little effort. Think of creative
ways to follow up, and then speak to your supervisor about implementing them.

Note These types of efforts reinforce service commitment to customers and let them
know that you want to keep them as your customers.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 259