Customer Service Essentials


Book Description

Customer Service Essentials is a must-read and a definitive source of information on effective management of customer service in Africa and beyond. Leveraging on unique concepts and practices developed in the field of customer service management, this book uses case studies and vignettes to reinforce learnings, drawing parallels to real life experiences. The book is a valuable resource for individuals and organizations, in the quest to achieve excellent customer service, increased productivity and enhanced employee satisfaction. It explores the practical challenges of customer service in Africa, examines critical success factors and provides guidelines for effective customer engagement in this evolving highly networked digital era. Policy makers, directors, managers and students will gain valuable and actionable insights on service management as they navigate the chapters. Praise for Customer Service Essentials: Lessons for Africa and Beyond "This book captures service excellence by detailing out in a most explicit manner essential services dynamics of Responsiveness, Accessibility, Tangibles, Empathy and Reliability. I highly recommend it!" Esi Elliot Assistant Professor, Marketing Suffolk University, Boston, MA "I am very impressed with this book and excited to see the topics being discussed in the Chapters are geared toward quality customer service in Africa. All the chapters are superbly written, relevant to the African context and above all, the authors cover incredibly interesting topics and support them with pertinent cases. Bringing together such fine minds in the field, this book is useful and a must for anyone serious about customer service, service branding and the need to respect the customer." Charles Blankson Professor of Marketing College of Business University of North Texas "Hinson and colleagues have skillfully put together a useful collection of new perspectives on modern customer service essentials with an African and global perspective. This is a highly recommended text for students and practitioners." Ellis L.C. Osabutey Reader Roehampton University Business School United Kingdom




Essentials of Fire Department Customer Service


Book Description

Writing in a humorous conversational style, Chief Alan Brunacini explains the application of common-sense customer service concepts to the fire service. Essentials of Fire Department Customer Service is basic reading for every firefighter, officer, and administrator.




Powerful Phrases for Effective Customer Service


Book Description

Let's face it, dealing with customers isn't easy. They aren't always right--or even pleasant. But experienced business author Renée Evenson ensures you always have the right words to defuse tense interactions. In Powerful Phrases for Effective Customer Service, she covers thirty challenging customer behaviors and twenty common employee-caused negative encounters to teach readers how to assess circumstances, choose one of many appropriate responses, and confidently and consistently deliver customer satisfaction. Helpful sample scenarios and tangible instructions bring the phrases to life, while detailed explanations bolster your confidence so that you'll have the right words as tools at your disposal and the skills to take action and deliver those words effectively. Practical and insightful, Powerful Phrases for Effective Customer Service ensures you'll never again be at a loss for what to say to customers. By incorporating language that communicates welcome, courtesy, rapport, enthusiasm, assurance, regret, empathy, and appreciation, you'll not only be capable of overcoming obstacles--you'll strengthen all facets of your customer service.




Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit


Book Description

What if you could protect your business against competitive inroads, once and for all? Customer service experts Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon's anticipatory customer service approach was first developed at The Ritz-Carlton as well as at Solomon's company Oasis, and has since proven itself in countless companies around the globe--from luxury giant BVLGARI to value-sensitive auto parts leader Carquest and everywhere in between. Their experience shows that the most powerful growth engine in a tight market--and best protection from competitive inroads--is to put everything you can into cultivating true customer loyalty. Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit takes the techniques that minted money for these brands and reveals how you can apply them to your own business to provide the kind of exceptional service that nearly guarantees loyalty. Soon, you'll be reaping the benefits of loyal customers who are: less sensitive to price competition, more forgiving of small glitches, and, ultimately, who are "walking billboards" happily promoting your brand. Filled with detailed, behind-the-scenes examples, Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit unlocks a new level of customer relationship that leaves your competitors in the dust, your customers coming back day after day, and your bottom line looking better than it ever has before.




Strategic Customer Service


Book Description

The success of any organization depends on high-quality customer service. But for companies that strategically align customer service with their overall corporate strategy, it can transcend typical good business to become a profitable word-of-mouth machine that will transform the bottom line. Drawing on over thirty years of research for companies such as 3M, American Express, Chik-Fil-A, USAA, Coca-Cola, FedEx, GE, Cisco Systems, Neiman Marcus, and Toyota, author Goodman uses formal research, case studies, and patented practices to show readers how they can: • calculate the financial impact of good and bad customer service • make the financial case for customer service improvements • systematically identify the causes of problems • align customer service with their brand • harness customer service strategy into their organization's culture and behavior Filled with proven strategies and eye-opening case studies, this book challenges many aspects of conventional wisdom—using hard data—and reveals how any organization can earn more loyalty, win more customers...and improve their financial bottom line.




Delight Your Customers


Book Description

Discover the hidden ways to raise your organizations’ customer service experiences from ordinary to extraordinary. If you want to know how strong your company’s customer service is, ask your employees to describe what their work entails. Then pay attention to whether they simply list their duties and tasks or if they speak to the true essence of their job--to create delighted customers who will be less price sensitive, have higher repurchase rates, and enthusiastically recommend the company or brand to others. The latter should be every employee’s highest priority, because when it’s not, your customers are merely the recipients of a transaction, not an experience, and transactions do not make for a lasting impression or inspire loyalty. In Delight Your Customers, customer service expert Steve Curtin makes a compelling case that customer service managers need to shift from monitoring service activities to modeling, recognizing, and reinforcing the behaviors that create happy and returning customers. Things such as: Expressing genuine interest Offering sincere compliments Sharing unique knowledge Conveying authentic enthusiasm Providing pleasant surprises Delivering service heroics when needed Simply based on their own personal experiences, everyone knows that great customer service is rare. So why wouldn’t you want to provide a unique, caring, and beneficial experience for all your customers to rave about with others? With the real-world stories, examples, and strategies shared in Delight Your Customers, you can take the customer service experience you offer from ordinary to extraordinary.




The Customer Service Solution: Managing Emotions, Trust, and Control to Win Your Customer’s Business


Book Description

Understand Consumer Psychology to Drive Profits and Growth Want to know exactly what’s driving your customer's behavior? NOW YOU CAN! The Customer Service Solution explains how consumers perceive services and shows you how to enhance the customer experience--every time. In this economic climate, the customer service experience is more critical than ever. Most leading service firms advocate the TLC mantra: Think Like a Customer. That's a good practice, but first you have to understand what your customer is thinking and feeling. Today's business leaders cannot afford to neglect the psychological principles that govern customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty. What are the factors that really determine customer satisfaction? Two of the nation's leading authorities on service psychology, Sriram Dasu and Richard Chase, have written this groundbreaking guide that identifies and demystifies the psychological triggers behind customer behavior. You'll go where customer satisfaction surveys, mystery shoppers, and focus groups can't--and learn exactly why customers respond and behave the way they do. With findings drawn from behavioral science research, this book provides all the tools you need to evaluate your current service platforms and design future strategies to enhance customer perceptions positively and drive your sales. The Customer Service Solution illustrates why even companies with high levels of satisfaction are missing tremendous opportunities by neglecting the emotional elements that govern consumer interactions. This book will show you how to: Shape and manage customer perceptions Understand implicit versus explicit outcomes Develop the roles of control and choice among buyers Design emotionally intelligent processes Build trust among customers Whatever your business may be--healthcare, hospitality, financial services, e-commerce, and more--this book is an essential tool to help you increase profits by leveraging your company's customer experience. PRAISE FOR THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SOLUTION: "Harnessing the power of emotions will help to drive an exceptional customer experience creating customers for life to help your business thrive. Finally, a guide to help us better understand how to do this." -- James Merlino, MD, Chief Experience Officer, Cleveland Clinic "Required reading for anyone designing a service encounter." -- James Heskett, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School, coauthor of The Service Profit Chain and Service Future "I have always known that our customers shop with us because they want to, not because they have to. How to make them want to is the secret that this great book unlocks." -- Kevin Davis, President and CEO, Bristol Farms "[Dasu and Chase] share easy-to-understand ideas and guidance to operations managers who typically do not think about the psychology of customers in designing their services." -- Mary Jo Bitner, PhD, Professor and Executive Director, Center for Services Leadership, W. P. Carey School, Arizona State University "Dasu and Chase provide an excellent set of ideas for delivering emotional customer service experiences through systems and operations." -- Rodolfo Medina, Vice President, Marketing & Commercial, Rock in Rio "This book provides valuable insights to managing and molding the customer's emotional journey, leading to ultimate satisfaction and sustainable loyalty." -- Ali V. Kasikci, Regional Managing Director, Orient-Express




Customer Service


Book Description

"Customer Service, 4/e" by Lucas features how-to topics for the customer service professional. It covers the concepts and skills needed for success in business careers, including listening techniques, verbal and nonverbal communication, and use of technology. Emphasis is given to dealing with customer service problems and how to handle conflicts and stress. Insights and tips are also provided for customer service supervisory personnel




Service-Learning Essentials


Book Description

Service-Learning Essentials is the resource you need to help you develop high-quality service-learning experiences for college students. Written by one of the field's leading experts and sponsored by Campus Compact, the book is the definitive work on this high-impact educational practice. Service-learning has been identified by the Association of American Colleges and Universities as having been widely tested and shown to be beneficial to college students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Organized in an accessible question-and-answer format, the book responds clearly and completely to the most common questions and concerns about service-learning. Each chapter addresses issues related to individual practice as well as to the collective work of starting and developing a service-learning center or program, with examples drawn from a variety of disciplines, situations, and institutional types. The questions range from basic to advanced and the answers cover both the fundamentals and complexities of service-learning. Topics include: Determining what service-learning opportunities institutions should offer How to engage students in critical reflection in academic courses and in cocurricular experiences Best practices for developing and sustaining mutually beneficial campus-community partnerships Integrating service-learning into the curriculum in all disciplines and at all levels, as well as various areas of student life outside the classroom Assessing service-learning programs and outcomes The dilemmas of service-learning in the context of power and privilege The future of service-learning in online and rapidly globalizing environments Service-learning has virtually limitless potential to enable colleges and universities to meet their goals for student learning while making unique contributions to addressing unmet local, national, and global needs. However, in order to realize these benefits, service-learning must be thoughtfully designed and carefully implemented. This easy-to-use volume contains everything faculty, leaders, and staff members need to know about service-learning to enhance communities, improve higher education institutions, and educate the next generation of citizens, scholars, and leaders.




Customer Service Training 101


Book Description

Your service team may represent the first, last, or only interaction point between your customers and your company. Your front-line service professionals make or break countless opportunities, leads, sales, and relationships every day. Completely revised and updated to meet the challenges of a new service landscape, the second edition ofCustomer Service Training 101 presents proven techniques for creating unforgettable customer experiences. The book covers every aspect of face-to-face, phone, Internet, and self-service customer relations, and provides simple yet powerful tips for: * Projecting a positive attitude and making a great first impression * Communicating effectively, both verbally and nonverbally * Developing trust, establishing rapport, and making customers feel valued * Confidently handling difficult customers and situations New features include "How Do I Measure Up?" self-assessments, and "Doing It Right" examples from the author's extensive customer service experience. Every step-by-step lesson in this comprehensive and inspiring training manual is augmented with instructive sidebars, a summary of key points, practice exercises, and so much more.