Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service

Table of contents

1. Cover Page
2. Title Page
3. Copyright Page
4. Contents
5. About This Course
6. How to Take This Course
7. Pre-Test
8. 1 Serving Customers
   1. Introduction
   2. Knock Your Socks Off Service
   3. The Service Advantage
   4. Customers Are Demanding
   5. Customers Are Everywhere—Inside and Out
      1. External Customers
      2. Internal Customers
      3. Relationship between Quality of Internal and External Customer Service
   6. Moments of Truth
      1. Managing Moments of Truth
      2. Mastering Moments of Truth
   7. To the Customer, You Are the Company
   8. Keeping Pace with Changing Customer Needs
   9. Delivering Exceptional Service
      1. The Power to Keep Customers Coming Back
   10. Recap
   11. Review Questions
9. 2 Principles of Knock Your Socks Off Service
   1. Introduction
   2. RATER Factors
   3. Reliability: Keeping the Service Promise
      1. Organizational Commitments
      2. Common Expectations
      3. Personal Promises
      4. Managing Promises
      5. Fixing Broken Promises
   4. Assurance: Building Customer Trust
      1. Extra Points for Style
   5. Tangibles: Taking Pride in Appearances
      1. Demonstrating Value
   6. Empathy: Seeing Things from the Customer’s Point of View
      1. Empathy vs. Sympathy
      2. Avoiding the Temptation to Commiserate
      3. Treating Customers as Individuals
   7. Responsiveness: Helping the Customer Promptly
      1. Setting—and Meeting—Deadlines
      2. When Customers Must Wait
   8. Quality Customer Service Self-Assessment and Action Plan
      1. Instructions
   9. The Ten Deadly Sins of Customer Service
   10. Recap
   11. Review Questions
10. 3 The Rules of Knock Your Socks Off Service
    1. Introduction
    2. Honesty Is the Only Policy
       1. Tall Tales Catch Up with You
       2. Customers Respect Honesty
       3. Do It for Yourself, Too
    3. All Rules Were Meant to Be Broken (Including This One)
       1. Rules vs. Assumptions
       2. Red Rules vs. Blue Rules
       3. Breaking vs. Bending the Rules
       4. Making Exceptions
       5. Responding to Warranty Issues
       6. Make the System Work
    4. Do the Right Thing … Regardless
       1. Is the Right Thing Ever Wrong?
    5. Exceptional Service Is in the Details
       1. Everything Counts
       2. Moments of Truth
    6. Good Selling Is Good Service—Good Service Is Good Selling
       1. When Lines Overlap
       2. When Selling Is Not Good Service
       3. When Selling Is Good Service
       4. Explaining Products and Services
    7. Never Underestimate the Value of a Sincere Thank-You
       1. Nine Times When You Should Thank Customers
       2. Three Ways to Say Thank You
       3. Five Often Forgotten Thank-You’s
    8. Recap
    9. Review Questions
11. 4 Communicating with the Customer
    1. Introduction
    2. Listening Is a Skill—Use It
       1. Good Listeners Are Made, Not Born
       2. Barriers to Effective Listening
       3. Listening between the Lines
    3. Ask Effective Questions
       1. Background Questions
       2. Probing Questions
       3. Confirmation Questions
       4. When Questions Go Wrong
    4. Winning Words and Soothing Phrases
       1. Forbidden Phrases
       2. The Message Behind the Words
    5. Facts for Face-to-Face
       1. 1. Proximity
       2. 2. Physical Contact
       3. 3. Gestures
       4. 4. Posture
       5. 5. Eye Contact
       6. 6. Facial Expression
       7. 7. Vocal Characteristics
       8. 8. Silence
       9. 9. Smell
       10. 10. Overall Appearance
       11. Nonverbal Cues
    6. Tips for Telephone Talk
       1. Telephone Etiquette: A Quick Review
       2. Voice Mail
    7. Putting Pen to Paper or Fingers to Keyboard
       1. Your Message
       2. Your Reader
       3. Using E-mail for Knock Your Socks Off Service
       4. The Outcome
    8. Recap
    9. Review Questions
12. 5 Smart Answers to Tough Customer Questions
    1. Introduction
    2. Interpreting Needs and Anxieties Implicit in Customer Questions
       1. Resistance to Change
       2. Sensitivity to Price
       3. Lack of Trust in the Service Provider
       4. Sensitivity to Waiting Time
       5. Fears—Well-Founded and Not-So-Well Founded
    3. Diplomatic Answers to Peevish Questions
       1. Maintaining an Individual’s Privacy
       2. Protecting Sensitive Business Information
       3. Directing Customers to Suitable Products or Services
       4. Keeping Database Information Current without Irritating the Customer
       5. Steering Clear of Politics and Religion
    4. Three Helpful Phrases for All Occasions
       1. Helpful Phrase #1: “As You Might Expect”
       2. Helpful Phrase #2: “ … For You”
       3. Helpful Phrase #3: “This Account Shows” or “Our Records Indicate”
    5. Twenty Things You Should Never Say to a Customer
    6. Recap
    7. Review Questions
13. 6 Educating the Customer
    1. Introduction
    2. Right and Wrong
       1. Why We’re There
       2. Three Ways to Make Customers Right
       3. Unfair Advantage
    3. Educating Customers about Your Services
    4. Educating Customers about Your Products
       1. Technomysticism
       2. Filling Knowledge Gaps
    5. Educate about Completing Paperwork
    6. Educate about Information Sources
    7. Educate through Personal Discovery
       1. Building Customer Understanding
    8. Building Customer Relationships through Education
       1. Recap
       2. Review Questions
14. 7 The Problem Solving Side of Knock Your Socks Off Service
    1. Introduction
    2. Be a Fantastic Fixer
       1. The Art of Service Recovery
       2. The Recovery Process
       3. Asking for Trouble
    3. Use the Well-Placed “I’m Sorry”
       1. Legal Jeopardy
       2. Customer Jeopardy
       3. Scapegoating
       4. Do It Right
    4. Fix the Person
       1. Color-Coding Your Response
       2. Tip of the Iceberg
    5. Fair-Fix the Problem
       1. Step 1: LISTEN to Find the Problem
       2. Step 2: PROBE for Understanding and Confirmation
       3. Step 3: SOLVE—Find and Implement Solutions One Extra Step
    6. Customers from Hell Are Customers, Too
       1. Approaches to Obnoxious Customers
       2. Dealing with Disruptive Behavior
       3. Doing the Impossible
       4. Meeting Unreasonable Demands
       5. When to Fire a Customer
    7. Recap
    8. Review Questions
15. 8 Knock Your Socks Off Service Fitness: Taking Care of You
    1. Introduction
    2. Master the Art of Calm
       1. Ten Stress Reducers
    3. Keep It Professional
       1. Taking Care of Business
       2. Involvement Varies
       3. Office Friendships
       4. Office Parties
       5. Office Romances
       6. Professional Appearance
       7. Who You Are vs. What You Do
    4. The Competence Principle: Always Be Learning
       1. Put Yourself in Training
    5. Celebrate Successes
       1. Learning to Celebrate
       2. Five Ways to Celebrate
    6. Recap
    7. Review Questions
16. Key Terms
17. Recommended Resources
18. Post-Test
19. Index