Achieving Customer Service Excellence

How Would Your Rate Your Customer Service?

What level of customer service does your business deliver?
• 80% of companies surveyed believe the service they provide is superior.
• Only 8% of customers surveyed describe their experience as superior.

Improving customer service involves more than telling your employees to smile and put the customer first. It is embedded in the way excellent organizations do business by having systems, processes, hiring standards, training and service protocols in place.

Our Program

Development Associates USA celebrates over 27 years in business by continuing to offer cost-effective innovative training programs. We have researched and developed Achieving Customer Service Excellence, a pioneering customer service management training program that looks at the building blocks and principles that create customer service excellence.

Our program was created to help managers develop a mindset dedicated to delivering excellent customer service to both external and internal customers. Our customer service training is for companies who want to create a stronger service culture that builds loyal relationships with their customers and a better environment for their employees.

Achieving Customer Service Excellence addresses the building blocks that a company needs in order to drive and maintain customer service through the internal customers. Moreover, the program examines the elements that must be in place to connect with external customers. Lastly, we will analyze specific customer service initiatives including creating customer delight, winning back lost customers and cross selling.

Without metrics, estimating ROI is little more than guesswork. Consequently, our program has a strong focus on tracking customer satisfaction and metrics. Our hope is that this program will serve as a benchmark for improving your organization.

On-Site or Tele-training Available

Achieving Customer Service Excellence is presented on-site or via tele-training by our consultant. Both methods allow participants to benefit from interactive group discussions and executive coaching. The on-site workshops are beneficial because they are customizable to the needs of each company. The tele-training class meets for one hour each week for six weeks and includes participants from various companies throughout the U.S. Tele-training is beneficial because participants spread the learning process over a six week period, interact with people from other businesses, and have access to executive coaching - all without ever leaving their office.

Each Program is Customized

Neither the on-site or tele-training is a "canned" training program, each is customized. Before the program commences, our consultant will conference with both company leadership and the participant to understand the company’s culture, needs, constraints, performance standards, goals, etc. Upon completion of the program, our consultant will follow up with each participant to see how they are utilizing what she or he learned in the program.

Follow Up

Unlike most training programs, we believe in follow up coaching to insure the desired skills are practiced by participants until they become habits. In our tele-training, we provide two hours of personal coaching time to be used during the training or up to one month following the training to address individual situations and challenges. For on-site training, our consultant conferences with your company once a month for the three months following training to coach and support the Achieving Customer Service Excellence process.
 

 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Customer Service is Not a Slogan
   • What are the bottom line benefits of a true customer focus?
   • How do you get past the hype?

Why a Relevant Vision and Mission is Vital
   • What is the purpose of a vision statement?
   • Assessing your vision statement
   • What is the purpose of a mission statement?
   • Assessing your mission statement
   • Visiting the revision process

Why Leadership Must Lead Customer Service
   • How to communicate the customer service program to your employees
   • Why it is important to know the different stages of understanding

Hiring for Customer Service Oriented People
   • The use of personality profiling
   • Important questions to ask an applicant

Training for Customer Service
   • Important items to include in new hire training
   • The key to on-the-job training
   • The importance of continuous employee training

Measuring and Improving Employee Satisfaction
   • Who should participate in survey and focus groups
   • Why the questions asked really matter
   • Sample survey questions
   • What to do with the results of the survey

Why Recognition is Important
   • The key to recognition
   • Public vs. private recognition

Clearly Define Standards – A Must
   • Defining standards
   • Assessing your standards
   • Creating or revising service standards
   • Who should and how to initiate standards

A Strategic Process for Handling Complaints and Problems
   • Why it’s important to solicit and welcome complaints
   • The importance of empowering employees to deal with complaints
   • How to empower employees to deal with complaints
   • How employees should handle complaints
   • How employees should negotiate an agreement 
   • How employees can reconcile the problem
   • How to aver recurring complaints

Metrics – If You Measure It, Employees Will Pursue It
   • What is a metric?
   • Sources of customer feedback
   • Three rules for customer feedback
   • How to construct surveys
   • The numbers behind surveys
   • How to incorporate customer feedback
   • Tracking problems and assessing customers-at-risk
   • Tracking customer delight initiatives
   • How to form customer-based improvement goals
   • The role of key performance indicators
   • How to set targets for key performance indicators
   • Making the results public
   • Incorporating customer service in strategic planning

Creating Customer Delight
   • Customers and how they fit in the "zones of satisfaction"
   • Attributes of a service/product – satisfaction maintaining or delight creating
   • How to find delight creating ideas
   • How to personalize service
   • How to cultivate an above-and-beyond culture

Winning Back Lost Customers
   • Who is a lost customer?
   • Identifying reasons for defection
   • The best potential win back customers
   • Win-back initiatives
   • Forming a long term win-back plan
   • When and how to follow up with a lost customer
   • Saving a customer on the brink of defection

Cross Selling  
   • The cross selling process
   • Team cross selling
   • Keys to achieving cross selling success
   • Why timing is critical