Make customer service personal - Pearson Schools and · PDF fileWhen you make customer service personal you must ... behaviour of the customer service ... might automatically expect

Unit 13 Make customer service personal 1

You may feel that many of the customers you deal with are virtually the same person because they seem to ask you the same questions or want the same things from you. This is, of course, not true. Each one of them is an individual. This Unit is all about making your customers feel they are being treated as individuals with their own distinct needs. Research has shown that when this happens customer satisfaction increases. Anything you can do to make each of your customers feel they had your complete attention and have been dealt with personally increases their sense of satisfaction. You will need to make sure that each customer leaves you feeling that you care about them.

When you make customer service personal you must consistently show you meet the customer service standards for this Unit.

UNIT 13

Make customer service personal

Customer service standards• Identify opportunities for

making customer service personal

• Treat your customer as an individual.

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What you need to know and learn:• the organisational procedures that allow you to add the personal

touch

• how to identify different personality types

• how to use the cues and information customers give you to develop the personal service

• how to identify customers with particular needs.

13.1 Identify opportunities for making customer service personal

The organisational procedures that allow you to add the personal touchWe will start by looking at what adding the personal touch means. Is it about spending lots of money to make the customer experience feel luxurious? Is it about wowing the customer with fantastic new products that will give your customer something he or she did not even know could be done? Is it about giving a discount when money off a purchase was not expected? Could adding the personal touch be popping a free gift into a package ordered online? Is it about doing the unexpected, surprising the customer? Or is it simply to do with the behaviour of the customer service practitioner?

Adding the personal touch can be any of these things or a combination of them. Remember, your customer is an individual – adding the personal touch for one customer might make him or her absolutely delighted with your service, while someone else might simply expect this as standard service and see nothing out of the ordinary.

Key term

adding the personal touch:treating the customer as an individual

How was it for you?

• When did a customer service practitioner last treat you as an individual?

• What feelings did you experience? • What did he or she do to make you feel that way? (Think

about both the actions and the behaviours involved.)• Have you done anything similar on behalf of your own

customers?

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Adding valueAdding the personal touch will help your organisation gain customer loyalty. The key to building loyalty is to provide value, as defi ned by the customer. Professor Noriaki Kano (a Japanese quality expert and university professor) has concluded from extensive research that customers experience value at three different levels: basic, expected and unanticipated:

Basic valueThe most basic value level of product and service delivery is those aspects that most customers expect as a matter of course. Think back to the Blue Flag Hotel that we looked at in Unit 1. A guest making a reservation will expect at the very least what was promised when the booking was made – for example, a clean room that is available for occupation and a bathroom stocked with complimentary toiletries.

A hotel user is unlikely to give his or her loyalty to a hotel which provides only the basics. And if the basics are not present (e.g. if the room is dirty), a complaint will follow and the customer’s loyalty will almost certainly be lost.

Expected valueThis level of value is what customers expect from market leaders. Imagine that the Blue Flag Hotel has fi ve stars. Customers using it might automatically expect a leisure centre complete with a health spa, fi tness facilities and a beauty therapist. The complimentary toiletries would be top of the range and luxurious bathrobes would be provided in bathrooms free of charge. Blue Flag staff would be attentive and have a good knowledge of the local area.

Customers paying to stay in a fi ve star hotel will expect this level of service and so will not necessarily reward the hotel with their loyalty.

Unanticipated valueUnanticipated value is the highest level of value and involves adding the personal touch – doing more than was expected, sometimes surprising the customer and always treating customers as individuals.

Try not to get drawn into thinking that superhuman efforts are needed to add the personal touch. Focus on making sure you treat your customer as an individual and doing small unexpected things to add the personal touch. At the Blue Flag Hotel this might involve phoning the guest’s room 30 minutes after arrival to check that everything is fi ne, mentioning a local event that might appeal or placing fresh fl owers in the room.

Customers will award the hotel a gold star for this level of service and so loyalty grows by providing unanticipated value.

S/NVQ Level 2 Customer Service

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Using your own initiativeBy its very nature, adding the personal touch may involve you in acting outside of your normal routines and procedures – in other words, using your own initiative to adapt to a particular customer’s needs. For example, you may leave your desk to talk with a customer who is hard of hearing. You may decide to alter a standard letter or email to make it more customer friendly. Or, you may decide not to do something which would normally be done. For example, not to make a follow-up phone call to someone you know has been recently bereaved.

Adding the personal touch often requires an instant decision; if you spend time fi nding out whether something can be done, the right moment to take action may be lost. Knowing exactly what you have the authority to do will avoid this happening. It will also enable you to help or direct customers outside of your normal routines and procedures.

Active knowledge

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Discuss with a colleague how you can add the personal touch within your normal daily routine and the situations you are required to deal with. Make a list.

For each of the actions you can take, fi nd out which of them will require permission.

Make sure you include when you can change or make adaptations to your organisation’s:• guidelines on how to greet a customer• standard letters or emails or other forms of written communication• guidelines on how to make or answer a telephone call − including use of scripts.• complaints procedures• guidelines on spending longer with one customer than is the norm• guidelines on giving refunds.

Active knowledge

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Make a list of the times when you feel you have given unanticipated value to your customers by adding the personal touch. Include:• the actions you took• how you had to adapt your behaviour to meet individual

needs.Did you have to seek permission from others to add the personal touch? If so, why was this?


Test yourself

Copy and complete these sentences.

1 Adding the personal touch means

2 Treating a customer as an individual means

3 Adapting behaviour helps a customer to feel

4 When adding the personal touch, organisational procedures help to

Using your customer’s nameProbably the easiest way you can add the personal touch to make customers feel they are being treated as individuals, is to use their name. Using the customer’s name is a valuable service technique in that it personalises the interaction between you, the customer and your organisation. You can also treat customers as individuals by making eye contact, shaking hands, asking questions about personal needs and making specifi c recommendations. We look at this further in section 13.2.

When buying a product or using a service, customers want to feel reassured that their choice is a good one, especially with an expensive purchase, as the cost of making a bad decision can be high. By personalising the interaction, you can make customers feel that both you and your organisation are concerned about fulfi lling their individual needs.

Active knowledge

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1 Find out your organisation’s policy for using customers’ names. In what situations, if any, are you not permitted to use them?

2 Practise deliberately using a customer’s name and focus on the impact it has.

— What did the customer do when he or she heard their name?

— Did you notice any changes in their body language or tone of voice?

— Was the impact positive? How could you tell?

3 Have there been any times when you used a customer’s name and it did not have the desired impact? If so, why do you think that was?


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Hello Mrs Omar. I’m calling to see if you’re

enjoying the jacuzzi bath we fi tted last week.

Figure 13.1 Following up with a service call is an effective way of adding the personal touch

If appropriate to the environment in which you work you could consider using a service call. This is a follow-up telephone call in which you ask your customer if he or she is satisfi ed with the product or service they have received. This type of process is sometimes part of an organisation’s routine procedures for gathering customer feedback. If it is not, then you will certainly be showing you are willing to make your service personal. Calling the customer by name when making the service call will make it even more personal.

Case study

In order to celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary, Dave had booked a once in a lifetime cruise. It cost far more money than he would normally spend on a holiday, so he hoped everything would go well and be extra special for himself and his wife Moira.

A limousine arrived to take them to the port and Dave was surprised to be greeted by the driver with a warm “Hello Mr MacDonald”. On reaching the ship, their luggage was taken to their cabin by a smiling porter, who also knew their names. On board, a stewardess welcomed them to their cabin:

“It’s great to meet you Mr MacDonald. I understand this is a very special holiday for you and your wife. My name is Dawn. Here are my contact details. You can page me using the phone over there any time you like. I’ll do everything I can to make this an unforgettable cruise for you both.”

“That’s fantastic!” said Dave. “Here comes my wife now. Please call me Dave and this is Moira.”

1 What systems did the cruise company have in place to ensure that Dave and Moira were treated as individuals?

2 How do you think the porter knew their names?3 Why was it important for all the people who dealt with Dave and Moira to use their

names?4 How much effort was needed on the part of all the customer service team to add this

personal touch?5 What else could they do?


Sensitive personal informationTo make service personal it helps to know information about your customer. After all, it is this kind of attention to detail which will provide you with the opportunity to create a personal service. However, the Data Protection Act 1998 makes it clear that not all information can be stored. Information concerning race or ethnic origin, political persuasion, religious or philosophical belief, trade union membership, health or medical condition and sexual orientation may not be collected and processed unless your customer has given his or her explicit consent.

Working within your comfort zone to personalise serviceIt is vital that everyone in the organisation knows the impact of adding the personal touch as it helps to enhance your organisation’s brand image. For example, if only one person bothers to call a customer by name, then the chances are that the customer will remember that particular employee as giving great service, but the reputation of the organisation as a whole will not be enhanced. Consistency is the key.

Not everyone is comfortable with personalising the service they give. Many practitioners are uncomfortable with giving out their own name, especially their surname. There have even been situations where people refuse to wear a name badge, as it will identify them.

You may think that this attitude is at odds with working in customer service. However, not all customer service people work in environments where the customers treat the person serving them with the respect they deserve. Sometimes customers use threatening and abusive behaviour as a means of trying to get what they want, or because they are frustrated or under the infl uence of drink and drugs. You can imagine that in those situations a customer service practitioner may not want their own name known. What are your own personal limits regarding what you are prepared to do to personalise service?

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Find out what types of personal information should and should not be kept on record at your organisation.

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• Think about the opportunities you have to personalise the service you give.

• Make a list of the things you do to add the personal touch. What is the impact on your customers? Does doing these things help to provide you with job satisfaction?

• Are there any situations in which you feel uncomfortable with making customer service personal? Why is this?


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Little things matterWe have already said that you do not have to make superhuman efforts to make service personal. Here are a few examples across various industries of adding the personal touch:

• the warehouse assistant who adds a personal handwritten note to every package sent

• the lavatory attendant who puts fresh fl owers in a motorway service station toilet

• the landscape gardener who sends a “thank you for doing business with me” note to a customer whose garden has just been completed

• the busy supermarket cashier who calls colleagues to help a mother struggling with a crying baby

• the bank cashier who provides a private room to a customer who appears embarrassed by having to ask for an overdraft

• the restaurant manager who makes a service call to ask if a customer and his party had a good meal the night before

• the customer service professional who says “that would be my pleasure” in response to a customer request.

In all these examples, the customer service practitioner has made an extra effort to show that he or she is willing and able to give a more personal service. All the customers in the examples given will complete their transactions feeling as if they have been treated as individuals.

How to identify different personality typesIf you understand your customer’s personality type you will be well on the way to developing rapport and trust. In the early 1920s, American psychologist William Moulton Marston created a system for categorising personality types. Many organisations now use his system to help them understand their customers better. Inspired by fi ndings from the Swiss

Remember

Make sure that anything you do to add the personal touch for your customers is acceptable to your organisation − it must not break any of the organisation’s rules.

Keys to best practice

Adding the personal touch

Use the customer’s name when appropriate. Consider making a service call. Know what personal information about customers can

be stored. Give each customer an appropriate amount of time. Research customer information − know your customer. Know when you can go outside of normal routines and

procedures.


psychologist Carl Jung, the system comprises four personality types, which are represented by the acronym DISC:

• D = dominant

• I = infl uential

• S = steady

• C = conscientious.

The letters are often given different names now; these are shown in Figure13.2, together with some of the characteristics of each personality type.

DISC type Description

Dominant (Direct, Driver, Demanding, Determined, Decisive, Doer)

• Independent, persistent, direct. • They focus heavily on what they want (own goals) rather

than on people. • They like change.• They will tell rather than ask.• They can be impatient.• They ask, “What?”

Infl uential (Inspiring, Impressive, Interactive, Interesting)

• Social, persuasive, friendly. • Good communicators. • They like change. • Poor time managers. • Focussed on people rather than tasks.• They will tell rather than ask.• They ask, “Who?”

Steady (Submissive, Stable, Supportive, Shy)

• Consistent, like stability and predictability. • Accommodating, peace-seeking.• They like helping and supporting others. • Good listeners.• They will ask rather than tell.• They ask, “How?” and, “When?”

Conscientious (Cautious, Compliant, Correct, Concerned, Careful)

• Slow and critical thinker, perfectionist. • Logical, fact-based, organised, follow rules. • They like stability and predictability.• Do not readily show feelings. Value privacy.• Like to know the big picture.• They ask, “Why?” and, “How?”

Figure 13.2 The DISC personality types and their characteristics

Nobody falls purely within any of these categories – we all tend to be a combination of the types – but you can observe your customers to see which characteristic is most prominent. Usually customers whose personality types are either D or I are extroverts, while S and C customers are introverts.


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Each personality type has different interests, motivations and fears. They have different needs. In order to buy from you:

• the D (dominant) customer must respect you

• the I (infl uential) customer must like you

• the S (steady) customer must trust you

• the C (conscientious) must make his or her own mind up after looking at lots of information.

How you can use DISC to develop the personal serviceYou can use DISC to identify the different personality types of your customers and what sort of personalised services each type is likely to appreciate.

With dominant customers you will need to:

• build respect to avoid confl ict

• focus on facts and ideas rather than people

• have evidence and information to support what you say

• be quick, focused, and to the point

• show you are confi dent

• offer choices to enable them to make their own decisions

• ask, “What?” not, “How?”

With infl uential customers you will need to:

• be sociable and friendly

• build the relationship

• listen to them talk about their ideas, wants and needs

• help them to fi nd ways to translate what they need into reality

• do not spend too much time on going through fi ne details.

With steady customers you will need to:

• show genuine interest in them as a person

• be sincere

• create a human working environment for them

• give them time to adjust to any changes

• avoid hurry and pressure

• present new ideas carefully.

With conscientious customers you will need to:

• give plenty of warning of any changes

• avoid surprises

• be logical, accurate and use clear information

• show how things fi t into the bigger picture

• focus on the facts

• be patient and persistent.

How was it for you?

• Use the table in Figure 13.2 to decide what personality type you think you are. Does your personality change in different situations? For example, when you have been kept waiting or when things go wrong?

• Does your behaviour change if you are happy with the service you receive?

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Active knowledge

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• Over a period of about two weeks, focus on the customers you deal with to establish their DISC personality types.

• Copy and complete the table below.

My D customers expect me to: My D customers do not like:

My I customers expect me to: My I customers do not like:

My S customers expect me to: My S customers do not like:

My C customers expect me to: My C customers do not like:

How to use the cues and information customers give you to develop the personal service Your observation and listening skills are very important; keep your eyes and ears open and you will be surprised by how much knowledge you can gain about your customers’ individual needs without even asking questions.

For example, the little comments that customers make in passing might give you a clue as to likes and dislikes. Perhaps they might mention something about favourite colours or hobbies or jobs around the house that need doing. You might respond by saying, for example:

• “We also have a green fabric Mr Fredricks. You mentioned you didn’t like the beige when I saw you last time.”

• “By the way, Mrs Singh, I noticed your back gate was badly damaged in last week’s gales. Would you like us to fi x it?”

• “Hello Ms Craigwell. I am sending you this information leafl et on sports activities in the area, as you mentioned when we last spoke that you were worried about your sons during the school holidays.”


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Or you might remember that a customer hasn’t been well and mention this the next time you see them:

• “I hope you don’t mind me asking Mrs Kraskow, but you weren’t very well when we last spoke. How are you now?”

Let the customer know you are there to help Making these comments (whether in writing or verbally) shows that you identify opportunities to personalise service. Your customer will feel good and will know you understand and are there to help.

are giving him or her an appropriate amount of time

You will need to showa customer you…

are listening

appear to know him or her

are willing to make eye contact

smile and mean it

trust him or her

acknowledge him or her, however busy you might be

Figure 13.3 How to make a customer feel you are treating him or her as an individual

Case study

Chloe had inherited an antique table and chairs from her grandmother. She was delighted with them but felt they needed restoring so she called in a french polisher, Brian. Brian told Chloe that the chairs were too badly damaged to be repaired. So they agreed on fi nish colours for the table and Brian took it away to work on it.

“I’ll have to try to fi nd some chairs that will match.” said Chloe.

Brian returned the table when he had fi nished restoring it. A month later, Chloe was surprised to get a phone call from Brian:

“Hello Chloe. It’s Brian. I did the table for you a month or so ago. I know you were looking for chairs so I hope you don’t mind me ringing you. I’m outside a shop with four great chairs in the window that would really match well. If you’re interested, I’ll pop in and ask the chap to reserve them for you to see.”

“That’s fantastic news!” said Chloe. “Thank you so much for thinking of me. Yes please.”

1 How did Brian make service personal? 2 Brian was not selling the chairs himself, so why did he bother?3 What might Chloe do next in terms of putting business Brian’s way?


Balancing your time between your customersWhen you give personal attention to one customer there may be a risk that other customers will feel left out because you are spending more time than normal with one customer. It is often diffi cult to know what to do for the best. Do you stay with a customer who simply wants to talk or close the conversation and move on to the next customer?

You should avoid making other customers feel you are simply having a chat with the particular customer you are dealing with. Keep focused and acknowledge the other customers who are waiting for your attention with brief eye contact and a nod of the head. If appropriate say, “I’ll be with you very shortly.”

If you are on the telephone and other calls are waiting to be dealt with, the waiting customers will not know what is happening. Bear this in mind and, if you have spent too much time with one customer, do not be surprised if you end up dealing with a frustrated customer who has been kept waiting too long. Try not to let this happen.

How to identify customers with particular needsSome customers’ particular needs will mean that they will especially appreciate personal service. It may be they are having diffi culty fi nding what they need because the demand for a product or service is not great. Some customers will have disabilities which mean they require physical help, help with reading or assistance with understanding. Some customers are simply too shy to ask the questions they need to ask in order to have their needs met. The list is endless because people are individuals.

You need to spot customers’ particular needs and your eyes and ears will do this for you.

You might also fi nd it useful to think about informal and formal feedback received from customers. Customers may make comments indicating that they are dissatisfi ed with a product or service because of particular needs not being met. A review of formal complaints (e.g. complaint letters/emails/phone calls) may allow you to spot a trend.

Figure 13.4 contains examples of people who may have particular needs which require a personal service:

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• Your organisation may have strict procedures as to how long you should spend with each customer (especially if you work in a call centre).

• Find out what these procedures are.

• In what situations are you permitted to work outside of these guidelines?

Physical disabilities

Figure 13.4 Identifying customers with particular needs

English not fi rst language

People with babies/children

Learning diffi culties

Age not matching with service environment

Customer with particular needs

Visual or hearing impairments

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• What other customer types can you add to the list?

• For each one, list what you can do to make customer service personal.

• Why do customers who have particular needs appreciate a personal service?

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What you need to know and learn:• how to greet and deal with customers as individuals

• how to focus your attention on the customer you are dealing with by using open and friendly body language

• how to build a one-to-one relationship with your customer.

13.2 Treat your customer as an individual

How to greet and deal with customers as individualsWe cannot stress enough how important your behaviour is in ensuring you treat customers as individuals. What your customers think about you in those all important first few seconds of dealing with you (the greeting stage) will influence their entire experience of the customer service at your organisation. This is sometimes referred to as the “meet and greet” moment. If customers do not feel you are treating them as an individual at this early stage, then it is very difficult to recover to a position where they do.

Behaviours to avoidLittle things really do matter when it comes to meeting and greeting your customers. There are some behaviours which will have a negative impact on the customer when you greet and deal with them. These are shown in Figure 13.5, together with how each action might be interpreted by a customer.

You do this: Your customer might think you are:

No eye contact • not interested• untrustworthy• not friendly• not confident• new to the job

Frown • unhappy• angry• disagreeing• disapproving


Fidget • nervous

Overuse of hand gestures/pointing fi ngers/tapping fi ngers

• aggressive• impatient• bored

Cross arms • defensive• unwilling to listen

Slouch • too casual• disrespectful

Wear snagged tights/dirty shoes/are generally dirty and unkempt

• unprofessional• uncaring• not fi t for the job

Have bad breath/body odour • saying, “Stay away from me!”

Have badly applied make-up • trying hard but could do better!

Speak very loudly and quickly • aggressive

Raise your voice during a conversation • stressed• angry

Speak very softly • not confi dent• unsure of your facts

Work in an untidy way • uncaring of yourself and your customers

Use out-of-date literature • untrustworthy − incorrect information

Use faulty equipment/materials • not attentive to detail• part of an organisation that doesn’t care

enough/has no money to put things right

Figure 13.5 Behaviours and the impression they might make on your customers

Read through the behaviours in Figure 13.5. You will see that these behaviours can have a negative impact, even though your intention might be much more positive than that. Think about your own behaviours and how you could improve them.

Clearly all the behaviours listed are important to avoid at any stage of your dealings with customers. So, what should you do? For each of the behaviours to avoid, think of the behaviour that would enhance the customer’s experience instead.

We have already mentioned the powerful impact of using a customer’s name and also how giving your own name and contact details can help to build rapport and trust. If your organisation’s guidelines allow you to do so, take every opportunity to use names.


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How to focus your attention on the customer you are dealing with by using open and friendly body languageWe have looked at those important fi rst few seconds when you meet and greet your customers. You need to keep up the good work by building on your good start. This will involve you in treating your customer as an individual by developing and maintaining rapport. Rapport is that sense of being comfortable with someone, whether or not you know him or her well. Without rapport there will be no trust and without trust your customer service will not be what it should be.

For customers to feel that you respect and value them, you need to treat them as individuals. This will involve you recognising that everyone has different needs. Different customers will want different things from you, so you will need to adjust the way you behave with each customer. You need to communicate in a friendly and open way. Your body language and approaches to communication should be open and friendly, in contrast to the body language described in Figure 13.5.

Giving respectTo treat customers as individuals you need to build rapport and give respect.

Face to face• Eye contact: ensure you use the right amount of eye contact. If

you use too much, you may appear to be staring; too little and you will come across as disinterested.


Meeting and greeting customers

Watch your posture − sit upright not slumped or slouched.

Use the customer’s name (if appropriate). Give your own name and contact details (if appropriate). Use good eye contact − look at the other person, say,

60% of the time. Use open and warm facial expressions. Smile often. Listen and show you are listening by nodding your head

or leaning forward. Be respectful, friendly and courteous. Identify opportunities to make service personal.

Key term

giving respect:valuing the individual needs of people


• Smiling: smile warmly when it is appropriate for the occasion. But be genuine, everyone can see through a fake smile.

• Touch: sometimes a handshake will be appropriate. If so, make sure it is fi rm to convey confi dence and interest.

• Posture: think about standing up to greet a customer, particularly if you are seeing someone by appointment. Do not invade their personal space though: if you are too close you will make someone feel uncomfortable. If you are sitting down, do not slouch. Not only does it look bad, it will also affect the quality of your voice.

• Mirroring: you are really in rapport with someone when you both mirror each others body posture. If you are sitting down, you might fi nd that you are both leaning towards each other or both nodding at the same time. Do not copy what your customer is doing! That would be disrespectful. Unless you are a very highly skilled communicator, it is best to let it happen naturally.

On the telephoneIncreasingly, customers do not have a choice as to whether they deal with companies face-to-face or on the telephone. For instance, transactions that would once have taken place at the enquiries counter of a bank are now dealt with via customer service representatives based in a call centre. If you work over the telephone you do not have the advantage of being able to observe your customers’ behaviour and they cannot observe you. You both have to rely solely on what you hear.


Giving respect on the telephone

Greet callers with courtesy and warmth. You may need to use your organisation’s standard form

of greeting. Be sincere in the way that you say it. Do not sound as if you are reading from a script.

Answer as promptly as possible. Remember you may have said the same thing tens of

times that day, but the customer will be hearing it for the fi rst time.

Watch your posture. Sit upright to sound alert and remember to smile. Your customer will be able to hear if you are smiling or not.

Be patient. Mirror the language your customer uses. If you feel under pressure, watch the speed of your

voice. If you speak too quickly, you will only end up having to repeat yourself and you may also confuse the customer.


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Whether face to face or on the telephone, once you have got past the initial greeting, you will be at the point where you will fi nd out what it is the customer wants. Her or she may tell you directly or it may be necessary for you to ask questions. You will need to be watching for signs – both verbal and non-verbal – that the customer will give you about how they feel about you and what their needs and expectations are.

Using courtesy to give respectBeing courteous is about combining the right attitudes, behaviour and words. Courtesy is a means of showing you care, that you recognise your customer’s needs and expectations and that you appreciate him or her doing business with you and your organisation.

Often the only difference between your organisation and its competitors is the people it employs. Do not look on being courteous as something extra to do; it is the hallmark of a customer service professional and as such an essential part of your toolkit. You provide the distinctive edge that might make the difference between customers using your organisation or going elsewhere.

For example, imagine a customer waiting in a long queue at a market stall, only to fi nd a hostile assistant who is only interested in getting off to lunch. At the stall across the road, the same customer fi nds a customer service professional who acknowledges the wait the customer has had, by saying, “I’m very sorry you’ve had to wait so long. Now, what can I do for you?” before going on to explore the customer’s needs and expectations. Such a little touch, but it makes the customer feel valued and so the wait seems worthwhile.

Active knowledge

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Notice how your body language and behaviour affects the behaviour of the customers you deal with. The best way to do this is to ask a trusted colleague to give you some feedback. Ask him or her to answer the following questions about you.1 How do customers react to you when you are in a hurry or

busy? 2 What about times when you are experiencing a quiet

period at work?3 What happens to your behaviour when people, resources

or systems let you down? Ensure the feedback you get covers your ability to use open and friendly body language and behaviour, e.g. eye contact, active listening, posture, using customer names, giving own name and contact details.

Key term

feeling valued:being given respect and being listened to and acknowledged


How to build a one-to-one relationship with your customer Giving respect, building rapport, using courteous behaviour and using names are all ways in which you build a one-to-one relationship with customers. When you add the personal touch, a customer will truly feel special and valued. With extra care, they may even feel that they are the most valued customer your organisation has. You have the power to create these great experiences for customers.

Use positive language and show confi dence. Let the customer leave you wanting to deal with you on their return to your organisation. It’s a great feeling when a customer asks for you by name.

Focus on making customers feel valued and respected. Remember that their opinions count. So, when a customer gives you feedback, thank them and let them know their views are important. Make follow-up calls if appropriate. Always use positive and confi dent language – look at the examples in Figure 13.6. You will be able to think of many more examples of your own.

Adding the customer’s name makes what you say even more personal. For example:• “Mr Thomas. I would be

delighted to see you get that.”• “Thank you for calling, Ms Hicks.

It’s great to be able to help you again.”

• “Certainly, Mrs Sim. I will get back to you by the end of the day.”

• “Mr O’Shea, you know it will be my absolute pleasure to help you with that.”

Remember to do your research on customers. This is particularly relevant if you are seeing or talking to a customer who has made an appointment; you will have the opportunity beforehand to research any information already on fi le.

Test yourself

Write down four things you can do to show respect to customers and help them to feel valued.

Key term

building one-to-one relationships:making a customer feel valued and respected in their dealings with you; giving them a personal service

Figure 13.6 Examples of positive, confi dent language used to build a one-to-one relationship

AbsolutelyI can do that

for you.

That wouldbe my pleasure.

Certainly.Thank youfor calling.


20

Case study

Every bank holiday Winston liked to visit his parents. This meant leaving his dog Diesel in kennels. Although he knew that Diesel would be perfectly safe, it always worried him. The staff at the kennels were aware of this because whenever Winston came to collect Diesel he mentioned his concerns.

Of course, Winston was not the only dog owner to be upset at having to leave a much loved pet. Carrie, one of the kennel maids, suggested that they do something to help alleviate their customers’ worries. With the permission of the kennel owners the employees started providing a humorous note for every owner when they collected their pets. This included calling the dogs “campers”. When Winston came to collect Diesel, this is the note Carrie gave him:

1 How have Carrie and her colleagues managed to make service personal?2 Why is this initiative an example of developing a one-to-one relationship with a

customer?3 What is the likely impact on Winston?4 What might he do next?

Camper Comments I ate well

I didn’t eat well

I made lots of new friends

The groomer gave me a bath

I was taken to the vet because

We had a lot of fun with Diesel. He settled very quickly in hisusual kennel and enjoyed daily off-lead exercise in the paddock.We were very happy to reward him for good behaviour with hisfavourite fi sh treats. The other campers liked him too.Dad has raised him well!See you both again.Carrie


1 Why is it important to use a customer’s name?

2 List three reasons why giving your own name shows that you make customer service personal.

3 What does “adding the personal touch” mean?

4 List three advantages to your organisation of adding the personal touch.

5 Within your organisation, what is the key thing you need to know before adding the personal touch?

6 List three groups of customers who may have particular needs and so appreciate a personal service?

7 Why are service calls a good way of adding the personal touch?

8 How does making service calls benefi t organisations?

9 How can identifying a customer’s personality type help you to add the personal touch?

10 What skills can you use to help you to make customer service personal?

11 What is meant by open body language?

12 What is the likely impact of open body language on customers?

13 List three types of behaviour (body language) which would not be generally considered as open?

14 What is the likely impact on customers of each of the behaviours you list?

15 What types of behaviour can you use to give respect to a customer?

16 How does courtesy help you to make customer service personal?

17 Why is it important to treat customers as individuals?

Unit test

Documents

Make customer service personal - Pearson Schools and · PDF fileWhen you make customer service personal you must ... behaviour of the customer service ... might automatically expect