Public Safety Customer Service Workshop Mrs. Sophya Johnson, M.S. Certified Customer Service Representative, Assistant to CETL Director
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Overview: • Review what is customer service. • Why is Customer Service important Public Safety • 2 types of customers. • Learn customer service skills and how to apply it. • Review good communication skills. • Learn strategies on how to handle challenging customers. 2
What is Customer Service?
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What is Customer Service?
• Customer Service is the process of
meeting customers’ needs and expectations by providing a high level of quality service resulting in satisfied customers. • Customer service goes beyond just giving customers what they want or ask for. • It entails proactively discovering and anticipating the customers’ needs and servicing those needs with a standard of excellence. 4
Why is Customer Service important in Public Safety
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Importance of Customer Service Training in Police Service http://woman.thenest.com/importance-customer-service-training-police-service-22696.html
• You get a whole lot more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.
• And for police officers, you’ll get much more cooperation and respect from the community when you treat citizens with respect.
• While cops need to know how to use firearms, read suspects their rights and drive a police car at high speeds, they also need to know how to provide exceptional customer service.
• When they act as if they serve the community, in turn it will serve them. 6
Get More Cooperation
Avoid Litigation
•When police officers are trained to listen to people, hear their complaints and gauge their emotional states, they will be able to extract confessions from perpetrators and develop rapport with people who can lead them to the criminals. •Training can help cops be more empathetic and more helpful. •They can save a lot of time and avoid hassles when they can recruit the community to be their eyes and ears on the street. •That only happens when you spend enough time listening to their needs.
•On the flip side, police officers can avoid a lawsuit and even a suspension or careerending incident when they remain calm in the face of crises and treat citizens as if they were customers. •For example, getting angry at a perpetrator who mouths off and hitting him across the face to shut him up may help you feel better, but you may end up getting hit with an excessive-force lawsuit as a result. •You wouldn’t expect a clerk at the store doing that to a customer who complains about the prices. •Cops need to follow the same protocols that other customer service-savvy professionals do.
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Know the Limits
• In a violent environment, customer service skills only go so far. • By getting sufficient training, cops can learn the difference between treating everyone like a customer and catching violent predators. • For example, when a citizen points a gun at a police officer, that’s not the time for the cop to show respect and calmly listen to his complaints. That can get you killed. • When trained appropriately, cops are taught the difference and understand when it’s OK to defend themselves.
Marketing Benefits
• In business, good customer service is a result of effective marketing strategies that include knowing your customer, culture and needs. • Effective customer service training includes sessions that inform police officers about the demographics of the communities they patrol. • According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the belief systems in some cultures make it difficult for the police to do their jobs effectively. • Racial tensions, for example, may escalate in certain neighborhoods when the police are perceived as using excessive force. 8
Our Students • From 44 states and 11 foreign countries • 4,940 undergraduates and 874 graduate students • 42 percent first-time college students • Middle 50th percentile on ACT: 17-18 • Request additional information from Institutional Research department.
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When & Where does Customer Service Take Place • Takes place anywhere and anytime • Takes place whenever you interact with a student/faculty/staff/alumni in the process of meeting their needs
• This service can be a brief
1 minute encounter or a continuous relationship with the customer.
• Remember it can take only 10 seconds to make a lasting impression on a person you interact with. 10
How is Customer Service Demonstrated Customer service is demonstrated when you interact with any person. Listed below are ways that you interact with your customers
Person-toperson
Telephone
Internet email and Internet chat
All forms of written communication
fax
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Types of Customers
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2 Types of Customers Internal:
External:
• Are persons within your institution/department who depend upon you for your service to perform their own jobs. They are essential co-workers with needs that you are able to fulfil. Companies in which employees serve each other are better able to serve their external customers. Developing an internal culture of service can only extend to external customers.
• This is any person outside of your institution with a need that your department is able to fulfil.
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Who are your Internal and External Customers Internal Customers
• • • •
Faculty Staff in the same department/office Staff in other departments/offices Administrators
External Customers
• • • •
Students Parents Alumni The Community 14
15 Customer Service Skills that Every Employee Needs https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140616101744-56883908-15-customer-service-skills-thatevery-employee-needs
• There are certain customer service skills that every employee must master if they are forward-facing with customers.
• Without them, you run the risk of finding your business in an embarrassing customer service train-wreck, or you'll simply lose customers as your service continues to let people down.
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The Customer Service Skills that Matter: 1. Patience
•Should be near the to top of a customer service skills list. •Important to customers •They often reach out to support when they are confused and frustrated, •Important to the business at large • Great service beats fast service every single time. •If you deal with customers on a daily basis, be sure to stay patient when they come to you stumped and frustrated, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they want — they'd rather get competent service than be rushed out the door!
2. Attentiveness
• The ability to really listen to customers is so crucial for providing great service for a number of reasons. • Not only is it important to pay attention to individual customer interactions (watching the language/terms that they use to describe their problems), but it's also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that you receive at large.
3. Clear Communication Skills
• Make sure you're getting to the problem at hand quickly; customers don't need your life story or to hear about how your day is going. • More importantly, you need to be cautious about how some of your communication habits translate to customers, and it's best to err on the side of caution whenever you find yourself questioning a situation. • When it comes to important points that you need to relay clearly to customers, keep it simple and leave nothing to doubt. 16
4. Knowledge of the Product
• The best forward-facing employees in your company will work on having a deep knowledge of how your product works. • should know the ins and outs of how your product works, just like a customer who uses it everyday would. • Without knowing your product from front-to-back, you won't know how to help customers when they run into problems.
5. Ability to Use "Positive Language"
•Ability to make minor changes in your conversational patterns can truly go a long way in creating happy customers. •Language is a very important part of persuasion, and people (especially customers) create perceptions about you and your company based off of the language that you use. •Example: Let's say a customer contacts you with an interest in a particular product, but that product happens to be backordered until next month. •Without positive language: "I can't get you that product until next month; it is backordered and unavailable at this time." •With positive language: "That product will be available next month. I can place the order for you right now and make sure that it is sent to you as soon as it reaches our warehouse." •The first example isn't negative by any means, but the tone that it conveys feels abrupt and impersonal, and can be taken the wrong way by customers. •The second example is stating the same thing (the item is unavailable), but instead focuses on when/how the customer will get to their resolution rather than focusing on the negative.
6. Acting Skills
•Sometimes you're going to come across people that you'll never be able to make happy. •Situations outside of your control (they had a terrible day, or they are just a natural-born complainer) will sometimes creep into your usual support routine, and you'll be greeted with those "barnacle" customers that seem to want nothing else but to pull you down. •Every great customer service rep will have those basic acting skills necessary to maintain their usual cheery persona in spite of dealing with people who may be just plain grumpy.
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7. Time Management Skills
• Despite many research-backed rants on why you should spend more time with customers , the bottom line is that there is a limit, and you need to be concerned with getting customers what they want in an efficient manner. • If you don't know the solution to a problem, the best kind of support member will get a customer over to someone who does. • Don't waste time trying to go above and beyond for a customer in an area where you will just end up wasting both of your time!
8. Ability to "Read" Customers
• You won't always be able to see customers face-to-face, and in many instances (nowadays) you won't even hear a customer's voice! • You should understand some basic principles of behavioral psychology and being able to "read" the customer's current emotional state. • This is an important part of the personalization process as well, because it takes knowing your customers to create a personal experience for them. • It is essential because you don't want to mis-read a customer and end up losing them due to confusion and miscommunication. • Look and listen for subtle clues about their current mood, patience level, personality, etc., and you'll go far in keeping your customer interactions positive.
9. A Calming Presence
• There's a lot of metaphors for this type of personality: "keeps their cool," "staying cool under pressure," etc., but it all represents the same thing: the ability that some people have to stay calm and even influence others when things get a little hectic. • The best customer service reps know that they cannot let a heated customer force them to lose their cool; in fact it is their job to try to be the "rock" for a customer who thinks the world is falling down due to their current problem. 18
10. Goal Oriented Focus
11. Ability to Handle Surprises
12. Persuasion Skills
• Many customer service experts have shown how giving employees unconstrained power to "WOW" customers doesn't always generate the returns that many businesses expect to see. • That's because it leaves employees without goals, • business goals + customer happiness can work hand-in-hand without resulting in poor service. • Relying on frameworks can help businesses come up with guidelines for their employees that allow plenty of freedom to handle customers on a case-to-case basis, but also leave them priority solutions and "go-to" fixes for common problems. •Sometimes the customer support world is going to throw you a curveball. •Maybe the problem you encounter isn't specifically covered in the company's guidelines, or maybe the customer isn't reacting how you thought they would. •Whatever the case, it's best to be able to think on your feet... but it's even better to create guidelines for yourself in these sorts of situations. •You need to come up with a quick system for when you come across a customer who has a problem you've never seen before... •Who? who you should consider your "go-to" person when you don't know what to do •What? When the problem is noticeably out of your league, what are you going to send to the people above •How? When it comes time to get someone else involved, how are you going to contact them?
• This is one a lot of people didn't see coming! • Experienced customer support personnel know that oftentimes, you will get messages in your inbox that are more about the curiosity of your company's product, rather than having problems with it. • To truly take your customer service skills to the next level, you need to have some mastery of persuasion so that you can convince interested customers that your product is right for them (if it truly is). • It's not about making a sales pitch in each email, but it is about not letting potential customers slip away because you couldn't create a compelling message that your company's product is worth purchasing! 19
13. Tenacity
14. Closing Ability
15. Willingness to Learn
• Call it what you want, but a great work ethic and a willingness to do what needs to be done (and not take shortcuts) is a key skill when providing the kind of service that people talk about. • The many memorable customer service stories out there, were created by a single employee who refused to just do the "status quo" when it came to helping someone out. • Remembering that your customers are people too, and knowing that putting in the extra effort will come back to you ten-fold should be your driving motivation to never "cheat" your customers with lazy service. •To be clear, this has nothing to do with "closing sales" or other related terms. •Being able to close with a customer means being able to end the conversation with confirmed satisfaction (or as close to it as you can achieve) and with the customer feeling that everything has been taken care of (or will be). •Getting booted after a customer service call or before all of their problems have been addressed is the last thing that customers want, so be sure to take the time to confirm with customers that each and every issue they had on deck has been entirely resolved. •Your willingness to do this shows the customer 3 very important things: •That you care about getting it right •That you're willing to keep going until you get it right •That the customer is the one who determines what "right" is. •When you get a customer to, "Yes, I'm all set!" is when you know the conversation is over.
• This is probably the most general skill on the list, but it's still necessary. • Those who don't seek to improve what they do, whether it's building products, marketing businesses, or helping customers, will get left behind by the people willing to invest in their skills.
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Internal Customers
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Internal Customers
• Faculty • Staff in the same department/office • Staff in other departments/offices • Administrators 22
Don’t Forget • Colleagues in your office are also your “customers”. So extend to them the same level of customer service as you would to a student, parent, vendor, executive , etc.
• Colleagues in other offices are also your “customers”.
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How to Provide Internal Customer Service Excellence By John Tschohl http://www.customerservicemanager.com/how-to-provide-internal-customer-service-excellence.htm
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Develop a positive attitude. Your attitude is reflected in everything you do. It not only determines how you approach your job and your co-workers, it determines how they respond to you. Don’t complain—and don’t hang around negative co-workers. Do whatever it takes to get the job done—and done right.
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Listen. You can’t help a co-worker unless you hear and understand what he needs. Listening shows that you care and provides you the information you need to do what needs to be done. Ask questions. Rephrase what your coworker is saying to ensure that you understand the situation. Then use that information to decide how to move forward.
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Solve problems. Great customer service professionals are quick on their feet. They have the skills necessary to quickly analyze a situation and decide what needs to be done to solve the problem. Don’t procrastinate. Develop a plan of attack, and handle the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible.
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Be accessible. This means returning phone calls and responding to emails as quickly as possible. Doing so sends the message that what your co-worker needs is important to you and that you are available and eager to provide whatever assistance is needed. 25
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Be honest. If a task is outside your level of expertise, or if you cannot meet the required deadline, admit it. Then offer to facilitate by helping your co-worker identify someone in the organization who does have the expertise and the time to assist with the project. Honesty earns respect. The same holds true when you make a mistake. Admit it, apologize, and learn from it.
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Make your co-workers feel valued. Recognize them with a smile. Call them by name. Make eye contact. Be attentive to what they have to say. Compliment them when they do a good job. Ask for their advice. Make them feel important.
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Perform. Deliver what you promise. Send the message that your coworkers can depend on you. Do what you say you will do—and do it with quality, speed, and accuracy. If you say you are going to complete a report by Tuesday, do your best to complete it by Monday. 26
Break
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Communication Skills
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Vocal Charades What is the percentage of a message conveyed? Face-to-Face Communication
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55% body language 38% tone of voice
7% words used
Telephone Communication
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82% tone of Voice 18% words used
Email Communication
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100% words used 29
Non-Verbal Communication Body Language (Action) Eye Contact Facial Expression
Body Posture
Hand Gestures
Physical Touch
Physical Distance
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Difficult Customers http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/0072938056/147626/lucas_chap007.pdf
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Concept: Successful service will ultimately be delivered through effective communication skills, positive attitude, patience, and a willingness to help the customer. You may think of difficult customer contacts as those in which you have to deal with negative, rude, angry, complaining, or aggressive people. These are just a few of the types of potentially difficult interactions. From time to time, you will also be called upon to help customers who can be described in one or more of the following ways:
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Lack knowledge about your product, service, or policies.
Dissatisfied with your service or products. Demanding. Talkative. Internal customers with special requests.
Speak English as a second language Elderly and need extra assistance Have a disability
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• • • • •
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Each of the above categories can be difficult to handle, depending on your knowledge, experience, and abilities. A key to successfully serving all type of customers is to treat each person as an individual. Avoid stereotyping people according to their behavior. Do not mentally categorize people (put them into groups) according to the way they speak or act or look—and then treat everyone in a “group” the same way. If you stereotype people, you will likely damage the customerprovider relationship.
Ultimately, you will deliver successful service through your effective communication skills, positive attitude, patience, and willingness to help the customer. 32
• Your ability to focus on the situation or problem and not on the person will be a very important factor in your success.
• Although you may not understand or approve of a person’s behavior, he or she is still your customer.
• Many difficult situations you will deal with as a service provider will be caused by your customer’s needs, wants, and expectations.
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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory • To address customer needs, you must first understand the origin of needs . • As psychologist Dr. Abraham Maslow once stated, “The human being is a wanting animal and rarely reaches a state of complete satisfaction except for a short time. • As one desire is satisfied, another pops up to take its place. When this is satisfied, still another comes to the foreground and so on. It is characteristic of human beings throughout their whole lives that they are practically always desiring something.”1 34
Dealing with a difficult customer Customer Service Guidelines
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/234656/nsw-police-customerservice-guidelines.pdf
• Always remain calm, polite and professional • Listen to and acknowledge customer enquiries • Tell the customer when no further action can be taken and why
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Identifying a difficult customer • • • •
No matter what you do, there will always be some customers you will not be able to satisfy and there are many reasons for this. In dealing with these people, always remain objective, professional and calm To test if a customer is being reasonable, look at their issue and not the person. What may seem small to you can be significant to them Record in a narrative or in your notebook/duty book when a customer is difficult and, if necessary, advise a supervisor or manager If you can’t satisfy a difficult customer, seek advice from a senior officer and record your actions appropriately 36
Recognize problems and address them • On certain occasions difficult customers will try to provoke you. Don’t allow them to unsettle or coerce you
• Be alert to any threats or dangers to you or the organization through your responses (such as litigation)
• Managers will audit some difficult customers so ensure information is properly recorded and noted by other police
• Your best defense against a difficult customer is to remain professional 37
Meet organizational expectations • • • • •
A calm, reassuring approach will generally disarm even the most difficult of customers and realign the situation Always focus on and promote the positive aspects of the NSW Police Force Use your skills and knowledge to diffuse difficult situations Turn a concern into a compliment by taking the extra time to explain an issue and provide clarity Difficult customers remain customers, until they cross the line 38
Take pride •
• • • • •
Deliver on your commitments, encourage customer confidence and develop rapport with victims and witnesses Consider what your commander/manager or colleagues would expect you to do and offer it at the first occasion Your victim follow-up actions with victims will be remembered for a long time. Make them count Turn a concern into a compliment by taking those extra steps to follow You are trained to deal with difficult situations, so you are more than capable of dealing with a difficult customer Your actions, even with difficult customers, will be remembered for a long time 39
Always be accountable • The only person who can diminish your integrity is you
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Conclusion
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Characteristics of Good Customer Service: 4 Ps http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-customer-service-definition-types-role-in-marketing.html
Customer service is meeting the needs and desires of any customer. Some characteristics of good customer service include:
1. Promptness: • Promises for delivery of products must be on time. Delays and cancellations of products should be avoided.
2. Politeness: • Politeness is almost a lost art. Saying 'hello,' 'good afternoon,' 'sir', and 'thank you very much' are a part of good customer service. For any business, using good manners is appropriate whether the customer makes a purchase or not.
3. Professionalism: • All customers should be treated professionally, which means the use of competence or skill expected of the professional. Professionalism shows the customer they're cared for.
4. Personalization: • Using the customer's name is very effective in producing loyalty. Customers like the idea that whom they do business with knows them on a personal level. 42
How can you take ownership for EXCEPTIONAL Customer Service You must accept the fact that customer service is our responsibility, no matter what position you hold. You must discover, anticipate and serve our customers’ needs and expectations within reason. You must develop the skills required to PROFESSIONALLY serve customers with a standard of excellence. You must provide this service in a timely manner. You must balance AAMU’s interests, policies and procedures with the customer’s interests, needs and expectations. You must develop communication skills to effectively serve different customer styles. You must treat students, faculty, staff and administrators the way you 43 would like to be treated.
Take Away Question
• Based on your own evaluation what are 3 things that you could work on that you learned from this workshop? How can you hold yourself accountable?
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References
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Carlaw, P. & Deming, V. Customer Service Training Games. The McGrawHill Companies, New York, NY. (1999) Ciotti, G. 15 Customer Service Skills that Every Employee Needs. Linked In (2014).
Mckinney, P. What Is Customer Service? - Definition, Types & Role in Marketing: Characteristics of Good Customer Service . Study.com
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