COURSE OVERVIEW:

Strategic customer service stands at the point where all organisational strategies come to fruition in a great customer experience—or do not. Product development, operations, marketing, sales, finance, accounting, human resources, and risk management all affect the customer in myriad ways, for better or worse. But when something goes wrong, customers don’t call the director of product development, the manager of operations, or the vice president of marketing. They call customer service. When they do, customer service must preserve the relationship, gather information, and improve the process, wherever the problem originated.

Strategic customer service can accelerate product development and uncover new distribution channels. It can relieve salespeople and channel partners of troubleshooting duties so that they can focus on selling. It can transform finance from a counting house into a funding source that is supportive of new processes and services that increase customer retention, positive word of mouth, and market share.

Moreover, strategic customer service is applicable in any market, from consumer packaged goods and financial services to health care, from business-to-business environments such as chemicals and pharmaceuticals to government agencies and non-profits. Studies has helped organisations in all of these arenas to benefit from a strategic approach to service, beyond the tactical service functions of responding to customer inquiries and problems.

This course describes strategic customer service and its behavioural context and introduces the financial rationale for investments in improvements to your customer service. 

The first part begins by examining several ways in which customer service and customer reactions to service can affect an organisation for better or worse. It then looks at how financial decisions about customer service and the overall customer experience are currently made, and how they could be made strategically. Then it presents a model for a customer service function that can play a strategic role in your organisation. It’s finally brought to a close with six first steps you can take to establish strategic customer service in your organisation. 

This second part will explore customer expectations and how the organisation can set strategic and tactical goals that will meet those expectations. First, it’ll summarise some reasons for unmet expectations that counter conventional wisdom. Then it’ll cover major trends in customer expectations, and then examine customer expectations for the tactical service system. Then will look at ways of setting goals for service at the strategic and tactical levels that will meet customer expectations.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

·       What is strategic customer service?

·       Why bother with strategic customer service?

·       The strategic approach to customer service

·       How to start strategically?

·       How to adopt strategic customer service?

·       How to see customer service strategically?

·       The importance of understanding the true role of customer service in your business

·       How customer service affects a business?

·       Why most customers do not complain?

·       How noncomplaining customers hurt your business?

·       The problems that results in lost customers and revenue

·       Why employees are not the cause of most customer dissatisfaction?

·       How keeping customers is cheaper than winning them?

·       Why proper handling of complaints retains customers?

·       The economic imperative for service improvements

·       How to make the business case for improvements in service?

·       How to clarify the key concepts relative to customer service?

·       The DIRFT model for maximising customer satisfaction and loyalty

·       How to respond effectively to questions and problems that arise?

·       Why feed data about issues to the right parties?

·       How to capitalise on opportunities to sell ancillary or upgraded products or service?

·       The economic imperative and VOC

·       The six basic guidelines for the design of customer service systems

·       What do customers want (and what should you deliver)?

·       How to understand customer expectations?

·       The reasons for unmet customer expectations

·       The trends in customer expectations about service

·       The importance of clear brand promises and consistent delivery

·       The importance of immediate resolution of problems

·       The importance of genuine empathy when things go wrong

·       The benefits of recognition and knowledge of the customer

·       The operational expectations for tactical customer service

·       The five general expectations customers hold regarding accessibility

·       The importance of accurate, clear, complete responses

·       The four components of first-call resolution

·       The importance of reliable follow-through

·       The relationship between customer education and problem prevention

·       The relationship between cross-selling and creating delight

·       How to set service goals strategically?

·       What should be included in strategic service and customer experience goals?

·       How to operationalise the process goals?

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.

COURSE DELIVERY:

Purchase and download course content.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.