Service industry is all about delivery standards. There are two main components to be looked for customer service skills. Firstly the art of convincing and secondly delivery along with time and quality. There are several induction seminars conducted by experts which reveal that how much ever the official has scaled heights in career, there is still scope for improvement in the customer service area. Customer service is the final destination of work flow and product and is the point where expectations are realized.
Customer service is a wide area. The most important thing is to take the person across the counter seriously. He or she may be unaware of a product or not interested in pamphlets and presentations. The executive has to be poised to meet questions and also effectively tackle the customer’s complaints. A customer means everything to the organization because they intangibly give credibility to the organization. Each customer walking into the company is important regardless of the quantum of the service expected.
The best way to create goodwill is to service the customer well. A good word about the organization automatically churns out better name in the industry and the customers are multiplied. This propels productivity and hence profitability. A customer is powerful enough to tarnish the image of the company which has been built with so much effort and integrity.
Usually most companies insist on an induction program to all employees in order to get them to know about the basic products, service standards, routing and information technology. There is a separate section in each item for customer service. Irrespective of the grade or position in the organization, each official has a customer to deal with. This could be peers or other associates in the business level.
The concept of internal and external customer has to be understood very clearly. An internal customer is a person who is your colleague, the administrative department, your immediate boss or the junior most employees. All these people who work in chain action depend on your reaction several times. Satisfying these internal customers at a micro level becomes important to present the quality product to the outside/external customer.
This is an ever evolving subject with needs to have an amalgamation of organizational skills, negotiation skills and soft skills.