Customer Care

Putting customers at the heart of your organisation

Customer care has been a key issue on management agendas for over a decade and has been through several evolutions in that time. It is now more widely recognised that customer care is not just about training your Customer Service department, but is more to do with the underlying culture of the organisation and all its employees.

At Pearlcatchers, our trainers have experienced these changes first hand and are well placed to provide consultancy and development support on all aspects relating to customer care.

Designing a Customer Care Strategy

• Aligning customer care with the organisation's goals and strategies.
• What is good service and how does it link to leadership.
• Developing tools to measure customer satisfaction and service.
• Staying close to your customers and defining your moments of truth.
• Creating a vision that everyone can buy into.
• Developing customer service through continuous improvement.
• Making sense of Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
• Designing and implementing structures and processes to support customer care.

Building a Customer Care Culture

• Considering customer care from the customer's perspective.
• Identifying the factors and requirements of an effective customer care strategy.
• Examining and changing perceptions and values - conditioning, self belief, self image and confidence.
• Why companies don�t satisfy their customers.
• Identifying the contribution of individuals to customer care.
• Recognising your customers and finding out what they need .
• Developing ownership, empowerment and a passion for customer care.
• Insincerity - why going through the motions doesn't work.
• Structures and processes to support culture: recruitment, assessment and development, reward and celebrate success.
• When customers don't have choices - motivating excellent customer care in the Public Sector.

Recognising the Internal Customer

• The impact of internal customer service on external customers.
• Identifying your internal customers and forming a "needs network".
• Looking for common purpose and agreeing service levels.
• Cross-functional working and the benefits for continuous improvement.
• Breaking down departmental and individual silos.

Implementing a Customer Charter

• What is a customer charter and what is it used for.
• Formulating a customer care vision.
• Agreeing a statement of intent and service guarantees.
• Reviewing processes and identifying customer interactions.
• Keeping the service promise - setting targets and designing measures.
• Defining key employee behaviours .
• Embedding the charter into the culture of the organisation.

Developing Customer Service Skills

• Putting customer care into context - what is it and why is it important.
• Recognising who your customers are and finding out what they need .
• Taking personal responsibility for customer issues.
• Essential communication skills - listening, summarising and reflecting, questioning.
• Creating a professional image over the phone and face to face.
• Communication choices - hints and tips on how and when to use different channels.
• The personal barriers exercise - what prevents us from providing excellent service.
• Reflection - the impact of our attitude on customer interactions.
• Basic psychology - the skill of dealing with people.
• How our self image affects our performance.
• Exceptional service is in the detail - paying attention to the little things.
• Being in the know - the best way to deliver excellent service.
• Tips and techniques for making the customer feel important.
• Developing a positive attitude to improve customer service.
• Controlling situations assertively.
• Communicating proactively when things go wrong.
• Saying no, giving bad news, responding to escalations.
• Turning around customers' dissatisfaction and complaints.

Managing Difficult and Demanding Customer Situations

• The face of the organisation - accepting responsibility even when it is not your fault.
• Strategies for handling dissatisfaction - and turning around a difficult situation.
• Customers from hell are customers too - empathising with their situation.
• Understanding the causes of difficult situations and breaking the conflict cycle.
• The behaviour iceberg - what is happening above and below the surface.
• Developing a range of techniques for reframing/resolving difficult situations.
• Managing our own responses - not taking it personally.
• Communicating confidently and calmly under pressure .
• The correct way to escalate a problem to your manager.
• Managing the extremes - when and how to address what is unacceptable.