Making Customer Service Happen
Chapter by Chapter Guide

Chapter 1 - Understanding Customers

Understanding customers requires more than just recording their names, ages, gender etc. It is about getting to know your customers at a deeper level. This chapter explores in depth what understanding your customers is all about.

It covers three key issues:

  • Why you need to understand customers
  • What you need to understand about your customers
  • How you gain that understanding

Chapter 2 - the Service Strategy

Businesses are not the same and do not need to deliver the same level of service. Each business must determine the level of service that is right for them. The right level of service is when customers enjoy the level of satisfaction they desire and you achieve the level of profit you require. This chapter shows you how to find the right level of service for your business and the ingredients you need to design a service strategy and keep it on track by introducing the right measures. This chapter provides exercises and analyses as well as the questions that need to be asked so that your business will be in the position to develop the right kind of service strategy to underpin your future profitability.

This chapter covers:

  • The three ingredients you need to understand to design a service strategy
  • Implementing your service strategy
  • Using measures to stay on track

Chapter 3 - Delivering Service

There is a defining moment in customer service when the customer talks to someone in your organisation. What this person says or does tells the customer more about your business than any amount of advertising.

In order to get this right this experience right your business must focus on four key areas:

  • selection
  • training
  • culture development
  • front-line empowerment

Chapter 4 - Service Pprocesses and Infrastructure

Three key elements that most businesses need to consider when designing processes to deliver good customer service are covered in this chapter.

They are:

  • how to manage complaints and use them to your advantage
  • designing and improving the right service processes
  • choosing the right location

Chapter 5 - Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

This chapter shows you how to assess the effect your business is having on your customers by measuring both customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also shows you how to measure your levels of service performance by tracking service standards.

The areas covered are:

  • Measuring customer satisfaction
  • Developing and implementing service standards
  • Customer loyalty

These areas are described along with stories and examples used to help you to connect the concepts to your organisation.

Chapter 6 - Worksheets

This chapter contains the worksheets that are referred to throughout the book.

These are:

  • Worksheet 1: Needs, wants and desires
  • Worksheet 2: Customer decision-making processes
  • Worksheet 3: Customer control
  • Worksheet 4: The illusion of control
  • Worksheet 5: Sub-optimisation analysis
  • Worksheet 6: Assessment of service personality
  • Worksheet 7: Choosing a location