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Principles of Customer Service

Part A

NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Customer Service

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Disclaimer:This resource uses real life case studies where specifically stated and referenced. All other references to individuals, groups and companies contained within these resources are fictitious.

These learning resources and assessment questions have been approved and endorsed by NCFE as meeting the requirements of the Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Customer Service.

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Principles of Customer Service Introduction

Certificate in Principles of Customer Service

Welcome to this Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Customer Service.

As you start to read through each page you will be able to make notes and comments on things you have learnt or may want to revisit at a later stage. At the end of each section you will be asked to answer the relevant assessment questions.

Once you have answered the questions, go to the next section and continue studying until all of the assessment questions have been completed.

Please make sure that you set aside enough time to read each section carefully, making notes and completing all of the activities. This will allow you to gain a better understanding of the subject content, and will help you to answer all of the assessment questions accurately.

Good luck with your study. Now let’s begin!

We hope you find all of the information contained in this resource pack interesting and informative. This learning resource and the assessment questions have been approved by NCFE as a great way to meet the learning outcomes for this qualification. (A complete list of the learning outcomes can be found on the last page of this resource.)

The course is made up of three parts (A, B and C). This is Part A which contains two units:

UNIT 1: Principles of customer service and delivery

UNIT 2: Understand customers

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Principles of Customer Service

Unit 1: Principles of customer service and delivery

Welcome to unit one.

Section 1: Understanding customer service

Section 2: Legal and ethical requirements in customer service

Section 3: Delivering effective customer service

Section 4: Managing customer service information

Section 5: Understanding customer service delivery

Section 6: The relationship between customer service and brands

This unit is split into six sections. These are:

Section 1: Understanding customer service

This section will explore the following:

• The purpose and scope of customer service

• The ‘service offer’ and its value to an organisation

• The importance of delivering consistently high quality customer service

• The importance of keeping up to date with competitors

• Barriers to providing effective customer service

• The features of effective follow-up service.

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Principles of Customer Service

The purpose and scope of customer service

Every time a customer buys a product or a service they have contact with the selling organisation’s customer service.

STOP AND THINK!

What do you think is the purpose of customer service? Jot down your thoughts below.

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Principles of Customer Service

The purpose of customer service is to ensure the needs and wants of customers are met by the organisation, meeting customer expectations and ensuring satisfaction.Customer service aims to provide support and satisfaction to a customer through actions that are taken by the seller. This includes actions taken before, during, and after the actual transaction or delivery of service.

The scope of customer service refers to what the organisation will offer in the way of customer service and what the limitations are. The scope depends on the organisation and its products and services, however it would generally include guarantees and standards covering:

• Work activities

• Delivery of products or services

• Time scales

• Pricing

• Quality requirements

• After sales support

• Refunds

• Complaints.

Key FactCustomer service is the sum total of what an organisation does to meet customer expectations and produce customer satisfaction.

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Principles of Customer Service

The ‘service offer’ and its value to an organisation

Q. What is the value of a ‘service offer’ to an organisation?

A. The ‘service offer’ defines the extent and limits of the customer service that an organisation is offering. It also sets out the standards of service that the customer can expect from the organisation and is sometimes called a ‘customer’s charter’.

The service offer sets the basis on which the organisation will provide a service to its customers. Often this is expressed in terms of targets – for example, the length of time patients can expect to wait for an operation in hospital, or the length of time an organisation guarantees to take to deliver a product by post. The service offer also sets out how the organisation will compensate a customer if customer service has not been delivered in line with the organisation’s standards, or it may clearly state the timescales for responses to customers.

Definition of the term ‘service offer’

A service offer is the extent and limits of the customer service that an organisation is offering.

Source: The Institute of Customer Service

Activity 1: The service offer Locate your organisation’s customer charter, or other similar document such as a prospectus. You may locate a paper copy or an electronic copy if your organisation has a website. In the space below make notes about the main points of the service offer.

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The importance of delivering consistently high quality customer service

High quality customer service helps to create customer loyalty. Customers are not only interested in the product or service they are being offered but all the additional elements of service that they receive, from the greeting they receive when they enter an organisation, to the refund and help that they receive if they have a complaint about a faulty product or service that they have paid for.

Consistently high quality customer service is important because it promotes:

• Customer satisfaction

• Customer spending

• Return business

• Increased footfall – more people visiting the business or its website

• Sales increase

• Customer loyalty

• Increased status of the brand

• Business growth.

Key FactThe ‘service offer’ defines the extent and limits of the customer service that an organisation is offering.SAMPLE

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Inconsistent or poor quality customer service will have very negative implications for organisations.

Key FactIf an organisation is able to provide consistently high quality customer service this will have a positive effect on the organisation, its employees and its customers.

The implications of inconsistent customer service

STOP AND THINK!

How would inconsistent customer service affect an organisation? Jot down your thoughts below.

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Principles of Customer Service

Inconsistent customer service will result in:

• Negative feedback from customers

• A high level of complaints

• Bad publicity about the organisation in the media

• Reduced footfall – fewer people visiting the outlet or website

• Reduced sales

• Higher wastage through lack of sales

• Competitors taking a larger share of the market

• Low employee morale resulting in increased absence and lateness

• Lower profitability

• Damage to the reputation of the business.

Key FactInconsistent or poor quality customer service will seriously damage an organisation’s reputation. Once a good reputation is lost it is difficult to regain it.

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Competitors may be local, national or (through the Internet) international. You can keep up to date with competitors’ activities by:

• Checking advertising and the press for other companies in the same area of business

• Searching the Internet for similar products or services

• Listening to information given by existing customers.

STOP AND THINK!

Who are your competitors? Make a note of them below.

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The importance of keeping up to date with competitors

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Key FactIt is important to keep up to date with what competitors are doing. The role of customer service is to ensure that existing customers are retained and new customers are acquired in the face of any competition from others.

Q. Why is it important to keep up to date with competitors’ activities?

A. Competitors are other organisations offering the same or similar products or services. If the organisation does not keep up to date with what its competitors are doing it may lose customers because competitors are offering newer, better products or services.

Knowledge of competitors helps the organisation to stay one step ahead by improving the service offer above and beyond what competitors are doing.

Barriers to providing effective customer service

Some frequently mentioned barriers at an organisational level include:

• Failing to deliver on service promises

• Lack of knowledge or data about customers’ needs and wants

• Not using complaints data efficiently to fix problems and prevent them repeating themselves

• Not making enough use of customer and employee feedback to improve service

• Treating new customers differently from existing customers, such special offers to entice new customers - for example banks that offer higher interest rates to new savers

• Cultural attitudes of employees in public service providers where clients, patients, students and other customers are regarded as a nuisance and an inconvenience

• Lack of staff training in customer service values

• Physical barriers to people with disabilities

• Lack of accessibility regarding opening hours

• Understaffing that results in long queues.

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Further Research: Barriers to customer service Use the link below to read the article, ‘10 Barriers to Effective Customer Service’ by Paul Clark, CEO of complaints and feedback management firm Charter UK. You can use the space below to make a note of any key points.

If you need help using the internet, seek advice from your tutor or your local library.

realbusiness.co.uk/article/24368-10-barriers-to-effective-customer-service

Barriers at an individual level include:

• Language used – for example, technical jargon that is inappropriate

• Speed or tone of speech

• Customer expectations exceed the level of service available

• Lack of knowledge of the products and services by those giving information

• Inappropriate body language – for example, not maintaining eye contact or looking bored.

All of these barriers will erode customer loyalty.

Key FactThere is a range of potential barriers to providing effective customer service.

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Common features of effective follow-up include:

• Identifying the preferred form of future communication with the customer

• Making sure there is a clearly defined next step at the end of the conversation

• Having effective and clear complaints procedures

• Having a returns policy

• Adding the customer to business mail or email lists

• Contacting customers after the sale to find out if they are happy with their purchase

• Providing after sales guarantees or warranties.

STOP AND THINK!

If you bought a product or a service what would you want in terms of an effective follow-up service? Make notes in the space below.

Key FactProviding effective follow-up service keeps customers coming back and encourages them to refer the business to others.

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The features of effective follow-up service

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Let’s Summarise!

Take a few moments to answer the following questions to help you summarise what you have learnt in this section. This will help you answer the upcoming assessments.

1. What does the term, ‘service offer’ mean?

2. Complete the following sentence: ‘The service offer is of value to an organisation because it...’

3. The importance of consistently high quality customer service is that it helps to create customer loyalty.

4. Complete the following sentence: ‘If the organisation does not keep up to date with what its competitors are doing, it...’

5. Give an example of a barrier to effective customer service.

6. What is one feature of an effective follow-up service for customers?

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE NOW COMPLETED SECTION 1. PLEASE NOW GO TO YOUR ASSESSMENTS AND

ANSWER QUESTIONS Q1 TO Q7.

Check your answers by looking back over this section.

True False

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