Over the past ten years, I have worked in a sales role where identifying customer expectations are critical. I have created and implemented strategies based on the foundation of what a customer needs. The ultimate goal of customer service is to win the customer! The question lingers as to how to achieve this. Identifying and providing customer needs, handling situations on the telephone, telemarketing strategies and establishing professional work standards are at the foundation of exceptional customer service.
Identify and Provide Customer Needs
I have investigated how to address customer needs on a continuous basis due to an ever-changing market. Since 2008, the business environment has undergone a dramatic overhaul. The past four years have imposed tremendous financial constraints on customers. Many customers have the task to complete more with minimal resources. The raw data showed that my territory was declining in sales and losing customers, and I was confident it was not simply our price. Due to this, I conducted business reviews with customers to identify gaps in our customer service model. I prepared a report classifying the situations we interact with a customer and the desired outcome as seen by the customer. I discovered inconsistencies from customer to customer on the perception of customer service. Feedback from the customers uncovered various concerns that had led, or were leading to losing the customer. Some customers stated that the competition had become more aggressive with pricing, or they had become dissatisfied with our product. The largest, and most impactful, customer feedback was that our customer service associates failed to communicate an attitude of care towards the customer. Research conducted by Michael Hess of CBS News validates this thought, that “empathy is often ignored or lost when companies start to get excessively clever and complex” (CBS News).
I assessed what protocol was in place for the employees who had a...