January Newsletter

Centric Hub Vol. 1 Issue 11

Can Recruitment Ensure Good Customer Service - The

CORE with Uloma

Customer Service Tips For Busy Seasons Strategise and Team Build Your Way To An Excellent 2014 - Onyinye Eronini

Memories From 2013 A Customer Centricity Limited PublicationŠ 2013

- Customer CentriCity Limited

WELCOME to the

CENTRIC HUB!

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Call Ada today on 08034017914 to schedule a training session

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Customer Service Tips for Busy Seasons

During this period, the stores will of course be busier than usual, and accordingly, the check-out lines longer as well and there are guaranteed to be some customers who will lose their patience. For businesses, although the influx of shoppers during these busy times is a welcome sight, if they are not prepared it can cause difficulties as well.

After working hard to be customer-focused, the busy period is no time to slack off. The crowds, the longer hours and all the demands of the period call for an even greater level of Customer Service. You must ensure that both existing customers and new customers find an amazing service experience that will bring them back again.

Even if you're not a retailer, read on. There are lessons here that can be applied to any business that experiences a "busy season." It may not be a holiday rush—perhaps a special sale or trade show.

Here are some strategies that will help. They are not new ideas, but are important reminders of common-sense solutions.

Customers should still be able to find a salesperson for assistance while shopping, and their time waiting in line shouldn't be too different from that of other busy times. If it is, they may get frustrated—and leave.

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Offer special training on dealing with more than one customer at a time.

Let them know when they are facing a busy shift. . Busy times are good for the company's bottom line, but in the midst of racking up sales, don't let employees forget to deliver great service as well. It would be a good idea to hold a daily team meeting to review the previous day: plan to repeat the good and avoid the bad.

Perhaps conduct a contest of some kind.

Treat the employees the way you want the customers to be treated, and make sure they know what's expected of them.

A simple but sincere “Thanks for your patience” or “I’m listening” can go a long way toward defusing a holiday shopper’s frustration, anxiety, or panic. Develop a repertoire of short, easy to remember phrases around issues that are important to customers. Practice until the words come naturally.

Remaining silent while your customers are talking is a basic courtesy, and nodding tells them you’re listening and understanding what you hear. An occasional “uh huh” or “I see” tells them you’re still listening without interrupting.

Making eye contact acknowledges that you see your customers as individuals. But there’s a balance to be struck here: staring can make your customers uncomfortable, too.

(Continued overleaf)

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Also keep in mind that eye contact is governed by specific cultural rules. A good rule to follow is to give as much as you get.

Thanking customers when they offer comments or suggestions says that you value their opinion. Thanking customers for complaining says that you value their loyalty. Customers who tell you they are unhappy are giving you a second chance. And that’s quite a gift.

Don’t assume that you’re not allowed to say “I’m sorry” when a snafu occurs. Actually, a sincere apology delivered in a timely and professional manner often heads off potential problems. When you show your willingness to make sure your customers receive what they expect to receive, you relieve them of the need to even think about starting a fight.

Problems are an undeniable part of the hectic, stressful busy shopping season and problems exist when the customer says they do. You can’t wish a problem away because it is something no reasonable person would be upset about, because it’s not your fault, or even because the customer made a mistake.

Real problem solving cannot happen until the issues are out on the table. And that requires getting past a customer’s emotional reaction. Breaking through the icy calm defences of an upset customer is just as important as coaxing a “raging red” customer out of a temper tantrum.

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Customers, particularly upset customers, don’t always explain everything clearly or completely.

Ask questions about anything you may not understand or need clarified. Then, when you feel you have identified and clearly grasped the problem, repeat it back to the customer for confirmation.

Involving customers in generating solutions not only starts to rebuild the relationship, it gives them the feeling that your business really is interested in satisfying their needs. You’ll find that most customers bring a sense of fair play with them and will often expect far less than you’d think.

Are you ready for the rush? It's holiday time—let's get to work and make it amazing!

- THE END References Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service, Fifth Edition by Performance Research Associates, Inc., Edited by Ann Thomas and Jill Applegate.

For Laughs!

Bookstore Guidance Needed In some quarters, bookstores may be considered dinosaurs, but odd customers are evergreen, as these requests to bookstore clerks prove.

"Can you tell me who the author of Shakespeare is?"

"I’m looking for a book, but I only know the title, not the author. It’s called Dante’s Inferno."

"I definitely don’t want nonfiction. I like autobiographies and history."

"Do you have Shakespeare in English?"

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LAUGH IT OFF

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Beautiful 2013 Memories!

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Memories from 2013

2013 from Memories!

Memories 2013 A Fantastic Year

Most organisations at the end of the year like to sit back and take stock of their achievements during that year.

This largely involves analysing the proposed changes from the year before and carefully tracking progress to see if their targets were achieved; where they excelled and the areas that need improvement.

Strategy Sessions can be a catalyst for creative, innovative and collaborative breakthroughs so they are a very important aspect of organisational development. .

This sort of recap is known as a Strategy Session and it is one of our core practises at Customer CentriCity Limited, so when Aluko Oyebode & Co. reached out to us to organise a Strategy Session, we were more than excited to take them on. Strategy Sessions can be a catalyst for creative, innovative and collaborative breakthroughs so they are a very important aspect of organisational development.

Aluko Oyebode & Co. is one of the largest integrated Law Firms in Nigeria providing a comprehensive range of specialised legal services to a highly diversified clientele, including top-tier multinational, supranational and non-governmental clients. We were very honoured to be working with them to do a review of their achievements during the past year, comparing it with what they set out to achieve at the beginning of the year and the projected plans for the coming year.

The strategy session was also followed with a Team bonding session which allowed the staff get together, appreciate themselves and learn to trust themselves.

Different fun activities aimed at helping the group bond were organised, with the staff put in different teams and given tasks to accomplish together.

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At Customer CentriCity Limited, we understand the importance of these sessions and so we go extra mile to ensure that our clients get the experience of a lifetime

It was a wonderful time with a fantastic and intelligent class. The participants were able to discern for themselves how well they had done in that year compared to the previous year and the changes they wished to effect in the coming year.

Strategy and Team Building Sessions are a necessary requirement for organisations that aim at exceeding their current level. The Strategy Sessions helps define what is obtainable in the organisation and what needs to be achieved, thereby creating a focused set of goals, while the team Building Session, becomes the tool that ensures that the staff are able to work together effectively to achieve set goals.

At Customer CentriCity Limited we understand the importance of these sessions and so we go extra mile to ensure that our clients get the experience of a lifetime while placing them ahead of their peers through strategic planning and effective team building.

Laugh Out Loud!

Q: Why is Christmas just like your job?

A: You do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit.

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Have you visited our Facebook page?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/CustomerCentriCity-Limited/322918024432546

We are sprucing up our page with exciting new stuff for your viewing pleasure Lets share Customer Service Tidbits, quotes, trivia and of course… fabulous gifts!!!

Plus, you can be our “Friend of the Month”

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CAN RECRUITMENT ENSURE GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE? YES. In our foray as Customer Service consultants we have concluded that there may well be some people who can NEVER give fantastic service! Let us remember first, "Service is ALL about attitude". While I agree that one can learn and imbibe new cultures and attitudes over time, I will also opine that an organization can save time by hiring the right people from the very beginning.

I never tire during my trainings of telling the story of a girl I met once at a training I facilitated in Fate Foundation. I was discussing the concept of being warm and welcoming as a show of courteous service. I introduced the Magic 3 Formula (c) and was still in mid-sentence when one of the girls sitting at the 3rd row started to raise her hand to ask a question. I obliged her, and this was what I heard. "Ehe, Madam, must I smile?" I was, as you can imagine, pretty taken aback! "Sorry?" I couldn't have heard right! "Madam, must I smile? After all it is not every time I feel like smiling.

Sometimes I want to just frown!" I looked at her for a few ticks, her name was Bisi, before I asked, "Bisi, what do you do? Where do you work?" She replied quickly, "I work at a book store, I am a receptionist!" The whole class gasped at the incredulity of the situation. A front desk office that would rather not smile. I looked, really looked at her and wondered what had possessed the organization to hire her! She couldn't smile to save her life!

We find some of these in our daily interactions with our students and in the workplace too. I remember how I had to tell my trainers during our Train-the-trainer sessions to look out for 3 types of students. The Star, The Slowcoach and the Skeptic. The Star, we love because they are quick on the uptake and enthusiastic. Soon our “junior teacher”.

The Slowcoach would love to follow but is grappling with all the concepts and trying to make sense of all that new information. Then there is the Skeptic. The minute you start, they throw the curve ball, then spend the rest of the training “taking you on” and are bent on convincing everyone in the class that “It won’t work!”

The recruitment exercise will do well to test all such traits. There are interview questions, Assessment Centre situations and Personality type tests that determine existing behavioural skills and indicate potential inter-personal skills too. In the same manner past work experiences can also be an indicator towards their possible temperament and solution-orientedness as service providers.

As for Bisi… You want to know how I handled the situation? Simply. I told her that the role she was in necessitated that she smiles and greets warmly. I also told her that I knew a few roles that do not. We finally all agreed that Bisi should join the Army! 

A Publication of Customer Centricity Limited Contact Address: 15 Biaduo Road, Off Keffi Street, South- West, Ikoyi, Lagos. Nigeria Twitter: @c_centricity Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Customer-CentriCity-Limited/ Email: www.customercentricityltd.com Telephone: +234 0 7065559525