BTS Customer Service Workshop: Spring 2019

AAMU BTS Customer Service Workshop Mrs. Sophya Johnson, M.S. Certified Customer Service Representative, Assistant to CETL Director

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Overview: • Review what is customer service.

• 2 types of customers.

• Learn customer service skills and how to apply it.

• Methods of customer service/communication • Dealing with challenging customers

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What is Customer Service?

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• Providing excellent customer service in the transit environment is in many ways no different than providing excellent customer service in any environment.

• All customers want to feel welcomed, valued and appreciated, and this holds true for the people who ride aboard your vehicles, call to schedule rides, or ask for route or schedule information.

• In the past, customer service was seen as the responsibility of those individuals who had face-to-face interactions with customers, namely you, the transit operator or transit staff member who interacts with the customer.

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• Today, it is understood that customer service is the responsibility of everyone in your organization all the way up to the board of directors.

• Your organization exists to serve the customer.

• However, as the members of your organization who interact with customers the most, you have an added responsibility to present a polished image.

• After all, customers will judge the entire organization by the interactions they have with you!

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• •

Fortunately, providing excellent customer service relies on doing simple things.

It requires showing up to work well rested, cool, calm, in control and ready to perform your duties;

• •

• •

it requires treating the customers in a respectful and polite manner; and it requires remembering that you are the face of your entire organization and taking the extra steps to ensure that your image is a good one.

Though there are countless tips and strategies you can learn to improve the way you provide customer service, remember that providing excellent customer service comes down to treating the customer as you would want to be treated.

Keeping these things in mind will ensure your customers leave satisfied, and will make your job easier and more enjoyable at the same time.

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What is Customer Service?

• Customer Service is the process of

meeting customers’ needs and expectations by providing a high level of quality service resulting in satisfied customers.

• Customer service goes beyond just giving customers what they want or ask for.

• It entails proactively discovering and anticipating the customers’ needs and servicing those needs with a standard of excellence.

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• All customers, regardless of the service or product they are purchasing, want to feel:

• • • • • • •

Welcomed Appreciated and valued Paid attention to Respected Safe Listened to and heard Taken care of

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Who Is Responsible for Customer Service?

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• As a BTS operator or BTS staff member who interacts with customers, you have the most face-to- face interaction with your company’s clientele.

• This means that you are primarily responsible for creating an excellent experience for your organization’s customers.

• However, the responsibility does not fall solely on you.

• All of the other members of your organization, from the mechanics who service your vehicle to the dispatcher who designs your route and schedule, also contribute to the customer experience.

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Types of Customers

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2 Types of Customers Internal:

External:

• Are persons within your institution/department who depend upon you for your service to perform their own jobs. They are essential co-workers with needs that you are able to fulfil. Companies in which employees serve each other are better able to serve their external customers. Developing an internal culture of service can only extend to external customers.

• This is any person outside of your institution with a need that your department is able to fulfil.

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Who are your Internal and External Customers Internal Customers

• • • •

Faculty Staff in the same department/office Staff in other departments/offices Administrators

External Customers

• • • •

Students Parents Alumni The Community 13

The Customer Experience • Many factors shape the customer experience.

• Customers begin to form their opinion of your organization before they ever step foot on your bus or van.

• All the interactions that customers have with your organization, whether it be calling dispatch with a question about a schedule or waiting for a bus in a shelter, are moments where customers form opinions of your company.

• But none of these is likely to be as powerful and enduring as you and your actions.

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• As a transit operator or transit staff member who interacts with customers, you are also responsible, in part, for the image of your entire organization.

• If your company has a driver who is rude, even to just one person, other passengers on the bus see that and believe that all transit operators who work for that organization are also rude — including you!

• The image of your whole organization becomes a negative one to all of the passengers who witness that incident and also to all the people they tell about it.

• The least friendly, most unhelpful employee in your company becomes the measuring stick for how everyone else is seen.

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Judgments and First Impressions • • •

• •

People make judgments.

It is simply part of human nature.

If a driver is messy or looks as if he just rolled out of bed, passengers equate that with an organization that is careless, disorganized and unconcerned with its customers.

Conversely, if a driver is neat, clean, awake, welcoming and smiling, customers believe that the organization is safe, reputable and reliable.

Based on their first impression of drivers, the interior of the bus or the bus shelter, customers make an assessment of the professionalism of the organization as a whole.

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• Furthermore, passengers generalize the judgments they make based on their first impressions and this becomes their view of the entire organization.

• People make judgments about things within their first two minutes of experiencing them and these first impressions are very real and lasting.

• BTS staff needs to realize that whenever the bus or office doors open up, what the customer sees becomes his impression of the entire organization.

• Coming to work neat, clean and awake are essential to ensuring that the first impressions customers make will be positive ones.

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Do you know the Community you Serve/ Work with?

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Our Students • From 44 states and 11 foreign countries • 4,851 undergraduates and 1,008 graduate students • 42 percent first-time college students • Faculty & Staff: Diverse cultures, race and ethnicity •

Request additional information from Institutional Research department.

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15 Customer Service Skills that Every Employee Needs https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140616101744-56883908-15-customer-service-skills-thatevery-employee-needs

• There are certain customer service skills that every employee must master if they are forward-facing with customers.

• Without them, you run the risk of finding your business in an embarrassing customer service train-wreck, or you'll simply lose customers as your service continues to let people down.

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The Customer Service Skills that Matter: 1. Patience

•Should be near the to top of a customer service skills list.

•Important to customers •They often reach out to support when they are confused and frustrated, •Important to the business at large • Great service beats fast service every single time.

•If you deal with customers on a daily basis, be sure to stay patient when they come to you stumped and frustrated, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they want — they'd rather get competent service than be rushed out the door!

2. Attentiveness

• The ability to really listen to customers is so crucial for providing great service for a number of reasons.

• Not only is it important to pay attention to individual customer interactions (watching the language/terms that they use to describe their problems), but it's also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that you receive at large.

3. Clear Communication Skills

• Make sure you're getting to the problem at hand quickly; customers don't need your life story or to hear about how your day is going.

• More importantly, you need to be cautious about how some of your communication habits translate to customers, and it's best to err on the side of caution whenever you find yourself questioning a situation.

• When it comes to important points that you need to relay clearly to customers, keep it simple and leave nothing to doubt.

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4. Knowledge of the Product

• The best forward-facing employees in your company will work on having a deep knowledge of how your product works.

• should know the ins and outs of how your product works, just like a customer who uses it everyday would.

• Without knowing your product from front-to-back, you won't know how to help customers when they run into problems.

5. Ability to Use "Positive Language"

•Ability to make minor changes in your conversational patterns can truly go a long way in creating happy customers.

•Language is a very important part of persuasion, and people (especially customers) create perceptions about you and your company based off of the language that you use.

•Example: Let's say a customer contacts you with an interest in a particular product, but that product happens to be backordered until next month.

•Without positive language: "I can't get you that product until next month; it is backordered and unavailable at this time."

•With positive language: "That product will be available next month. I can place the order for you right now and make sure that it is sent to you as soon as it reaches our warehouse."

•The first example isn't negative by any means, but the tone that it conveys feels abrupt and impersonal, and can be taken the wrong way by customers.

•The second example is stating the same thing (the item is unavailable), but instead focuses on when/how the customer will get to their resolution rather than focusing on the negative.

6. Acting Skills

•Sometimes you're going to come across people that you'll never be able to make happy.

•Situations outside of your control (they had a terrible day, or they are just a natural-born complainer) will sometimes creep into your usual support routine, and you'll be greeted with those "barnacle" customers that seem to want nothing else but to pull you down.

•Every great customer service rep will have those basic acting skills necessary to maintain their usual cheery persona in spite of dealing with people who may be just plain grumpy.

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7. Time Management Skills

• Despite many research-backed rants on why you should spend more time with customers , the bottom line is that there is a limit, and you need to be concerned with getting customers what they want in an efficient manner.

• If you don't know the solution to a problem, the best kind of support member will get a customer over to someone who does.

• Don't waste time trying to go above and beyond for a customer in an area where you will just end up wasting both of your time!

8. Ability to "Read" Customers

• You won't always be able to see customers face-to-face, and in many instances (nowadays) you won't even hear a customer's voice!

• You should understand some basic principles of behavioral psychology and being able to "read" the customer's current emotional state.

• This is an important part of the personalization process as well, because it takes knowing your customers to create a personal experience for them.

• It is essential because you don't want to mis-read a customer and end up losing them due to confusion and miscommunication.

• Look and listen for subtle clues about their current mood, patience level, personality, etc., and you'll go far in keeping your customer interactions positive.

9. A Calming Presence

• There's a lot of metaphors for this type of personality: "keeps their cool," "staying cool under pressure," etc., but it all represents the same thing: the ability that some people have to stay calm and even influence others when things get a little hectic.

• The best customer service reps know that they cannot let a heated customer force them to lose their cool; in fact it is their job to try to be the "rock" for a customer who thinks the world is falling down due to their current problem.

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10. Goal Oriented Focus

11. Ability to Handle Surprises

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Persuasion Skills

• Many customer service experts have shown how giving employees unconstrained power to "WOW" customers doesn't always generate the returns that many businesses expect to see.

• That's because it leaves employees without goals, • business goals + customer happiness can work hand-in-hand without resulting in poor service.

• Relying on frameworks can help businesses come up with guidelines for their employees that allow plenty of freedom to handle customers on a case-to-case basis, but also leave them priority solutions and "go-to" fixes for common problems.

•Sometimes the customer support world is going to throw you a curveball.

•Maybe the problem you encounter isn't specifically covered in the company's guidelines, or maybe the customer isn't reacting how you thought they would.

•Whatever the case, it's best to be able to think on your feet... but it's even better to create guidelines for yourself in these sorts of situations.

•You need to come up with a quick system for when you come across a customer who has a problem you've never seen before...

•Who? who you should consider your "go-to" person when you don't know what to do •What? When the problem is noticeably out of your league, what are you going to send to the people above •How? When it comes time to get someone else involved, how are you going to contact them?

• This is one a lot of people didn't see coming!

• Experienced customer support personnel know that oftentimes, you will get messages in your inbox that are more about the curiosity of your company's product, rather than having problems with it.

• To truly take your customer service skills to the next level, you need to have some mastery of persuasion so that you can convince interested customers that your product is right for them (if it truly is).

• It's not about making a sales pitch in each email, but it is about not letting potential customers slip away because you couldn't create a compelling message that your company's product is worth purchasing!

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13.

Tenacity

14. Closing Ability

15.

Willingness to Learn

• Call it what you want, but a great work ethic and a willingness to do what needs to be done (and not take shortcuts) is a key skill when providing the kind of service that people talk about.

• The many memorable customer service stories out there, were created by a single employee who refused to just do the "status quo" when it came to helping someone out.

• Remembering that your customers are people too, and knowing that putting in the extra effort will come back to you ten-fold should be your driving motivation to never "cheat" your customers with lazy service.

•To be clear, this has nothing to do with "closing sales" or other related terms.

•Being able to close with a customer means being able to end the conversation with confirmed satisfaction (or as close to it as you can achieve) and with the customer feeling that everything has been taken care of (or will be).

•Getting booted after a customer service call or before all of their problems have been addressed is the last thing that customers want, so be sure to take the time to confirm with customers that each and every issue they had on deck has been entirely resolved.

•Your willingness to do this shows the customer 3 very important things: •That you care about getting it right •That you're willing to keep going until you get it right •That the customer is the one who determines what "right" is.

•When you get a customer to, "Yes, I'm all set!" is when you know the conversation is over.

• This is probably the most general skill on the list, but it's still necessary.

• Those who don't seek to improve what they do, whether it's building products, marketing businesses, or helping customers, will get left behind by the people willing to invest in their skills.

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Internal Customers

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Internal Customers

• Faculty • Staff in the same department/office • Staff in other departments/offices • Administrators 28

Don’t Forget • Colleagues in your office are also your “customers”. So extend to them the same level of customer service as you would to a student, parent, vendor, executive , etc.

• Colleagues in other offices are also your “customers”.

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The Importance of Internal Morale • •

• •

• •

While we all understand the importance of treating customers with a pleasant, welcoming and respectful attitude, sometimes we forget that it is equally important to treat our fellow workers the same way.

How we treat each other at work — including how we welcome each other, address each other and care for each other — directly influences how we interact with customers.

If you work in an environment where people do not greet each other in the morning, speak to one another in a rude or sarcastic tone or speak badly about one another, you are likely to become used to this way of communicating and carry it into your interactions with customers.

In short, if you work in a workplace with poor morale, it is very difficult to provide excellent customer service.

If you work in an organization where people greet one another with a smile and are generally friendly and polite, it is likely you will treat your customers with a similar attitude.

Some things you can do to ensure good morale in your workplace include:

• • •

Saying “Good Morning” Speaking to co-workers politely Asking co-workers how their day is going Thanking co-workers at the end of the day

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Break

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Taking Care of Your Customers

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What Does It Take to Satisfy the Customer?

The Six Basic Needs of Transit Customers

1. Reliability: • Reliable transit service means that your customers have confidence that vehicles will arrive at their stop and final destinations on time.

• For transit providers, delivering reliable and predictable service is crucial for attracting and keeping customers.

2. Safety and Security: • Transit passengers must not only be safe but also feel safe for the entirety of the time they are using your organization’s services, whether they be waiting at a bus stop or a transfer station, or riding on the bus itself.

• As employees, it is also your right to feel safe and secure as well.

• While you may initially think that providing safety in the transit environment means minimizing the risk of accidents, it also includes making sure that facilities such as pick-up and drop-off locations are well lit and that vehicles are not overcrowded.

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3. Convenience and Accessibility: • Convenience in the transit environment means fulfilling your customers’ needs by providing transit that is easy for customers to access and takes passengers where they want to go, when they want to go there.

• Schedules and other information must also be provided in formats that are usable by persons with access and functional needs.

4. Clean and Comfortable: • Both customers and employees want to spend time in an environment that is clean and comfortable.

• This is not limited exclusively to vehicles but also includes bus stops, transfer stations and other pick-up and drop-off points.

• Additionally, drivers themselves should look neat and well groomed when they report for work.

• Remember, passengers rely on first impressions, and for the people aboard your vehicle, you represent the entire company.

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5. Understandable: • It is essential that both existing and current customers understand how to use a transit system including how to access the services.

• For example, route schedules and general information about your services need to be easily accessible to customers or potential customers.

• As an employee, you must also be able to communicate effectively with passengers about system policies and procedures and to answer any questions that customers may have.

6. Friendly and/or Empathetic: • All customers want to feel valued and cared for, and this includes when riding on public transit.

• It is essential that transit staff develops good listening and communication skills and that they are sensitive to all customers.

It is important to remember that while each rider may not have all seven needs, all of these needs must still be met to ensure a successful service that people will want to continue to use.

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Generational Customer Service •

• • •

In the transit environment, your customers will span a wide range of ages from infants to older adults.

Though some needs remain consistent for all transit passengers, some are unique to people of different age groups.

It is important to remember that the world has changed a great deal and that technology has advanced rapidly in the lifetimes of older customers.

Conversely, younger passengers are accustomed to technology and have grown up with instant access to information for most of their lives.

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Older adults typically:

• Expect eye contact • Appreciate and expect to be treated with courtesy and respect • Prefer personal contact or telephone customer relations • Do not like less personal mediums such as text messages or the Internet

Conversely, younger passengers:

• Prefer less formal interactions Expect less eye contact • Value technology • Are used to multitasking and expect instant information • Prefer online communication, information and social media

However, do remember that younger passengers and older passengers expect different things when it comes to customer service.

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Barriers to providing exceptional customer service • • • • • • •

Poor communication skills Staff not empowered to make decisions Lack of adequate training Staff on “auto pilot” Difficult to understand processes Policies that don’t make common sense Poor leadership/unmotivated staff 38

Communication Skills

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Vocal Charades What is the percentage of a message conveyed?

Face-to-Face Communication

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55% body language 38% tone of voice

7% words used

Telephone Communication

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82% tone of Voice 18% words used

Email Communication

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100% words used 40

The Power of Words Words to use:

• May I • How can I help • Would you like • Consider this • Opportunity • I’ll be happy to

Words to avoid: You have to Not our policy Not my job

We’ll try I don’t know

I have no idea

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Non-Verbal Communication Body Language (Action) Eye Contact Facial Expression

Body Posture

Hand Gestures

Physical Touch

Physical Distance

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Listening • A good listener…

• • • •

conveys sincerity focuses on the speaker and what they are saying does not interrupt listens with their eyes and their mind

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Listening • Things to avoid…

• •

•

Formulating what you want to say while the customer is still talking Thinking about other things while the customer is talking

Jumping to conclusions

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Seven Levels of Listening 1 Not listening:

• Not paying attention to or ignoring the other person’s communications.

2 Pretend listening:

• Acting like or giving the impression that you are paying attention to another person’s communications, but in actuality not really paying attention to that individual.

3 Partially listening:

• Only focusing on part of the other person’s communication or only giving it your divided attention.

4 Focused listening:

• Giving the other person your undivided attention to his or her communication.

5 Interpretive listening:

• Going beyond just paying attention but really trying to understand what the other person is communicating.

6 Interactive listening:

• Being involved in the communications by asking clarifying questions or acknowledging understanding of the communication.

7 Engaged listening:

•Being fully engaged in communications involves listening to the other person’s views, feelings, interpretations, values, etc., concerning the communication and sharing yours as well with the other person(s). In engaged listening, both parties are given the opportunity to fully express their views, feelings, and ideas.

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Challenging Customers

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Why are Customers Challenging?

• They may not have an understanding or expertise of the situation

• They may not speak “our language” • They may have difficulty in making decisions • They may be impatient, hostile, non-communicative, immature, etc.

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Ways to Work with Challenging Customers

• Listen and don’t interrupt

• Ask questions • Show empathy • Solve the problem • Follow up • End on a positive note

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Dealing with Angry Customers • The majority of customers who ride on your bus or van are going to be calm and pleasant people and will exit your vehicle satisfied with the service you provided.

• You will, however, experience customers who board your bus already in a state of agitation or anger, or who become agitated or angry while aboard your vehicle.

• The five general attitudes of passengers are: • • • • •

Average/calm Anxious

Agitated Angry Dangerous

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• While it is unlikely that you will have to deal with angry or dangerous customers very often, it is important to recognize when a customer is agitated and to prevent the situation from escalating.

• Your actions have the ability to calm angry customers, which in the long run makes your job easier.

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Defusing Conflict • Any time you notice an anxious or agitated customer or you witness a customer’s level of agitation getting worse, it is important to defuse the conflict as quickly as possible.

• Through calming a customer as soon as they become anxious or agitated, you reduce the chance that they will become angry or dangerous.

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The four steps to defusing conflict are: 1. Acknowledge the Emotion • Ignoring an anxious or agitated customer or responding to his/her attitude with rudeness can increase the conflict, potentially putting yourself or other passengers at risk.

• Simply by acknowledging an anxious customer’s emotions, he/she will feel that his/her concerns are heard and that may calm him/ her.

2. Ask Questions: • Asking questions about why a customer is upset and what you could do to alleviate the anxiety is a good way to calm him/her down.

• Often times, a customer simply wants to feel heard and like his/her experience is being valued. Simply asking the question, • “Is there anything I can do now to improve your experience?” gives the customer an opportunity to feel that he/she is taken care of and this alone can bring a customer back to calmness.

3. Don’t Escalate or Argue • No matter what, even if a customer is being rude or is in the wrong, never escalate an argument or argue with a customer.

• If someone speaks rudely to you or accuses you of something that is not your fault, your first response may be to defend yourself or to speak back rudely.

• Instead, take a deep breath, remember that while you are working your primary responsibility is to serve the customer, and then answer from a place of calmness and understanding.

4. Make a Decision That Will Be Most Helpful to the Customer • Provide information that lessens the likelihood of future problems, such as schedules or a one-time free ride.

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Resolving Complaints • Sometimes a customer may come on your bus upset about something totally unrelated to you or the service you are providing.

• Other times a customer may have a specific complaint about you or your organization.

• It can be difficult to hear complaints that someone makes about you.

• A customer may accuse you of being late even if you were simply stuck in traffic that you had no control over or may be upset because the bus never stopped for him/her even though he/she was waiting at the wrong corner.

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• It is human nature to be defensive and to tell the customer, “What did you expect? You weren’t even at the right bus stop!”

• Instead, because your sole priority is to serve the customer, a better approach would be to apologize for the inconvenience, acknowledge his/her frustration and politely tell him/her where the proper location is for catching the bus.

• By doing these things, you will alleviate potential problems before they arise and leave customers having had a better experience.

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Best Practice: Don’t Take it Personally • Chances are that when a customer is directing his/her frustration at you, he/she is actually angry about the situation (the bus being late, for example), not angry with you.

• Taking things personally just introduces unnecessary emotion into the situation and makes it harder to address the real concern.

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Conclusion

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• Whether you have been working as an AAMU BTS employee for five months or 15 years, it is never too late to improve the way you interact with customers.

• Even if you are a friendly, welcoming person who smiles and enjoys interacting with customers, there is always room to be more proactive and anticipate customer needs.

• If you’ve always been challenged by customer service, it’s never too late to improve your skills.

• Remember that providing exceptional customer service requires a commitment on the part of each and every employee of an organization — including you.

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• Furthermore, keep in mind that the way that you interact with your fellow co-workers has a direct impact on the way that you treat customers. Great customer service requires a commitment from every member of your organization to treat each other with respect.

• The next time that you are faced with a challenging customer or situation, look at it as an opportunity to demonstrate your skills — your skills in caring for customers and making it your responsibility to ensure that all their needs are met.

• Not only will you be excelling at your job, but your actions will reflect positively on the entire organization.

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Characteristics of Good Customer Service: 4 Ps http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-customer-service-definition-types-role-in-marketing.html

Customer service is meeting the needs and desires of any customer. Some characteristics of good customer service include:

1. Promptness: • Promises for delivery of products must be on time. Delays and cancellations of products should be avoided.

2. Politeness: • Politeness is almost a lost art. Saying 'hello,' 'good afternoon,' 'sir', and 'thank you very much' are a part of good customer service. For any business, using good manners is appropriate whether the customer makes a purchase or not.

3. Professionalism: • All customers should be treated professionally, which means the use of competence or skill expected of the professional. Professionalism shows the customer they're cared for.

4. Personalization: • Using the customer's name is very effective in producing loyalty. Customers like the idea that whom they do business with knows them on a personal level.

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How can you take ownership for EXCEPTIONAL Customer Service You must accept the fact that customer service is our responsibility, no matter what position you hold.

You must discover, anticipate and serve our customers’ needs and expectations within reason.

You must develop the skills required to PROFESSIONALLY serve customers with a standard of excellence.

You must provide this service in a timely manner.

You must balance AAMU’s interests, policies and procedures with the customer’s interests, needs and expectations.

You must develop communication skills to effectively serve different customer styles.

You must treat students, faculty, staff and administrators the way you 61 would like to be treated.

Take Away Question

• Based on your own evaluation what are 3 things that you could work on that you learned from this workshop? How can you hold yourself accountable?

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References • •

• • •

Carlaw, P. & Deming, V. Customer Service Training Games. The McGrawHill Companies, New York, NY. (1999) Ciotti, G. 15 Customer Service Skills that Every Employee Needs. Linked In (2014).

Innovative Educators: Exceptional Front-Line Customer Service in Higher Education Mckinney, P. What Is Customer Service? - Definition, Types & Role in Marketing: Characteristics of Good Customer Service . Study.com National RTAP Federal Transit Administration Program. Customer Driven Service. http://demopro.nationalrtap.org/resources/Technical_Briefs/634692169977923 388_CustomerDrivenService_Br.pdf

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