Treat your customers well, with great respect and deference, but never let the customer make business decisions for you. That is, don’t let the customer run your business.
1. Explain what it means to say that customers really want feelings and solu- tions, rather than products and services. When you are a customer, what does that mean to you?
2. Define the term “internal customer.” Why is the concept of internal cus- tomer service important to an overall understanding of customer service?
3. Why is an understanding of the “nice” customer of great importance in improving customer service? Have you ever known or been someone like this “nice” customer, who is unhappy but only leaves and never returns rather than voicing concerns to the business?
4. What are the “two simplest principles” of customer service? What importance does listening play in the use of those principles? Have you ever seen them violated?
5. Explain the importance of forming a bond with the customer. How does one go about establishing such a bond?
6. What are the four steps in giving the customer bad news? Explain each step.
7. What are some steps one can take to build the customer’s self-esteem?
Which step, in your opinion, is the most important? Explain.
8. What is meant by “going the extra mile”? Provide an example from your life of either serving customers or being a customer. How did your experience affect you? Was there ever a time when someone didn’t go the extra mile?
review questions
9. Try to recall if you can identify a businessperson who was able to estab- lish a bond with you or one of your family members. How was this accomplished?
critical thinking questions
bad news skills 321 going the extra
mile 326
good feelings and solutions 316
key terms
internal customer 317 “nice” customer 322 relationship
selling 329
self-esteem trap 325 two simplest
principles 318
10. Have you ever been the victim of a company’s poor customer service policy, as either an external or internal customer? What specifically occurred? How did this treatment make you feel? What would you have changed in that situation if you had the power to do so?
THE DIFFICULT CUSTOMER
School-to-Work Connection: Interpersonal Skills
A woman approaches the ticket counter at a large airport and demands to see the manager. You ask if you can be of any assistance since the manager is not available. She immediately challenges the airline’s in-cabin kennel policy as unfair and discriminatory. She explains that she has to travel 1,000 miles to take care of a sick sister. Her toy poodle, from which she has never been separated, is completely housebroken and “never barks or bites.” She can’t stand the thought of her “little baby” cramped up in a small in-cabin pet kennel under the seat in front of her. After all, “dogs are very social animals, and my little baby might get depressed if I put her in a cage.” She is holding the dog tightly in her arms. The pooch is clothed in a designer jacket made for small dogs and has her nails polished bright red. The woman loudly demands that she be allowed to bring the pet on board with her.
What should you do? Place an X on the line next to the actions that are the most appropriate responses to this difficult situation.
1. Show slight disgust on your face, so she will know you consider her to be the problem.
2. Laugh and make light of the situation.
3. Remain calm, cool, and patient.
4. Sympathize with her feelings of fear and frustration. Tell her that you don’t like to leave your pets alone, either.
5. Walk away and find your manager.
6. Become distant and less cooperative.
7. Disarm her by asking, “Are you serious?”
8. Explain carefully about the relative comfort of the soft in-cabin kennel, and how many pets fly your airline each day.
9. Ask her to understand the airline’s need to consider all of the passengers.
10. Thank her for her understanding and cooperation.
Answers: 3, 4, 8, and 10 are the most appropriate choices. All of the other choices would probably do more harm than good. 26
working it out 13.1
ROLE-PLAYING THE CUSTOMER
School-to-Work Connection: Interpersonal Skills
Purpose: To experience the difficulties in dealing directly with customer problems.
Procedure: Two students should volunteer to play the parts of a customer and an employee, role-playing the following situation:
Ron (or Rhonda) works in the men’s fashions department in Bernstein’s, a large department store. Delmar Wiggins, a customer, places three shirts and a sweater on the counter. In a friendly voice, he jokes, “I guess this is all I can afford.” When Mr. Wiggins offers his Bernstein’s charge card, Ron quickly runs a computerized check for the approval. The card is denied. Ron excuses himself for a moment and reaches for a phone out of earshot from the customer. His call to the office confirms that Mr. Wiggins hasn’t paid a cent on his already-large bill for over four months.
Instructions: The student who plays Ron (or Rhonda) should proceed with the plan for fair treatment of Mr. Wiggins. Remember that Ron needs to keep Mr. Wiggins as a cash customer in the future, and hopefully, for this sale as well. Mr. Wiggins should act innocent, as though he has no knowl- edge of a bad account, but he also should be willing to comply with whatever reasonable suggestions Ron comes up with.
The student who plays Mr. Wiggins may decide to deny the fact that pay- ments are overdue. In this case, Ron (or Rhonda) needs to find other ways of dealing with the customer. He or she could say something like, “It appears that they have not received your most recent payments. I am sure that there is some misunderstanding. Would you like me to put you on the line with them so that you can confirm your most recent payments?” Mr. Wiggins, knowing that no such payments have been sent, will probably back down and agree to another method of payment.
working it out 13.2
School-to-Work Connection: Interpersonal Skills
Will you change careers during your lifetime or keep the same job for your entire career? Most of us will change jobs 7 to 10 times during our careers.
How successful such job changes will be depends on how much planning and preparation you have done. Career planning should focus on both short-term and long-term transitions. Each of these has different tasks. Both should be done with some careful thought and honest reflection.
working it out 13.3
Short-term planning: Short-term planning is aimed at just the next few years. Barriers that can be overcome sometimes stand in the way of this plan- ning. For some people, personal traits such as procrastination and lack of motivation are career barriers. Family pressures and peer pressure to work in a certain occupation, or to avoid some occupations, can also stand in the way of a successful job change. Following are some suggestions to get you started with short-term planning.
1. Think about your lifestyle now and in the future. Are you happy with it? Do you want to change it, or keep it the same? Does your current job allow you to have the lifestyle you want?
2. Think about your likes and dislikes. What tasks do you enjoy, both at work and away from work? What do you avoid? How does your job fit with these likes and dislikes?
3. Define what you are most passionate about: What gives you energy and
“flow”? Do these activities happen at work in your current job?
4. List your strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of an employer. What skills and abilities, work experience and training, knowledge and experiences, do you have? What do you lack?
5. How do you define success? Are you able to achieve your vision of suc- cess in your current career path?
6. How would you describe your personality? Does your personality fit with your current job?
7. What is your dream job? Has this class revealed to you about careers and occupations that might interest you?
8. Examine your current situation. Identify a starting point for career advancement or job change. Be realistic, but define some goals to work toward. Finally, with the information you have gathered in answering these questions, you can work toward those goals. Narrow down your career choices. Identify additional training you will need. Develop a timeline and an action plan for meeting your short-term career plan- ning goals.
Long-term planning: Long-term career planning requires that you think 5 years, 10 years, or longer into the future. Your guidelines for this planning are broader and more general.
1. Because the workforce and technology are changing so fast, you may have job skills that won’t be needed in the future. Identify core skills that will always be in demand. Communication skills, creativity, team- work, problem solving, and many of the skills discussed in this textbook are core skills.
2. Examine employment trends. The “Occupational Outlook Hand- book” published annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a
good place to start (the updated handbook is readily available online through a quick keyword search).
3. Stay current in your short-term career planning. Keep up on newly emerging industries, technologies, and occupations. Keep an open mind (stay in the “open mode”) while you creatively explore new ideas.
Don’t get locked into one idea; you can always change your mind as new information comes along.
Whether you love your job and want to keep it forever, or can’t wait to find the next one, short-term and long-term career planning can help. You can put yourself in a better position to advance in your career, or begin a completely new occupation, with some strategic planning. Think of career planning as an interesting journey. Take your time, and be willing to head to a new adventure in a different direction if one should arise.
Source: Randall S. Hansen, “Developing a Strategic Vision for Your Career Plan,”
Quintessential Careers, www.quintcareers.com/career_plan.html (retrieved June 15, 2008).
Carmine’s boss, Ann Camilla, was out of the store, and the assistant manager had called in sick that morning. Carmine was alone, and he alone had to decide what to do. As he walked toward this disaster scene, Carmine kept repeating to himself his boss’s favorite saying, “The customer is always right. The customer is always right.”
Case Study Questions
1. What should Carmine say to Mrs. Raye? Why?
2. What should he do, and in what order?
3. What should Carmine say to the other custom- ers who ask questions such as “What happened over there, anyway?”
C armine DeLuccio worked at a large health food
store. One morning he saw a customer push- ing an overloaded shopping cart down the aisle.
The customer couldn’t see where she was going because the merchandise in her cart obstructed her view. Carmine looked away just long enough to help another customer with a small purchase.
As he looked back up, the loaded cart struck a large display of bottled fruit juices. The crash was deafening; broken glass and juice filled the aisle.
Mrs. Raye, the customer, was very upset. She immediately blamed the store for her problem and shouted, “What a stupid place to stick a break- able display! And if you didn’t have such tiny shop- ping carts, I wouldn’t have to load this one up so high!” A small crowd of customers began to gather around her as she continued to shout.
Disaster in Aisle Three
case study 13.1
case study 13.2
International Business Calling
A n international tourism company based in
the United States does business with partner companies in several nations. Their main focus is on putting together tour packages for families and groups. Dana Smith, the manager of the main office, frequently takes calls about problems or issues that have arisen with specific tours. She has been distracted on this particular morning resolv- ing a problem with a tour in China—several of the tourists have fallen ill and want to return home immediately, cutting their vacations short. This means she will have to work with several hotels, bus companies, tourism agencies, and airlines either changing or canceling reservations.
When the phone rings and one of her agents in Singapore is on the other line, she is already annoyed. “What do you want, Wei Ting? Why can’t you seem to go one day without some problem you can’t figure out? Can’t you handle these complain- ing clients?” Wei Ting has not had a chance to tell Dana that a very angry client is also on the line with them. The client’s request for a refund for an earlier trip had just been turned down due to com- pany policy. His entry visa into Malaysia had been denied by officials there. The client blamed the tour company, but the tour company was unable to get the visa cleared and had compensated by
substituting a trip to Indonesia instead. The client complained that since the change in the itinerary was not his choice, he should be fully refunded.
The tour company disagreed.
Meanwhile, Wei Ting was caught in the mid- dle and was relying on Dana to help with the situ- ation. The client, hearing himself identified as a “complainer,” exploded into an angry tirade.
Dana felt angry that Wei Ting had not warned her ahead of time there was a client on the line, and Wei Ting was totally embarrassed by the whole incident.
Case Study Questions
1. Does this situation have more to do with exter- nal customer relations, with internal customer relations, or both? Explain.
2. What should Dana do to resolve the situa- tion on all fronts? What should Wei Ting do to keep the client happy and develop a better working relationship with Dana?
3. Explain how this company could encourage complaints in the future to avoid such situa- tions. What types of complaints and solutions would you anticipate management receiving in this company?
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