The Voice of the Customer

Overview/Description
 Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "Make yourself necessary to somebody." In today's competitive marketplace, it's important to make yourself and your company necessary to a lot of "somebodys". Those somebodys are your customers. This course provides the tools to learn all that you can about your customers. The focus is on recognizing and ultimately anticipating customer expectations. There are any number of ways to hear "The Voice of the Customer", but you have to know how to listen. Learn about the dynamics of client expectations, and the inconsistent, ever-changing nature of today's customer. How do customers judge our success? You'll explore the five key expectations dimensions, and you'll be able to assess your workplace in terms of meeting client needs. And you don't have to be James Bond to "gather intelligence" on your customers. By completing this course, you'll be able to master methods of compiling customer data and input. The final step in "hearing" your customer is creating compatibility. Explore how to align your services with each of your clients, and gain customers for life.

Target Audience
 Front line personnel, team leaders, and customer service managers

Expected Duration
4.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Great (Customer) Expectations

  • gain awareness of the changing nature of customer expectations.
  • recognize the impact of perception on customer expectations and satisfaction.
  • describe the items that cause customer expectations to change over time.
  • differentiate between past and present profiles of customers.

    • 5 Dimensions of Customer Expectations

  • recognize the value of each of the five dimensions of customer expectations.
  • determine whether a company has effectively demonstrated dependability to customers in a given scenario.
  • identify a process to evaluate product quality as it relates to customer service.
  • choose the actions that demonstrate responsiveness to customers in a given scenario.
  • determine whether an organization's assurances effectively meet customer expectations.
  • employ empathetic communication techniques while dealing with a customer in a given situation.

    • The Collection Connection: Customer Input

  • perceive the critical importance of collecting input from the customer with regard to service expectations.
  • use the key principles of the Socratic method to get customer input, in a given situation.
  • identify the data gathering method(s) that are appropriate for obtaining valuable customer feedback on service practices.
  • determine the most appropriate data collection strategy in a given scenario.
  • identify the common problems with collecting customer input.

    • Customer Compatibility: Matching Service with Need

  • perceive the value of aligning his/her organization's services with the customers' expectations.
  • identify the top three customer expectations.
  • identify any problems that are consistently encountered and how they relate to the top three customer expectations.
  • use the procedures for resolving unmet customer expectations in a given scenario.
  • determine whether a company effectively tracked customer problems in a given scenario.

    • Course Number: CUST0103