Exceeding Customer Expectations

Overview/Description
 How do you create a customer that is absolutely ecstatic about the service provided by your organization? You begin by exploring the psychology of your customer. What moves him? What drives her? How is each most inspired? In this course, you will identify and improve the entire service experience from beginning to end--moment by moment. Learn how to "audit" your customers' expectations. Examine techniques of running focus groups to boost your ability to "read" your customers. Find out the dangers of assumptions, and how to avoid pitfalls. You'll also recognize when it's useful to co-create questions with your customers, and the types of questions that will have the highest impact on quality. Finally, the lesson, "Interpreting Customer Results," helps you understand exactly what your customer wants by reminding you what it feels like to walk in the customer's shoes.

Target Audience
 Customer service supervisors, managers, and team leaders

Expected Duration
2.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

The Expectations Audit

  • recognize the types of criteria upon which customers base expectation.
  • match performance criteria with service situations.
  • identify the levels of perception criteria.
  • identify reasonable examples of outcome criteria.
  • identify the steps for putting the voice of the customer successfully into requirements.

    • Using a Focus Group

  • recognize the conditions under which focus groups are useful for meeting the customer's expectations.
  • identify good reasons to use a focus group.
  • identify the pitfalls to avoid when using focus groups.
  • choose types of questions that will help get at the core of customer's expectations.
  • identify the common success factors among companies using focus groups.

    • Customer Surveys and Interviews

  • recognize the pros and cons of utilizing customer surveys and interviews to gain awareness of customer expectations.
  • match the benefits of questions with the area of interest that the question is assessing.
  • identify the techniques to avoid assumption pitfalls.
  • identify advantages of co-creating questions with customers.
  • link the characteristics of open- and close-ended questions with outcomes.

    • Interpreting Customer Results

  • recognize the techniques for gathering and interpreting information about customers.
  • identify the moments of truth.
  • identify the examples of thinking like a customer.
  • identify the advantages of understanding and using the cycle of service.

    • Course Number: CUST0223