HPMD Seminar: From the Board Room to the Help Desk

HPMD Seminars...

Section:	Seminar Outlines
Subsection:	Customer Service
Topic:	From the Board Room to the Help Desk

Customer Service
From the Board Room to the Help Desk
A Seminar in Phone Support Skills In A Service Context

Overview

© Copyright 1994, 1999, HP Management Decisions Ltd., All Rights Reserved.

Objective:	To review the skills and techniques required for service excellence, for a customer support help desk, in the context of a service strategy
Audience:	Front line service providers and their supervisors. No prior customer service experience is required. Note that we consider all employees as front line service providers!
Timeframe:	The full seminar will take from 2 to 3 days, depending on the number of exercises selected and the number of participants. Shorter seminars of one half day or a full day may be customized by selecting from the major topic areas in the outline.
See Also:	See our customer service consulting services.

Master Outline

A. Customer Support

1.	What Customer Support is not
	(a) not message desk (b) not complaint desk (c) not merely problem solvers
2.	Customer Support exists to make the customer glad they are doing business with you
	(a) perceptions are everything (b) you are the company (c) you are always selling
3.	Goal of Customer Support is to get a positive customer response;
	(a) an acknowledgment about the quality of the service or product. (b) making the customer feel good (c) it's a positive job: feel good about making customers happy
4.	Customer Support is powerful
	(a) it is not weak, servile, or menial (b) the power of having the answers (c) the power of meeting a need (d) the power of helping someone spend money
5.	Customer Support reps are professionals
	(a) walk and talk the story

B. The Service Context

1.	The customer writes the paycheck
2.	Policies are irrelevant for the customer; only solutions matter
3.	What's most important to your customers?
	(a) the need for products & service (b) the world of the end user (c) internal and external customers
4.	Customer Support reps represent the customer.
	(a) acting as a company tour guide, to navigate the organization (b) as senator, help customer get what they want from the company (c) as cheer leader, encourage company to pay attention to customer needs
5.	Don't make the customer learn your organization
	(a) one point of contact (b) own the problem
6.	Under promise and over deliver
	(a) managing expectations (b) time is valuable
7.	Empowerment
	(a) approval limits and policy exceptions
8.	The Golden Rule of Service
	(a) Employees will serve customers only as well as employees are served by the company and as well as they serve each other. (b) Do unto each other as you would have each other do unto the customer.
9.	The Service Relationship
	(a) Giving rather than collecting (b) Making friends rather than sales (c) Relationships rather than products or policies

C. The Historical Context

1.	Service excellence as a business strategy began in 1982
	(a) Peters and Waterman In Search of Excellence (b) Service books now number over 250 titles in the past 10 years
2.	TARP study of service in 1986
	(a) Only 4% of upset customers will tell you; the other 96% will just switch (b) Service leaders charge 9 to 10% more for products (c) People experiencing bad service tell 9-10 people, some tell 20 or more (d) Companies that recover well from bad service have 82-95% chance of getting repeat business

D. Service and Perception

1.	The product service matrix
	(a) perceived quality is based on service and product quality (b) poor service can sink a great product (c) excellent service does not make up for poor products (d) excellent service can greatly enhance a product
2.	Service is about perceptions
	(a) the delivery-expectation ratio

E. Phone Support Proverbs

1.
2.
3.
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8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Answer on the first ring
Always get permission to put on hold
Solve the problem now
Own the call
Don't refer, consult
Assist don't defend
Always give your name and number
Phone smiles are noticed
Return calls same day
Get back to the customer when you say you will
Go for the thank-you
Go for the thank-you

F. Handling the Problem Call

1.	Who is the customer?
	(a) have a clear picture of who your customer is, and their needs
2.	A bad experience becomes bad news: disasters get retold
3.	Outstanding service is good news: surprises get retold
4.	Vent before opening
5.	A good phone-side manner goes a long way
	(a) show you care, be concerned (b) empathize first, then help
6.	Simple apologies are powerful
7.	Thank the customer for bringing the issue to your attention
8.	Problem call steps
	(a) vent (b) empathize (c) thank (d) apologize (e) urgent restatement (f) collaborate to restore (g) extra mile (h) get acknowledgment (i) go for the thank you
9.	Go for win-win solutions
	(a) the win-lose matrix (b) win-lose is lose-lose
10.	Get back to the customer when you say you will
11.	The longer the problem is unsolved, the hotter it gets.
12.	For service, good recovery means saving the revenue
	(a) solving the problem (b) fixing the mistake (c) for the long sell cycle, the "no's" are dormant: opportunity and risk
13.	Ask if the solution has met the customer need
14.	Go for the thank-you
15.	Win-Win Service
	(a) customer satisfaction is highest when both the customer and the company win
	long term vs. short term satisfaction
	(b) Service not abuse: when is enough enough?
	the case of Dominos Pizza the win-win service matrix lose-win, then it's lose-lose both sides are out the 3 strike rule

G. Handling the Crisis Situation

1.	Who is the customer?
	(a) for some customers, losing data is like losing oxygen
2.	Do not let individual customer trouble shooting and recovery interfere with those who are recovering systems.
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.	Recover the top ten customers first and fast. Keep top customers informed frequently. Keep management informed frequently. The faster the recovery, the lower the pain. An outage, no matter how small, needs to be quickly escalated. Do not interrupt operators who are recovering systems Managers should first find out about problems from reps, not customers. It's not recovered until the customer says it's recovered.

H. Recovering from a Service Gaffe

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.	Apology Urgency Empathy Follow-up Examples
	(a) the Marriott hotel room case (b) the fast food French fries case

I. Taking the Pressure Off

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.	Focusing on the positive Taking it out on the pavement Dialing E for empathy Celebrating the wins Remember the thank you goal! Other techniques: the NLP techniques
	(a) reframing (b) anchoring (c) NLP examples
	high jumpers mentally rehearsing public speakers psyching-up actors imagining the scene and state boxers shadowing boxing in ring

J. Phone Support Systems

1.	Answer on the first ring: ACD's and staffing
2.	One call solutions: the knowledge base
3.	Timely response: call tracking
4.	Outbound vs. inbound calling
5.	How are we doing? collecting data

K. Keeping Score

1. 2. 3. 4.	Where's the goal post? How do you know if you're winning? What gets measured gets done Positive score keeping
	(a) positive stated goals (b) adding rather than subtracting points
5. 6. 7. 8. 9.	Celebrate improvements Don't waste a mistake: setbacks are a learning opportunity Customers tell you valuable things; keep track of it. Don't solve the same problem twice. Personal score keeping
	(a) the canning lids story (b) the tennis warm-up story (c) why keep personal scores? accent the positive make it a game go for better service (d) what personal scores can you keep? personal phone stat's the "thank you" count zeroing in on your service weakness

L. After the Call

1. 2. 3.	Reward positive responses: send a customer a thank you Remember customers: build the relationships Follow-up calls (outbound)
	(a) ask how things are going since they called (b) get a positive response (c) introduce new services
4.	Call customers before they call you
	(a) especially for problems or changes (b) broadcasts, bulletins, voicemail notices (c) take control: more outbound than inbound calls
5.	Knowledge is a shared experience: teach each other; learn from each other.

M. Steps for Service Success

1.	Senior management commitment
2.	Team member commitment
3.	Accent the positive
4.	Create heros and legends
5.	Maintain simplicity
6.	Learn from the mistakes and the triumphs

N. Exercises

1.	Exercise #1: What are the good stories? (individual or small group)
	(a) name the best service encounters you have experienced? (b) what are the legends? (c) what are the details of the story? (optional checklist) (d) to how many other people have you told the story? (e) vote on the top 3 stories from the group and report back
2.	Exercise #2: What are the bad stories? (individual or small group)
	(a) name the worst service encounters you have experienced (b) what are the details of the story? (optional checklist) (c) was there any subsequent service recovery? (d) to how many other people have you told the story? (e) vote on the top 3 stories from the group and report back
3.	Exercise #3: Who are the service stars? (full or small group)
	(a) name the companies that give the best service (b) why are these companies better? (c) what are the characteristics of their good service? (d) report back your candidate and the reasons
4.	Exercise #4: What are the company service legends? (full group)
	(a) what are the examples of service at its worst in your company? (b) what are the examples of service at its best in your company? (c) where are the players now?
5.	Exercise #5a: Finding the Service Gaffes: A Video Clip (full or small group)
	(a) The Movie: Terms of Endearment, 1983 Oscar Winner (b) The Scene: The supermarket checkout (c) The Stars: Deborah Winger and John Lithgow (d) The Challenge: The service breaches: How many can you spot? Hint: there are over 50 "wrongs" in the scene.
6.	Exercise #5b: Fixing the Service Gaffe: A Video Clip (full or small group)
	(a) The Movie: Terms of Endearment, 1983 Oscar Winner (b) The Scene: The supermarket checkout (c) The Stars: Deborah Winger and John Lithgow (d) The Challenge: How would you rewrite the script? There are over 50 "wrongs" in the scene: how would you fix them?
7.	Exercise #6: The Service Tour Guide: A Video Clip (full or small group)
	(a) The Movie: European Vacation (b) The Scene: The Alps tour (c) The Stars: Chevy Chase, etal. (d) The Challenge: Name the tour guide do's and don'ts
8.	Exercise #7: Service Recovery: Identifying the Steps (individual or small group)
	(a) Read the Fast Food and the Mariott stories from Zemke & Schaff (b) Identify the 9 steps of problem handling in each (c) Report back to the larger group.
9.	Exercise #8a: NLP Reframing: a TV example (individual)
	(a) seeing the pressure situation channel (b) what sounds, color, position, size, volume? (c) seeing the peaceful situation channel (d) what sounds, color, position, size, volume? (e) tuning from channel to channel
10.	Exercise #8b: NLP Anchoring: a jump tuning example (individual)
	(a) visualize the peaceful channel again (b) now use a touch and word while focusing (c) with practice, you can now jump to your peaceful channel
11.	Exercise #9: How Good is 99.9%? (handout)
	(a) If you were in charge of your product delivery system, what quality level would you accept? 90%? 95%? 98%? 99%? (b) Is 99.9% adequate? (c) Motorola's sigma six quality level: 3 per million (d) the 99.9% list

O. Appendices

1.	Service - Systems matrix: perception of the company and its products
	(a) perceived quality is based on service and product quality (b) poor service can sink a great product (c) excellent service does not make up for poor products (d) excellent service can greatly enhance a product
2.	Win-Win Service matrix: the customer and the company.