Managing Customer Service

About This Course

As a manager, you probably interact with customer service personnel every day. But are you empowering your organization with quality customer service suggestions? In this six-week online course, you'll discover the dynamite methods for bringing out the best in your team, measuring customer service, and learning what you need to do to anticipate the needs of your reps and your customers. As an added bonus, you'll unlock the power of leading by example and setting new trends for customer service in your growing business.

You may already understand that top-notch customer service begins with knowing your customers and their needs, but do you know how to evaluate those customers, or better yet, what to do with the data once you have it? We'll take a look at that, as well as identify how your customer service stacks up right now, and how you can build on even the sharpest of service policies. Plus, learn how to communicate, resolve complaints, and foster winning traits in each of your reps, all in six easy weeks.

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Tony Swaim.

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas are project management, purchasing, continuous process improvement (CPI)/Six Sigma, and supply chain management. Tony manages a successful consulting firm, and his industry experience includes 20 years of supply chain management. He earned an MBA from California State University, Long Beach, and holds professional certifications in six disciplines, including the Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI®).

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Do you know what winning customer service looks like? If you're like most of us, you know it when you see it, but you may not be able to replicate it easily within your organization. Well, that will soon change as you learn what it takes to provide the best service the first time.

Friday - Lesson 02

Customers are complex and multidimensional. But the success of your organization depends on how well you understand what customers want and meet their needs. So let's get to work finding out who your customers are and how you can serve them best.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

If you've ever handled a customer complaint, you know how expectations play a large role in ultimate customer satisfaction. Learn what motivates customers and the best way to appeal to them the right way, the first time.

Friday - Lesson 04

A lot of organizations still have the so what mentality when it comes to superb customer service. But you won't be one of them, will you? There are a lot of benefits to ramping up your customer service, the least of which is making your current customers happy. Discover the secrets today.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

If you're like a lot of people, you've probably noticed that in some places, on some days, customer service seems to be a laughable misnomer. Ironically, the better our service, the greater our collective expectations for high quality follow-through and innovation. Learn about the decline and revival of customer service and see what you can do to capitalize on consumer expectations.

Friday - Lesson 06

Customers are happy when they get the right combination of product, price, and information. When you make the product available at the right time and place, you have a winning marketing mix—also known as the 4P's (product, price, place, and promotion). Today, you'll see how you can help your organization grow by harnessing the power of the P.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

You may know already which of your reps are top performers, and which of them are lackluster. But do you know how to cultivate the best qualities in every rep on your team? You will after reading this lesson! Unlock the secrets to dangerously efficient and friendly customer service today.

Friday - Lesson 08

It's great to know how to cultivate better service and how to pick the right team members, but it's also important to know how you measure the customer service you already provide every day. Join us for a simplified, user-friendly tour of the measurements and math behind your customer service counter.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Your success in satisfying customers largely depends on the level of your communication skills. So in this lesson, we'll discuss the importance of clear and direct communication. Plus, you'll find out how to solve communication problems, especially the ones that happen all the time when you're doing business over the phone.

Friday - Lesson 10

Today, you'll learn how to revive a troubled customer service program, deal with upset customers, and use technology to simplify your job duties. We'll also go over the steps to take when you face a difficult customer and review the use of call centers, e-mail, and the Internet.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Your team of customer service personnel could probably stand a little more training and a lot more encouragement. Luckily, you'll soon know how to take your employees to the next level with motivation strategies that really work.

Friday - Lesson 12

As we close our course, it's important to reflect once again on how vital our customer service reps are to the company. Learn the best ways to reward and motivate them to treat their jobs as careers, and their customers as friends. As we all know, you only have one chance to make a first impression, and you don't want to waste it being busy or rude!

Requirements

Internet access, e-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.