Textbook in PDF format

The focus: to give you the tools to interact with customers more effectively, so the company, the customer, and you—the person dealing with the customer—all benefit. It’s a different kind of book about customer service. It’s not full of principles or platitudes or handy customer service slogans. It focuses on doing. What should you do with a customer who is swearing at you? What do you do to prevent customers who have waited a long time from getting really angry? What do you do to provide advice to customers so it will be heard and appreciated? This book answers these questions, and many others about customer service situations—specifically and precisely. This book is about solutions.
Preface to the Second Edition ix
Part One. Succeeding at Customer Service
Chapter 1. Basics of Customer Service
What’s in It for Me?
Different Kinds of Customers
First Things First—Dispelling an Important
Customer Service Myth
Understanding What Customers Want
How to Get the Most from This Book
Chapter 2. Customer Service Tools and Techniques
Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Acknowledge Customer’s Needs
Acknowledge Without Encouraging
Active Listening
Admit Mistakes
Allow Venting
Apologize
Appropriate Nonverbals
Appropriate Smiles
Arrange Follow-Up
Ask Probing Questions
Assurances of Effort
iv
Assurances of Results
Audience Removal
Bonus Buy Off
Broken Record
Close Interactions Positively
Common Courtesy
Complete Follow-Up
Contact Security/Authorities/Management
Disengage
Distract
Empathy Statements
Expedite
Expert Recommendations
Explain Reasoning or Actions
Face-Saving Out
Find Agreement Points
Finish Off/Follow Up
Isolate/Detach Customer
Level
Manage Height Differentials/Nonverbals
Manage Interpersonal Distance
Not Taking the Bait
Offering Choices/Empowering
Plain Language
Preemptive Strike
Privacy and Confidentiality
Pros and Cons
Provide Alternatives
Provide a Customer Takeaway
Provide Explanations
Question Instead of State
Refer to Supervisor
v
Refer to Third Party
Refocus
Set Limits
Some People Think That (Neutral Mode)
Stop Sign–Nonverbal
Suggest an Alternative to Waiting
Summarize the Conversation
Telephone Silence
Thank-Yous
Timeout
Use Customer’s Name
Use of Timing with Angry Customers
Verbal Softeners
Voice Tone—Emphatic
When Question
You’re Right!
Part Two. Dealing with Specific
Customer Situations
1. When You’re Late or Know You’ll Be Late
2. When a Customer Is in a Hurry
3. When a Customer Jumps Ahead in a
Line of Waiting Customers
4. When a Customer Asks to Be Served Ahead of
Other Waiting Customers
5. When a Customer Interrupts a Discussion Between
the Employee and Another Customer
6. When a Customer Has a Negative Attitude
About Your Company Due to Past Experiences
7. When You Need to Explain a Company
Policy or Procedure
8. When a Customer Might Be Mistrustful
9. When the Customer Has Been Through Voicemail Hell
vi
10. When a Customer Is Experiencing a Language Barrier
11. When the Customer Has Been “Buck-Passed”
12. When a Customer Needs to Follow
a Sequence of Actions
13. When the Customer Insults Your Competence
14. When a Customer Won’t Stop Talking on the Phone
15. When the Customer Swears or Yells #
16. When the Customer Swears or Yells #
17. When a Customer Won’t Stop Talking and
Is Getting Abusive on the Phone #
18. When a Customer Won’t Stop Talking and
Is Getting Abusive on the Phone #
19. When a Customer Has Been Waiting in a Line
20. When You Don’t Have the Answer
21. When Nobody Handy Has the Answer
22. When You Need to Place a Caller on Hold
23. When You Need to Route a Customer Phone Call
24. When You Lack the Authority to
25. When a Customer Threatens to Go Over Your Head
26. When a Customer Demands to Speak
with Your Supervisor
27. When a Customer Demands to Speak with
Your Supervisor,Who Isn’t Available
28. When a Customer Threatens to Complain to the Press
29. When a Customer Demands to Speak
to the “Person in Charge”
30. When a Customer Makes an Embarrassing Mistake
31. When a Customer Withholds Information Due
to Privacy Concerns
32. When a Customer Threatens Bodily
Harm or Property Damage
33. When a Customer Is Confused About What
He or She Wants or Needs
vii
34. When a Customer Makes a Racist Remark
35. When a Customer Makes a Sexist Remark
36. When a Customer Refuses to Leave
37. When a Customer Accuses You of Racism
38. When a Customer Plays One Employee
Off Another (“So-and-So Said”)
39. When a Customer Might Be Stealing
40. When a Customer Is Playing to an Audience
of Other Customers
41. When a Customer Exhibits Passive-Aggressive Behavior
42. When a Customer Uses Nonverbal Attempts
to Intimidate
43. When a Customer Makes Persistent and
Frequent Phone Calls
44. When Someone Else Is Not Responding (No Callback)
45. When You Need to Clarify Commitments
46. When a Customer Wants Information
You’re Not Allowed to Give
47. When a Customer Makes a Suggestion
to Improve Service
48. When You Can’t Find a Customer’s
Reservation/Appointment
49. When You’re Following Up on a Customer Complaint
50. Properly Identifying the Internal Customer
51. When an Internal Customer Isn’t Following
Procedures to Request Service
52. When the Customer Wants Something
That Won’t Fill His Need
53. When You Want Feedback from the Customer
54. When a Customer Complains About Red
Tape and Paperwork
55. When You Need to Respond to a Customer
Complaint Made in Writing
viii
56. When a Reservation/Appointment Is Lost
and You Can’t Meet the Commitment
57. When Customers Are Waiting in a Waiting Room
58. When a Customer Complains About
a Known Problem
59. When a Customer Asks Inappropriate Questions
60. When a Customer Tries an Unacceptable
Merchandise Return
Part Three. Social Media and
Customer Service
The Connection Between Social Media
and Customer Service
61. Scanning,Watching, Searching (Proactive)
62. Triage: Proactively Prioritizing
Complaints/Comments
63. Contact!
64. Proactive Complaint Handling