Checklist To Improve Customer Service

This checklist to improve customer service template has 3 pages and is a MS Word file type listed under our sales & marketing documents.

Sample of our checklist to improve customer service template:

CHECKLIST TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE The following checklist will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses to help you improve the quality of service your organization is providing to your clients. It's a fact that it cost about five times more to get a new customer than to simply keep an existing one. So do all it takes to keep your actual clients! Examine Your Organizational Culture You are unlikely to get close to your customers unless the culture of your organization encourages such a relationship. Staff should be trained to think "customer first" - those who are not customer-focused can endanger the success of the organization by making inappropriate decisions, failing to respond to changing situations appropriately or quickly enough, or neglecting to serve customers in a way that promotes their loyalty. If the culture in your organization does not support a customer-focused approach, implement a program of long-term culture change. Remember that every section of your organization has customers. Staff in direct contact with external customers cannot provide effective service without the internal support of colleagues all along the chain. To encourage internal service departments to adopt an outward-looking customer focus, their operators might work for a week or two in the department they service. Customer focus needs to pervade every level of the organization. How often do your key decision-makers and strategy formulators deal face to face with customers? A period on the front line would increase their awareness. Identify Your Customers Your customers are those who use the output of your work. They may be internal to your organization (for example, your personnel function has all employees as its customers) or external (members of the public, other businesses, or government or public bodies). In identifying customers, distinguish between purchasers and end users. You will probably wish to compile a database so you can profile your customers. Profile Your Customers A wide range of factors influences customer behavior, for example, if you are selling to individuals: Gender - particularly where the purchaser or end user is not the sole decision maker; Age - different age ranges being more susceptible to targeting by some products than others; Marital status - especially combined with other factors such as children and disposable income; Home ownership - indicating specific needs and responsibilities that relate to buying patterns; Location - urban consumers differs from rural ones; regions differs culturally and economically; Lifestyle - since all customers have individual activities, interests, and opinions. If selling to businesses, you should look at factors like: Revenues Number of employees Industry Number of years in business Credit rating These factors become more useful when they are analyzed in combination - for example, age, home ownership, and number of dependent children can indicate the likely amount of a customer's disposable income. Decide how to approach your customers to find out their basic characteristics. It may not be possible to ask every customer individually, but other fruitful approaches exist, for example: Market research Questionnaires User- or focus-group discussions Customer audits Attitude surveys Take advantage of opportunities to meet business customers at their premises or at yours in a series of open houses or customer care programs or through membership of user groups, industry liaison meetings, or partnerships arising out of new product development. Assess Your Customers' Opinions and Attitudes