A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.

I recently got a call from a client requesting Customer Service training. I suggested an alternative training programme entitled: Customer Satisfaction.

Customer Satisfaction training was developed taking into consideration what it is customers dislike. For example, customers dislike:

  • Poor quality products/services
  • Being overcharged
  • Rude or indifferent service
  • Long queues
  • Lengthy time periods to address complaints
  • Insufficient and inaccurate information
  • Their documents or other belongings getting lost or misplaced
  • The release of personal information without their permission
  • Being made to feel inferior to other customers

The training stresses the importance of the customer, and the environment in which that customer exists. It arms participants with the tool to produce quality products/services as well as to deliver it in a manner that is satisfying to the customer. It further emphasizes the need for employees to appreciate and communicate the value being offered to customers.

So whereas Customer Service training focuses mainly on the manner in which the product/service is delivered; Customer Satisfaction focuses on this, as well as the other factors contributing to satisfying the customer.

Returning to the client, my suggestion was accepted; and I conducted the training in Customer Satisfaction. The verbatim feedback from the training participants when responding to the question “How can you apply this training to you work?” included:

  • Documenting procedures so that staff can be more competent when dealing with customers
  • Be more knowledgeable of the importance of the customer – both internal and external
  • Use suggestions from clients; recommend recording all complaints; encourage team efforts
  • When dealing with difficult customers; and to avoid promising task to customers that are impossible or not part of the company policy
  • By firstly identifying the customer complaint and dealing with it in a positive and understandable manner
  • By coming up with ideas on how to improve customer satisfaction without them telling me.

In this environment of increasing competition, satisfying customers requires a much more thorough approach than just training in Customer Service.