Customer Service Topic Sheets

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a technology-based facility to enable a customer to interact with a computer by voice and keypad input

Customer experiences are formed by a series of interactions with an organisation. It is desirable but uncommon to provide 100% solutions at one source to all customer needs. The delivery of suitable outcomes is therefore dependant on a chain of service, sometimes involving a number of different internal departments or even external suppliers. The service chain is only as good as its weakest link and any breakdown will affect the customer experience and the organisational reputation.

Over the last few years coaching has been recognised as a powerful tool for ongoing development after training has taken place

Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of a business function to an external service provider.

How can we tell how satisfied our customers are?

Do people talk about your organisation? It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it

Self-service is the practice of serving oneself when interacting with a supplier of goods or services. eService is a term used to describe self-service via the internet

Where a complaint can't be resolved at point of entry, it will required to be escalated or referred up the line. In some cases, a complaint may reach deadlock.

There are some simple steps that if followed can ensure that complaints are resolved effectively

This topic sheet looks at why communication is so important and offers some crucial principles to bear in mind when communicating with customers, whether over the phone, in person or in writing.