Module for identifying and addressing customer needs. The first step in improving customer service is to determine what customers value in their interaction with your organization. What do they want? What do they need? The most obvious way to find out what customers want and need is to ask them. Businesses spend lots of time and money surveying customers, and they often come up with valuable feedback.

But the people on the frontlines of customer service people who interact with customers on a daily basis can gain useful insights into what customers value just by listening to them and observing them. The next step once you have identified customer needs is to commit yourself to meeting them, but you can stop there. To provide exceptional service you need to go the extra mile to show customers how important they are to your organization. Understanding the customer situation. customers needs are usually fairly self explanatory, at least on a basic level. Judging on the basis of what your business is, there are often only a few things they can possibly be looking for.

What is essential though, is that you allow the customer to communicate their needs to you rather than attempting to tell them What they need, they know what they need, and that's why they are here. Any attempt by you to project something onto them is simply going to be taken in a bad way, and is as likely to hurt your sales as anything where you can help them is explaining how those needs can best be met. Customers will come in many different forms and each of these forms will present certain challenges. There will be some customers who are very clear about what they want and need and will put up with very little sales patter from a salesperson. There are others who have only the vaguest idea of what they want to buy and will essentially give you a rundown of their needs and ask you to fill in the blanks.

There are some who will have a lot of questions and others who will simply want you to do what they ask. In the first few sentences the customer says to you, you will be able to identify their needs or situation and can operate from there. The more time you spend in a customer facing role, the more you will learn about the kinds of customer and the different needs that they have. You will become adept at learning what a certain customer wants from you and you will be able to identify the way the situation will go without needing to ask him any questions. benefit of experiences and how it allows you to make quick decisions and satisfy the customer in an efficient and courteous manner. It is often said that there are no bonuses or statistics for customer service, but it is customer service that will bring the most sales and the most repeat business.

Staying outside the box. Many people argue that the quickest way of judging a situation is to prejudge it. Those who trust their instincts to give them the right steer in a situation they often get it right and find that there is real benefit in doing so. Certainly, the advantages of having good instincts are clearly evidenced by good results in terms of sales. However, it can also be negative to be too quick off the mark in terms of identifying a customer's needs. The results of this course of action can be that you appear either presumptuous or incompetent, and you may even insult the customer by being so bold.

It is generally worth allowing the customer a chance to let you know what they want. They may well leave some information incomplete and this is where your sales instincts can be most useful. There are many ways you can fall into the trap of presuming too much, many people too. tend to judge customers by appearance and assume that because the customer of the same age, gender or any other grouping tends to want a specific item, but this will necessarily hold true of any customer in that sector. It helps to allow the customer to say what they are going to say first, and then fill in any blanks that are left. It may seem like a neat trick to know what the customer wants before they say anything.

But when you get it wrong, it seems less like a tray, and more like a really stupid thing to do. Appearing competent is what's essential. Apart from any other reason to pause and listen, there is the fact that it's just good manners to do so. Appearing impolite and almost trying to give the impression that you know the customer's needs better than they themselves do is something that will lose you sales. What you really want to portray is that you have the wisdom to recognize the customer's needs and the good grace to let them make things clear themselves. You will benefit a lot more from showing consideration than you will from any party tricks, meeting basic needs.

In providing customer service the priorities of your organization should match the priorities of your customers. At minimum, you should be sure that you are meeting customers basic needs. friendliness. friendliness is the most basic of all customer needs usually associated with being greeted graciously and with a smile. We all want to be acknowledged and welcomed by someone who is glad to see us a customer should never feel that they are an intrusion on your workday, understanding and empathy. customers need to feel that you understand and appreciate their circumstances without criticism or judgment.

Fairness, we all need to feel we're being treated fairly. customers may get annoyed and defensive when they feel they are subject to unfair treatment. Control. in trouble represents the customers need to feel they have an impact on the way things turn out options and alternatives. customers need to feel that other avenues are available to getting what they want accomplished. They realize that they may be in uncharted waters and they depend on us to be in the know information.

Customers need to be educated and informed about our products and services and they don't want us leaving anything out. every customer who steps through the door of your origin ization or makes a call to your sales Center provides you with a chance to provide excellent customer service. every customer will have certain needs that have to be met in order to feel that they can walk away from a transaction satisfied. This is something that the best salespeople in any kind of staff will look to achieve at every opportunity. the customer's needs fall into two main categories, basic needs and specific needs. Whenever the customer comes to the store, they must leave with their basic needs satisfied for the transaction not to be considered a failure.

The other needs are more negotiable. basic needs are those needs which are absolutely essential to the transaction. the customer's reason for coming to the store in the first place. their basic needs may be something quite specific or something vague which they need your help to concretize a basic need might be something like I really need a GPS system for my car can you help or equally it could be I'm having problems keeping my car windshield clean, what would you suggest? Over and above this there may be additional things that they need but the basic requirement is the thing that they stayed in their approach to You meeting these needs is absolutely essential. And the important thing is that no matter how large or small those needs are, you meet them with the same enthusiasm and manners.

You may not get much Commission on the sale of a really basic inexpensive item, but the customer will remember their experience more positively. If you are prepared to smile at them and treat their needs as though you consider them every bit as important as any other customers. The next time they come back, there's every chance that their needs will be for something that costs 10 times as much. If they were happy with how you dealt with them before chances are that they will seek you out again, going the extra mile. Once you have met that customer's basic needs. What could you do to show that you are committed to providing the best service possible?

Try these simple tasks where applicable. Remember someone's name and use it frequently in conversation. Remember what someone has purchased. Learn your customers likes and dislikes. Contact your customers regularly, but their needs high on your priority list. Inform customers of specials and sales be available to meet his or her needs follow up when you say you will be organized in thorough return customer calls promptly demonstrate you want to fulfill their customer needs.

Customer service is not just about giving the customer what they asked for. Many people who provide customer services will express the importance of providing to a customer things over and above what they had asked for things which although they may not be needs in the sense of things that are absolutely necessary are certainly nice to have. This is what people call going the extra mile, you have taken the transaction to its destination. And now you can take it that little bit further by showing an extra touch to your customer service that the customer will remember the next time they need something. going the extra mile is important for the very reason that it is not necessary. The customer will remember the things that someone did for them that were completely unexpected that another organization or salesperson might not have done.

The thing about providing customer service above and beyond is that it allows you to show just how good you are giving the best customer service. It is easy to provide a certain expression To the level of customer service, by many people's estimation, it is a minimum consideration. It is the extras that will make the difference much of the time. As far as those extras go, it can be something as simple as carrying the item which has been purchased out to the customer's vehicle. It might be something as small as writing a thank you note to recognize that the customer had a wide range of places to choose from and appreciate that they chose you. Whatever the case, it is important to consider how you can best provide the customer with not only what they need, but something extra which will stay in their memory for some time.

Case Study. Jenny was a customer service representative for a paper distribution company. She always made sure to meet each customer's needs. She was friendly and gave the customer options and alternative solutions to their problems when available. She always made them feel in control. Yet when she got back her feedback report it was good but not great.

She decided to ask her co worker Deborah how to go the extra mile. She mentioned remembering the customer's name and using it frequently and returning customer calls promptly. After implementing all of Deborah's tips Jenny saw a rise in customer satisfaction in her next feedback report.