Customer Service

BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide
What is Customer Service?

Teacher’s Guide
SMSVCCU
BPA/P Service Culture
Exclusive property of BPAP. This material or any portions thereof may not be copied, reproduced or distributed in
any manner and for any purpose without the prior written approval of BPAP.
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Overview
Purpose This module was designed for students to realize the value of customer
service and in doing so, set out to develop a service orientation. As an
introduction to Customer Service Principles & Practice, a series of five
modules, it seeks to create a holistic view of the practice of Customer
Service and its significance to the current market set-up.
Participants The participants of this module are students in the collegiate level.
Training Goals By the end of this session, students should be able to:
and Objectives Define and explain the importance of customer service in their own
terms
Discuss key customer service concepts and how they relate to each
other
Analyze the customer service component of different service
companies
1
Training Preparation
Checklist Ensure that you have the following items during the training:
 Standard classroom setup
 Teacher’s Guide
 Adequate amount of student handouts
 Speakers
 Projector (if available)
NOTE: If a projector is not available, handouts will suffice.
 Easel Sheets (should always be placed in front, visible to everyone
in the class)
 Writing implements: pen, paper, white board markers
Facilitator Tip Before you deliver:

 Have all training materials ready
 Ensure that a projector is available
NOTE: If a projector is not available, handouts will suffice.
2
Key Icons
The table lists the names and descriptions of the icons used in this module.
Icon Name Instruction
Conduct an individual, paired or

Activity
group activity
Best Practices: Relay best practices of skills and

Skills and Behaviors behavior
Debrief Debrief an activity
State or emphasize important

Instructions
points for the instructor
Discussion Initiate discussion in class
Note important points such as

steps, actions, skills, behaviors,
Flipchart Notes
and spiels on the flipchart (or
whiteboard)
Glossary Define key words and terms
Show the right way of doing a

Demonstration
process
Conduct a scenario-based role

Role Play
play
3
Show the discussion duration,

Mechanics presentation slides, and pages on
the materials used in the topic
Access and show a video
Video
presentation
Give the trainees an assignment

Homework
or take-home activity
Handout Provide handouts for the class
Toolbox List necessary tools
Give quiz, test or assessment to

Assessment check understanding and
knowledge retention
Check given answers for activities,

Key
assessments, and assignments
Access and show a PowerPoint

Presentation
presentation
Provide additional resource

Library
materials for further reading
4
Time-based Agenda
Topic Subtopic Duration

Introduction 5 minutes
What is Customer Service? 10 minutes
Components of Customer 15 minutes
Service
Effective Customer Service 20 minutes
Activity 20 minutes
5
Introduction
Duration: 5 minutes
Presentation:
Student Workbook:
MAKE your introductions.
REVIEW the Objectives.
STATE
By the end of this session, students should be able to:
Define and explain the importance of customer service in their own
terms
Discuss key customer service concepts and how they relate to each
other
Analyze the customer service component of different service
companies
6
DISCUSS this Section.
STATE or PARAPHRASE
We define a customer as being one who purchases, receives and/or
consumes products (goods and services), and as having the ability to
choose between different products or suppliers.
As customers, we purchased a favored snack or item of clothing all with an

eye to what we want and need. We assign values to these purchases
accordingly based on what we feel we should be receiving in terms of
value.
We are upset when an establishment fails to deliver a sandwich or coffee

blend in exactly the way they used to serve it—perhaps coffee with a
double dash of cinnamon, an extra bag of sugar, and a sandwich with
enough mayonnaise and no pickles, all with a smile and the effortless
nicety of asking how our day has been thus far.
We are upset when our mobile phone charger does not charge or when
our internet connection does not connect. We are upset when we receive
our billing statement just a few days before it is due. And we get more
upset if we are charged an extra amount of cash for cellular services we
never used.
In all likelihood, we’re left fuming when accommodation reservations were

booked on the wrong dates and that you have to wait at least a half hour
or more to speak to someone who may just know how to correct the
impasse.
Then again, we might just write off establishments or brands that have
caused us some inconvenience and proceed to look for better options.
Understanding, dealing, and resolving these issues, among others, are

what makes customer service a ubiquitous part of our lives as customers.
In this module, we will explore customer service and what it is all about.
We will discuss key concepts or principles and later analyze a customer
service case to weigh its customer service values.
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ENGAGE students.
POLL for satisfying and dissatisfying customer service experiences.
LEAD a discussion using the following guide questions for class

participation:
1. Can you cite any customer service experience?
2. Did the experience involve you or someone you know?
3. Would you say it was a good experience? Or was it bad?
4. In what ways was the experience good or bad?
5. IF student was involved: How did you react? IF it is a second-hand
story: What did you think of the overall experience?
Facilitator Note: Encourage students to share details (date/time, location,

circumstances). This exchange is not meant to take too long, one or two
students sharing should suffice.
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Glossary
Accountability
The quality or state of being accountable; the obligation or willingness to
account for one’s actions
Benchmark
A standard or a set of standards used as a point of reference for evaluating
performance or level of quality; it may be drawn from a company’s own
experience, from experiences of other firms or company’s in an industry,
or from legal requirements
Commodity
A product or service sold for a specific price
Company
A commercial organization
Contact Center
A customer service facility that houses inbound and outbound
communication channels of a company such as phone, voice-mail, email,
website, and regular mail
CRM
Customer Relationship Management
Customer
One that purchases a commodity or service; a party that receives or
consumes products and has the ability to choose between different
products or suppliers; end-user
Customer Care
A division variant like technical support; also used interchangeably with
customer service; assistance provided over the phone, through email, or
with a live-chat interface for issues of a non-technical nature
Customer Driven
Offerings, plans, or strategies motivated by customer demand
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Customer Expectation
A perceived-value customers seek from the purchase of a good or service;
a contact center benchmark
Customer Relations
Customer Relationship Management

Process or tool used to manage customer relationships; CRM; a
management philosophy that states how a company’s goals may be
achieved best through identifying and satisfying customers’ stated wants
or needs; a computerized system for identifying, targeting, acquiring, and
retaining the best mix of customers
Customer Satisfaction
A measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or
surpass customer expectation; driven or determined by customers
Customer Service
A series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer
satisfaction; sometimes used interchangeably with customer relations or
customer care
Customer Support
Range of services provided to assist customers in making cost-effective and
correct use of a product and includes assistance in planning, installation,
training, troubleshooting, maintenance, upgrading, and disposal of the
product; used interchangeably and loosely with technical support
Product
A good, idea, method, information, object, or service that is the end result
of a process and serves as a need or want satisfier; usually a bundle of
tangible and intangible attributes such as benefits, features, functions, and
uses, that a seller offers to a buyer for purchase; also, commodity
Point of Purchase
Location or medium by which a product is purchased by an end-user; may
be a store, booth, or other retail outlet, or may consist of an electronic
sales environment such as a telephone-based ordering service or a website
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Reliability
An ability to consistently perform its intended or required function or
mission, on demand and without degradation or failure
Responsiveness
Quick to react or respond appropriately
Service
A valuable action, deed, or effort performed to satisfy a need or to fulfill a
demand; also commodity or product
Technical Support
User-friendly assistance for individuals having technical problems with
electronic devices where a technical support team is composed of
individuals familiar with the ins and outs of a device; may be provided over
the phone, through email, or with a live-chat interface
Ubiquitous
Existing everywhere, or seeming to exist everywhere
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What is Customer Service?
Duration: 15 minutes
Presentation:
Student Workbook:
The Service In order to understand customer service, it is critical to understand how

Cycle customers behave when actively in the process of making a purchase.
CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
LEAVES ENTERS
STORE STORE
Figure 1.0 Customer
Buying Cycle
CUSTOMER
BUYS
PRODUCT
This diagram illustrates the linear movement of customers at the point of

purchase. The buying cycle is apparently the same when customers place
orders through a website or visits a local grocery store.
Nowhere in this illustration is customer service figured into the equation.
If customer service efforts were added into the equation, several stops in
the cycle would be inserted between these key points of entry, purchase
and exit.
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It may look like this:
Gets Store’s Customer

Exclusive Enters
Rebate Card
via mail Store
Gets Customer
Coupons in Figure 2.0 Receives
mail from Service Cycle Samples
Product
Customer Customer
Buys Visits
Product Sample bar
Figure 2.0 discusses the customer service cycle showing how various
methods of providing customer service figure in a customer’s normal
purchasing cycle. Here, customer service may occur before a purchase
(pre-sale), or afterwards (post-sales).
Following is a contrasting view of customer service and how best to define

it as we learn to identify with customers.
Facilitator Note: The diagrams may be used as visual aids to illustrate

certain processes.
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What it is NOT EXPLAIN/PARAPHRASE
Customer Service is NOT:

Advertising
a Tagline
a Catch-phrase
a Joke
Advertising
Advertising is activity involving producing information to promote the sale
of commercial products or services. As a branch of marketing, it also plays
a significant part in making products known to different households. It
provides information about products or services but is, by itself, definitely
NOT customer service.
Tagline
A tagline is text placed at the end of advertising copy that aims to catch
and hold the interest of prospective buyers, and persuade them to make a
purchase. Now, while a positive reaction to great customer service may
result in customers continuing their patronage of specific brands or
services, a tagline is NOT a manifestation of customer service.
Catch-phrase
Differentiated from advertising copy, a catch-phrase is a phrase or
expression recognized by its repeated utterance. They originate from pop-
culture and may spread through a variety of mass media, in the same way
that famous movie lines may be used casually in everyday conversation.
Indeed, catch-phrases are identified with the character from which they
originated.
By definition, a catch-phrase may be used to wisecrack about a situation.

The same could not be said of customer service; it is NOT a catch-phrase
and should never be treated like one.
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Joke
A joke may be a thing, concept, or person that is made fun of, an insincere
and insulting imitation, or something that may be said or done in order to
cause laughter. Sometimes also considered a witticism, a joke spices up
regular conversation—it adds interest to a conversational topic and during
a discourse helps to keep an audience engaged and awake.
But while it does serve to add to engaging conversation, it does not serve
the interest of customers per se. It cannot be considered a part of
customer service no matter the perceived communication. It is unheard of
that customers would think of substandard software as funny. In fact, and
in all seriousness, customer service is NO joke.
Facilitator Note: Visual aids such as logos of well-known brands and their
taglines, actual advertisements, some famous catch-phrases or jokes could
be used to illustrate the points in this section. Some examples:
Advertising:
Image 1.0. Print ad version for

Norton Symantec’s campaign on
data protection
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Tagline:
“It’s more than just data. It’s your life.” ALSO: “Protecting the Stuff that
matters.” As shown (Image 1.0 on previous page) in a Norton Symantec
campaign on data protection.
Catch-phrase:
“Warning: This program can be habit-forming.”
DELIVER a joke.
ENGAGE students.
POLL if the students can identify other advertising, tagline, catch-phrase

and joke examples involving famous brands or companies, local or
otherwise.
Facilitator’s Note: A categorical differentiation is important.
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What it IS EXPLAIN/PARAPHRASE
Customer Service IS:

• Process
• Value
• Opportunity
• Orientation
• Goal
• Objective
Process
As a series of actions or events, customer service does follow a series of
steps that occur at the onset of a customer communicating an issue or
concern, progress to actual issue resolution, and end with receiving
customer feedback about the resolution they received.
The steps taken in such a process differ from one organization to another.
These processes are usually identified based on an organization’s goals or
and/or objectives.
Value
Also referred to as the relative usefulness or importance of something
measured against specific qualities, value is normally assigned by the
individual who perceives the object that is assigned this relative
measurement.
As such, the value of customer service is measured based on customer

feedback, such as those received through voice of customer (VOC) or
customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys from the end-consumer of this
service: the customer.
It is measured, more accurately, based on the customer’s subjective

perception of the service they received. Therefore, this value is also a
standard by which companies strive to work parallel with in order to meet
or exceed a customer’s subjective perception.
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Opportunity
Opportunity precludes a favorable combination of circumstance, time, and
place.
As an opportunity, customer service is a means for a company to showcase

the best that they can offer by way of pre-sales or post-sales support. In
doing so, customers who are pleased by purchased products and services
and other pluses develop a level of trust for the company that produces
the quality output they appreciate. A relationship is born—and customer
loyalty is it is biggest reward.
Customer service is also an opportunity for customers to provide detailed

feedback about what performance areas a company needs to work on,
some ideas for developing new products, or about competitors and what
they have to offer.
Orientation
An orientation underscores the direction or way towards which companies
are steering themselves. From this perspective, customer service may be
the goal as much as it is a means to get there.
Knowing the customer is an essential part of creating or programming a

customer service orientation. Customer service entails seeking the
customer’s point of view, “anticipating and responding to customer
needs”, and seeking to develop solutions to customer concerns or
problems.
If we compare companies who have a customer service strategy or

program against those which do not, often it is the company that practices
customer service and shoots for service excellence that shows the active
involvement of customers in the improvement of the products and services
they provide.
Indeed, listening to customers can help in all areas of a business from

developing new products to finding out more about potential competitors.
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Goal
Referred to as a purpose towards which effort is directed, a goal consists of
several individual objectives with an observable and measurable end-
result. Broader in scope compared to objectives, it typically covers long-
term planning and more generalized concepts.
As a goal, customer service is evident in seasonal changes in how

information about goods and services are communicated, made available,
and managed across markets and geographies. It is also evident in long-
term programs formulated by companies that have a service orientation.
Objective
From a business standpoint, an objective is a more specific end that can be
reasonably achieved within an expected timeframe and with the available
resources.
It is what is underlying all the planning and strategic activities of a company

and serves as the basis for policy and performance appraisals. Typically,
objectives are expected to be specific, measurable, achievable, repeatable,
and time-bound.
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Identifying with EXPLAIN

Customers
Aligning with Customer Expectations
When companies align with customers and their expectations, this means
that they have resolved to employ every means available to find out more
about their customers and what they value.
Venn
diagram
Company
SWEET SPOT
Qualitative Quantitative
Approach Approach
Figure 3.0 To understand their target customers, companies

align with customer wants and needs results gathered from
both quality and quantitative approaches.
Essentially, understanding customer service means placing a considerable

amount of effort into enhancing the customer’s overall experience with a
product or service from pre-sales to post-sales.
It occurs the moment the customers come into contact with the products
or services that the different firms, manufacturers or service organizations
offer.
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In Figure 3.0, the sweet spot corresponds to the best mix of customer
expectations, wants, and needs, and the ability of the company and its
products to meet those needs.
From a broad marketing perspective, this may mean deploying personnel

to conduct product surveys, to observing market trends through their stock
market performance, studying their competition, and going to specific
locations to observe the behavior of their target market or what approach
works best.
The process is both qualitative and quantitative in nature and the biggest
companies today are known to practice a creative combination of both.
Similar research is, in fact, done periodically to make sure they strategically
align with their customers as accurately as possible.
Assuming results of qualitative (discussions, informal interviews,

observation, etc.) and quantitative efforts (survey, product feedback
surveys, etc.) are accurate, this win-win situation benefits both the
customers and the company wooing them.
Benefit(s)
Customer Satisfaction, excellent product/service,
comfort, convenience, post-sales service,
discounts/freebies, accurate information,
quality service
Company Profit earnings, market share, satisfaction
ratings, customer loyalty, positive or
developmental feedback
Table 2.0 Benefits of being able to deliver what customers expect
Note that the terms satisfaction, excellence, comfort, convenience,

accuracy, and quality and loyalty, are qualitative terms that cannot easily
be assigned specific numerical value.
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Components of Customer Service
Presentation:
Student Workbook:
Understanding EXPLAIN
the Customer Meeting Customer Expectations
When we talk about meeting or exceeding customer expectations, what

we ultimately want to find out is if the customer’s perceived value of a
product or service is met by the kind and quality of service they received.
Ultimately, this means knowing what customers need.
Professor Noriaki Kano of Tokyo Rika University, and his colleagues classify
customer needs in an effort to measure their satisfaction levels:
Basic Needs
These are expected features or characteristics of a product or
service (easy and legible forms, basic functionality) and are
typically “unspoken” or left unsaid. If these needs are not fulfilled,
customers are very dissatisfied. For example:
Joey loves fries with his burger. Always. He wants them
crisp-fried, slathered in ketchup and with a side of mustard
and mayonnaise. He wants his burgers well done but not
burnt. He wants them served hot or hot enough that you
sweat when you take your first bite.
Twice he found himself staring in disgust at cold fries;
and he was sure he looked odd in response when the waitress
said they had no mustard available. These were musts to him!
So, he’d gone and brought his patronage to another store at
least two times.
Shaking his head he wonders: Why have burgers with no
fries? What’s the point in having fries if they looked soggy?
Why have ketchup, pickles, and chili sauce, but no mustard?
Really! Why serve burgers and fries at all if no one can get
them right?!
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Performance Needs
These are standard attributes that can increase or decrease a
customer’s satisfaction based on their degree such as cost/price,
ease of use, and speed. Typically, these needs are “spoken” or
voiced. For example:
Anyway, Joey thought he’d try that burger joint near his
place of work.
It was convenient. The burgers and fries combos were
affordable—he really didn’t mind them being slightly
overpriced as long as it matched the quality of the burger AND
fries.
He’d been going to that store at least three months
now—at least three times a week, one of these to get
something for the kids for the weekend.
On the third weekend, he saw the effects of the repeated
Oil price hike and of course he had to say it (WOW five in the
last two months?? he shakes his head). And now this…—the
manager said they’d been putting off any price increase nearly
a year now.
OK. Joey didn’t mind. That is, not until the third month
when he started noticing that there seemed to be a little less
of everything: the fries box appeared looser, the burger patties
appeared thinner than usual, and there was this one day when
the ketchup could not have been more than a teaspoon.
Hmmm… He’d better look for an alternative just in case.
Excitement Needs
Also referred to as ‘delighters’, excitement needs pertain to
unexpected features that impress customers and earns the
company some “extra credit”. These needs are “unspoken”, and
customers may or may not visibly or verbally express their delight.
In contrast, while not getting these would not increase a
customer’s dissatisfaction, receiving them would most certainly
increase their satisfaction.
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Example:
So, now, Joey only went to this joint near work IF he had
no time to go around town AND IF was in a hurry (he was
hoping they wouldn’t be shrinking the burger any time
soon!)…
Now, this last place was just as plain as the other three.
Joey thought they all had great fast-food ambiance. All clean
they were. No weird greasy smell or greasy floor…
But besides giving him what he wanted (crisp fries,
ketchup to slather it in, plus mustard and mayo, and a great
fresh-cooked fat burger), he was surprised when he got a
Frequent Customer card that they stamp with cute animal
shapes when you got the same product a few times.
Four burgers and they gave you a little toy for your kid or
a free sundae if the kids were too big for toys. For ten stamps,
you got a balloon to go with a little toy or sundae, or x% off
your next food combo purchase for your kid.
What really got him though was that the bus boy was
always smiling when he asked to be excused to clean Joey’s
table. And the lady at the cashier’s was spontaneous as butter
when she asked how he was, if he was having the usual, if he
maybe wanted to try a new product, or if the traffic was bad
and the weather manageable.
What a great place!
It always reminds him of that little burger joint from
when he was a kid himself. Sure the place was no more and a
few decades forgotten but it was all the really great people
there that got him hooked on burgers (AND fries) in the first
place.
Understanding and identifying with a customer’s needs is the starting point

of service-oriented staff. Then, after finding out what customers need,
companies find and identify ways of making sure that these needs are met.
From this perspective, ‘meeting customer expectations’ is really all about

seeing eye to eye on matters of personal interest. It is a meeting of minds.
Bottom line: ‘Meeting Customer Expectations’ makes customers feel
valued.
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EXPLAIN
Exceeding Customer Expectations
WRITE this on the Board:

Is it possible to exceed customer expectations?
ASK two students what they think.
Facilitator Note: Students may feel intimidated once this is asked. If no one
answers in the negative or even in the affirmative, very spontaneously:
STATE Yes.
CHECK for comprehension

1. CALL on a few students
2. SOLICIT an example or brief description for each listed point based
on what they understand about what is listed
3. ENCOURAGE them to provide an example as well
4. ASK “How?”
STATE
In providing an affirmative answer, there are critical points service
organizations should always take into consideration:
1. An expectation is subjective
2. Individual expectations differ from one person to the next by
degrees
3. Customers are human
4. When a customer makes contact with customer service personnel,
it is because they need help
5. Sometimes, customers call because they have lost hope for issue
resolution
6. Customers drive the success of a business
7. The difference between meeting an expectation and exceeding it is
the extra cherry on a piece of cake
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EXPLAIN each listed item.
USE the students’ input if the answers are accurate. They should be able to
provide a ‘how’ tangent to match the listed points. That is, how:
1. … is an expectation subjective?
2. … do individual expectations differ from one person to the next?
3. … can we say that ‘Customers are human’?
4. … can we determine how much help customers need when they
make contact with customer service personnel?
5. … can we say that, sometimes, customers do indeed call because
they have lost hope for issue resolution?
6. … is it that customers drive the success of a business?
7. … is the difference between meeting an expectation and exceeding
it much like extra cherry on a piece of cake?
CHECK for comprehension/retention re:

Identifying with Customers
Customer expectations
Aligning with customer expectations
Reliability
Meeting expectations
Exceeding expectations
ACKNOWLEDGE all answers. If the answers are off-tangent,

LEAD the student back to an earlier point of discussion or to the given
examples.
ASK
1. What leadership skills MUST service personnel possess?
2. Do you have questions? (PROVIDE answers.)
ACKNOWLEDGE answers and follow-up questions.
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Building a STATE
Customer Part of ensuring that we focus on what customers need is making sure that
Service Strategy we translate this understanding into a solid structure by building an
environment that supports this exact orientation. One that works as a
repeatable process.
Remember that strategies are plans or patterns that generally puts

together into a cohesive whole all the elements and aspects that complete
it. In the case of customer service, this means identifying and then defining
the critical items that will contribute to a service organization’s objectives.
EXPLAIN
To build a customer service strategy:
1. Identify the target customer.
Knowing our customer is really the first step in planning. When we
plan, we identify and create processes that resolve issues, we draw
up contingency plans, emergency and escalation processes and
ways to effectively deliver the kind of service that demonstrates
our commitment. It helps us anticipate and prepare for any
eventuality.
2. Determine what customers WANT.

Next to identifying our customers, we need to find out exactly
what they need and want (or expect). What makes them tick is
what makes our registers ring.
3. Establish an Organizational Culture supportive of Customer

Service.
Creating an organizational culture involves getting the buy-in of
everyone in the team across the different departments and
functions, and management. It involves capitalizing on individual
and organizational values that would support the attainment of
service goals. It involves hitting the right targets and making sure
that processes are being put in place to contribute to the growth of
the organization.
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4. Implement an Externally-Oriented strategic service concept.

When we create a complementary culture, we really are
establishing how the organization’s service is designed, marketed,
and delivered to target customers. This is what people on the
outside will perceive and learn about the company.
5. Implement an Internally-Oriented strategic service concept.

Here, we establish how the organization’s internal processes will
support the customer-focused vision.
Happy employees generally give more to the organization and
advocate its continued growth. Having them also means a fairly
stable or consistent scoring on the customer satisfaction front. At
the same time, leaders are expected to exhibit and promote the
company’s values and support employee decisions and judgment
calls. In a general sense, it means focusing on training and
employee development, identifying the right objectives that would
result in quick returns on invested training, and empowering staff.
The Right DISCUSS

People An organization, company, or team is a living organism. It is made up of
different parts that perform a function separately, and then together,
while contributing to a service strategy.
This is why organizations screen and then select the best possible people
for different tasks. Apart from finding out what people could bring to the
table, companies are now making it part of their priority to look for
competencies that would help potential employees to work effectively and
more efficiently within a diverse setting.
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Service STATE
Standards Service standards are measurable performance levels or expectations that
define the quality of customer contact. They might include, among others:
Response time (or average speed of answer)
Behavioral standards (quality legends)
Customer satisfaction (rate of customer satisfaction vs.
expectations)
Service level
We also refer to service standards as performance metrics and they often

coincide with previously identified service objectives.
If anything, service standards allow leadership to evaluate, monitor, and

then coach employees to performance in efforts to drive, attain, reach,
maintain, or recover high performance. They are mostly achieved if and/or
when key performance indicators (KPI) or conditions are met.
Identifying specific performance indicators are also indicative of a

company’s core values.
Engaging the Customers are human beings who, more often than not, will be very happy
Customer as to share what they know will work for the company.
Partner
When they actively voice expectations and recommendations, they express
a level of engagement in non-verbal terms. We can leverage this by
treating them as partners in our development.
Remember that when we treat our customers like business owners, we

help create value for the company and build a more loyal customer base.
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Effective Customer Service
Requisites of A Word on Respect and Integrity

Effective
Customer Central to the practice of customer service are the concepts of respect and
Service integrity as they apply to the principles of reliability, responsiveness,
accountability and communication.
As values, they provide a stringent framework by which service

organizations operate.
By stringent, we mean hard-line and uncompromising rules that expectedly

enhance the customer experience. Most of these are based on sound
common sense while some embrace the borderline between
organizational policies and effective interpersonal communications.
Common Principles in Delivering Exceptional Customer Service:

1. Build a customer-focused business and sales will follow.
2. Understand customer needs and exceed their expectations.
3. Build a loyal customer base.
4. Welcome customer complaints and resolve them with integrity and
efficiency.
5. Consistently study the customer and reevaluate the service.
Notice that these principles reinforce the creation of a customer service

strategy.
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Delivering DISCUSS
Effective
Customer A Word on Respect and Integrity
Service
Central to the practice of customer service are the concepts of respect and
integrity as they apply to the customer service ethic.
As values, they provide a stringent framework by which service

organizations operate.
By stringent, we mean hard-line and uncompromising rules that expectedly

enhance the customer experience. Most of these are based on sound
common sense while some embrace the borderline between
organizational policies and potentially clashing customer expectations.
Moreover, effective customer service is simply an ideal concept towards

which service organizations or companies with customer service leanings
move. Simply: An organization is usually just as effective as they aim to be
based on customer feedback regarding support received.
Over and above this, respect and integrity are the very values that help
sustain a service orientation. Without them, companies have been known
to fail, fold, and consequently go bankrupt.
32
Activity
Presentation:
Student Workbook:
Case Study
Lemons and Lemonade
CONDUCT an activity.
GROUP the class into five (5) whole teams.
ASK for a volunteer to

READ the entire Case Study narrative.
TIME the group discussions to only 10 minutes.
READ Directions:
1. READ the case study and DISCUSS your answers. You will have 5
minutes to discuss the case study based on the guide questions in
your student workbooks.
2. ASK the students to answer the discussion questions in an itemized
manner on paper.
WRITE these on the board while discussions are ongoing:

1. IDENTIFY the main characters
2. EXPLAIN what caused the Client to decide that they would pull out
of their service contract
3. From the problems or issues in the case study, RANK and STATE
which problem the managers should have addressed first
4. EXPLAIN why your team chose to believe that this was the more
urgent problem in the center
5. RECOMMEND a new customer service strategy in order to
REDESIGN the center’s customer service orientation
33
When time has run out…

STATE
Before you begin working on what is written on the board….
READ second set of Directions:

1. ASK the students to ASSIGN a three-person team to represent
them and have them go in front of the class.
2. Once all representative groups are in front, STATE that they will
have to pretend to be the managers in the case study.
3. ASK one random team to answer a random question lifted from
the Discussion Guide list. Each team will have their turn to answer
the question assigned to them. Remind the students that they
should answer as briefly and concisely as possible because they will
be timed.
4. TIME team answers and stop the team from answering once the
two-minute mark has been reached.
5. INVITE applause when the team finishes answering.
6. MAKE SURE all five teams get their turn to answer.
7. DEBRIEF the Activity.
Facilitator’s Note: For this second set of directions, make sure the teams
have only 2 minutes to answer. Only 10 minutes in total will be spared to
this speed answering session.
DEBRIEF the activity
ASK
Why do you think we only allowed two minutes for you to answer
the question you were given in front of the class?
Do you have questions?
STATE
In a leadership role, managers are often faced with multiple issues for
which they are given very little time to resolve the problem or provide an
answer. In a mature and well managed service organization, however,
leaders are ideally most prepared to deal with issues as they come, and in
a holistic manner. In cases of leadership failure, a service-oriented
organization would have been able to make adjustments to meet the
needs of their customer.
34
References and Additional Reading
Goleman, Daniel; Boyatzis, Richard, and McKee, Annie. Primal Leadership:

Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Harvard Business School
Press, 2002. ©2002 Daniel Goleman
Evans, James R. and Dean, James W. Jr. Total Quality, 2nd edition, pp. 67-
85. c2000.
Bell, Chip R. and Patterson, John R. Customer Loyalty Guaranteed: Create,

Lead, and Sustain Remarkable Customer Service. Copyright 2007 Adams
Business. ISBN-10: 1-59869-468-5.
Turban, Efraim (2002). Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective.

Prentice Hall. ISBN 0131854615.
35
APPENDIX A: Case Study
Lemons and The last few months have been hectic. All mid-level managers in an IT-BPO
Lemonade company, CTQ&A Ltd., are being asked to submit performance reports
urgently after League, Inc., a leading software development company,
declared their intention to discontinue their contract because of poor issue
resolution.
Should the contract end, at least 400 inbound technical support

representatives would be left floating, if not out of jobs. In the long run,
this would take its toll on the business since it would be costly to maintain
the frozen headcount.
The Client’s virtual call center was divided into two polarized groups:
performers and slackers. At the moment, CTQ&A Ltd. is deemed a slacker.
Management was hoping their business analysts would be able to provide
an accurate picture of the crisis situation and reflect in their reports what
issues needed to be addressed at once.
A report submitted translated the results to be the result of poor employee

morale and a need to revisit how frontline managers were managing Client
policy changes that were put into effect within the last two quarters.
Armed with this information, the Board of Directors tasked senior level
management to work on a plan to salvage this account, save jobs, and keep
the company afloat.
The team decided on several means of addressing the multiple fires that
appeared to be springing from different areas.
36
On top of calling for focus discussion groups and revisiting key

performance indicators, management studied agent revenue generation
performance for up-selling efforts and found a significant dip in actual
sales right around the time when the update to Client policies was
implemented. However, there was no apparent correlation between the
company’s sales performance downturn and actual employee morale. In
fact, it was almost ironic that CTQ&A Ltd. did not appear to have critical
shortfalls in terms of customer feedback; the surveys were all returning—
except that the scores were not exactly filled with praise.
As a contingency, senior management felt that a meeting with the Client

would require focusing on the enduring relationship between CTQ&A Ltd.
and League, Inc. in order to buy time that would eventually allow them to
turn their customer service performance around.
Part of the contingency plan involved pushing intensive training that would
help make the policy update easier to communicate to customers. General
customer feedback from recorded escalation calls stated that the added
security layer was not getting their issues resolved and this was turning
them off from purchasing software upgrades or services.
Clearly, there was a need to identify what issues did drive customer
dissatisfaction. It is simply hard to resolve an unidentified issue.
On top of this, the dynamic needs of the market only served to reinforce
that there was simply very little time available to get agents off the phone
and arm them to deal with the changes in client direction.
37
Management decided that more candid feedback was perhaps critical if

this was to be gathered from a sampling of agents that come from the
different teams experiencing a higher attrition rate than most. Off the bat,
it seemed the best solution was to employ the use of performance
incentives as reward for milestone achievements, especially for tenured
staff, and conducting program-wide activities to engage those who were
less tenured.
To-date, management has met with the Client and engaged their support
in making use of pocket but high-impact training to roll out the new
process and arm staff with information that would help address customer-
agent communication gaps. Meanwhile, the decision to address internal
disquiet within the ranks has yet to be made.
Naturally, another round of internal disquiet appears to be simmering in

waves around the Operations floor and team managers are starting to see
how it is taking its toll on resolution and compliance metrics.
38
Discussion Following is a recommended list of discussion questions you may also use
Guide to develop quiz or homework items:
1. Based on the case presented, what problems are the managers

faced with?
2. What caused them? Can you describe how these problems

developed?
3. Do you think the situation should be treated as a crisis situation for

customer service?
4. Do you think that employee morale has any bearing on customer

service? Why or why not?
5. What characterizes good customer service?
39
APPENDIX B: Syllabus
Course Outline
I. What is Customer Service?

This module was designed for students to realize the value of
customer service and in doing so, set out to develop a service
orientation. As an introduction to Customer Service Principles &
Practice, it seeks to create a holistic view of the practice of
Customer Service and its significance to the current market set-
up.
Case Study: Lemons and Lemonade
A. Introduction
1. Objectives
By the end of this session, students should be able to:
Define and explain the importance of customer
service in their own terms
Discuss key customer service concepts and how
they relate to each other
Analyze the customer service component of
different service companies
2. Glossary
B. What is Customer Service?

1. What it IS NOT
2. What it IS
3. Identifying with the Customer
a. Customer Expectations
b. Aligning with Customer Expectations
C. Components of Customer Service

1. Understanding the Customer
2. Building a Customer Service Strategy
3. The Right People
4. Service Standards
5. Engaging the Customer as a Partner
40
D. Effective Customer Service

1. Requisites of Effective Customer Service
2. Delivering Effective Customer Service
E. Activity: Case Study
F. Summary
41

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What is the purpose of this module?

What is the purpose of this module?

What are the goals and objectives of the training?

What are the goals and objectives of the training?

BPA/P Service Culture Teacher’s Guide

What is Customer Service?

Facilitator Tip Before you deliver:

Icon Name Instruction

Conduct an individual, paired or

Best Practices: Relay best practices of skills and

Debrief Debrief an activity

State or emphasize important

Discussion Initiate discussion in class

Note important points such as

Glossary Define key words and terms

Show the right way of doing a

Conduct a scenario-based role

Show the discussion duration,

Give the trainees an assignment

Handout Provide handouts for the class

Toolbox List necessary tools

Give quiz, test or assessment to

Check given answers for activities,

Access and show a PowerPoint

Provide additional resource

Topic Subtopic Duration

MAKE your introductions.

REVIEW the Objectives.

DISCUSS this Section.

As customers, we purchased a favored snack or item of clothing all with an

We are upset when an establishment fails to deliver a sandwich or coffee

In all likelihood, we’re left fuming when accommodation reservations were

Understanding, dealing, and resolving these issues, among others, are

POLL for satisfying and dissatisfying customer service experiences.

LEAD a discussion using the following guide questions for class

Facilitator Note: Encourage students to share details (date/time, location,

Customer Relationship Management

What is Customer Service?

The Service In order to understand customer service, it is critical to understand how

This diagram illustrates the linear movement of customers at the point of

Nowhere in this illustration is customer service figured into the equation.

It may look like this:

Gets Store’s Customer

Following is a contrasting view of customer service and how best to define

Facilitator Note: The diagrams may be used as visual aids to illustrate

What it is NOT EXPLAIN/PARAPHRASE

Customer Service is NOT:

By definition, a catch-phrase may be used to wisecrack about a situation.

Image 1.0. Print ad version for

POLL if the students can identify other advertising, tagline, catch-phrase

Facilitator’s Note: A categorical differentiation is important.

Customer Service IS:

As such, the value of customer service is measured based on customer

It is measured, more accurately, based on the customer’s subjective

As an opportunity, customer service is a means for a company to showcase

Customer service is also an opportunity for customers to provide detailed

Knowing the customer is an essential part of creating or programming a

If we compare companies who have a customer service strategy or

Indeed, listening to customers can help in all areas of a business from