Deliver Service To Coop Customers For Libarary

WOLAITA SODO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
Occupational Standard: Basic Agricultural Cooperative Service Level I
Unit of Competence: Deliver Service to Cooperative Members
Module Title: Delivering Service to Cooperative Members
TTLM Code: AGR BAS1 M16 0818
LO1. Establish contact with cooperative Member-customers
LO2. Identify cooperative Members needs
LO3. Deliver service to customers
LO4. Process Members feedback
By; Feleke Philiphos

Elfinesh Golda
April, 2022
Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia
Table of Contents
Learning Guide Description...........................................................................................................iii
LO1. Establishing contact with cooperative Member-customers...................................................1
1.1 Acknowledging and greeting members.............................................................................1
1.2 Maintaining Personal dress and presentation....................................................................2
1.3 Interpersonal skills to exchange information....................................................................4
How to Assess Your Own Interpersonal Skills...........................................................................5
1.4 Maintaining sensitivity to cooperative members specific needs.......................................5
1.5 Establishing Rapport with cooperative members..............................................................6
LO2. Identify cooperative Members needs...................................................................................12
2.1 Techniques of questioning and active listening..............................................................12
2.2 Assessing Members’ need...............................................................................................14
2.3 Providing information to members about available options...........................................18
2.4 Identifying Personal limitations in addressing Members needs......................................19
LO3. Deliver service to customers................................................................................................23
3.1 Providing Prompt services to member’s.........................................................................23
3.2 Providing information regarding problems, delays and follow up.................................25
3.3 Communicating with customers......................................................................................26
3.4 Identifying Opportunities to enhance quality of service.................................................27
LO4. Process Members feedback..................................................................................................31
4.1 Recognizing and handling Member’s feedback..............................................................31
4.2 Recording members’ feedback........................................................................................35
4.3 Identifying unmet members needs..................................................................................36
4.5 Support customers to make contact with different services............................................38
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INSTRUCTION SHEET 16 LEARNING GUIDE 16
Learning Guide Description
This learning guide describes the knowledge, skills and attitude required to deliver all aspects of
cooperative Members service at an introductory level
This learning guide is developed to provide you the necessary information regarding the
following content coverage and topics-
 Establishing contact with cooperative Member-customers

 Identify cooperative Members needs
 Deliver service to customers
 Process Members feedback
At the end of this learning guide; students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and skill of:-
 Anti-discrimination legislation,
 Ethical values and cooperative principles,
 Codes of practice
 Occupational Health and Safety (OHS),
 Cooperatives organizational policies and procedures
 Communication skills
 Literacy skills
 Numeracy skills
 Problem-solving skills
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Learning Activities
Read the specific objectives of this learning guide

Read the information written in the “information sheets 1”. Try to understand what are
being discussed. Ask your teacher for assistance if you have hard time understanding
them.
Accomplish the “self –check” in page 8
If you earned a satisfactory evaluation in “information sheet 1” proceed to “information
sheet 2”. However, if your rating is unsatisfactory, see your teacher for further
instructions or go back to learning Activity #1.
Submit your accomplished self-check. This will form part of your training portfolio.
Read the information written in the “information sheet 2”.
Accomplish the “Self-check” On the given page.
If you rating in this information sheet are unsatisfactory, see your teacher for further
instructions or go back to learning activity #2
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INFORMATION SHEET 1 ESTABLISHING CONTACT WITH COOPERATIVE
MEMBER-CUSTOMERS
LO1. Establishing contact with cooperative Member-customers
Introduction
Cooperatives are primarily established for providing quality services for members. Co-operatives
have unique characteristics compared to other forms of business entities. The co-operative has
the principle of identity where co-operative members' position is also as owner and customer.
Hence, the member of the cooperatives have dual role in the cooperative. In this sense, members
of the cooperative greeted and acknowledged professionally, maintaining personal dress and
presentation is need for communicating with them, being sensitive to specific member needs and
building rapport with them to satisfy and retain them in a cooperative.
1.1 Acknowledging and greeting members
Members are related with members of the cooperatives, contacts from other
organisation/cooperatives, external customers/service users, and internal customers. These
members should be acknowledged and greeted professional for enhancing cooperative service.
When you first greet the customer you are selling yourself first, your business second, the
experience third, and the merchandise/service last. You want to get the customer feeling
comfortable as soon as they walk into your place of business.
Remember these 3 greeting rules
1. Good Eye Contact
2. Great Smile
3. Great Opener
To make a good first impression when greeting customers, acknowledge them immediately. Not
acknowledging customers in a timely manner gives the impression that you don't value their
presence or potential sale. Customers want to feel valued and important. Simple
acknowledgements such as "Welcome" or "Hello" indicate that you noticed them, but also
verbally escort them into your business. This small step helps start the relationship on a positive
note.
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Smile
Smiling is a powerful and effective technique to greet customers. Authentic smiles have the
power to elicit a reflexive response in the recipient, causing them to smile back, says magazine
Psychology Today. This simple nonverbal gesture indicates to customers that your business is
friendly and welcomes their business. Combining a smile with direct eye contact also
communicates to a customer that you are interested in what brings them into your business.
Build Rapport
Customer rapport helps ease anxieties between you and the customer. It also helps the customer
become acquainted with your business with a personal touch. First-time customers are cautious
and sceptical. They are not familiar with your business and need help building trust in your
business and products. Try ice-breakers such as discussing the weather, sports, traffic or family
to build rapport and trust.
Ask Questions
Asking customers open-ended probing questions helps determine their needs and whether your
business can address them. Questions such as "How may I assist you today?" or "What brings
you in today?” tell for customers that your business is attentive and ready to help. Allow them to
do most of the talking as you listen, determine their needs, then offer suggestions.
1.2 Maintaining Personal dress and presentation
Personal presentation is how you portray and present yourself to other people. It includes how
you look, what you say, and what you do, and is all about marketing YOU, the brand that is you.
Employees should always be dressed neatly and appropriately for the type of work they perform.
Employees must maintain a high level of personal hygiene presenting a clean, neat, tidy, smart,
safe and practical appearance at work.
What others see and hear from you will influence their opinion of you. Good personal
presentation is therefore about always showing yourself in the best possible light.
Personal presentation is about you and how you present yourself to others. This includes both in
everyday situations and when under pressure, for example, at job interviews. It is best thought of
as a form of communication, because it always involves at least two people—the person
presenting themselves (you) and the person seeing and hearing you.
Personal presentation covers what other people both see and hear. It includes how you look, what
you say, and what you do. It therefore requires a wide range of skills, from improving your
personal appearance to your communication skills.
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Maintain personal presentation and positive attitude in workplace involving customer contact.
Dress and personal presentation standards are maintained in accordance with workplace
requirements.
Good personal presentation therefore requires good self-esteem and self-confidence. It means
that you have to learn about yourself, and understand and accept who you are, both your
positives and your negatives, and be comfortable with yourself. This does not, however, mean
that you believe that there is nothing that you can improve—but that you are confident in your
ability to achieve, and know how to overcome your flaws.
Paradoxically, therefore, personal presentation is actually not about being self-conscious or

overly concerned with what others think about you. People who present themselves well
generally do so because they believe in themselves, rather than because they are worried about
what other people think. These concepts are closely related to Personal Empowerment.
Areas of Personal Presentation
Improving personal presentation therefore requires a look at several different areas.
These include:
Self-esteem and self-confidence – how you feel about yourself and your abilities
Personal appearance – how you look, and how other people see you
Non-verbal communication – your body language, voice and facial expressions
Verbal communication – how you speak and use your words to make an impression
Behavior – how you behave more generally, including politeness.
Ways of maintaining personal presentation
Personal presentation is more than what you wear:
Employers use your personal presentation as a way to decide if you are a good fit for the job.
Personal presentation includes:
 Physical appearance.
 Wearing clean clothes, having clean and brushed hair and being well groomed.
 Body language.
 Smiling, making eye contact and having good posture.
 How you speak to and get along with others. Being friendly and polite.
 Your online profile. Employers will look you up online so make sure your profiles send
the right message.
Match yourself to the workplace:
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 Dress right for the employer you want to work for. If it’s a conservative office job, tattoos
and piercings might not be okay.
 Research the employer before your interview so you know how they expect you to dress.
 If you aren’t sure what to wear, play it safe. Dress up rather than down
Practice to beat nerves:
Be aware of how your body reacts to stress. Do you avoid eye contact or fidget?
Fidgeting and avoiding eye contact in an interview can be seen as being rude or bored.
Practice for your interview in front of a mirror or with friends or family. Ask for
feedback on how you present and what you might need to change.
Presenting well means the employer won’t be distracted or put off by how you look.
Instead, they’ll focus on your skills, experience and other professional attributes.
1.3 Interpersonal skills to exchange information
Interpersonal skills are capabilities to effectively communicate, socialize, connect and cooperate
with people in life, whether it can be an individual or a group. Some people naturally have great
interpersonal skills. Others have to learn and practice interpersonal skills in order to master them.
Interpersonal skills are the behaviors and tactics a person uses to interact with others effectively.
In the business world, the term refers to an employee's ability to work well with others.
Interpersonal skills range from communication and listening to attitude and deportment.
Interpersonal skills are often referred to as social intelligence. They depend on reading the
signals others send and interpreting them accurately in order to form a response.
Everyone has a personal style and an interpersonal style, but some are more successful than
others. While interpersonal skills may be based in part on personality and instinct, they can also
be developed.
Technical Skills vs Soft Skills
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When preparing a job application, the natural tendency is to focus on technical skills. It’s only
natural, as most job descriptions focus on specific requirements such as accounting, finance,
Excel, financial modeling, and related skills.
Technical Skills Interpersonal Skills
IQ (Intelligence Quotient) EQ (Emotional Quotient)
Following Rules Changing Rules
Learned in School Learned in Life
Easily Testable Harder to Test
Can be Learned Can be Learned
Heavy Focus in Careers Equally Important, Less Focus
Interpersonal communication is the process by which people exchange information, feelings, and
meaning through verbal and non-verbal messages: it is face-to-face communication. For any
communication to occur there must be at least two people involved. It is easy to think about
communication involving a sender and a receiver of a message. However, the problem with this
way of seeing a relationship is that it presents communication as a one-way process where one
person sends the message and the other receives it. While one person is talking and another is
listening, for example.
How to Assess Your Own Interpersonal Skills
It all starts with self-awareness. From now on, whenever you’re in a group setting or a situation
that involves discussion, emotion, decisions, and human interaction, pay close attention to your
behavior and also to how others perceive or react to your behavior.
Ways to Improve Your Interpersonal Skills
Once you know where you stand, it’s time to start planning out how to improve your
interpersonal skills. Some of the best ways to improve are:
Monitor your body language and ensure you’re not doing things that make people think
you’re disengaged or aggressive (crossing your arms, looking around, avoiding eye
contact, etc.)
Practice active listening with family, friends, and coworkers – repeat what they’ve said
back to them to ensure you’re accurately listening
Try being friendly and chatty with colleagues
Practice leading a meeting or presentation
Be enthusiastic and engaged when interacting with people
Project an image of being confident and approachable
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1.4 Maintaining sensitivity to cooperative members specific needs
Many cooperatives have heterogeneous membership. To prevent a situation in which certain

members feel disadvantaged, the selection process should be fair and transparent. It may be wise
to ask an external person to assist in such a process. In any group of people there are certain
members whose relationship with the decision-maker; in this case the cooperative manager may
exert an influence.
Cooperatives are enterprises for which the primary aim is not making profit but responding to
members’ needs and aspirations. Cooperative members own their enterprise through cooperative
shares, they control their enterprise through democratic mechanisms, and, finally, they are the
principal users of the cooperative services. This makes the cooperative a resilient but also a
complex and challenging business model. Cooperatives may find themselves stretched between
(at times conflicting) members’ interests, business opportunities and social considerations.
A cooperative should satisfy the needs of the majority, before catering to a minority. Having said
this, however, care should also be taken to support the various minority groups within the
cooperative’s membership, in order to avoid discrimination and unintended outcomes.
The suggestion on how to prioritize services sounds logical, but it requires the manager to have
certain sound skills. A cooperative is dependent on its members and members will only feel
committed when they can identify with their cooperative. As soon as members lose this feeling
of identity they will lose trust in the leaders of the cooperative. A cooperative manager has to
take the importance of member commitment into account but, at the same time, make sure that
the cooperative keeps to its strategy and responds to market demand.
The cooperative manager has a list of priority needs as expressed by the members of the
cooperative. However, it will be obvious that there are many ways to address the needs. For
example, the need for increased productivity can be tackled by means of better input and
equipment, by changing the work flow and by improving working conditions.
Once needs have been prioritized, the cooperative’s management should decide on the best
strategy for responding to these needs. Which service will lead to the best result? This means
having a very clear picture of the need within its context. Why is productivity low? Is it because
of the low availability or poor quality of input? Is it because of the way the products are
produced? Are certain member groups (e.g. women, youngsters) more concerned than others?
Sometimes responding to needs can be good business.
Members are in need of many services. A cooperative cannot cater to all needs. It is a challenge
for the cooperative management to prioritize the needs of the members. The cooperative has to
analyse whether responding to a need is in line with the purpose of the cooperative and whether
providing the service results in producing products that are in demand by the market.
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1.5 Establishing Rapport with cooperative members
Rapport is one of the most important features or characteristics of unconscious human

interaction. It can be described as a state of mutual trust and responsiveness between individuals
or groups of people. Rapport is “a relationship marked by mutual understanding and trust.
Rapport is all about highlighting common interests and establishing a mutual feeling of
friendliness.
Building rapport is a critical component of successful client-trainer relationships, as this process

promotes open communication, develops trust, and fosters the cooperative members desire to
participate in an exercise program”
In every industry, it's important to know how to establish rapport with cooperative members
 Remember Their Names.

 Know More About Them.
 Make Them Feel Special.
Three Basic Ways to Build Rapport with Cooperative members
Most salespeople are naturally enthusiastic, positive, and outgoing people, but that doesn't
necessarily mean everyone will like you off the bat. Here are three ways you can increase your
rapport rating with prospects and customers.
1. Match your member’s style: Pay attention to how members prefer to communicate and get in
step. Do members prefer to get right down to business, or warm up by engaging in small talk?
What kinds of things does he or she find funny, interesting, or intriguing? If your customer talks
quickly and loudly, make an effort to match that energy.
2. Trust builds rapport: members will learn to trust you if you do what you say. Keep your
commitments, call when you say you will, and always follow through. Be careful not to make
promises you might not be able to keep. Another way to build trust is to demonstrate that you're
interested in their well-being -- beyond your own profit potential. Know and appreciate your
customers' needs beyond your product. See what you can do to help them meet those needs.
3. Practice reciprocity (mutuality): when you treat people in a certain way, they tend to want to
treat you in the same way. Find ways to treat members as valued members of your professional
and even social circle. In life and in business, the little things make a big difference.
Expressing genuine Interest in members needs/requirements
Your customers’ requirements will evolve from the Voice of the Customer (VOC). You can
define a customer as the direct receiver of your process’s output, whether it be a tangible product
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or a service. You can have both internal and external customers. In all cases, your customers will
have wants, needs, and requirements.
Your customer will often say to you, “I want this.” You may reply, “What do you need this to
do?” In many cases, your customer’s wants will not achieve what they need to be done. Your job
is to understand the underlying needs of your customer. These are generally expressed in terms
of some qualitative statement such as, “I need my delivery to be faster.” But that does not
provide a very clear indication of what their need really means.
Way to express genuine interest in members needs includes:
Offer personalized greetings Remember preferences

Use names Pay attention to details
Practice assertive hospitality Display a sense of urgency
Ask questions Solicit feedback
Cosset Offer personal farewells
Anticipate needs Follow up on service
SELF – CHECK 1
WRITTEN TEST
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Name: _______________________________________ Date: ___________________
Directions: answer all the questions listed below:
1. Write the importance of acknowledgment & greeting to cooperative members?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
______________________________
2. Explain Ways to improve your interpersonal skills
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________
3. Elaborate basic Ways to Build Rapport with Cooperative members
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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OPERATION SHEET-1 WAY TO BUILD RAPPORT WITH MEMBERS
Operation through Role playing on way to build rapport with cooperative members
Direction: - Assign responsibility (Role) to your group members; one as Cooperative member
and one as cooperative chairman.
Consider the following ways when practicing to build rapport with members;
1. Match your member’s style

Pay attention on communication style and work situation
2. Develop Trust to builds rapport
Do what you say
Keep your commitment
Demonstrate that you're interested in their well-being
Know and appreciate your members' needs beyond your product/service
3. Practice reciprocity
Find ways to treat your members as valued members of your professional and
even social circle
Treat the Customer as you want to be treated
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Learning Activities

them.
Accomplish the “self –check” in page15
instructions or go back to learning activities
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INFORMATION SHEET 2 IDENTIFY COOPERATIVE MEMBERS NEEDS
LO2. Identify cooperative Members needs
Introduction
A cooperative is an enterprise providing services to its members. Member satisfaction is very
important in order to keep the members committed to their cooperative. What services does a
cooperative need to provide in order to satisfy members?
Cooperatives need to make strategic decisions on what services to provide. The cooperative
should respond to members’ needs but at the same time it should adhere to its strategy and not
lose market orientation.
How to know what your members need? Often there is heterogeneity among cooperative
members and their needs for services. Managers require information on the different needs. They
can collect this information in various ways. One of the ways to identify, assess and prioritize the
cooperative member’s needs is techniques of questioning and active listening by using tools
such as SWOT analysis, force field analysis, and need chain model.
2.1 Techniques of questioning and active listening
Listening is a conscious activity which requires attention. Rather than waiting to speak, you need
to listen attentively to fully understand the other person. Remember, there is no point in asking a
question if you do not intend to listen carefully to the answer. Asking the right question is at the
heart of effective communications and information exchange. By using the right questions in a
particular situation, you can improve a whole range of communications skills. Listening fully - or
actively means putting everything else out of your mind and acknowledging the other person so
they have feedback that you are listening properly and valuing what they have to say.
Understanding and valuing does not mean agreeing; active listening is particularly valuable in
situations of conflict or disagreement where if the other party feels you understand their
viewpoint, an atmosphere of cooperation can be created which increases the possibility of
resolving the conflict. The purpose of most questions is to gather information or requirements.
Active Listening
Give your full attention to the person speaking
Use your body language to show that you are listening.
Make sure your mind is focused, too. Thoughts move about 4 times as fast as speech
which makes it easy for the mind to wander.
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Pay attention to the nonverbal clues some of which may be in contradiction to what is
being said.
Let yourself finish listening before you begin to speak.
Let the speaker finish before you begin to talk.
Ask questions. This shows that you are listening.
There are a range of question types that can be used for different purposes. Some questions
provide structure, others direct flow, and some help us to reach closure.
Question types include:
Open questions: to gather information and facts, for example "What are your concerns
and worries about this situation?"
Probing questions: to gain additional detail, e.g. "Can you explain why that matters?"
Hypothetical questions: to suggest an approach or introduce new ideas. An example
might be "If you could get additional funding or resources, how might that help?"
Reflective questions: to check understanding, such as "So would you prioritize the
most critical areas for attention first and make sure that everyone knew what was most
important?"
Leading questions: to help a person reach a conclusion or have an ‘idea’ that you feel
will be beneficial; a few well planned questions can very often lead the person towards
the idea and instead of responding to your request; they have their idea of how to help
you be more successful.
Deflective questions: to defuse an aggressive or defiant situation by redirecting the
force of the other person’s attack instead of facing it head-on.
Closing questions: to bring agreement, commitment and conclusion, e.g. "When will
you talk to your team and the client about this?"
There are many other questions and everyone with responsibility for managing people needs to
know how to ask the right questions. Asking the right questions lets you hear the information
you really need to understand as long as you are actively listening.
What are the different questioning techniques?
Using questioning techniques
1. Learning; ask open and closed questions and use probing questioning.
2. Relationship building: people generally respond positively if you ask about what they do or
enquire about their opinions
3. Managing and coaching: here, rhetorical and leading questions are useful too
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Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening
2.2 Assessing Members’ need
Need assessment is a systematical process for determining and addressing needs or gaps between
current conditions & desired conditions or wants.
A needs assessment is a systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or "gaps"
between current conditions and desired conditions or "wants". The discrepancy between the
current condition and wanted condition must be measured to appropriately identify the need. The
need can be a desire to improve current performance or to correct a deficiency.
A needs assessment is a part of planning processes, often used for improvement in individuals,
education/training, and organizations or communities.
Make sure needs focus on desired outcomes and are listed as the gaps between “what is” and
“what should be.”
There are three perspectives on need in a needs assessment; perceived need, expressed need and
relative need.
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Perceived needs are defined by what people think about their needs, each standard
changes with each respondent.
Expressed needs are defined by the number of people who have sought help and focuses
on circumstances where feelings are translated into action. A major weakness of
expressed needs assumes that all people with needs seek help.
Relative needs are concerned with equity and must consider differences in population
and social pathology
To define the scope of member need assessment, you must clearly identify the member issue to
be assessed, the impacted community members, the geographic area to assess, the key questions
you want answered, and the level of detail you want to include in the assessment.
Extensive and intensive needs assessment
The broad difference between extensive and intensive needs assessment is that extensive
research uses a large number of cases to determine the characteristics of a population while
intensive research examines one or a few cases in depth to understand cause and effect.
The use of surveys, however, can be appropriate for intensive as well as extensive needs
assessments. Regardless of the method used, intensive needs assessments typically allow deeper
analysis and greater flexibility in terms of type of data collected. While often not as convenient
as extensive needs assessments, they can be quite useful for determining needs in a small setting.
One method of data collection for intensive needs assessments is a structured group.
One type of extensive needs assessment is SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The basic process involves gathering information about
an organization's activities and outcomes within a set time period.
A model SWOT analysis:
1. Recruit research group of 10-20 stakeholders or core group members for one to three
meetings lasting approximately two hours each.
2. Generate a list of successes and failures of the group or organization over the past year.
Allow for some limited discussion of each, without dwelling on any.
3. Generate a list of the group's or organization's strengths and weaknesses, and the external
environment's opportunities and threats, based on the understanding of successes and
failures.
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4. Brainstorm ideas for maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses while taking
advantage of the environment's opportunities and neutralizing its threats.
Prioritize members’ needs
Members will always demand many different services. Most probably, a needs assessment will
result in a long list of services that are needed. A cooperative cannot respond to all these
demands, but rather has to prioritize. Prioritizing should not only be based on what is needed
most by the majority of the cooperative’s members.
Needs assessment sets priorities and determines criteria for solutions so that planners and
managers can make sound decisions. Needs assessment sets criteria for determining how best to
allocate available money, people, facilities, and other resources. Needs assessment leads to
action that will improve programs, services, organizational structure and operations, or a
combination of these elements.
Once the group (Need assessment group) has identified needs, they then generally turn to
intensive needs assessment in order to rank the identified needs so they can choose what they
will address. An important thing to note is that while the ambitious may want to dive right into
their list of needs, generally money and time constraints do not allow for all needs to be
addressed and that is where an intensive needs assessment is useful.
As mentioned earlier, intensive needs assessment requires the ranking of priorities. While there

are many methods to rank needs, it is important to develop ranking criteria. Feasibility is often
used as criteria, but it is often useful for a group to identify their own set of criteria. This part of
the research is not so much concerned with developing a detailed plan for solving the needs
situation, but rather for examining the depth of the need and potentially required resources. Force
field analysis, developed by Kurt Lewin, is one method for facilitating determining needs
feasibility. An example taken from Stoecker1 states that if, "for example, feasibility is defined as
degree of staff expertise and time, or funds to buy expertise and time, the force field analysis can
look for data indicating available staff expertise and time and/or available external funds and
expertise".
A model force field analysis:
1. Recruit research group of 10-20 stakeholders or core group members for one or more
meetings lasting approximately two hours each.
2. Review the list of needs developed through a SWOT analysis or other procedure. Allow
for some limited discussions of each without dwelling on any.
3. Develop criteria for rating the feasibility of meeting needs.
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4. Using the feasibility criteria, collect information on facilitating and impending forces
inside the group or organization and outside it. This can be done through separate data
collection or in a meeting if the stakeholders are well informed.
5. Apply the data to determine the feasibility of meeting each need.
Needs chain model
A needs chain model is a framework that allows organizations to simultaneously consider the
individuals' needs within an organization and the organization's needs, in order to prioritises
resources and identify areas of improvement for the organization. Once the organization has
completed the model, it gives them a better picture of the organization's priorities. One of the
benefits of this model is that it can be used to help decision makers quickly come to solutions for
priorities that may change over time.
A needs chain model is composed of aligned horizontal and vertical processes, in which there are
four different kinds of needs that describe and identify the ultimate performance goal, solutions,
and what might affect these solutions. These needs include:
Performance need: A state of existence or level of performance required for satisfactory

functioning.
Instrumental need: An intervention, product, or substance that is required to obtain a

satisfactory level of functioning in a particular context.
Conscious need: Need that are known to those who have them.
Unconscious need: Need that is unknown to those who have them.
Also, it has four vertical factors that consider:
Organizational need: Needs that usually pertain to behavior or tangible outcomes, such as
market share or sales target.
Individual needs: Needs that usually pertain to the individual's attitudes about the
organization or themselves, such as job satisfaction.
Causes
Level of objectivity for all needs: The objectivity level requires all needs to have a certain
level of objectivity and to be based on deep investigation or further analysis
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Table 1 identifies four main types of need that must be considered, for example, for determining
the organization's goals and the instrument needs with full understanding of the unconscious
needs while a different factor determines the objectivity level
Table 1. Need chain model
Instrument needs Unconscious needs Conscious Performance

needs needs
Organizatio Training/ Work consistency/tasks Learning Market

n level workshop clarity/management share/sales
transparency revenue
Individual Real applications Job satisfaction/Recognition/ Knowledg Sales

level Job security/Motivation e or skills target/performin
g task effectively
Objectivity Must be high objective Must be Must be high

level Must be high high objective
objective objective
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needs_assessment
2.3 Providing information to members about available options
Although informal needs assessments typically end with just a decision or a choice, most formal
needs assessments end with some form of report and presentation.
After carrying out extensive and intensive need assessment, a written report should be prepared
to communicate the methods and results of the needs assessment to members, manager,
Committees, and other stakeholders. Because needs assessments take time and resources, it is
important to share results with others in the members.
In selecting the format and contents for a needs assessment report, the following questions
should be considered:
What level of detail is required to set priorities and make other decisions?
What other groups are most likely to use the report?
For what purpose will the report be used?
What is the level of research knowledge among users of the report?
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The report should include:
Description of the needs assessment process;
Major outcomes (identified needs);
Priority Needs (and criteria used to determine such priorities);
Action Plan (with the data and criteria used to arrive at the solution strategies); and
Recommendations for future need assessments.
2.4 Identifying Personal limitations in addressing Members needs
Personal limitations are most often described as the limits that a person has in regards to the
people and environment around them such as boundaries. Sometimes personal limitations are
also used to describe physical limitations (disabilities) such as an inability to see or inability to
walk.
Members are the foundation of the cooperative business. Member needs are the reason for the
existence of the cooperative. The designated persons like manager, supervisor or team leader,
more experienced personnel with specific knowledge or information, and staff from other work
areas with particular product or service knowledge may assist in addressing personal limitations
of member’s needs.
Competitive adjustment for a cooperative arises not only in promoting efficient business
performance, but also in ensuring that such performance is created by and focused on
cooperation. Members assume responsibilities for the latter through consensus governance of
their cooperative. Such governance tends to adopt consistency in policies for guiding economic
relations and dealings with members. This tendency for consistency in policy and procedure
makes the handling of diverse member interests more challenging for cooperatives than for
business entities where each transaction is private and distinct from all other individual deals
they make.
Members often face external restraints when policy decisions are made. Laws must be obeyed.
Cooperative lenders, suppliers and customers may also place restrictions on policies. Such
restrictions do not violate the principle of member control. In fact, a precise wording of the
principle would be, "members control the cooperative subject to legal and institutional
constraints and the realities of the economic situation faced by the cooperative."
A cooperative faces a dilemma in representing the views of its membership. If operating

properly, the cooperative reflects the views of a majority of members. A member who is in the
minority has three options: bow to majority rule, solicit support for the minority view, or leave
the cooper
19
Self – Check 2 Written Test
Name: _______________________________________ Date: ___________________
1) What is the difference between extensive and intensive need assesment?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________
2) How to rank identified needs of cooperative members?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________
3) Write the techniques of questioning and active listening?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________
4) Discuss on the major components of need assessment report
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________
20
OPERATION SHEET-2 CONDUCT COOPERATIVE MEMBERS NEED ASSESSMENT
Procedures
The steps for carrying out need assessment as follows:
1) Select cooperatives to be assessed in your locality

2) Conduct extensive need assessment by using SWOT analysis model and successive steps
in the model;
Identify a list of successes and failures of the Cooperative over the past year
Generate a list of the group's or organization's strengths and weaknesses, and the
external environment's opportunities and threats, based on the understanding of
successes and failures.
Brainstorm ideas for maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses while
taking advantage of the environment's opportunities and neutralizing its threats
3) Carry out intensive need assessment to prioritize members needs by using force field
analysis model and consecutive steps in the model;
Review the list of needs developed through a SWOT analysis
Develop criteria for rating the feasibility of meeting needs
Using the feasibility criteria, collect information on facilitating and impending
forces inside the cooperative and outside it. This can be done through separate
data collection or in a meeting if the stakeholders are well informed.
Apply the data to determine the feasibility of meeting each need.
4) Prepare and present report
21
Learning Activities
Read the information written in the “information sheets 3”. Try to understand what are being
discussed. Ask your teacher for assistance if you have hard time understanding them.

Instructions or go back to learning activity #4
22
INFORMATION SHEET 3 DELIVER SERVICE TO CUSTOMERS
LO3. Deliver service to customers

Introduction
A cooperative society is a voluntary association that started with the aim of the service of its
members. It is a form of business where individuals belonging to the same class join their hands
for the promotion of their common goals.
A cooperative society is based on the service motive of its members. Its main objective is to
provide service to the members and not to maximize profits. Earning profits is the most
important objective of other forms of business organization. It is not so in the case of co-
operatives.
Better working relationships naturally lead to higher productivity levels, so a better service is
given to customers. This raises customer satisfaction levels, which is the primary aim of many
cooperative societies.
3.1 Providing Prompt services to member’s
Service is more important than you might imagine. Why? Customers are ‘five times more likely
to switch vendors because of perceived service problems than for price concerns or product
quality issues. Product quality is important for recruiting customers, but service quality is a key
to retaining customers. Both product and service quality are important. In the battle to recruit and
retain customers, service superior service that is may provide you with a distinct and lasting
competitive advantage.
The PROMPT acronym contains six essentials service practices; prioritizing customer needs,
reliable service delivery, organizing for customers, measuring customer satisfaction,
personnel training, and technology focusing. These are the hallmarks of providing service
excellence. The PROMPT acronym is a guide for managers in delivering excellent service.
These six essential service practices are discussed in detail as follows;
I. Prioritizing Customer Needs
Customers determine what is important. Understanding customers’ needs must be the starting
point. Those factors that are important in influencing customers to buy must determine the
23
business agenda. This is what recruiting and retaining customers is all about. Selecting which
customers to serve is the starting point of business strategy.
Identify the key factors which drive customer buying decisions. These will help you understand
what determines the customer’s decision to buy. The key buying factors used by effective
managers in order of priority;
Quality-fitness for use as perceived by the customer

Reliability-meeting customers’ expectations as promised
Speed of delivery-being responsive to customer needs
Courtesy-respect for the customer as an individual
But customer priorities often differ significantly from what managers think they are.
Occasionally, the longer a business has been in existence, the more likely it has lost sight of what
is important to customers.
II. Reliability is Critical
Service reliability is meeting the customer’s expectations as promised-is a vital element in

providing service excellence. Reliability is the most important factor in service as perceived by
customers, but is not perceived as important by managers. Reliability regularly comes out on top
as the most important factor in service.
III. Organizing for Customers
The customer, not the organization, is the business. Yet many of today’s organization structures
do not reflect this, especially in their dealings with customers.
The organizational work that needs to be done is enormous. Managers should guide the
organizational discussions around what the customers need and not get drawn into corporate
politics. The risk of losing valuable customers is too great compared with the cost of keeping
inappropriate structures.
IV. Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is a common method used to determine how well you meet – or exceed
– customer expectations. It is used as a key performance indicator of customer service and
product quality.
Customer satisfaction may be best understood in terms of customer experience. Customer

experience is the total sum of a customer’s perceptions, interactions, and thoughts about your
business.
24
V. Personnel Training
Training in customer service is not a standard product to be bought the shelf: It must be
customized, that is based on what the customer wants, focused on specific customer needs.
Training should be viewed as continuous, and on the job, not just a one off ‘dump’ of
information on employees. To be meaningful to employees training must be relevant to the role
employees are doing, add a new skill, and assist employees in their career development
VI. Technology focusing
We are living in the Information Age, the ‘third’ industrial revolution. Information technology is
fundamentally changing the nature of work. It is providing new opportunities to serve customers
even better.
Companies must leverage information technology because it is the means to an end. It must help
the business to be better at serving customers. Computer applications that help serve customer’s
better are ‘strategic, particularly service companies. In many businesses today, information is a
key ingredient and is part of the product or service. But, appropriate technology can be deployed
only once the service or the business problem is understood.
3.2 Providing information regarding problems delays and follows up.
Problems or delays are a common feature of everyday business and customers expect them to be
acknowledged promptly. Responsibility for the problem or delay should be taken by the
organization and a reasonable solution offered.
Problems and delays can occur when fulfilling all sorts of customer needs. Problems could be
anything from a product not being available, parts not in stock or a wait for the service to be
provided to the appropriate person not being available to provide the specific information or
advice. If a customer becomes emotional or angry that you cannot meet their need immediately,
listen to what they have to say and avoid becoming defensive or putting the blame on someone
else. Remember, in some cases you can regain, maintain or increase customer satisfaction by
handling problems and delays extremely well.
Being courteous is showing regard for others in manners, speech and behavior. The saying ‘Treat
others the same way you want them to treat you’ is a worthwhile reminder when dealing with
customers. Even if you are having a bad day, an effort needs to be made to deal with customers
in a courteous manner.
25
Here are some points to remember when dealing with customers:
1) Focus your attention
Focus your full attention on your customer, not just when dealing with people face-to-face but
also on the phone. Phone customers can detect when you are not giving them your full attention.
Watch your tone of voice Watch the tone of your voice and avoid speaking in a condescending
way or using a sarcastic tone.
2) Use body language
Make your body language match your words.
3) Ask questions
Ask the customer how they would like a problem to be resolved. If they insist on being
unreasonable, politely repeat what you can do for them.
4) Remain calm
When dealing with complaints, remain pleasant, caring, patient and sympathetic.
5) Display friendliness
Display friendliness and be approachable. However, being friendly does not mean being overly
familiar. Even if a customer is upset, do not touch them
3.3 Communicating with customers
Communication is a two-way process involving the following elements: a sender, a message, a

medium, a channel, a receiver, a response and feedback. However, it is not sufficient to have
just all these elements; there should be cooperation and understanding between the two parties
involved. It is important to have a common frame of reference or context for successful and
meaningful communication, e.g. a common language or common interpretation of a gesture.
Communication is essential in any workplace. Without communication it is not possible to know

a client‘s wants or needs or how best to offer care. However communicating effectively with
people with whom you do not share a language can be very challenging.
Relations with customer
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1) Poise is a reflection of inner confidence. It is a combination of self-control, self-
confidence & the ability to adopt oneself to different situations without any apparent
distress or disturbance.
2) Cooperativeness: Since there are few jobs within a company that can be done in
isolation, workers should be able to co-operate with each other. Co-operation means
employees work together in meeting the goal of the companies. The office functions best
where an atmosphere of real friendliness and cooperation exists among employees.
3) Tact: A tactful person senses the proper thing to do or to say. Tactfulness involves
knowing how to phrase negative statement as positively as possible so as not to hurt
others. In other words, tact refers to a polite and kind but firm personality attitude & is
the result being concerned about other people‘s feelings and problems rather than being
self-centered.
4) Social Attitude: When people work together, there is a degree of friction & certain
amount of gossip. However, you should not become involved in such matters. Moreover,
to be identified with particular faction (troublesome groups), to create or convey gossip is
not expected from a secretary.
5) Courtesy: Means having or showing polite behavior and good manner. To be courtesy
costs you nothing. Yet it pays the greatest dividends.
6) Common Sense is sound, practical judgment concerning everyday matters, or a basic
ability to perceive, understand, and judge in a manner that is shared by (i.e. common to)
nearly all people
3.4 Identifying Opportunities to enhance quality of service
Quality service is a fundamental element of a successful business. But many businesses struggle
to improve service and retain their customers. A bad experience can drive a customer away for
years. Cooperatives are primarily established for providing quality services for members. Co-
operatives have unique characteristics compared to other forms of business entities. The co-
operative has the principle of identity where co-operative members' position is also as owner and
customer. Hence, the member of the cooperatives have dual role in the cooperative. Increasing
the quality of the services provided can attract more members. So from this, it takes an
improvement from the technique for analyzing the level of member satisfaction. These
techniques make important aspects of the services provided can be identified and customer
satisfaction can be improved.
In a co-operative, it is the ability to obtain profitability of co-operatives business. Therefore,

profitability is also a measure of co-operatives performance, it can be said that the service quality
of also affect the co-operatives performance. In order to gain higher profitability, the cooperative
is closely linked to the level of sales that can be achieved especially from its members. The
higher service quality provided to members, will have an impact on increasing sales turnover that
achieved by co-operative.
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Quality itself is often defined as a measure by which a product or service can fulfill the desires of
a member. There are five dimensions of service quality called SERVQUAL. The five dimensions
of service quality are as follows:
1. Tangibility: the ability of a company to show its existence to external parties. The
appearance and ability of the company's physical facilities and infrastructure and the condition of
the surrounding environment are clear evidence of the services provided by the service providers.
This includes physical facilities (buildings, used (technology) and the appearance of employees.
2. Reliability: the ability of the company to provide services as promised accurately and reliably.
Performance must be in accordance with customer expectations which means punctuality, the
same service to all customers without errors, a sympathetic attitude, and with high accuracy.
3. Responsiveness: a willingness to help and provide fast (responsive) and accurate service to
customers by delivering clear information. Leaving customers waiting for no apparent reason
causes negative perceptions of service quality
4. Assurance, knowledge, components including communication, credibility, security,

competence and courtesy.
5. Attention (Empathy): giving sincere and individual attention to customers by trying to

understand consumer desires. Where a company is expected to have an understanding and
knowledge of customers, understand specific customer needs, and have time.
The opportunities for enhancing quality of service in the cooperative includes:
Advice about warranties, guarantees or support services,
Packaging options,
Pricing options,
Procedures for delivery of goods or service,
Provision of product knowledge,
Systems for recording complaints
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SELF – CHECK 3
WRITTEN TEST
Name: _______________________________________ Date: ___________________
1. Explain the prompt service
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
2. Write the importance of communicating with customers?

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________
3. Write the opportunities to enhance quality service
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
____________________________
4. Describe five dimension of service quality
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________
29
Learning Activities

them.
instructions or go back to learning activity #4.
30
INFORMATION SHEET 4 PROCESS MEMBERS FEEDBACK
LO4. Process Members feedback
Introduction
Feedback is the term used to describe the comments a cooperative receives from its members
about the member service the cooperative provides, the cooperative’s products and services, or a
situation the member has experienced when dealing with the cooperative essential part of any
business operation is to gather the feedback received from members This feedback is crucial to
the success of a service-oriented cooperative and allows a cooperative to ensure that the service
being provided to members is meeting their needs.
Feedback needs to be followed up and dealt with promptly. Therefore, it is vital that member
service employees recognize feedback when it appears, as it comes in many different forms and
from a wide range of sources. Organizations will have procedures to guide you when recording
and dealing with member feedback and communication. Recognizing and handling Member’s
feedback, recording members’ feedback and communication, identifying unmet member’s needs
and supporting customers are ways to process cooperative member’s feedback.
4.1 Recognizing and handling Member’s feedback

Member feedback is the information, insights, issues, and input shared by your cooperative
member’s about their experiences with your cooperative, product, or services. This feedback
guides improvements of the member experience and can empower positive change in any
enterprise — even (and especially) when it’s negative.
Member feedback is not just a damage-control mechanism. It is a valuable resource that helps
you align your improvement efforts and user experience to get the desired outcome. But
feedback means little by itself. You need to attach a clear action item to your member feedback
to drive progress. Member feedback management is the process by which you can collect,
organize, and implement the feedback you received. Having a member feedback strategy is
essential if you survey a lot of members and often. Member feedback is important for future
product development, improving the member feedback experience and overall member feedback
satisfaction levels. Proper analysis provides a cooperative with a better view of what it has to
change and improve on to help increase member feedback loyalty and reduce member feedback
support cases.
Rules for responding to member feedback

31
Positive or negative, when a member shares feedback with you, it’s a learning opportunity. You
get the chance to see your business through their eyes, and that brief glimpse can change the
course of the relationship completely. The direction it takes all depends on how you handle the
situation. The four basic rules for handling to member feedback are discussed as follows;
1. Acknowledge feedback promptly
Make it a point to respond to feedback within 24 hours. Just acknowledging feedback can buy
you more time to repair the relationship. And it shows the member you’re ready and willing to
do what it takes to retain them.
While the need is less urgent in the case of positive feedback, it’s still important to show
customers appreciation when they go out of their way to praise you. Plus, engaging with
members after a positive experience means more opportunity to capitalize on it.
2. Be respectful
It may seem like a no-brainer, but when you’re reading particularly harsh feedback, it’s difficult
to not take it personally and bring the heat. You’re human, after all. When you get punched, your
first instinct is to punch back.
3. Dig into the issue
A lot of members leave vague feedback. For instance, they might say they had terrible service,
but not give any specifics. Was wait time too long? Was a particular employee rude? Was there a
problem when a member tried to make a return?
Make a point to get more information. First, do your homework. Consult with your team and
check their member history to figure out what’s happening. If you can’t find answers, then
follow up with the member for more information.
4. Don’t be afraid to continue the conversation
It’s important to address feedback quickly, but you don’t have to hold the entire conversation.
You’ll actually get more respect from a member if you ask to hop on a call to discuss further. It
shows initiative and reinforces the fact that you want to resolve their issue above all else.
So, when an email exchange is getting heated or going nowhere, try switching it up and
continuing the conversation over the phone or in person.
Member’s feedback is about:
Damaged goods or delivery problems

Delays
Invoicing errors
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Quality of Members service
Quality of service provision
The Best Practices of handling member’s Feedback
1. Define your Objectives
The objectives you define at the start of your feedback process will help you narrow down your
efforts. There are hundreds of feedback tools out there that are simple, and allow easy integration
with your support function. It is easy to go overboard out of curiosity; to finally learn what your
customers have to say about you. This only leads to lengthy, arbitrary member data that you have
to comb through to identify any pattern.
Identify your needs. You can collect feedback for the entire customer experience, for a certain
touch point, or even for new product development. Limit your surveys to a certain number so
you don’t overdo it. The key is to ask for feedback only when it is necessary.
2. Tailor the Feedback Process to your Objectives
Some of the best customer survey metrics available today are the Net Promoter Score (NPS),
member Satisfaction Survey (MSAT), and member Effort Score (MES). You have to choose the
metric that best aligns with your objectives. For instance, each of these examples has its
respective goals: NPS is a holistic predictive analysis that tells you how likely your members are
to recommend you (member Loyalty and Retention). MSAT is a fragmented approach that tells
you what percentage of your customers is satisfied with your entire service or a specific
department (member Satisfaction). MES measures the typical amount of effort your members
need to take to get something done by you (Potential Dissatisfaction and Churn). Choose a
feedback process that is most relevant to your business growth right now.
3. Collect Feedback across Multiple Channels
Collecting feedback is incredibly easy these days. The ubiquity of the internet and social
media has taken surveys beyond traditional phone calls. From mobile app to pop-ups to
social media, you can turn any platform into your survey channel with simple tools. While
in-app surveys will help you drill down to specific usability issues (Eg. Was {insert feature}
easy to use for you?), website popups help you get a real-time view of the overall experience
(Eg. How would you rate your experience with us?). Every channel has its own purpose.
Collecting feedback across multiple channels will give you broader insights.
4. Categorize the Feedback Collected
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A multi-channel feedback survey is not just insightful, but also easy to set up with the right
member Relationship Management and survey tools. That brings us to the question, how to
categorize the feedback collected across multiple channels? The best way is to bucket them into
support and product feedback.
5. Take Action on the member Feedback
Drill down the customer feedback into actionable insights and start implementing them. The best
way to approach them is by priority and volume. You should first address the issues that are
preventing your members from getting the most value out of your product. Then you can address
the high volume, common requests you received.
Most companies view this as optional — following up with the customers who gave the
feedback. Positive or negative feedback, your customers did take the time to give you feedback.
Sending a follow-up on the progress will not only make your customers feel valued but also
encourage them to give feedback in the future.
6. Track Behavior to Optimize the Feedback Loop
Feedback on feedback is essential, to check if you are getting the most out of your efforts. Keep
a separate track on what is the best time to gather customer feedback, which channel gets the
most responses, and which feedback management tool works best for you. Overdoing surveys
will result in indifferent customer responses, and irregular surveys will lead to missed
opportunities. Some companies even assess surveys by demographics to cater to audiences
across time zones. Invest time in optimizing your feedback collection process and keep an eye on
the new trends.
Members possess great ideas. Every member journey is unique, and so is their feedback. Forget
trends and market research, every member feedback is ultimately focused on making your
product and service better. Using member feedback for internal brainstorming will help you
develop a member -centric culture across the company. In a room full of contradictory visions,
member feedback can bring a well-needed balance — because the member is almost, always
right.
7. Use Feedback for Internal Brainstorming
Members possess great ideas. Every customer journey is unique, and so is their feedback. Forget
trends and market research, every customer feedback is ultimately focused on making your
product and service better. Using member feedback for internal brainstorming will help you
develop a member -centric culture across the company. In a room full of contradictory visions,
member feedback can bring a well-needed balance — because the member is almost, always
right.
34
8. Establish a Formal Voice of the Customer Program
The Voice of the Customer (VOC) program refers to collecting customer feedback, analyzing it,
and implementing it actively in your business growth strategy. Establishing a formal VOC
program will prevent the whole feedback system from getting randomized. It applies across the
organization, bringing active cross-functional participation.
4.2 Recording members’ feedback and communication

After receiving positive and negative feedback from the members;
Record feedback on the member Feedback Form
Ascertain if feedback received is a formal complaint, if yes, follow the procedure for
member complaints
Send feedback to the appropriate department.
Key Reasons for recording member’s Feedback
There are seven key reasons for recording member’s feedback. These are described as follows;
1. Member Satisfaction
Feedback from any source is important, more so when it comes to members. Analyzing recorded
member data like whether they like certain products, what adjustments should be made, is the
pricing satisfactory and the like can help management gain better insight into how to better serve
their members.
2. Member Retention
Adjusting products by recording feedback can be a great way to ensure member satisfaction and
making sure that customers keep buying. Loyal members will buy more from the business in the
long run, and the goal of the business should be to exceed member expectations by adequate
sales management and production processes to ensure superior member service.
3. Member Acquisition
Recording member data will allow for tweaked products that will help companies gain new
members through positive word of mouth. Niche markets can also be captured by proper
targeting and sales force management.
4. Member Relationship
Every member is different, and each should be treated according to their likes and dislikes. Good
sales managers know this. They also align their sales reps to behave well with their members
according to their preferences. Recording data on individual members will help the sales team
35
personalize their services and solutions accordingly and will provide sales reps with real-time
data to handle a plethora of situations on the field.
5. Member Profiling
Unique member profiles can be created along with the inventories they require that can be
scanned through barcodes from a barcode database. Depending on member profiles, customized
offers on products can be made, and seasonal trends in demands by certain customers can be
analyzed to provide them with better service and increase business profitability
6. Trend Analysis
Certain members are prone to buying more of something during festive seasons like Christmas
and Easter. Demands for chocolates and sweets usually go up during those times. Businesses can
respond intelligently to these trends by stocking relevant inventories so that they can supply
items to the market to satisfy demands and meet their goals.
7. Capturing member Feedback
Members should be asked about previous deliveries and should be requested to share insights
they have on member deliveries or any trends or modifications they want to request in general.
These data should be meticulously captured by sales teams so they become essential snapshots to
the product team.
The member feedback form requires you to complete the following information:
Date of feedback received

Reference number, which is the date, month and year the feedback was received
If the feedback is a complaint
Customer details, for example name, account number
Details of the feedback provided
List of the action that was taken to respond to the feedback
4.3 Identifying unmet members needs
According to ICA (2015), a cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united

voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a
jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.
All goods and services organized by a cooperative should satisfy members’ needs in view and
accordingly, the business activities are planned, implemented and diversified. Attempt to provide
integrated and multiple services to members as included in by laws. A cooperative must position
aggressively for changes in members needs and markets.
When choosing a marketing strategy, the short-term satisfaction of members and the long-term
viability of the enterprise can be a dilemma. In this case, the manager has to balance the different
36
interests and sometimes make tough choices.
People or members buy products or engage services to solve a problem or get their needs met.
Therefore, the success of every cooperative is dependent on its understanding of its member
needs and the ability to create products and services that address unmet member needs.
What are unmet member needs? These are needs that are not currently being met by existing
product and service offerings. The desired outcome of how member defines value and measure
success in clear-cut dimensions that are non-existent at the present time and in relative terms.
Unmet member needs are strategically important because they represent opportunities for
organizations and businesses to sustaining their competitive position, increase their market share
or break into a market.
Alternatively, unmet member needs also imply threats to established cooperatives and

businesses as they represent a lever for competitors to break into a market or disrupt an
established company’s position or provide a market access point for potential entrant and
entrepreneurial agents at a much lower pedestal to shrinking the existing business’ market share.
Typically, unmet member needs that are valid:
are usually not obvious
somewhat difficult to identify straightforward
illogical at first
blind sighted and “gray” or opaque to held assumptions
However, they usually represent greater opportunities for an aggressive business because

there will be little pressure on established companies and businesses in the sector to be
responsive in time or alter their current strategy to accommodate such newly identified need by
the new entrant in the sector as they are often difficult to figure out earlier on.
Ways to identify unmet member needs are:
1. Existing data: sometimes the solution is sitting right in front of you. Review old survey
results, recordings of member interviews& member support call logs.
2. Stakeholder interviews: start with sales &support teams. They know the product & the
customer.
3. Process mapping: if you know your customer’s process, map it out.
4. Member-journey mapping: is a visualization of the process a member goes through
when engaging with a product or service.
37
5. Member interviews: ask customers what problems they have and what features they
want.
6. Voice-of-the customer surveys: these surveys collect data, from email or from pop-up
on a website, about the attitudes and expectations of existing or prospective customers.
7. Competitive analysis: consider using research firms who might present a more objective
face to customers who engage with your organization and its competition.
4.4 Supporting customers to make contact with different services
Customer support is not a new concept. In its traditional sense, it dates back to the time humans
started trading. Meeting customers’ requirements and serving them better than the competitors to
encourage good word-of-mouth and loyalty was, and remains, the core of customer support. Of
course, over time, the method and mechanics of delivering customer support have evolved, as
have customers’ expectations of what constitutes great support.
The term customer support is adequate for services that provide technical support, whereas the
customer service department is focused on providing value for the customer. It is mainly focus
on helping customers solve technical problems.
A client may ask for access to their client records. Depending on the situation, allowing access to
records may be considered good practice. Customers of many organizations have choices about
the services or products they use and who supplies them. Often the technical features and cost of
the service or product are almost identical. If this is the case, the quality of the customer service
offered makes all the difference to which supplier the customer chooses.
Customer support is a range of customer services to assist customers in making cost effective
and correct use of a product. It includes assistance in planning, installation, training, trouble
shooting, maintenance, upgrading, and disposal of a product.
Common customer support responsibilities
a. Onboarding assistance
Onboarding refers to the entire process of helping new customers understand how to use your
products and services. Customer onboarding is crucial because it sets the foundation for their
long-term association with your brand.
Customer support agents can offer onboarding assistance in the form of welcome emails, video
tutorials, sign-up process/first login, data import, etc.
b. Troubleshooting
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When a customer reports a technical issue, the customer support team has a two-fold
responsibility. Firstly, they must effectively communicate with the customer and note all the
essential details pertaining to the problem. Secondly, they must be able to help them fix the issue
in the most seamless and timely manner.
Troubleshooting is a multidimensional skill that requires a combination of confidence, analytical

reasoning, and experience.
c. Maintenance and upgrading
Another crucial aspect of customer support includes helping customers with timely maintenance
and up gradation of systems. Doing this keeps customers up-to-date with the latest versions of
the company’s services and ensures high performance and security levels.
d. Sharing customer feedback with other departments
After every customer interaction, support agents must ask for feedback and share it with the
relevant departments. Customer feedback, whether positive or negative, helps brands grow at
various levels. It fosters product innovation and development, improves marketing performance,
and enhances the overall customer experience.
What does good Customer Support look like?
The difference between customer service and customer support is that support teams support a
product, while service teams provide service to a customer. Customer service is an umbrella
term that encompasses the teenage grocery clerk and the clothing store sales rep. In contrast,
customer support is more common in tech companies.
Customer support reps generally have a more profound knowledge of the product and often
interact with customers who have already purchased or decided to purchase it. Their goal is not
to convince customers to buy more but to improve their experience with products they already
have. Inadvertently, this support means that customers are more likely to purchase more products
from the company later.
Customer support also differs from customer service because of its interaction with other
facets of the company. While customer service support is generally an entry-level job, customer
support agents are often more experienced in the field. They work to improve the product from
the back end while simultaneously acting as the face of the company. This increased interaction
also creates further opportunities for job advancement within the company than might be
available to service reps, which generally can only advance to a managerial position.
Customer support reps also have more agencies to design and implement creative solutions to
user problems. Customer service reps might be given a list of specific appropriate responses to
39
scenarios and require managerial approval for anything outside the norm. In contrast, customer
support reps have the skills and permission to solve novel problems independently.
SELF – CHECK 4
WRITTEN TEST
Name: _______________________________________ Date: ___________________
1. Describe ways to identify unmet member needs

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2. Write the reasons for recording members’ feedback?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________
3. Write Rules for responding to member feedback
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Note: satisfactory rating – 25 points unsatisfactory – below 25 points you can ask you teacher
for the copy of the correct answers.
40
41

Deliver Service To Coop Customers For Libarary

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WOLAITA SODO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Occupational Standard: Basic Agricultural Cooperative Service Level I

Unit of Competence: Deliver Service to Cooperative Members

Module Title: Delivering Service to Cooperative Members

TTLM Code: AGR BAS1 M16 0818

LO1. Establish contact with cooperative Member-customers

LO2. Identify cooperative Members needs

LO3. Deliver service to customers

LO4. Process Members feedback

By; Feleke Philiphos

Learning Guide Description...........................................................................................................iii

LO1. Establishing contact with cooperative Member-customers...................................................1

1.1 Acknowledging and greeting members.............................................................................1

1.2 Maintaining Personal dress and presentation....................................................................2

1.3 Interpersonal skills to exchange information....................................................................4

How to Assess Your Own Interpersonal Skills...........................................................................5

1.4 Maintaining sensitivity to cooperative members specific needs.......................................5

1.5 Establishing Rapport with cooperative members..............................................................6

LO2. Identify cooperative Members needs...................................................................................12

2.1 Techniques of questioning and active listening..............................................................12

2.2 Assessing Members’ need...............................................................................................14

2.3 Providing information to members about available options...........................................18

2.4 Identifying Personal limitations in addressing Members needs......................................19

LO3. Deliver service to customers................................................................................................23

3.1 Providing Prompt services to member’s.........................................................................23

3.2 Providing information regarding problems, delays and follow up.................................25

3.3 Communicating with customers......................................................................................26

3.4 Identifying Opportunities to enhance quality of service.................................................27

LO4. Process Members feedback..................................................................................................31

4.1 Recognizing and handling Member’s feedback..............................................................31

4.2 Recording members’ feedback........................................................................................35

4.3 Identifying unmet members needs..................................................................................36

4.5 Support customers to make contact with different services............................................38

Learning Guide Description

 Establishing contact with cooperative Member-customers

Read the specific objectives of this learning guide

LO1. Establishing contact with cooperative Member-customers

1.1 Acknowledging and greeting members

Remember these 3 greeting rules

1. Good Eye Contact

1.2 Maintaining Personal dress and presentation

Paradoxically, therefore, personal presentation is actually not about being self-conscious or

Areas of Personal Presentation

Improving personal presentation therefore requires a look at several different areas.

Ways of maintaining personal presentation

Personal presentation is more than what you wear:

Match yourself to the workplace:

Practice to beat nerves:

1.3 Interpersonal skills to exchange information

Technical Skills vs Soft Skills

How to Assess Your Own Interpersonal Skills

Ways to Improve Your Interpersonal Skills

Many cooperatives have heterogeneous membership. To prevent a situation in which certain

Rapport is one of the most important features or characteristics of unconscious human

Building rapport is a critical component of successful client-trainer relationships, as this process

 Remember Their Names.

Three Basic Ways to Build Rapport with Cooperative members

Expressing genuine Interest in members needs/requirements

Way to express genuine interest in members needs includes:

Name: _____________________ Date: _