Addressing and Meeting Customer Expectations

Name: Addressing and Meeting Customer Expectations
Author: Rhonda Tenenbaum

Learn how to address and meet customers’ expectations.

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 6 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(soft music) Communication is a key part of addressing and meeting customer expectations. In these lessons, you'll learn the benefits of being open, transparent, and clear with your customer base. We'll also address how to educate your coworkers, so that they'll hold those same values. Customers often gravitate toward businesses that are known to be open and transparent. Openness refers to the customer service representative, or department being receptive of, and understanding a customer's concerns. The representative cares about solving the customer's problem, and doesn't pass it off to a colleague for them to take care of. How customer service representatives respond to a situation is also indicative of openness. When customer service representatives follow through on satisfying customer's questions and concerns, the customer feels that they're being taken seriously. Practicing openness also suggests that the customer service representative exhibits maturity and professionalism. For example, suppose a customer service representative unintentionally shares an incorrect return policy. And instead of responding defensively when the customer gets angry, the representative apologizes sincerely. Maybe they divulge that they are a new employee, and are still learning about company policy. Then they tell the customer that they'll correct the mistake. And afterwards, they take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Companies have adopted a willingness to be more transparent in their interactions with customers. Transparency within the corporate world means communicating honestly and openly with stakeholders about business matters. If a company is honest about its business dealings, it appears to have integrity, and follows a moral code. While certain business matters are considered confidential, customers also expect a firm to be honest in its communication. For example, promotional material must accurately describe when the promotional period is, who can participate, and the monetary value of the incentive or discount. A customer who receives a promotional discount should expect that discount to be current and usable, either in the store or on the company's website. Customers would likely be angry if the company used the discount to motivate them to come in and buy, but didn't intend to actually honor the discount. With so much competition in the marketplace, addressing customer concerns isn't an option, but a necessity to keep customers loyal. It's very easy to lose a customer to a rival if the customer's and company's values aren't aligned, and many customers value trusting the companies they patronize above anything.

Beginner Provider : Rhonda Tenenbaum 6 Lessons · 16m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

Addressing and meeting customer expectations is essential to keeping customers satisfied with your brand. We’ll show you some methods you can use to keep your customers happy.

In these lessons, you’ll learn how you can tailor your communications to the situation and your customer. Additionally, you’ll learn how to keep current with product knowledge, brands, as well as processes and policies. These lessons will also focus on how to adjust to difficult customers and stay on track to provide high-quality service.

What You'll Learn

Identify customer and prospect needs
Tailor your communications to each situation and customer
Stay current with product knowledge, brands, processes, and company policies and procedures
Adjust and adapt your behavior to relate to customers, including difficult ones
Apply feedback and follow-up to provide high-quality service
Recognize the importance of responsiveness

Key Takeaways

Addressing and meeting customer expectations is essential to keeping customers satisfied with your brand.
Tailoring communications to the situation and the customer helps keep customers happy.
Staying current with product knowledge, brands, processes, and policies supports better customer service.
Adjusting to difficult customers helps you stay on track to provide high-quality service.
Openness, clear and prompt communication, education, adapting, and follow-up are core to meeting customer expectations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You'll learn how to identify customer and prospect needs, how to treat customers, how to stay current with company policies and procedures, how to effectively adjust your behavior to relate to customers, and the importance of responsiveness.

What topics does this course cover?

The lessons cover Openness/Transparency, Clear/Prompt Communication, Education, Adjusting/Adapting, Feedback and Follow-Up, and a Test Your Knowledge assessment.

How does the course help with difficult customers?

The lessons focus on how to adjust to difficult customers and stay on track to provide high-quality service.

What skills will I gain from this course?

Skills covered include Greeting Customers, Customer Engagement, Customer Experience Improvement, Customer Marketing, Customer Requirements Analysis, and Know Your Customer.