customer service 101

Communicating Positively with Your Customers

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Communicating Positively with Your Customers

Communicating Positively with Your Customers

Communicating positively with your customers is crucial for you and your organization. You should think out everything from your greeting to your closing statements before you come into contact with a customer. Know what you want and need to say, avoid unnecessary details or discussion, and be prepared to answer questions about the organization, its products and services, and the customer’s order. The important thing to remember that you should continually seek new knowledge and skills that can help in improving customer service.

To maximize your potential and create a positive outcome with customers, use the PLAN acronym as a guide to effective communication with those with whom you come into contact. The model stands for:

  • Prepare for Positive Customer Interactions.
  • Let Your Customers Know They Are Important.
  • Address Your Customer’s Expectations Positively.
  • Nurture a Continuing Relationship.

Source: Customer Service Skills for Success, 6th ed. by Robert W. Lucas, scheduled for Spring 2014 publication by McGraw Hill Higher Ed.

Additional customer communication strategies can be found in How to Be a Great Call Center Representative and Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service Across Cultures.

About Robert C. Lucas

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

The Importance of Customer Service Representatives in Organizational Success

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The Importance of Customer Service Representatives in Organizational Success

The Importance of Customer Service Representatives

in Organizational Success

The business of customer service is all about people. Whether you are the CEO discussing strategic relationships with potential business partners, a salesperson sharing product or service information with a potential customer, a call center representative gathering information from a caller on the phone, or a receptionist greeting a visitor to the organization, they all have one thing in common . . . effective communication is crucial in aiding the exchange of information. Customer satisfaction and successful product and service fulfillment hinge on the abilities of customer service representatives and others in your organization, to transmit and receive messages freely and effectively with current and potential customers. The ultimate goal is to deliver the best customer service possible.

All customer experiences are a combination of people coming together for a common purpose; interacting face to face, via technology, or in writing; and merging individual beliefs, values, and expectations. Depending on the skill and finesse of the service provider, this can mean either a positive or negative outcome.

One variable over which you have little control as a service provider is the emotional state of your customers. When you first encounter someone, you have no idea if he or she is happy, sad, optimistic, angry, vindictive, or in some other frame of mind. That is why you must have an arsenal of interpersonal skills in your service toolbox upon which you can draw. A key element in this equation is the ability to effectively express yourself verbally and to ask appropriate questions, listen, and analyze customer needs, wants, and expectations. You must then take correct and decisive action in order to satisfy the customer.

As a customer service professional, you have the power to make or break the organization. You are the front line in delivering quality service to your customers. Your appearance, actions or inactions, and ability to communicate say volumes about the organization and its focus on customer satisfaction.  Additionally, in order to be successful, you need knowledge and skill in communicating verbally, nonverbally, across genders and cultures, and with a variety of personality types. For all these reasons, you should continually work to enhance your knowledge and skills, strive to project a professional image, and go out of your way to make a  customer’s visit or conversation with you a pleasant and successful one.

To learn more about the role that customer service representatives play in organizational success and how to create a customer-centric environment that results in brand and customer loyalty, get a copy of the book Customer Service Skills for Success.

About Robert C. Lucas, the expert who is explaining the Importance of Customer Service

Representatives in Organizational Success

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

Positive Customer Service Experience at the Casselberry, Florida T-Mobile

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Positive Customer Service Experience at the Casselberry, Florida T-Mobile

Positive Customer Service Experience

at the Casselberry, Florida T-Mobile

When I ask learners or audience members in my training or presentation groups to relate a story of a recent customer service experience they had, I typically hear of a negative encounter that they remember. Unfortunately, that is the norm that many people who deal with service providers experience, especially when the event is related to technology. This is often the result of poor customer service skills, lack of adequate or effective customer service training, and overall ineffective customer relations management from the company or customer service representatives involved.

On my visit to the Casselberry, Florida T-Mobile store yesterday, I had a refreshingly positive experience. I had trouble with my Samsung phone that had been going on all day while I attended a local Florida Writers Association conference. The trouble turned out to be “operator error.”  Since I was at T-Mobile, I figured I might as well get answers to numerous questions that I’d be wanting to ask related to the phone functions and my service agreement. I’d put off dealing with these for some time.

Upon my arrival at the store, Retail Associate Luis Baca quickly greeted me in a friendly manner. I immediately recognized through his nonverbal communication and demeanor and for his overall interpersonal communication style that I had the “right guy.” My intuition proved to be correct in the next thirty minutes as he patiently addressed each issue that I had. During the process, I found out that previous information received at a different store about a corporate discount for military retirees was incorrect. Ultimately, Luis educated me on phone functioning, got me the military discount to which I was entitled, helped me switch to a different phone plan that I asked about and saved me over $60.00 a month on my mobile phone bill. As someone who has been providing customer service training for over two decades, and a customer service author and consultant, I give Luis an A+ for his knowledge, customer service skills, and the service that he provided.

Service like I received yesterday and my overall satisfaction with the company are the main reasons that I have stayed loyal to T-Mobile for almost six years and moved my wife over from AT&T last year. By continually addressing my needs, wants and expectations, the company saves me time and money, reduces my stress levels related to mobile service and continues to reinforce my satisfaction with them.

About Robert C. Lucas – Your Customer Service Expert.

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

Customer Service Communication Quote – Henry Ford

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Customer Service Communication Quote – Henry Ford

“If there is any one secret of success it lies in the ability

to get the other person’s point of view

and see things from that person’s angle

as well as from your own.” – Henry Ford

Customer Service Communication Quote - Henry Ford

Here are a few more amazing quotes by Henry Ford…

  • There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.
  • You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.
  • I cannot discover anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible.
  • An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.
  • Whatever you have, you must either use or lose. – Henry Ford
  • If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.
  • There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.
  • As we advance in life we learn the limits of our abilities.
  • You can’t learn in school what the world is going to do next year. – Henry Ford
  • Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
  • If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.
  • Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.
  • I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night. – Henry Ford
  • Quality means doing it right when no one is looking. – Henry Ford Quote
  • Speculation is only a word covering the making of money out of the manipulation of prices, instead of supplying goods and services.
  • A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.
  • A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
  • A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.
  • Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
  • I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.
  • There are no big problems, there are just a lot of little ones. – Henry Ford 
  • Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.
  • Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves are far better than mere giving.
  • Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.
  • Don’t find fault, find a remedy. – Henry Ford
  • Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.
  • Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
  • Failure is simply the opportunity you see to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Learn All About Robert C. ‘Bob’ Lucas Now a

Understand Why He is an Authority in the Customer Service Skills Industry

Robert C. ‘Bob’ Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

In my book Customer Service Skills for Success, I define customer service as “the ability of knowledgeable, capable, and enthusiastic employees to deliver products and services to their internal and external customers in a manner that satisfies identified and unidentified needs and ultimately results in positive word-of-mouth publicity and return business.”

The Role of Mission and Vision Statements in Customer Service

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The Role of Mission and Vision Statements in Customer Service

Most successful organizations have written mission and vision statements that answer the questions of “What do the organization do?” and “Why does the organization exist?” Mission statements should always tie back to the vision statement and should be incorporated into the infrastructure (e.g. HR policies and procedures) and the service culture of an organization. Both mission and vision statements succinctly define the service culture and how the organization will act related to satisfying customer needs, wants and expectations.

The Role of Mission and Vision Statements in Customer Service

Leadership, real and perceived, is crucial to service success. In successful organizations, members of upper management make themselves clearly visible to frontline employees and are in tune with customer needs and expectations. They also “walk the talk” and continually drive and communicate the mission and vision of the organization through their words, actions, and decisions. Ultimately, these measures set the tone for a more ethical, productive, and customer conscious organization.

If all employees are aware of what their organization stands for, how it accomplishes its mission, and where it is headed in the future, they can play a crucial role in creating a service culture that strives to identify and meet customer needs, wants, and expectations.

Part of ensuring that everyone in the organization is working toward the same goals is to ensure that all policies, infrastructure, and actions support the mission and vision statements. For example, performance appraisals should have language that addresses how supervisors, managers, and employees are doing at addressing established goals and objectives and actions taken to uphold ethical standards. Additionally, all individual and department goals should be tied to the organizational mission and goals.

Although it is wonderful when organizations go to the trouble of developing and hanging a nicely framed formal mission or vision statement on the wall, if they are not a functional way of life for employees, they serve little purpose.

For additional ideas and strategies on ways to enhance customer service in your organization, get a copy of Customer Service Skills for Success.

About Robert C. Lucas

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

Elements of a Service Culture

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Elements of a Service Culture

A positive service culture is crucial for organizations that want to remain competitive and build brand and customer loyalty.

Many elements define a successful service organization. Some of the more common are:

Service philosophy or mission: The direction or vision of an organization that supports day-to-day interactions with the customer.

Employee roles and expectations: The specific communications or measures that indicate what is expected of employees in customer interactions and that define how employee service performance will be evaluated.

Delivery systems: The way an organization delivers its products and services.

Policies and procedures: The guidelines that establish how various situations or transactions will be handled.

Products and services: The materials, products, and services that are state of the art, are competitively priced, and meet the needs of customers.

Management support: The availability of management to answer questions and assist frontline employees in customer interactions when necessary. Also, the level of management involvement and enthusiasm in coaching and mentoring professional development of employees is crucial in creating a positive service culture.Elements of a Service Culture

Motivators and rewards: Monetary rewards, material items, or feedback that prompts employees to continue to deliver service and perform at a high level of effectiveness and efficiency.

Training: Instruction or information provided through a variety of techniques that teach knowledge or skills, or attempt to influence employee attitude toward excellent service delivery.

Source: Customer Service Skills for Success by Robert W. Lucas

About Robert C. Lucas

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

Characteristics of Organizations with Strong Customer Service Cultures

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Characteristics of Organizations with Strong Customer Service Cultures

Many organizations struggle to gain and maintain strong customer and brand loyalty. However, what they often fail to do right is to create a service culture that nurtures and supports customers.Characteristics of Organizations with Strong Customer Service Cultures

The following are some common characteristics for leading-edge customer-focused organizations that you might use to help create a positive customer service culture in your own organization.

  • They have and support internal customers (for example, peers, co-workers, bosses, subordinates, people from other areas of their organization) and/or external customers (for example, vendors, suppliers, various telephone callers, walk-in customers, other organizations, others not from within the organization).
  • Their focus is on determining and meeting the needs, wants and expectations of customers while treating everyone with respect and as if he or she is special.
  • Information, products, and services are easily accessible by customers.
  • Policies are in place to allow employees to make decisions in order to better serve customers.
  • Management and systems support and appropriately reward employee efforts to serve customers.
  • Reevaluation and quantitative measurement of the way business is conducted is ongoing and results in necessary changes and upgrades to deliver timely quality service to the customer.
  • Continual benchmarking or comparison with competitors and related organizations helps maintain an acute awareness and implementation of best service practices by the organization.
  • The latest technology is used to connect with and provide service to customers, vendors, or suppliers and to support business operations.
  • They build relationships through customer relationship management (CRM) programs.

For additional ideas and strategies for building a strong service culture, get a copy of Customer Service Skills for Success.

About Robert C. Lucas

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

Customer Service Culture Quote – Jerry Fritz

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Customer Service Culture Quote – Jerry Fritz

Effective customer service cultures are driven from the top down in organizations where everyone takes ownership of interacting positively with customers and giving 110 percent in an effort to stand out from the competition.

Customer service cultures are made up of numerous elements (e.g. employees, quality products and services, effective service training, policies that address customer needs, wants and expectations, and physical service environment).

The following quote by Jerry Fritz helps define the importance of customer service cultures.

Customer Service Culture Quote - Jerry Fritz

“You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.” Jerry Fritz

For ideas and strategies on how to create and maintain a positive customer service culture in your organization, get a copy of Customer Service Skills for Success.

Learn All About Robert C. ‘Bob’ Lucas Now…

Understand Why He is an Authority in the Customer Service Skills Industry

Robert C. ‘Bob’ Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

In my book Customer Service Skills for Success, I define customer service as “the ability of knowledgeable, capable, and enthusiastic employees to deliver products and services to their internal and external customers in a manner that satisfies identified and unidentified needs and ultimately results in positive word-of-mouth publicity and return business.”

Employee Training and Quality Customer Service Go Hand-In-Hand

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Employee Training and Quality Customer Service Go Hand-In-Hand

Training is a vehicle for preparing employees to better serve their customers and is an essential component of any organizational culture that supports customer service. That is why the importance of effective training for customer service representatives cannot be overstated. Managers of customer-focused organizations and many customer service representatives realize this and pursue opportunities to continually hone the skills needed for quality service delivery.

To perform your job successfully and create a positive impression in the minds of customers, you and other frontline employees must be given the necessary tools to do your job. Unfortunately, during the recession, many organizations and individuals cut back on the amount of training that was received. That is unfortunate because typically when things slow down, that is a good time to ramp up your knowledge and skill levels to better compete and be prepared when things revive.

Depending on your position and your organization’s focus, training might address interpersonal skills, technical skills, diversity, organizational awareness, product and service knowledge, or job-specific skills. Most importantly, your training should help you know what is expected of you and how to fulfill those expectations.

To ensure that you are ready for the daily challenges and opportunities involved in serving a diverse customer base, take advantage of training programs offered by your organization. Check with your supervisor and/or training department, if there is one. If you work in a small company or nonprofit organization, have your own company, have a limited budget for training, or do not have access to training, look for other resources. Many communities have lists of seminars available through the public library, college business programs, high schools, chambers of commerce, professional organizations, and a variety of other organizations.

The Internet also offers a wealth of articles and information in the form of free podcasts to YouTube training videos on a variety of topics. Go to http://www.YouTube.com and search for “customer service training” and see what comes up. Tap into these resources to gain the knowledge and skills you will need to move ahead.

For additional information on developing knowledge and skills needed to serve your customers, check out Customer Service Skills for Success, How to Be a Great Call Center Representative and Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service Across Cultures.

Robert C. Lucas

About Robert C. Lucas

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

The Customer Service Representative’s Role in Organizational Culture

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The Customer Service Representative’s Role in Organizational Culture

Put simply, organizational culture is what your customer experiences. This culture is made up of a collection of subcomponents, each of which contributes to the overall service environment.

The Customer Service Representative's Role in Organizational Culture

Organizational cultures are developed to some degree by everyone within the organization and are driven from the top down in most organizations. Without the mechanisms and atmosphere to support frontline service, the other components of the business environment cannot succeed. When leaders fail to recognize this point and do not lead by example from a service perspective, the organization is doomed to experience poor quality of service and lose customers.

Typically, culture portrays the dynamic nature of the organization and encompasses the values and beliefs that are important to the organization and its employees and managers. The experiences, attitudes, and norms cherished and upheld by employees and teams within the organization set the tone for the manner in which service is delivered and how service providers interact with both internal and external customers.

The type and quality of products and services also contribute to your organizational culture. If customers perceive that you offer reputable products and services in a professional manner and at a competitive price, your organization will likely reap the rewards of customer loyalty and positive “press.” On the other hand, if products and services do not live up to expectations or promises, or if your ability to correct problems in products and services is deficient, you and the organization could suffer adversely.

As a service provider, you play a crucial role in making sure that your culture is positive and projected to each person with whom you have contact. Customers do not care about your policy, your physical or mental condition, whether you are having issues with co-workers or managers, or any other element that might potentially inhibit your delivering quality customer service. What they do care about is receiving quality, timely and professional services and products. Anything else will likely have them headed for the door or to the next Internet site to have their needs, wants and expectations met.

Make it your goal that each day you come to work, that you will strive to make it the best possible day for you and for your customers. For more information about customer service and organizational cultures get a copy of Customer Service Skills for Success.

About Robert C. Lucas

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

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