Managing Service Excellence

Business Challenge

In today’s customer-focused marketplace, service is a critical driver of customer retention and profitable growth. A key to ensuring the loyalty of customers lies in creating a predictably positive experience for them—every time they call or visit you. By delivering on their service promise successfully at every opportunity, effective organisations go beyond “customer satisfaction” and ultimately earn customer loyalty.

Achieving Service Excellence

Achieving Service ExcellenceTM teaches skills and practices that allow individual employees to intentionally
and consistently provide impeccable service to internal and external customers. It is perfect as a core
programme for organisations focused on creating customer loyalty by defining, managing, and enhancing
the customer experience.

Key Content

Using highly interactive skill practice and peer advice exchange, Achieving
Service ExcellenceTM focuses on the following content:

• A discussion of different customer types, both inside and outside the organisation
• Five key factors of service quality, based on research on customer expectations, that help service
  providers understand what their customers value most
• A reliable, memorable customer-interaction process featuring skills that consistently lead to satisfying
  customers—in routine and challenging situations, by phone or in person
• An effective tool for avoiding making mistaken assumptions about customer requests
• A service-recovery process that helps service providers respond to angry or upset customers with
  empathy, skill, and confidence
• Tools and follow-up learning activities for reinforcement and skill application on the job

Target Audience

Achieving Service ExcellenceTM is for service providers who interact directly with internal or external
customers, or anyone who affects the customer experience. It has succeeded in a wide range of industries
and situations, including telephone providers, new hires, service technicians, technical support staff, retail
and hourly staff, and professional personnel.
Outcomes

Participants in Achieving Service Excellence will be able to:

•  Identify what their customers value and assess the extent to which customers’ current experiences meet
  their expectations.
• Ensure a positive experience for each and every customer by applying a reliable process and skills for
  handling customer interactions
• Recover from service errors and regain the loyalty of angry or upset customers

Delivery Options

• Classroom:  2 days, followed by on-the-job skill application and reinforcement, and follow-up seminars
  for additional skill development.
• Virtual Classroom: Four 2-hour virtual instructor-led sessions combined with 8 hours of inter-session
  work.

• Custom Blended Options:  Forum can create a specific solution to meet your needs, leveraging the
  appropriate virtual and outside-the-classroom learning methods. This may include the following: Virtual
  Orientation Sessions and Small-Group Webinars; Online Discussions; Action Learning and Reconnects;
  Leader/Coach Tool Kits; and Downloadable Tools and Resources.

Achieving Service ExcellenceTM can be delivered as a stand-alone programme or as part of a service
learning system that includes Managing Service Excellence, Forum’s core programme for service managers.