Six Rules for Good Customer Service

1. Answer your phone. The golden rule is “never miss a phone call”, so someone should always be available to pick up the phone. Your company may have to set up a call centre to meet the needs of customers.

2. Keep your promises. Customers want reliable service, so always do what you say you will do. Keep to your delivery dates and you will get repeat business from your satisfied customers.

3. Listen to your customers. Conduct surveys periodically to find out what your customers think. Learn from their feedback and change your strategy if necessary.

4. Give complaints your full attention. Deal with complaints quickly and efficiently. If you have to give a refund, do it with smile. Satisfied customers will recommend you to friends and get you more business.

5. Take the extra step. Offer a personalized service to your customers and they will feel more important. Deal with their requests on a personal basis.

6. Give customers something extra. Encourage customer loyalty by giving your regular customers something extra. They will be happy to get something they didn’t expect.

Ex. 6. Match the phrases in italics from “Six Rules for Good Customer Service” to definitions 1–6 below.

1. Try to make sure customers stay with your company.

2. Design a service suitable for each person.

3. Ask customers questions.

4. Provide the service people want.

5. Make sure you take the goods to the customer on time.

6. Solve problems.

Language input

Ex. 7. Unfortunately, mistakes sometimes happen. When this is the case, customer service representatives need to handle consumers' complaints. It's also important for customer service representatives (reps) to gather information to help resolve the problem. The following phrases help to deal with complaints:

What seems to be the problem? What happened exactly? I'm afraid it’s not our policy to ... . I promise you I’ll ... Did you read the instructions that came with the ...? Let me check this on the computer… . I am afraid there has been a slip-up in our … department. What would you like us to do about it?

How were you using the ...? I understand you’re upset, sir. I’m just trying to understand the problem. We’re sorry that you’ve had a problem with this product. Is there anything else I need to know about this that I haven’t thought to ask?

Ex. 8. Practice the following dialogue with a partner.

Customer: Good morning. I purchased a computer from your company last month. Unfortunately, I’m not satisfied with my new computer. I’m having a lot of problems.

Customer Care Rep: What seems to be the problem?

Customer: I'm having problems with my Internet connection, as well as repeated crashes when I try to run my word-processing software.

Customer Care Rep: Did you read the instructions that came with the computer?

Customer: Well, yes. But the troubleshooting section was no help.

Customer Care Rep: What happened exactly?

Customer: Well, the Internet connection doesn’t work. I think the modem is broken. I’d like a replacement.

Customer Care Rep: How were you using the computer when you tried to connect to the Internet?

Customer: I was trying to connect to the Internet! What kind of question is that?!

Customer Care Rep: I understand you’re upset, sir. I’m just trying to understand the problem. I’m afraid it's not our policy to replace computers because of glitches.

Customer: I bought this computer with the software pre-loaded. I haven’t touched anything.

Customer Care Rep: We’re sorry that you’ve had a problem with this computer. Could you bring in your computer? I promise you we’ll check the settings and get back to you immediately.

Customer: OK, that will work for me.

Customer Care Rep: Is there anything else I need to know about this that I haven’t thought to ask?

Customer: No, I’d just like to be able to use my computer to connect to the Internet.

Customer Care Rep: We'll do our best to get your computer working as soon as possible.

Ex. 9. Insert words or phrases you find appropriate and act out the dialogue.

Mr. Johnson: Good morning. I think there may have been some misunderstanding about our last order.

You: …………………………………………., Mr. Johnson?

Mr. Johnson: We’ve just started unloading the truck and the quality of the goods doesn’t appear to be Class A1 we ordered.

You: Oh, I am very sorry. …………………………….. . Oh, yes I’m afraid……………………………… . It’s certainly our fault. What would you …………………………?

Mr. Johnson: Well, we can keep the goods and use them for another order, if you charge us 20 % less for load and ship us a load of Class A1 right away.

You: That sounds fair enough. ……………………………………

Mr. Johnson: Oh, yes, that will be fine.

Ex. 10. Make your own dialogues based on situations 1-4.

1. You returned a book to an on-line retailer, but you haven’t received a refund for it. Your order number is AX347219.

2. An IT technician repaired your computer yesterday, but it still doesn’t work. The technician’s name was Luc.

3. You ordered a taxi for 10.00. It’s now 10.20 and it still hasn’t arrived.

4. You ordered 50 desks, but received only five. Your order number is OP345.

Ex. 11. a) Read the following text.

Most office workers say they are rude or bad-mannered at work. Two out of three workers regularly arrive late for meetings, most ignore the e-mails and three out of four use bad languages. In a survey of 1,000 workers, two thirds say that pressure of work is the reason for their bad manners. Other common examples of bad etiquette include ignoring colleagues and answering mobile phone during meetings.

b) Discuss the examples of bad manners at work given after it. Which ones do you think are especially bad? Why?

– arriving late for a meeting;

– ignoring people when you meet them;

– shouting an order at someone;

– not apologizing if you offend someone;

– being rude to people who offered to help you;

– using bad language.

c) What other examples of good or bad manners can you think of? Work in small groups and make two lists. Then compare your lists with other groups. Do you all have the same opinions about politeness?

Ex. 12. a) Add the following prefixes to the adjectives below to make words with opposite meaning. Use a dictionary if necessary.

un- in- dis- im-

Formal; satisfied; honest; polite; practical; considerate; friendly; efficient; important; respectful; patient; appropriate.

b) Use the words to complete the definitions.

E.g. Someone who is bad-mannered is impolite.

Someone who…

1. … doesn’t tell the truth is ... .

2. … wants to do things in a hurry and finish quickly is ... .

3. … doesn’t like other people and doesn’t want to talk is ... .

4. … doesn’t think about other people’s needs or wishes is ... .

5. … works slowly and doesn’t do the job well is ... .

c) Give the definitions to the rest of the words.