Customer Service

Everyone talks about customer service." What is it, and why is it so important? As the frontline employee, the customer service representative is the most valuable and visible person to the customers-the one they go to first for every type of information and assistance. In this program, viewers will see how to provide exceptional customer service with a smile, a professional appearance, and a positive attitude. It covers the basics-fielding questions, solving problems, cheerfully responding to customer requests-and much more. And because so much interaction takes place over the telephone, viewers will learn how to stay in control when dealing with demanding or rude customers, how to actively listen, and how to come up with solutions that satisfy. A viewable/printable instructor's guide is available online. Correlates to the National Business Education Association's National Standards for Business Education. A Meridian Production. (16 minutes)"

A customer orientation is essential to successful product and market development. Module one of this program demonstrates the concept of key account management by way of the Dutch oil company NAM, which proactively develops solutions to potential client problems, while module two extends that concept to include the operations of R.S. Components in the U.K. Module three analyzes how seemingly homogeneous goods, such as paper, are differentiated in Finland to better satisfy consumer needs. (29 minutes)

This program offers some useful tools for using the telephone to communicate with customers, and it highlights some of the things customers find most irritating about phone communication: the unanswered phone, answering without identifying yourself, the customer kept on hold for what seems like forever, multiple transfers to other extensions or people, and so on. (15 minutes)

In the post-Enron and -WorldCom era, the spotlight of scrutiny is shining ever more sharply on corporations and their chief executives. In this program, Robert Nardelli, chairman, president, and CEO of The Home Depot, and Michael Eskew, chairman and CEO of United Parcel Service, discuss the white-hot issues of corporate governance and ethics as well as the special challenges they face as newcomers to the top job. What are they doing to expand their customer bases in the face of fierce competition? And how are they training the new leaders who will help them take their companies-tops in their respective industries-into the future? (57 minutes)

An upset customer is the ultimate test of an employee's professionalism. This program highlights the patience and diplomacy skills at the heart of good customer service, demonstrating the best strategies for dealing with an irate patron demanding immediate attention. Step-by-step dramatizations illustrate the most effective ways of addressing an angry customer, focusing on body language, active listening, and exceeding expectations of good service. The program also establishes boundaries for personal safety, clarifying the proper approach to verbal abuse or physical threats. Viewable/printable educational resources are available online. (26 minutes)

This program emphasizes the importance of dealing with stress without damage to either oneself or the goal of working productively to provide service: learning to organize oneself, learning to change unacceptable situations, changing one's approach to problems and situations, and managing deadlines. The program also shows how to manage the stress created by telephonic interaction with customers. (25 minutes)

This video teaches beginning workers how to provide good customer service through maintaining a good attitude, projecting positive body language, using the correct tone of voice, and developing rapport with the customer. Also explains and demonstrates proven techniques to placate angry customers. Better service leads to customer satisfaction and is good for both the career of the capable employees and future of the company. A Cambridge Educational Production. One 30-minute video.

This series of workshops-on-video is designed to improve employees' success and work satisfaction while improving employers' profitability and competitive edge by taking advantage of a company's most costly investment-getting a customer-in the most obvious but most often neglected way-satisfying that customer. These programs teach viewers to listen, understand, and accept the needs, wants, and feelings of customers; to communicate their own thoughts and feelings to customers; to neutralize and resolve conflicts, both in person and over the phone; and to face and resolve problems resulting from failure of communication, inadequate service, and errors. Program consultant and narrator is Pat Coleman, former executive at Honeywell, Munsingwear, and Norwest Bancorporation and president of The Training Company; clients of his highly rated presentations include 3M, General Mills, Honeywell, Control Data. Unisys, and Dayton-Hudson, among dozens of others. Student workbook also available (see item #433). 9-part series, 20 minutes each.

This program discusses how to put the techniques of customer service into practice. It explains the rationale of providing service to the customer, for the customer saved is the service-provider's job saved, and the customer pleased is the service-provider's key to job advancement. Reviewing techniques from the previous programs, this video motivates viewers to implement the lessons of providing customer satisfaction, for the sake of their employers and-in a very direct and immediate way-for their own pleasure and profit. (31 minutes)

Ours is increasingly becoming a service economy. It follows that our premiere commodity is customer service. This program describes and defines the problem: what customer service is and what it isn't; the skills necessary to achieve it; the rationale for improving service; the categories of customer service-decision-making service (helping customers decide), problem-solving service (fixing things), and time-of-purchase service. (20 minutes)