1.
Lesson 14
Customer Service Excellence
I. What is the new paradigm of customer service excellence?
Customers
Front-line staff
Supervisors
Management
CEO
As you can see, this pyramid embraces the biblical principle of servant-hearted leadership. Often
this pyramid is reversed in organizations.
The advantages of this organizational chart are that:
1. It encourages two-way communication between visitors and connectors.
2. Front-line staff are empowered to be real service heroes.
3. The leadership of the organisation exists to create an enabling environment for all
management and frontline staff to serve the client well.
4. We manage the moments of truth well.
5. It reinforces the point that the people who manage the customer’s experience are “key” to
the organization
Good leaders must first become good servants.
Robert Greenleaf
Activity 1
Can you answer these questions?
- What service are we offering?
- To whom are we offering this service?
- What are they expecting from me?
- Describe an occasion when you have given exceptional service? What was the
customer’s response?
- What is your unique strength which seems to repeatedly bring customer delight?
Keep aware that standards are changing. People are now exposed to global standards so they are
now using an international benchmark.
Business God’s Way © Paul Nyamuda, City Life Church. (Student Notes with Answers) 73

2.
II. What are some keys to connecting with customers?
A. The Principle of Ownership.
Our performance increases when we take ownership. How do you treat guests at home compared
to work?
“As far as customers are concerned you are the company. This is not a burden, but the core of
your job. You hold in your hands the power to keep customers coming back – perhaps even to
make or break the company.” Unknown.
B. The Principle of Sincerity.
C. The Wow Factor.
D. The Principle of Empathy.
E. The Principle of Credibility.
F. The Wake Factor.
G. The Principle of Win, Win, Win.
III. What are some guiding principles for customer service excellence?
A. Your customer is the most important visitor you receive at any time in your work
period.
B. The customer comes first at all times.
The customer is not necessarily right all the time but is still king from your perspective.
Therefore the customer COMES first:
C- Clear messages
O- Okay attitude
M- Making people feel special
E- Energy
S- Service under pressure
C. The customer is not dependent on you.
D. A customer is not an interruption to your work; he or she is the cause of it.
E. The customer is not an outsider but an important player.
F. Remember that when a customer calls on your services you are not doing him or her a
favour.
G. Examine the moments of truth.
- First impressions matter, and so do last impressions.
- First four minutes and last two minutes are often “key” in interactions.
As mentioned earlier, a moment of truth is any opportunity that a customer has to form an
impression, negative or positive, of the organisation.
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3.
There are three possible customer reactions:
1. Customers will get less than they expect and be disappointed or angry (ie the service is
memorable because it is horrible)
2. Customers will get exactly what they expect and therefore it is ‘no big deal’ (ie
forgettable because it is natural)
3. Customers get service of a higher quality than they expect and are delighted (ie it is
memorable because it’s beyond expectation)
Hence the WOW factor
What PLUS 1’s are people experiencing when they meet you?
III. What are some guidelines for dealing with customer complaints?
A. Try to view the world from the customer’s perspective.
B. Realise that no matter how good your product or service may be, difficulties or
complaints will still arise.
C. Have a learning philosophy which views complaints as positive input for improvement.
Customer complaints are the schoolbooks from which we learn.
Unknown.
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
Bill Gates
D. Develop a written customer service policy.
E. Use the complaint as an opportunity to show the client further exceptional service
beyond what they expected.
Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.
Donald Porter V.P., British Airways
F. Help to maintain the dignity of the client.
IV. What have some well known people said about customer service?
Be everywhere, do everything, and never fail to astonish the customer.
Macy's Motto
Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.
Walt Disney
Don’t try to tell the customer what he wants. If you want to be smart, be smart in the shower.
Then get out, go to work and serve the customer!
Gene Buckley, Sikorsky Aircraft
Forget about the sales you hope to make and concentrate on the service you want to render.
Harry Bullis
Here is a simple but powerful rule: always give people more than what they expect to get.
Business God’s Way © Paul Nyamuda, City Life Church. (Student Notes with Answers) 75

4.
Nelson Boswell
I won't complain. I just won't come back.
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Ad
If the shopper feels like it was poor service, then it was poor service. We are in the customer
perception business.
Mark Perrault, Rally Stores
If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will.
Unknown
If you don’t genuinely like your customers, chances are they won’t buy.
Tom Watson
In the world of Internet Customer Service, it's important to remember your competitor is only
one mouse click away.
Doug Warner
It starts with respect. If you respect the customer as a human being, and truly honor their right
to be treated fairly and honestly, everything else is much easier.
Doug Smith
Maybe 'Customer Service' should be more than one department.
SAP Ad
Never underestimate the power of the irate customer.
Joel Ross
People don’t want to communicate with an organization or a computer. They want to talk to a
real, live, responsive, responsible person who will listen and help them get satisfaction.
Theo Michelson, State Farm Insurance
People expect good service but few are willing to give it.
Robert Gately
The customer’s perception is your reality.
Kate Zabriskie
The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results
inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.
Peter Drucker
The true leader serves. Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in doing so will not always
be popular, may not always impress. But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern
rather than a desire for personal glory, they are willing to pay the price.
Eugene B. Habecker
There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.
Roger Staubach
There's a place in the world for any business that takes care of its customers--after the sale.
Harvey MacKay
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5.
To my customer. I may not have the answer, but I’ll find it. I may not have the time, but I’ll
make it.
Unknown
Washrooms will always tell if your company cares about its customers.
Unknown
Well done is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin
When you start viewing your customers as interruptions, you're going to have problems.
Kate Zabriskie
You are serving a customer, not a life sentence. Learn how to enjoy your work.
Laurie McIntosh
You cannot always control circumstances, but you can control your own thoughts.
Charles Popplestown
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
Your best customers leave quite an impression. Do the same, and they won't leave at all.
SAP Ad
If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends.
If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.
Jeff Bezos
Give trust, and you'll get it double in return
Kees Kamies
One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing
is what we do for others.
Lewis Carol
The goal as a company is to have customer service that is
not just the best, but legendary.
Sam Walton
Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
James Joyce
Our greatest asset is the customer! Treat each customer as if they are the only one!
Laurice Leitao
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