A little care in dealing with customers greatly helps in enhancing the business. Follow the principle that the customer is always right. Make fewer promises and over fulfill them. Give the best to your customers. Carefully understand what complaints the customer has. Do not let the customer wait on the telephone listening to the telephone ring. Give a telephone call to the customer before the customer contacts you. If the customer has really faced some inconvenience, compensate him with some extra service or product. Customers can be refunded their money if not satisfied with your products. The right tone of voice creates a good atmosphere on the phone. Start with a warm greeting or opening and say goodbye before hanging up. Do not go on elaborating about the company or technical terminologies that the customer may not understand. Do not get angry even if the customer gets angry. Do not linger with the customer on hold. If your query is likely to take some time then let the customer know politely how long he has to wait.
In the challenging profession of customer service, the presently available apprenticeship programs with the Institute of Customer Services Apprenticeship Information England and Wales and the Institute of Customer Services Apprenticeship Information Scotland, are Scottish Modern Apprenticeship (Level 3), Foundation Modern Apprenticeship – Wales (Level 2), Modern Apprenticeship – Wales (Level 3), Apprenticeship – England (Level 2) and Apprenticeship – England (Level 3).
There is a school program of Certificate in Regulated Customer Care (CeRCC) and Advanced CeMAP. CeRCC helps the customer care professionals to increase their skills and confidence and provides a formally assessed set of knowledge and understanding and work place assessment. In this challenging profession you can enter a level depending upon your skill, personality traits, qualifications and experience like an Administrative Assistant, Investment Assistant, Data Specialist, Customer Service Representative, and Business Development, and gradually reach the senior levels.
There are various senior level positions in different disciplines in the profession of customer service in the US such as Care Provider Senior Adult, Director of Dining Services, Assistant Customer Service Manager, Senior Marketing Executive, Dining Services Manager, Patient Information Coordinator, Director of Patient Financial Services and Director of Revenue Cycle. The average salary of these professionals varies from $21,000 to $156,000. The average salary of a senior manager customer care personnel in the United States as per data of June 2009 is $60,000.
In the profession of customer service, different types of customers are to be satisfied by the service professional. Some are easy to deal with and you feel pleasure to do business with them, but there are others who are difficult to please and pose a challenge to deal with. Such situations make the profession of customer service more severe, especially in online business. In the absence of face to face communication, the written emails could be quite frequently misunderstood. With the passing of time, the requirement of customer service professionals is also gaining momentum worldwide.