Customer Service Best Practices

The course is designed to provide a broad foundation of the principles and practices for the student who interacts directly with or supervises customer service in a variety of industries. The course meets the requirement as an upper-level Business Administration elective, as well as serving as one of the four required courses for an Undergraduate Certificate in Customer Service. The course provides a specific focus on critical thinking and decision-making skills to enable students from various levels of customer service experience to be successful in this field.

UPON COMPLETION OF THE COURSE, THE STUDENT WILL BE COMPETENT IN:

• Understanding consumer behavior, including why consumers behave in the manner they do and how to relate to their situation.
• Assessing the importance of effective communication and “people skills” in building relationships.
• Evaluating various types of conflict and identifying and applying a strategic solution that is appropriate for each situation.
• Recognizing the importance of ethical conduct, its value to the company, individual development, and demonstrating the ability to adhere to these standards when dealing with consumers.
• Identifying personal motivating factors and personal skills that support employee development.
• Defining stressors within the workplace, how to effectively deal with them, and how to minimize their negative effects.
• Discovering the impact of diversity training programs on successful customer service.
• Developing effective cross-cultural communication.
• Understanding the theoretical perspectives of discrimination and affirmative action.
• Practicing the importance of seeing the customer’s perspective and making appropriate adjustments to create a win-win situation.
• Developing and practicing empathy.
• Developing and training critical thinking skills including the ability to learn, to reason, to think creatively, to make decisions, and to solve problems using critical thinking.