Customer Service Best Practices

This 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 requirements as a graduate level Business Administration elective, as well as serving as one of the four  required courses for a Graduate Certificate in Customer Service. This 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.

CAVEAT: No graduate credit will be awarded if BUS4460 has been successfully completed.

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

• Evaluating 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.
• Assessing 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.
• Demonstrating how personal motivating factors and personal skills support employee development.
• Demonstrating an understanding of stressors within the workplace, how to effectively deal with them, and how to minimize their negative effects.
• Evaluating the impact of diversity training programs on successful customer service.
• Applying effective cross-cultural communication.
• Applying an understanding of 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.
• Demonstrating and practicing empathy.
• Applying critical thinking skills including the ability to learn, to reason, to think creatively, to make decisions, and to solve problems using critical thinking.