consistent and reliable customer service contributes to customer satisfaction

Task 2

In this task I should explain why presentation, interpersonal and communication skills are important to customer service.

Presentation skills – These skills relate to me as a person. What do other people see as I approach? Do I attract them or alarm them? This has nothing to do with good looks but everything to do with a welcoming smile, appropriate clothes and a smart appearance. Presentation skills include:

• Body language; Body language is one of the presentations skills. Body language is a term of communication using body movements. One of the basic body language signal is when a person is crossing his arms across the chest this can mean that the person is putting up a barrier between himself and others but it can also mean that a the person is expressing opposition this is specially so, if the person is leaning away from the speaker. But crossing his arms across the chest can also mean that the person is deeply thinking about something. You can show someone that you are interested in what he is telling you if you keep eye contact.  
• Another presentations skill is also the dress code which means if you work in an office you have to wear a dress or if you are working somewhere else where they have their own uniform you must wear their uniform and it has to be clean.  Many people will consider it impolite if your dress is too far above the dress code. Too far means if you are working for example in ASDA and you are wearing a coat to work, many customers will not know that you are one of the staffs. But if you are working in an environment where they don’t have to wear any uniform, then you must have a good sense to dress properly.
• Facial expression is also a presentation skill; facial expression is a result from one or more motions of the muscles of the face. This movement convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. Expressions are closely tied to emotion. It can be nearly impossible to avoid expressions for certain emotions because if you see someone that you think he or she is highly unattractive you might show a brief expression of disgust before you will be able to reassume a neutral expression and if you don’t have this skill it may be hard for you to work in an environment with different customers or other staff members.

Interpersonal skills are how people relate to one another, in other words it means how you behave when you are dealing with other people. Having positive interpersonal skills increase the productivity in a business. Interpersonal skills include:

• First impression; your interpersonal skills are on show from the moment you greet a customer to the time you say goodbye and if your first impression to a customer is good the customer might come again.
• Behaviour - This is what you do and why you do it in other words it is the actions or reactions from you, for example if you are a positive person, you will normally behave in a cheerful and friendly way to other peoples.
• Attitude – Your attitude is the way you think. For example if you are depressed you will be negative, if you are fed up then you will be bored and if you are happy you will be friendly to other people.

Communication skills – communication is a process whereby information is imparted by a sender to a receiver in other words you need to speak to you customer as well and how you do this is important. If you are communicating with a customer you must look after your

• Your speech – this means that you should speak loud and clearly because if you are speaking too quietly or miss the endings of words, then the customer might have problems to understand you.
• Your language – this means that you should use appropriate language for your customer because it is not appropriate to use slangs and jargons since the customer will not understand what you are talking about.
• The pitch of your voice – this means that you should take care of how you sound. For example if you have to talk to a group of people you should raise your head and speak more loudly and clearly but without shouting. And you should know how to pitch your voice to hold the interests of your customer because if you sound monotone the customer will soon lose the interest.

Task 3

In this task I should anticipate and meet the needs of at least three different customers in a range of situations.

• Accessibility for disable peoples for example those with wheelchairs. The business makes their stores accessible for wheelchair user by having big signs that are clear and easy to read, a ramp as an alternative to steps, the doors should also be wide and easy to open and the widths are allowing wheelchairs and the height of counter areas and shelves also allows wheelchairs. The business should also have toilets that meet the needs of wheelchair users. And the staff should also take time to help peoples in wheelchairs if they need help.
• Health and safety - The business makes their store healthy and safe by making sure that all selling environments are assassed for risk so that any hazards are minimised, it means, the business must keep the workplace clean, they must make sure that their floors, steps, stairs, passages and gangways are properly maintained and it is kept from any obstruction and any substance likely to cause a person to slip and fall. If you, as a staff member, see something that can affect the health and safety in the business then you should do something about it before something happened, for example if you see something on the floor that can make someone fall then you should take the thing away from the floor or if the floor is wet you should put a sign there that the floor is wet so that no one can fall.
• Email – The business makes sure that they have a email account so that they can send emails to customers and others. If you send a email you should make sure that you chose the right message style and layout and that you follow the recommended business format. And the email should also be written in a courteous and tactful way and also the wording should be appropriate for the situation. But it will be useful if for example you want to send an email to a customer you should mark the email as high priority if it will be important for the customer. And for you as a staff member you should have the skills to send an email which means that you should be a able to apply the appropriate customer service an to make sure that you chose a good tone and degree of formality depending upon the person and your reason for writing and it is important that the business mails should comply with organisational rules and recognised standards.