What is customer service in today's business environment? As an employee, what are some of the ways in which you can affect your company's...

In today's business environment, customer service representatives are charged with the responsibility of serving a customer base made up of many different kinds of people with different personalities and needs. An employee must take into consideration the particular needs of a company and their consumers. Additionally, it is important for employees to consider the varying needs of consumers from special populations (such as the disabled). This assignment requires you to consider several questions related to this topic. Of course, I can't answer the entire assignment, but I will offer tips to help get you started.

What is customer service in today's business environment? This question asks you to define "customer service" with attention to today's environment. It may be helpful to consider how the idea of customer service has changed over time. It may also be helpful to consider how business environments and shopping habits have changed over time. Consider the difference between one-stop stores (Wal-Mart) and specialty shops (candle shops, for example). How would customer service adapt to each of these environments? It used to be the case that stores served particular purposes or groups of people, but that's no longer the case in today's world. In fact, customer service representatives need to have much more knowledge about a wide range of products rather that just specialty items.

As an employee, what are some of the ways in which you can affect your company's culture? Consider the presentation of a customer service representative at a fancy suit shop (probably dressed in a suit) and a fishing supply store (probably dressed more casually). Is one way of dressing better suited for a particular service? What would you think about a person dressed in a suit to sell fishing supplies or a person dressed in shorts to sell a suit? As an employee, your presentation will affect consumer attitudes and buying responses for your company's products. Other examples of ways that employees affect a company's culture include language, speech patterns, interaction, physical distance from shoppers, number of employees, uniformity/individuality, and overall attitude.

As an employee, what are some ways you can successfully serve your internal and external customers? As an employee, you will be interacting with both internal (part of your organization) and external (not part of your organization) customers. If you work for Apple, for example, you may sell Mac products to your employees - in that case you will take an entirely different marketing approach than if you are selling to a non-Apple employee consumer. If you are selling to an internal customer, they may already know the benefits of your products and which product they want to buy. In that situation, it may be difficult to introduce new products because the internal consumer already knows what they want. On the other hand, an external consumer may welcome your suggestions. An internal consumer may already be dedicated to your products and brand, so you may not have to convince them to buy anything or worry about losing them as a customer. In contrast, an external consumer may be difficult to convince of a product's value.

When working in a retail store, how would you approach a person with a visual impairment? How would you demonstrate a product’s features to this person? Depending on the company products, an employee may take different approaches to working with people with disabilities, including visual impairments. For example, let's consider that you are selling a cell phone. Would it be beneficial to describe the color of the phone? What about the bright and colorful display? Maybe...That person may be buying the phone with the intention of sharing it with a young child or a significant other, so those attributes may very well be important. However, it's probably a better idea to market the phone with the person's visual impairment in mind. Instead of focusing on visual elements, you may point out how the phone feels in your hand and how the buttons are strategically placed around the outside of the phone. You will probably encourage the customer to touch the product. You may also point out features of the phone that may help a visually impaired person use the device such as voice command used to set alarms, place voice calls, add reminders to a calendar, and use voice texting. Finally, it's important to consider language during a product's presentation. You probably wouldn't say, "Take a look at this," or "See this?" Instead, you may say things like, "If you feel the right side of the phone near the top, you will find the power button. Near the bottom center of the phone, you can press and hold the "home" button to begin voice command."

Assume you are at a restaurant. Imagine you have a client from the Mature Generation and another client from Generation Y. How would you tailor your service to each client? As an employee, it's critical to consider how consumers from different groups will respond to customer service. What might a person from a Mature Generation expect from a customer service representative? How would you address a person from a Mature Generation versus a young child or young adult? One way to figure out how to interact with individual people is by observing their behaviors. Are they quiet and reserved? Loud and obnoxious? Playful and funny? Serious and brief? These attributes will guide you in interacting with your customers at a restaurant.