Manage customer service
Overview
This standard is part of the customer service competence area related to Customer Service Management. It covers managing customer service. It includes the language and concepts of customer service as well as the organisational context and the external environment in which you work. Remember that customers include everyone to whom you provide products and services. They may be external to your organisation or they may be internal customers.
Customer service management responsibilities generally involve a set of skills, knowledge and understanding that might be expected of any manager. However, the nature of customer service means that, if you have specific customer service responsibilities, there are further skills and knowledge required. This standard covers the key principles of customer service that influence how it is managed and the links between your management responsibilities and those key principles. The standard also recognises that knowledge and understanding of customer service principles and systems as a manager may not be as detailed as those required in a delivery role. Instead, your knowledge and understanding must relate to a more strategic appreciation of the principles of customer service.
This standard is for customer service professionals on supervisory or managerial levels who monitor and manage customer service.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- manage the overall customer service for your organisation's products and services
- build a customer service culture in your organisation
- identify and maintain resources to support customer service delivery
- supervise staff to deliver customer service to your organisation's required standards
- train and develop your staff to build their knowledge and skills in customer service
- develop staff skills in the delivery of customer service
- contribute to the development of customer service policies, culture and ethics in your organisation
- monitor levels of customer satisfaction with your products and services
- evaluate options for technology that will improve customer service delivery
- carry out risk assessments when dealing with customer service problems
- mitigate risks with customer service problems and review the mitigation methods on a regular basis
- demonstrate leadership in a customer service role
- recruit staff with the customer service skills specified by your organisation
- monitor and maintain customer service in your organisation
- recommend improvements to customer service in your organisation
- establish a network of customer service contacts
- follow the legal, organisational, codes of practice and policies relevant to your role and the activities being carried out
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- your role and responsibilities in relation to your organisation's services and products, customer expectations and customer satisfaction
- how organisational systems, teams and individual staff deliver customer service in your organisation
- the ways that organisational systems balance customer satisfaction and financial considerations
- how staff knowledge, skills, attitudes, training, experience and personality contribute to customer service
- the options for monitoring customer service performance and the benefits and drawbacks of each option
- the use of customer service as a competitive tool by the commercial sector and its use as a contribution to best value in the public or third sectors
- the key features of the customer service culture in your organisation and how to build and maintain this
- how risk assessment can be used to deal with customer service problems
- the methods of mitigating the risks and continuous review of these
- the current options available for using technology to improve customer service delivery
- that ways that an organisation can continuously improve its customer service
- how to recruit customer service staff for your organisation against a job and person specifications
- the options for training, development and achievement of qualifications by your organisation's staff in customer service and the benefits and drawbacks of each option
- the importance of monitoring and maintaining customer service delivery in your organisation and the processes that are used
- the ways you can promote continuous improvement within your organisation
- the importance of establishing a strong network of contacts with similar interests in customer service
- the legal, organisational, codes of practice and policies relevant to your role and the activities being carried out