Customer Service

Customer Relations is an important function in marketing because building and maintaining

profitable relationships with key customers will create a positive representation on your casino
so the customer will return. Overseeing the relationship with customers handled by your
team. Customer service involves resolving customer complaints quickly and efficiently. Keeping
customers updated on the latest products to invest at your casino. Relationships are built of trust
through open and interactive communication. They work to rectify issues experienced by
individual customers as well as aim to improve the organization’s overall customer satisfaction
ratings. Customer service requires that you maintain a positive, empathetic, and professional
attitude toward customers always. Customer service people are solving customer issues in a
timely manner, managing customer calls, maintaining business documents,
handling customer accounts, and developing sales incentive programs.

Here are the traits you should look for when building your customer service team:

 Internal motivation: Are they driven to do great work beyond money and status?
 Self-awareness: Do they recognize their impulses, judgment, and moods? Their impact
on others?
 Positive attitude: Do they display friendliness, enthusiasm around challenging tasks,
focus on teamwork?
 Adaptability: Are they willing to learn new processes and technologies?
 Empathy and social skills: Do they genuinely care about other human beings? Can they
read social cues to identify needs and concerns as they arise?

Identify the personalities that will enrich your team and match your company culture. List all the
skills you want a person to have for each of your customer support roles. Mark all listed skills
with must-have or good-to-have and include both hard and soft skills.

Customer Service Marketing Plan

  Customer satisfaction score (CSAT), for overall customer happiness
 Net promoter score (NPS), for the power of your referrals
 First response time, to measure the time your customers are on hold
 First contact resolution, to estimate how many customers must talk to you more than once
to get a solution
 Average resolution time
 Active issues 
 Resolved issues
 Number of issues, to track the number and nature of issues over time
 Customer retention rate

Developing a customer service plan will help market your program by telling your casino how
well they are doing and areas the casino can improve on. Building good customer relationship
will create a since of value to the customer. When the customer is happy your casino ratings are
high.

Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in marketing. It is a measure of how products and
services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is
defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience
with a firm, its products, or its services exceeds specified satisfaction goals." The Marketing
Accountability Standards Board endorses the definitions, purposes, and constructs of classes of
measures that appearance. Total customer satisfaction is a business strategy aimed toward ensuring
that the overall customer experience is good, in addition to providing a quality product or service. 

Each day customers interact with your business. These interactions can cause challenges for your
team. How you handle them is crucial to your business’s success. Handle them well, and customers
return again and again, boosting profits. Handle them poorly, and customers bolt to a
competitor, slashing revenues. Many factors go into how difficult these challenges can be,
including the total number of cases your team is managing. Based on experience or forecasting
how much effort and time is going to be required to service customers. With that in mind, she
recommends separating out new customers and established customers as newer customers typically
 need more onboarding, and therefore more effort and time should be dedicated to them.
Staffing optimization involves balancing work volume (demand) with staffing (supply) based on
application of Lean principles, including the 7 wastes and 5S, best practices and benchmarking. It
is most needed when a business experiences: Customer complaints of slow service or response
time. Customer service is both a type of job and a set of job skills job, customer
service professionals are responsible for addressing customer needs and ensuring they have a good
experience. As a skill set, customer service entails several qualities like active listening, empathy,
problem-solving and communication. How you communicate to your customers is just as important
as what you say. Follow these guidelines:

Build rapport with customers. Put them at ease and make them feel comfortable. When your
customer or prospect enters your store, phones your office, or logs onto your Web site, reinforce
your eagerness to deliver extraordinary service. This sets the tone for the rest of the transaction.

 Every time a customer interacts with your company, the message should be
consistent: you want to provide top service. If a customer calls and gets lost
responding to dozens of touch-tone commands (think of the I.R.S. help line), you
must simplify the system. Testing a customer’s patience gives them a reason to
leave and never return.
 Make a lasting, positive first impression. This will enhance the customers’ visits, whether
they are asking questions, browsing, or ordering.
 Show appreciation. Customers want to feel special, and your attitude and behavior must
reinforce your view that they are important. When you value customers, your sincerity makes
them more receptive and enthusiastic about your business.
 It all begins with the proper mind-set: A customer-focused organization is not in business to
deliver a product or service, but to enable people to enjoy the benefits of its product or
service. A temporary employment agency is in business not to fill job vacancies with
temporary personnel, but to help their customers enjoy the benefits that their service provides
— immediate placement of highly-skilled individuals. It is a subtle but vital difference.
 Seek ways to help customers. Find out what your customers want more or less of — and
respond accordingly. Get a head start by reviewing customer complaints and other feedback.
  Then take steps to maximize each customer encounter. Examples include giving your
customer-service representatives the authority to satisfy reasonable customer demands on the
spot, making follow-up calls to ensure customers’ requests have been met promptly, and
simplifying your bills so that they are easier to read.
 Strive to understand their needs each time you deal with them. By exceeding their
expectations at any given moment, you make an instant positive impact. A desire to uncover
your customers’ needs or wants will provide you with a competitive edge. Here are some
questions you can ask customers to show your eagerness to help:
 What would completely satisfy you?
 How can I make things easier for you?
 Can you think of any other ways I can help you?
 Listen attentively. Pay attention to your customers’ words, tone, and body language.
According to a UCLA study on communication, 7 percent of our communication is verbal,
38 percent is tone of voice, and 55 percent is nonverbal. That means your words alone will
not make everything better; you need to align your gestures, facial expression, and voice tone
to send a complete message of support and concern for the customer. Rapt listening will
enhance your understanding of what your customers need and make them feel valued.

Establish a long-term relationship. Do not just dwell on making a strong first impression; remember
that "last impressions" count, too. Never miss an opportunity to thank customers. Tell them you
would like to see them or hear from them again. Then do something to make them want to come
back or refer you to a friend or colleague, such as offering a referral bonus if they bring in new
business.

Service and Quality where we find emphasis on the availability of quality services to the ultimate
users. The term quality focuses on standard or specification that a service generating organization
promises. We cannot have a clear-cut boundary for quality. Sky is the limit for quality generation.
Scientific inventions and innovations make the ways for the generation of quality. More frequency in
innovations, less gap in the process of quality up-gradation.
The customer’s perception of how well our service meets his or her expectations. A casino
marketing plan involves creating a mission statement. The mission statement is a projection vision
and value the casino has created to set a standard of how their casino operates. A second source of
input for establishing quality are the casino standards its organization’s mission, vision, and values.
Every organization, in any industry, whether small or large, public, or private, has a unique
personality. A marketing plan is only of the best quality and that your brand can be trusted to
deliver the same excellence with every interaction. 

A marketing plan should consist of a customer service team who job function is to develop
effective ways to motivate your customer service team at your casino that will increase employee
morale. Praising your employees is an efficient way to do this. The great thing about praise is that
it is free and easy to do. Praise your employees’ involvement as well as their improvement.
Customer loyalty is always impacted when you employ the right service professional to represent
you when assisting your valued customers. My long-term experience in the service industry has
taught me how to meet and exceed each customer's expectations with service that sells.

A marketing team should have a marketing plan used to create a team a customer service platform
that empowers every service employee from the contact center to the field with the innovative
tools, unified data, and embedded training needed to deliver world-class customer service that
drives customer satisfaction and loyalty. The marketing crew tracks requests from customers, like
support inquiries or questions related to what the business does and how it operates. It enables
businesses to resolve the customers’ questions or problems both efficiently and effectively, with a
variety of tools designed for specific use cases. The customer service team helps to streamline your
customer support process and deliver top-notch customer service.
What Is Customer Service?
Customer service is the direct one-on-one interaction between a consumer making a purchase
and a representative of the company that is selling it. Most retailers see this direct interaction as a
critical factor in ensuring buyer satisfaction and encouraging repeat business.

Understanding Customer Service

Behind the scenes at most companies are people who never meet or greet the people who buy
their products. The customer service representatives are the ones who have direct contact with
the buyers. The buyers' perceptions of the company and the product are shaped in part by their
experience in dealing with that person.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 Customer service is the interaction between the buyer of a product and the company that
sells it.
 Good customer service is critical to business success, ensuring brand loyalty one
customer at a time.
 Recent innovations have focused on automating customer service systems, but the human
element is, in some cases, indispensable.
For this reason, many companies work hard to increase their customer satisfaction levels.

The Cost of Customer Satisfaction

For decades, businesses in many industries have sought to reduce personnel costs by automating
their processes to the greatest extent possible.

In customer service, that has led many companies to implement systems online and by phone that
answers as many questions or resolve as many problems as they can without a human presence.

But in the end, there are customer service issues for which human interaction is indispensable,
creating a competitive advantage.

Amazon is an example of a company that is doing all it can to automate a vast and complex
operation. It must, given that it delivered five billion packages to customers' doors in 2018, and
that is just the purchases made by Prime members.

Nevertheless, Amazon still offers 24-hour customer service by phone, in addition to email and
live chat services.
Most successful businesses recognize the importance of providing outstanding customer service.
Courteous and empathetic interaction with a trained customer service representative can mean
the difference between losing or retaining a customer.

Customer service should be a one-stop process for the consumer whenever possible.

Basics of Good Customer Service

Successful small business owners understand the need for good customer service instinctively.
Larger businesses study the subject in-depth, and they have some basic conclusions about the
key components:

 Timely attention to issues raised by customers is critical. Requiring a customer to wait in

line or sit on hold sours an interaction before it begins.
 Customer service should be a single-step process for the consumer. If a customer calls a
helpline, the representative should whenever possibly follow the problem through to its
resolution.
 If a customer must be transferred to another department, the original representative
should follow up with the customer to ensure that the problem was solved.

The average annual salary for a customer service representative in 2018, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Customer Services Job Requirements

Much is expected of customer service representatives. Yet the pay for the job is low. The average
salary in 2018 was about $33,750, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Some of the job expectations:

 Customer service representatives must be accessible, knowledgeable, and courteous.

They require excellent listening skills and a willingness to talk through a resolution.
Training in conflict resolution can be beneficial.
  Strong speaking skills are important. For phone staff, this means speaking clearly and
slowly while maintaining a calm demeanor even if the customer does not.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected customer service representative job growth at 5%
between 2016 and 2026. That is close to the average for all occupations.
Employer Responsibilities
Poor management can doom any customer service operation. A couple of important tips for
managers:

 Make sure your customer service representatives are fully informed and have the latest
information and the company's products and policies.
 Periodically assess the customer service experience you are providing to ensure that it is
an asset to the company.
 Consider conducting regular surveys to give customers the chance to provide feedback
about the service they receive and suggest areas for improvement.
 customer service is the linchpin of casino success now when times are tough and, in the
future, when the economy finds its legs again. The foundation of good service is the
establishment of service standards. In other words, management must put in writing
exactly what kind of service employees are expected to provide and what that service
looks like as staff members interact with guests.
 But there is one more thing that is needed. As I said, those standards must be S.M.A.R.T.
(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound). Let us look at each of
those components.
 Specific. I am often amazed at the lack of specificity casinos have when it comes to
service. Employees need to know the specific behaviors they are expected to demonstrate
during service delivery. How can they provide great service if management does not tell
them exactly what that means? Telling employees, they should be nice to guests is not
specific enough. Employees should know they are expected to smile, say hello, greet
repeat customers by name, etc. Telling employees, they should be helpful also does not
cut it. They need to understand that they are expected to be observant to the point that
they can anticipate guests' needs before they ask for something.
 Measurable. Service delivery must be continually managed and that is darned near
impossible if it cannot be measured. Thus, standards and behaviors that can be measured
are critical. This helps employees stay on track and experience the exhilaration of
achievement. Ultimately, it helps the casino stay on the path to success.
 But casinos often go off the rails when it comes to measurable service standards. I ask
you, what is the difference between an "excellent" and a "good" smile? Is there supposed
to be a difference if the smile occurs in the restaurant or at a blackjack table where a
player has just lost $20,000? Is the quality of the smile a cosmetic thing based on better
dentists? Could sincerity be part of moving the smile to the level of "excellent"? Trust
me, it is not unusual for a casino to have a service standard of providing "excellent
smiles."
 If the standard is simply stated that employees should smile at guests, that can be easily
measured. And if it can be measured, it can be managed. And if it can be managed, it can
be improved when the standard is not met. (Don't forget to praise when the standard is
met.) That is actionable measurement.
 Attainable and Realistic. When setting service standards, do not create situations in
which employees are required to do the impossible. I am a positive and optimistic person.
The glass is always almost full in my eyes. But I do not smile 100 percent of the time.
Nobody does or should be expected to. There are times when I am thinking or actively
listening, and processing information and I do not smile. I am concentrating. Should
employees constantly look like mannequins with painted-on grins to meet the standard of
"always" smiling? I do not think so.
 The key here is to establish standards that are neither out of reach nor below standard
performance. Employees will not commit to standards they know they cannot achieve.
But realistic standards will encourage them to find ways to make them happen. When
employees review service standards and believe they can implement them, wonderful
things happen. Service sparkles and the customers' gaming experience improves.
 Time-bound. Correct implementation of standards must be reinforced, and the timing of
that reinforcement is crucial. As managers go about their jobs, they should watch
employee-customer interaction. When they see employees demonstrating the desired
service behavior, they should offer praise as quickly as possible. The positive impact of
 praise is lost if it comes a day or a week later. The employee just does not get as strong a
feeling of accomplishment. This is Behavior Modification 101. People really do respond
to a pat on the back or a verbal "attaboy." In fact, research shows that employees crave
positive attention more than they do money.
 Saying you are customer service focused is not enough in gaming these days, with stiff
competition and the soft economy chipping away at revenues. Casinos must know that
their service is excellent. S.M.A.R.T. service standards eliminate the guesswork and align
the casino for success.

Saying you are customer service focused is not enough in gaming these days, with stiff
competition and the soft economy chipping away at revenues.  Casinos must know that their
service is excellent.  S.M.A.R.T. service standards eliminate the guesswork and align the casino
for success.

Customer Service (SWOT analysis)

Conducting a Customer Service SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” The goal is to examine

the factors inside and outside of your business that affect customer service. Armed with that
information, you can improve your decision-making to take advantage of strengths and
opportunities and to address weaknesses and threats.

Look Inside

Start your SWOT analysis by looking at the service environment inside your business. That
includes the assets, processes, and people you use to deliver service. Focus on the factors where
you can make the decision, independent of outside influences. For example, you hired an
employee who can communicate with your Spanish-speaking customers.

Think of these internal factors as falling into two categories:

Strengths – In what ways do your customers think you deliver better service than your
competitors? Perhaps you offer home delivery, provide how-to workshops in your store, have a
no-questions refund policy, or offer 24/7 customer support on your website.
Weaknesses – What areas of service do customers think you need to improve? This might
include things like: staff members are rude to difficult customers, your employees aren’t able to
resolve customer problems unless they check with you first, your website doesn’t list the hours
you’re open, or customers wait too long on hold and hang up before they get help.

You do not have to identify these factors yourself. In fact, you should not. Brainstorm with your
employees and ask customers. Their perspective will give you a broader look inside.

Look Outside

The second part of a SWOT looks at customer service factors outside of your business. You can
tell if it fits in this category when it is something you did not initiate but still affects your
business. For example, your local government passed a law that requires you to add a surcharge
to a customer’s restaurant bill.

Think of external factors in terms of these categories:

Opportunities – What is happening outside of your business that could help you better serve
customers? Maybe it is new technology that lets them preorder something, so it is ready to pick
up when they arrive. Or there is a new supplier in town that lets you offer a wider selection.

Threats – What is lurking out there that could throw a wrench in your service levels? Perhaps
there is a competitor offering free delivery. Or maybe more consumers are using their mobile
device and want GPS directions to your business.

Rely on your networking contacts to help you stay in touch with what is happening outside your
business.

Putting It Together

Now that you have completed your SWOT analysis, how do you use that information to improve
customer service? You may want to start by looking at your strengths and weaknesses, since
those are the factors where you have the greatest control.

Your list of weaknesses helps you determine where to focus your training efforts. It is also an
opportunity to look at processes. For example, could you identify situations where you empower
your employees to fix customer issues on their own? For example, some businesses let their staff
offer discounts or free delivery to help resolve service problems.

Think about using a factor in one category to address another. For example, what strengths can
you leverage to take advantage of an opportunity you identified (or to stave off a threat)? For
example, maybe you can offer a new how-to workshop using the expertise of that new supplier
in town.

For many small businesses, superior customer service is their differentiator in the marketplace.
That is why it is so important to periodically assess this asset to be sure it has not lost its value. A
SWOT analysis can help you shore up any deficits and take advantage of an opportunity that
could dial-up your customer service.