Service orientation is the second attribute of Social Awareness is. You are service-oriented if you:
- Understand customers’ needs
- Seek ways to increase customers’ satisfaction and loyalty
- Gladly offer appropriate assistance
- Grasp a customer’s perspective – acting as a trusted advisor.
10/10 Let’s discuss who exactly your “customer” is while you are a student. There are two ways of looking at this lesson. The first is to picture a fussy housewife in a high-end store and gloss over it. That would be a mistake. Even in a corporate environment there are external and internal customers. In a nutshell, everybody who you want something from is a customer – the product you are selling is yourself. (Tip: you never know who you will want something from in the future!)
As a Dux, it should be easy for you to apply the skills taught in this lesson to the people in your life.
What are the Pillars of Customer Service?
If you want to increase your customers' satisfaction and loyalty, you need to:
1. Form relationships with them. Why? Because this helps you to stand out from the crowd and lubricates business going forward. This is easily done by treating your customers with respect – be punctual, greet, use “please” and “thank you” liberally, admit when you are wrong and fix your mistakes.
Be motivated to serve.
2. Know your product i.e. you. Why? Service orientation does not equate to selling your soul to the devil. Once you have established that the relationship is in line with your values and goals, you then need to know your strengths and weaknesses so that you can sell yourself with confidence.
(Aside: See how all those links prove that learning about “Customer Service” is useless unless you are emotionally intelligent!)
Be flexible and creatively align what you have to offer with daily challenges.
3. Communicate like the emotionally intelligent Dux you are! Why? Because you might be the perfect fit for whatever your customer needs – e.g. bursary recipient, intern, ambassador – but if you can’t decipher what they are looking for and how you fill that need, you will lose out. Use your listening skills to find out what’s really important to them; and your non-verbal skills to affirm that you are deserving of their time/ money/ job/ service.
Have an energetic and enthusiastic attitude.
4. Take responsibility for both the good and the bad. In other words, be proactive, accountable, and available. Why? Because you are emotionally intelligent, you have a vision for your life, and you won’t let life just “happen to you”.
Take ownership of your customers, situations, and problems.
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An introspective quiz awaits you below!