In the last lesson, you identified the benefits of customer care to the customer, to the customer service representative, and to the company. In this lesson, you will explore how customers define the success of your company. Customers contact you because they have an unsatisfied want or need. It's important to understand that your customers are interested in what your product or service will do for them. If you’re offering a solution, but not the right one for their problem, the customer may become frustrated and decide to not do business with your company at all. Listening to the customer—even if they are irate and complaining—and offering viable solutions during all phases of interaction, affect how the customer views your company.

In the previous lessons, you explored how customer service affects your company; now it's time to see how you make a difference to your customers. In this lesson, you will identify techniques to increase customer satisfaction. The key to providing exceptional customer care is building relationships with your customers. Other companies can offer the same products or services, but if a customer remembers the quality care you have provided in the past, they will look to you in the future. Creating loyal relationships with your customers ensures that your business can achieve and sustain a competitive edge over other companies. Treating each customer as you would a friend promotes well-being throughout the transaction and decreases stress for you and the customer.

In the last lesson, you identified techniques to increase customer satisfaction. Before you can properly serve your customers, you need to understand how customer service affects them and the behaviors you need to exhibit to achieve the best effect. In this lesson, you will examine techniques for interacting with customers. There is more to providing quality service face to face than just smiling. Your body language, tone of voice, hand gestures, and eye contact can say more than words will ever convey. Knowing how to present your physical self in the proper light to a customer gives you the opportunity for more-effective communication.

In the last lesson, you identified tactics and strategies to provide face-to-face customer service. More and more customers are purchasing products and services online, and they're also accessing customer service options remotely. In this lesson, you will identify techniques for providing remote customer service.

In the previous lessons, you have identified ways to handle common customer contacts and complaints. But what happens if a customer gets out of control? How do you engage a customer who has become difficult? In this lesson, you will identify guidelines for dealing with difficult customers. Not every customer will be the one who makes your day. Sometimes, customers have had such terrible experiences with your company that they will unleash their frustrations on you. Arming yourself with conflict resolution and active listening skills can help you weather the storm. There are times when the customer doesn’t just breeze in and out of your daily routine. Knowing how to properly engage difficult customers will defuse their heightened emotions and enable you to handle their issues more quickly and easily.

You have your customers, whether they are internal or external, easy to handle or difficult. While handling their issues, you have the opportunity to make efforts to increase loyalty. In this lesson, you will identify techniques for increasing customer loyalty. By focusing on increasing customer loyalty, you can keep your customers coming back. Ultimately, repeat customers will not only provide more business for your company, but will also be easier to handle in terms of service needs.

You'll wrap things up and then validate what you've learned in this course by taking an assessment.