o demonstrate why customer profiles matter, let’s look at a few examples: For “Attitudes,” you might ask a customer whether they’re confident about financial matters. If their answer is “No,” that customer could potentially be a good candidate for financial advising services. For “Personal Preferences,” you might ask a customer whether they prefer to handle customer service inquiries on their own, or if they appreciate a helping hand. If they prefer the former, you might recommend that they use your mobile banking application for self-service. For “Milestones,” if your customer indicates that they were recently married, it might make sense to target them with a personalized marketing campaign offering low interest home loans. You’ll notice that, in each of these examples, the customer’s preferences, values, and interests are treated as a top priority, and your bank is positioned to engage accordingly. That’s because a true customer-centric banking model not only helps financial institutions gain a 360-degree view of the customer and uncover valuable insights, it also represents a commitment to making customers feel as though their bank truly understands what they want and need. Now that we’ve covered the basics of customer segmentation in banking, let’s take a minute to talk technology — after all, customer profiles don’t just build themselves. A customer relationship management (CRM) system gives banks a centralized database in which they can store customer data and develop customer profiles. By granting your employees access to this repository, you enable them to regularly update profiles with new information after each interaction and to use the information contained within a customer’s profile to provide more personalized service. Figures show that adding this kind of human touch to the customer experience benefits customers and employees alike: Among employees who report that customer-centricity is a key priority within their organization, 73% find their work meaningful. Be Proactive With Predictive Analytics Another way to pair strategy and technology for greater customer-centricity in banking is with predictive analytics. When accumulated over time, the data within a CRM system can be used to identify behavioral patterns and build predictive models that reveal valuable customer insights or operational inefficiencies. For example, if a customer has a documented history of visiting branch locations in person, they’re likely to do so again in the future. Although this is a relatively simplistic example of predictive analytics in action, it gets the basic point across. For a more complex understanding of how predictive analytics can help you develop a more customer-centric approach in banking, let’s say you want to proactively look for ways to optimize how your call center handles customer inquiries. After analyzing call history data sets across different customer demographics — for example, Baby Boomers, Gen X,

1. Customer Service Operations
Learning Block 1
Customer Service Overview

2. Abstract
• Customer service, when property implemented, can be an enabling process and a strategy to create
customer satisfaction. In turn, customer satisfaction creates happy and loyal customers; maintaining these
relationships is key for continued sales and repeat business. In order to provide customer satisfaction at
every level, customer service should be defined by the culture of the organization. It must be the
responsibility of every employee during all customer interactions.
• Customer service operations are woven into every aspect of the supply chain; therefore, customer
satisfaction and customer retention are of paramount importance for every company. Companies use
products and services to attract customers, so the need for customer service operations is unavoidable.
• This certification track is intended to provide a description of the basics of customer service, sound
communications processes, advice for dealing with challenging customers, the customer order and return
(reverse logistics) processes, jobs in customer service, and legal concerns.
• The goal of this certification track is to prepare students to successfully pass the customer service
operations national certification examination. The content of the certification track was developed by
LINCS in Supply Chain Management Consortium. SCPro™ Fundamentals Certification examinations are
owned and administered by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).
2

3. Course Agenda
1. Customer Service Overview
2. Communication Skills in Customer Service
3. The Order Process
4. Returns and Reverse Logistics
5. Jobs and Legal Concerns in Customer Service
3

4. Learning Block Agenda
1. Customer Service Defined
2. Customer Service Barriers
3. Maintenance of Customer Relationships
4. The Customer Life Cycle
5. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
6. Service Performance Metrics

5. Description
This learning block provides an introduction to the key
elements of customer service that are necessary to ensure
high levels of customer satisfaction. In addition to the
introduction, various types of customers are explored, along
with common barriers and approaches to addressing
challenging customer situations that inhibit satisfaction.
Finally, the customer order process, customer relationship
management (CRM), customer life cycle (CLC), and
maintenance of ongoing relationships are explored as
processes for customer satisfaction
5

6. Learning Objectives
• Understand how customer service can lead to customer
satisfaction
• Differentiate key steps in the customer order process
• Explain job roles
• Interpret legal concerns
• Recognize how service performance is measured
• Remember several key technologies used in CRM
• Implement the key aspects of maintaining and improving
customer relationships

7. Unit 1: Customer Service Defined
• Customer service can best be thought of as the set of processes
and supports an organization employs to create customer
satisfaction.
• Customer service, or how an organization interacts with its
customers, should take place before, during, and after a
purchase.
• It should also be noted that interactions between sellers and
buyers can be quite different, depending on the industry,
product, or service.
– Business to Consumer (B2C)
– Business to Business (B2B)

8. Characteristics of Good Customer Service
• The following are accepted characteristics of good customer
service that can lead to customer satisfaction:
– On-time delivery: Products and services delivered as promised
– Politeness: Courteous, well-mannered interactions
– Professionalism: Efficient, competent, and effective
– Personalization: Skilled at making customers feel like special
individuals
– Quality: Providing products and services that meet customer
specification(s)

9. Types of Customer Service
• Call Center
• Technical Customer Service
• Customer Service Stations
• Live Chat
• Email
• In-Person

10. Unit 2: Customer Service Barriers
Lack of proper
training and
inadequate staffing
Insufficient
authority to
manage requests
Inability to handle
stressful
environments

11. Customer Expectations
Customer service providers should set customers’ expectations early. It may be
a complicated process, but customer service providers should reassure
customers that they will attempt, in every way possible that is consistent with
the organization’s policies, to not only meet but also to exceed customer
expectations. Different steps these providers can take include:
– Following the organization’s processes and procedures to find the root cause of the
problem
– Keeping an outward presence of calmness, respect, and empathy
– Assuring the customer that customer service providers will do everything within
their power
– Solving the problem in the quickest and easiest way

12. Unit 3: Maintenance of Customer Relationships
Devoting time to customers before, during, and after sales
transactions
CRM software
Social media or other websites

13. Unit 4: The Customer Life Cycle
• CLC is a term used to describe the steps
firms follow in identifying, gaining,
managing, and keeping customers.
• Customer life cycle management (CLM)
involves controlling all aspects of the
customer life cycle.
• CLM is an approach that builds long-
term value by ensuring that every part
of an organization understands its
particular role in serving customers
well.

14. Unit 5: Customer Relationship Management
(CRM)
• CRM includes interactions
between organizations and
their customers.
• CRM involves developing and
defining strategies using CRM
software to support a better
and more effective customer
experience.

15. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
The following are key areas when developing CRM
strategies:
– Who are the customers?
– How can both parties benefit from the relationship?

16. Tools and Technologies Used in CRM
CRM software handles a number of tasks:
– They help gather information about customers like buying
patterns, preferred means of shopping, and spending amounts
– They provide analyses of historical data obtained from customers’
shopping records to determine customer preferences and behavior
– They provide access to data across departments or even with
partner firms
– They allow customers to have access to their transactions online
– They help communicate with customers in a personalized manner,
as with texts, emails, and social media sites

17. Types of Relationships
• Transactional Relationships
• Collaborative Relationships
• Strategic Relationships

18. Unit 6: Service Performance Metrics
Service performance metrics should be viewed as critical components of
an organization’s key performance indicators (KPIs).
Delivery Costs Quality
 On-time delivery/receipt
 Order cycle time
 Response time
 Total delivered costs
o Costs of goods
o Transportation costs
o Inventory carrying
costs
o Material handling
costs
 Perfect order fulfillment
o Complete order
o Accurate product
selection
o Damage-free
o Accurate invoices
Figure 1. On-time delivery.
Developed by LINCS in Supply Chain
Management Consortium.
Figure 2. Costs. Developed by LINCS
in Supply Chain Management
Consortium.
Figure 3. Quality. Developed by
LINCS in Supply Chain Management
Consortium.

19. Summary

20. Practice Questions
1. What is customer relationship management?
a) It is an approach to reducing costs and increasing profitability solely by using data to analyze
customer needs
b) It is a suite of software tools that helps manage customer relationships
c) It is a process for managing difficult customers
d) It is an approach to reducing costs and increasing profitability by improving customer loyalty
2. Customer service can be defined as the overall process or strategy that an organization
employs to:
a) Create customer satisfaction
b) Process warranty returns
c) Build a good website
d) Guard against negative comments on social media

21. Practice Questions
3. What is a major challenge associated with collaborative relationships?
a) They rarely achieve the kind of performance results that cooperative relationships achieve
b) Organizations must spend time developing the relationship as opposed to other value-
adding activities
c) They take a minimal amount of time, energy, and effort
d) They are costly to implement and are rarely successful
4. Transactional relationships in a supply chain are also called:
a) Cooperative relationships
b) Competitive relationships
c) Arm’s-length relationships
d) Distributive relationships

22. Practice Questions
5. Which of the following terms best describes an approach that seeks to build long-term
value by ensuring that every part of an organization understands its role in serving the
customer?
a) Quality management
b) Value stream management
c) Customer relationship management
d) Customer life cycle management
6. What are the three general types of relationships in the supply chain?
a) Transactional, collaborative, and strategic
b) Combative, adversarial, and non-productive
c) Cooperative, arm’s-length, and short-term
d) Strategic, limited, and cautious

23. Practice Questions
7. What are the key steps or stages of customer life cycle management (CLM)?
a) Introduction, acquisition, conversion, and loyalty
b) Identifying, gaining, managing, and keeping customers
c) Introduction, growth, maturity, and decline
d) Reach, acquire, maintain, and grow
8. Which of the following describes two or more organizations cooperating and modifying
their business objectives and practices to achieve joint long-term goals and objectives?
a) Arm’s-length
b) Friendship
c) Joint venture
d) Strategic alliance

24. Practice Questions
9. What are three main categories of performance measures for evaluating customer service
performance?
a) Retention, quality, cost, and supporting measures
b) Technology, quality, cost, and time measures
c) Delivery, cost, and quality
d) Time, quality, price, and supporting measures
10. When should time be devoted to customers to ensure good maintenance of relationships?
a) Before, during, and after the sale
b) During the order entry process only
c) When there is a warranty issue
d) When there is a product failure