Customer Service Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction Process

This process incorporates the four Customer Service Skills. Following this process will help get you to a productive, two-way conversation with your clients:

  • Express respect. (Demonstrate a willingness to listen.) - Communicate verbally and non-verbally to your clients that their needs are important to you. The well-placed "please," "thank you," and "I am sorry," work very effectively to signal your respect.


  • Listen with an open mind. (Strive for active listening, not just attending.) - Invite your client to explain. Hear them out without interjecting your opinion. Use confirming and clarifying comments to test your interpretation and let your client know you are listening. Remember to listen for and reflect feelings as well as facts.


  • Probe for further information. (Open and close-end questioning.) - Use questions to accurately understand the client's needs and to diagnose the problem or request effectively.


  • Confirm your understanding. (This is more listening.) - Summarize the client's needs or problems in specific terms, to assure you are on the same wavelength before going on to problem-solving.


  • Offer solution(s). (Use your reframing and handling emotion skills.) - When possible, ask the client what they think should be done or what they would like you to do. When you offer the solution, give alternatives if you can and allow the client to make a choice. If there is only one solution, frame your recommendation positively ("This is what I CAN do") and explain the benefit to them of your approach.


  • Follow through and check for satisfaction. (This is not a skill. This is a discipline.) - Do what you say you will do by the time you said you would do it. If you run into problems, let the client know. After you have completed the job, ask the client if they were satisfied, and if there is anything else they need.