STAFF HANDBOOK

Customer Relations
Greeting and interaction with customers

Staff Handbook

Making sure the customers right with us

Although it is easy to assume that basic politeness and a friendly manner are all that
is required to liaise comfortably with customers, we sometimes forget how easy it can
be to lapse into behaviour that doesnt help customer relations at all.
In business, our customers are our livelihood and our relationship with our customers
is all important. Greeting a customer is the businesss first opportunity to make a
good impression and attract custom. An insensitive response may just send a potential
customer straight to the competitors.
When customers are repeatedly difficult or we are unable to satisfy customer needs in
some way, we need to ask ourselves whether some part of our service needs to be
improved.
If you encounter a difficult moment in any interaction with a customer, please bring it
up at the weekly staff meeting. We can always improve the service we deliver and
often there are several solutions to difficult customer relations.
There is an old adage that the customer is always right. They arent necessarily, but
with good customer relations skills in place we can always make our customers feel
valued and give them assurance that we are the best company to meet their needs.
These guidelines have been developed to highlight the standard of customer
communications we expect at Strata and also help you in your regular dealings with
clients.
It may all seem like common sense. It is! But its also helpful and worthwhile to be
familiar with and recognise a consistent standard of behaviour with clients of this
company.
Take the time to read this document and keep it in your staff information folder for
future reference.

HOW SHOULD I GREET A CUSTOMER?

There are many circumstances that could be taken into account when
answering this question , and they include the following:
Are you greeting the customer over the phone or in person?
Is the customer a new contact or a known client?
What type of organisation do you represent?
What level of formality is required within your industry? A different level of
formality might exist in a lawyers office than would be present in a
hairdressing salon.

What level of the organisation do you represent? If the customer has already been
greeted at reception and then been transferred or referred to you there is no need at
the second greeting to reintroduce the organisation to the customer as part of the
greeting. The first greeting will therefore introduce the company, and then the second
greeting (at departmental level) will introduce them either to you personal ly or the
department you represent.
One could also suggest that the time of day should have a bearing on how the
customer is greeted (good morning or good afternoon).

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WHAT IS MEANT BY RECEPTION?

The meaning of the word reception can be described as the act of receiving
something, or a welcome or greeting. In some cases it is used to describe the area to
which people arrive when they first enter a building. In the case of this unit standard
the thing being received is a customer.
Your job description might deem you to be a salesperson, a clerk, perhaps a typist, or
even a parts assistant. However, if you receive customers either by telephone or in
person, there are receptionist responsibilities built into your role.

WHAT DOES ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL AND DEPARTMENTAL LEVEL

MEAN?
In larger organisations, customer reception may exist at several levels. This is
because somebody needs to direct calls to the department the customer wishes to
deal with. There is no point, for instance, in one of the mechanics in the workshop of
a new car sales & service dealership answering the telephone if the caller wishes to
speak to Accounts, or Sales, or the Parts department. Therefore a frontline
receptionist is employed to take calls in the first instan ce. He or she will then decide
which department is best suited to handle the customers inquiry, and will transfer
the call to that department. This is the Organisational Level reception.
When the call is transferred to the appropriate department it will be answered by
somebody at Departmental Level reception. Often the role of that person will double
as something else (clerk, typist, sales representative, etc.) due to the lesser workload
of the reception position. In many cases, any person in the department that the call is
transferred to who is free at the time of the call, will answer the telephone and greet
the customer. People at departmental level dont usually see themselves as
receptionists, but in effect the task is part of their duties in whichever position they
hold if they answer customer inquiries.

HOW DO I GREET A CUSTOMER OVER THE TELEPHONE?

Greeting a customer over the telephone is in most cases not going to be the same as
greeting a customer in person (face -to-face). The main difference will be that over
the telephone an identification process is required; this means that you will be
required to identify the organisation you work for.
Here is how a telephone greeting is usuall y structured at organisational level:

The Greeting (Good morning, Good afternoon, Kia Ora, etc.)

The Identification (identifying the

The Introduction (specifying who the customer is speaking to)

organisation you work for)

A typical organisational level telephone greeting might therefore go something like

this:
Good morning, Strata, Vanessa speaking.
Variations on that greeting might include:
Kia Ora, Strata, Youre speaking with Vanessa.
Usually in a larger organisation the type of greeting will be s et as part of company
policy, and you will be required to adhere to that.

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If the telephone is answered at a departmental level, then the second stage would
instead identify that department, rather than the organisation that the department is
part of. This is because the person who took the call at the organisational level will
have already identified the organisation.
A typical departmental level telephone greeting might therefore go something like
this:
Good morning, Board wear, George speaking.

HOW DO I GREET A CUSTOMER IN PERSON?

Organisational and Departmental greetings do not differ so greatly when a customer is
greeted in person. This is because the receptionist making the Organisational Greeting
does not usually need to identify the organisation the y work for. It would be quite
unnecessary to inform the customer who had just walked into you r building, past
signage indicating to them exactly where they were, what the name of the
organisation was once again.
Similarly, the matter of introducing who the customer is speaking to when they are
being greeted in person might not be seen as necessary. If, for instance, staff at your
organisation are wearing name badges then it may be argued that the customer needs
no further enlightenment about who you are.
In other organisations where name badges are not supplied, a form of introduction is
appropriate in order to personalise the greeting, even if the customer does not wish
to initially identify themselves by revealing their own name.
In such cases, the following greeting might be sufficient:
Good afternoon, my name is Sharon. How may I help you?
If it is seen as beneficial to include all three aspects of a greeting the greeting, the
identification, and the introduction, then the following greeting might be mo re
appropriate:
Welcome to Strata. My name is Sharon. How may I help you?
Always leave the way open for a positive response from the customer, rather than one
in which our services may be dismissed as unnecessary.
Some customer service staff tend to slip into a less effective habit of asking Can I
help you? Often the answer to that in a retail environment will be No thank you, Im
just looking, while in the reception area this approach could even be considered
utterly pointless. Of course we can help themits what we are paid to do, isnt it?
More to the point, this type of approach is an unsatisfactory way to greet a customer
as it contains no greeting, no introduction, and no identification process. One might
even suspect that those who use this app roach have no greater motive than to leave
the customer to their own devices and to return to their cup of tea. Or perhaps even
there book, or a personal telephone conversation.

IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR WAY I SHOULD SAY THE GREETING?

Patterns of speech or vocal tones are very important when greeting and serving
customers. Apply the wrong vocal tones and the customer may perceive you as being
tired, bored or lethargic and not interested in your job, o r perhaps even cheeky and
condescending.
Always be aware of the way in which you deliver your greetings. A lack of
concentration may result in any one of the customer perceptions described above, and
could reflect poorly on the organisation you are supposed to represent.

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Many of us have stresses at home or elsewh ere outside of work, and we should take
care that we do not allow these to affect our work performance. And work
performance also includes the way we relate to others, particularly customers. Your
workmates might forgive you if you are obviously having a b ad day once in a while,
but the customer that encounters your miserable or grumpy attitude just once may
decide never to do business with your organisation again.
Generally, if the greeting is delivered with a smile it should come across fairly well.

WHAT IF I AM ALREADY SERVING A CUSTOMER WHEN THE

TELEPHONE RINGS?
A dilemma for many customer service people is the question of whether or not to
excuse ones self from a face-to-face customer in order to answer the telephone.
Surely the visiting customer was t here first and should therefore be attended to
before the telephone caller, who is in essence pushing in?
Of course the caller is not going to be aware that you have an existing customer
waiting, and will certainly not be pleased if his or her call goes completely
unanswered. Unfortunately, rules and expectations are quite different when comparing
visiting customers to telephone customers, and while the visiting customer will in
most cases patiently wait in line for ten minutes or more while another custo mer is
being served, a telephone caller will not be prepared to hold on the line for that long
while you finish serving another unseen customer.
Most visiting customers will accept the fact that if you are alone at a reception desk
or in a department you are required to answer telephone calls, but will probably
become irritated if you end up spending too much time with the caller.
Putting things into perspective, the telephone caller needs to be prioritised in such a
way that the visiting customer is inconv enienced as little as possible. You should not
begin dealing with a telephone callers inquiry if it involves anything more than a call
transfer to an appropriate person or department, or giving brief advice or information.
Instead you should politely info rm the caller that you are currently busy with another
customer, and offer to return their call within a specified time (e.g. five, or ten
minutes, or longer if this is required). Do not forget to take their name and number,
and do not make a promise you c annot keep; be certain that the customer is called
back within the promised period.
Before answering the call, politely excuse yourself from the existing customer and
explain that you must answer the phone. Dont say something like I wont be a
minute if the average telephone inquiry extends considerably longer than that, and
dont interrupt the customer as they are talking to you. There may well be, according
to organisational policy, a maximum number of rings a telephone call may make
before being answered, but the priority of this rule should not undermine your
courtesy to the existing customer.

HOW LONG SHOULD I LET THE TELEPHONE RING BEFORE

ANSWERING?
Most telephone customers will expect a call to be answered fairly
promptly, and will find a three-to-four ring waiting time fairly
acceptable. Six rings or more is generally not seen as acceptable,
and somewhere between the eighth and tenth ring a customer will
usually give up and disconnect, unless they are particularly keen
to speak to somebody at your organisation. Otherwise, they might
just turn to the next listed business in the yellow pages and call
them instead; a customer could potentially be lost to an
opposition company.

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If your organisation has a telephone policy that deals with this is sue you should
adhere to it unless there is going to be some inconvenience to an existing customer
inquiry

HOW SHOULD I END A PHONE CALL?

When you come to the conclusion of a phone conversation you should thank the caller
for calling your company and menti on their name, if they have given it. To help you
remember who is on the other end of the phone you should always write their name
down; that way, if the call is a long one, you wont need to rely on your memory.
Always let the caller know they are welcome to call again at any time (during business
hours) if they require help or information. Offer to send them written documentation
(hardcopy) pertinent to their call if appropriate. A typical concluding statement might
be as follows:
Thank you for calling S trata, Mr Arthur. Please dont hesitate to call again if
you require further assistance/information on this subject.

SHOULD I RECORD ANY PHONE CALLS?

It is good business practice to record every call you handle; that way you always
know that you can check back if there is ever a dispute about whether a call was
made and/or a message passed on. Any company worth its salt should have a
telephone log book. When you log a call you have answered, you should make a note
of the time the call was received, the date, the name of the caller (if given), their
phone number (in case/if a return call is necessary), and the name of the person
(you) who answered the call.
If there was a message to be passed on, this should be mentioned as well as what it
contained and who it was meant for. When the message (if there was one) has been
delivered, this fact should also be recorded. If you are unsuccessful in delivering the
message, this should be noted along with the reason for non -delivery.
When you record a message to be pa ssed on to someone else in the organisation, you
should read it back to the person to whom you are speaking to make certain you
have taken down all the details and that they are correct. This will minimize the
chances of incorrect information being passed on, or a misunderstanding.

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HOW SHOULD I DEAL WITH RETURN CALLS?

If you are required to make a return call, you should make a note of this when you
log the original call. If you have said you will make this call by a certain time, then
you should do so. All return calls should be dealt with as promptly as possible; the
longer you leave them the easier it is to forget about them.
If, for instance, you have promised to call a customer back with information within an
hour, but have been unable to locate the information required, the best thing to do is
to call them within the stated time, tell them about the difficulties you are
experiencing (you might be waiting for someone else who has the information
required) and assure the customer you will keep them posted on your progress. The
customer concerned might be disappointed that they havent received the information
as promptly as they hoped, but at least they will know that you havent forgotten
them and that you are doing all you can on their behalf.
At the end of every work day, make a habit of checking through the calls y ou have
logged that day. If you find there is a call you have forgotten to return, make a point
of carrying out whatever was requested and then calling and apologising immediately.
Perhaps this might mean you wont get away as quickly as you would have lik ed, but
it will be worth the inconvenience if you can keep all the people you deal with content
with the service offered by the organisation you represent.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER I HAVE GREETED THE CUSTOMER?

After greeting the customer your next task is to mee t the customers needs. Your
training and experience within the job will provide you with the knowledge of how to
service those needs. The most important thing to do now is to listen.

HOW DO I MEET THE CUSTOMERS NEEDS?

Your role as a receptionist is to re ceive people. If your position involves more than
reception duties then you will possess additional skills to undertake those additional
duties. Depending on where you are working that might involve sales, claims
processing, typing, filing, word processing , data entry, or one or more of many other
possible duties. If those duties happen to provide further toward the customers
needs, then you will be equipped to do so. However, if your job is solely as a
receptionist then the most likely process after greet ing the customer will be to refer
them appropriately toward the person who can best meet their requirements.
As a receptionist you will be trained in who is who within your department and
possibly even the entire organisation, so that you may know who to r efer the
customer to. This will involve gaining a reasonable understanding of what tasks each
person performs within the organisation; after all, it would be frustrating for the
customer were they to be referred to the wrong department. Thankfully, some
customers will be able to tell you exactly who it is that they wish to speak to within
the organisation, while others will rely on you to point them in the right direction.
Obviously we cannot provide that knowledge for you here. Who does what within an
organisation will vary depending on the size, nature, and structure of the
organisation, and will vary greatly between organisations. Your on -site work training
will provide this knowledge for you.
However, wherever there are variables there are usually many c onstants. And those
constants include the way you process a customer and assist them in achieving their
intended purposes - meeting their needs, in other words. Lets take a look at a typical
customer inquiry, and where it leads us in the way of processing to meet their needs

HOW SHOULD I REFER A CUSTOMER TO ANOTHER DEPARTMENT?

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In a typical example of a telephone inquiry a customer will phone the organisation

and will be met with your greeting, according to organisational requirements.
Following that it is your turn to listen, in order to establish what the customers
needs are.
As you listen you will be confronted with one of two main situations, as follows:
Specific - The client will ask for a staff member by name, or request to speak to
somebody in a particular department.
Non-specific - The client will explain their needs to you, without specific reference
to any staff member or department.
In the first case scenario you should be able to process the inquiry easily by referring
the customer to the approp riate person to service their needs. How exactly you do
that in choice of words, may be governed by organisational policy. However, a typical
call transfer process might go something like this:
Organisational reception: Good morning, Strata, Vanessa speak ing.
Customer: Good morning, could I please speak to someone in your surf
clothing department?
Organisational reception: Certainly. I will put you through to surf clothing now.
Thank you.
There is no need for further dialogue on behalf of the customer , though they may
wish to add a thank you to the end of the discussion, to which you need not reply;
the conversation needs to end somewhere.
It might at first seem unnecessary for the receptionist to thank the customer at this
point, as the customer does not appear to have done anything for the receptionist.
However, the thanks are provided as a matter of courtesy, and relate more to the
acknowledgement that the customer has chosen to conduct their business with your
organisation. For that you should be very thankful, as it is the customers who support
your organisation with their business, who provide you as receptionist with a secure
job.
If the customer is visiting your organisation in person, then the referral process will
be a little different. Again the process may be governed by organisational policy, and
how you go about servicing the customers needs may differ considerably. For
instance, in some organisations it might be standard policy for the receptionist to
accompany the customer to the dep artment or office that they are being referred to,
while in others the receptionist is expected to remain at the reception desk and
provide instructions for the customer on how to get to the office or department they
wish to be in.
Heres how a typical in person customer inquiry could be managed:
Organisational reception: Good morning, welcome to Strata.
Customer: Good morning, could you tell me where I might find rash vests?
Organisational reception: Certainly. Take the escalator directly behind you t o
the first floor. Youll find our surf clothing to your left as you step off.
The circumstances of the referral process will of course differ depending on the
nature of the customers inquiry and also on the guidelines of company policy.

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HOW DO I MANAGE A NON-SPECIFIC INQUIRY?

If the customer is non -specific about the way you are able to assist them, you need to
listen. If the inquiry is telephone -based then you could also be writing notes as the
customer explains what it is they require of your organisat ion.
It will soon become apparent what the customers needs are, and to whom or to which
department you will need to refer them. At that point in the conversation you can
transfer the call (or refer the customer) to the appropriate person or department. As
a receptionist, your main task is to establish which direction to point the customer in
and to refer or transfer them accordingly. Unless you have further training in other
duties, that is the extent of your involvement with the customer.
The conversation with the customer will be similar to that used in the specific inquiry
scenario, except that the customer, instead of asking for a staff member or
department, will elaborate on the details of their needs. The five basic steps you can
take for any inquiry, whether personal or over the phone, and whether specific or
non-specific, are as follows:

Greet the customer

Listen to establish what the customers needs are
Assist where possible with advice or information
Thank the customer
Refer or transfer the custom er to the appropriate person or department

WHAT IF THE CUSTOMER IS RUDE AND ABUSIVE?

From time to time your organisation may receive a call or visit from an unhappy
customer who wishes to air a grievance. Such calls or visits can be great tests of your
patience and ability to maintain decorum.
It may be quite obvious that the customer has a genuine grievance due to an error
made by somebody within your organisation, and in such circumstances you should
apologise on behalf of the organisation and offer to at tempt to remedy the problem
for them immediately. Do not under any circumstances make any specific offer of
reparation or compensation unless you are clearly permitted to do so.
The main thing to remember is not to take any verbal abuse personally. Remembe r
that you are acting on behalf of the company and not as a separate individual. The
abusive customers comments will almost always be directed towards the organisation
and not necessarily at you personally. In the rare event where the customer insults
you personally you should remain calm and adhere to company policy in dealing with
such cases.
If you feel you cannot manage the situation without either bursting into tears or
returning insults to the customer, take a deep breath and try to calm yourself. Th en
excuse yourself from the customer, telling them that you need to refer their complaint
to your immediate supervisor. Go to your immediate supervisor or manager if they are
readily available and explain that you have a hostile customer who requires a mor e
senior staff member to serve their needs.
In the case of a telephone caller who is displaying hostile behaviour, suggest to them
that you do not have the capacity in your position to deal with their problem and that
you will get an immediate supervisor ( or manager) to return their call at their earliest
opportunity, asking them what time would be best to call them. Their attentions will
then be diverted to their schedule and in most cases they will immediately back off.
Thank them for their call before ha nging up. Remain courteous at all times.
You should at some stage establish from your supervisor or manager what
organisational policy is under such circumstances.
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HOW AND WHEN SHOULD I IDENTIFY THE CUSTOMER?

Until such a time that the customer is ready to undertake a written transaction or be
referred to another person in the organisation there is usually no need to ask them to
identify themselves. This, however, may differ from one organisation to another and
there are no general rules regarding this proc ess.
People do not generally like to identify themselves until such point as they are certain
that they may be undertaking some form of transaction with your organisation. Among
the misgivings they might hold would be a fear that you may want to aggressively
pursue them for a sale when all they really want to do at this point in time is to
investigate their options, without commitment.
At the point when the customer is to be referred to another specific staff member,
however, it is customary to in quire into their identity, so that you may introduce them
to the staff member who will be personally servicing their needs. The way in which
this is done can vary, though the following could suffice in the event of a telephone
conversation:
May I tell them who is calling please?
In the event of a personal greeting and subsequent inquiry, you could use the
following method:
May I have your name, please?
This method may also be also acceptable during a telephone inquiry.
Always ask the customer their name; never demand it from them. You may feel that
asking what is your name please is acceptable in that it is asking and not
demanding, but it is in fact not always appropriate because it leaves the customer
without a reluctance option . The example method asks the customer if they would
agree to provide you with their name, whereas this method simply demands their
name.
Remember too that introductions are a two -way process. If you are going to be
introducing the customer by name to another staff member, be sure that the customer
knows who it is that they will be speaking to in the departmental environment. This
should occur regardless of the fact that the staff member the customer will be dealing
with will introduce themselves anyway. The following example w ould apply to a
telephone inquiry:
Thank you Mr Timu. Ill put you through now to Mr ONeill.
In the event of uncertainty over which staff member the customer will be dealing
with, the department name to which they will be referred should be given. In su ch
cases it is not necessary to obtain the customers identity because there is no
requirement for a formal introduction.
Thank you. Ill put you through now to our Sales Department.
In conclusion, if the customer is to be introduced personally to a spec ific staff
member, then it is appropriate to establish their identity. If the customer is to be
referred to a department and not any specific staff member, then no identity needs to
be established.

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DO I NEED TO SAY GOOD -BYE TO THE CUSTOMER?

Certainly not; you are not seeing the customer off, merely passing them on to another
department. Simply thanking them is sufficient.

For further information, you may like to refer to the Staff Handbook on Personal
Skills and Presentation, available from HR Reception , ext 8765.

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