Description

Features

The market-leader, Customer Service: A Practical Approach, Fourth Edition, goes beyond providing reasons why customer service is important to defining proven methods for creating customer service excellence. Using an organized and concise layout, it covers a wide range of knowledge and skills and offers an extensive collection of activities to enliven and invigorate any lecture. This edition features a revised chapter on technology, new quick quizzes, job link activities, team building exercises, and expanded challenge projects. Focusing on problem solving, communication strategies and self-assessment, it transcends superficial elements and pinpoints the skills needed to improve and sustain customer satisfaction and business relationships. 

Tackles the important issues—facing customer service providers and managers today.

• Addresses content most critical to the delivery of excellent customer service such as problem solving, strategy, empowerment, communications, motivation, leadership, customer retention, and technology. 

Explains ten characteristics of challenging customers—in chapter 7.

• Helps readers predict problems they may encounter and prepares them to use the tools of empathy and respect to improve and resolve these challenging situations. 

Offers an extensive collection of activities—throughout the text.

• Gives students numerous ways to develop skills and conduct self-assessments.
• Saves instructors time on class preparation.

New To This Edition

New! Chapter 11, Technology and Customer Service–has been significantly revised in this edition.

• Examines how technology–such as online bill paying, online shopping, webinars, and technical assistance–impacts customer service expectations and procedures.  

New! Job Links–appear within the chapter discussion.

• Offer individualized application activities to help prepare students for their first position in the field.  

New! Team Time activities–appear within the chapter discussion. 

• Help readers develop team-building skills and provide instructors with exercises for class assignments.   

New! Expanded end-of-chapter material–appears in this edition. 

• Offers new self-assessment quizzes, opportunities for critical thinking, and skill-building exercises. 

New! Expanded challenge projects–appear at the end of each chapter.

• Include integrative assignments that require students to practice multiple skills simultaneously.
• Encourage students to develop individual purpose statements, quality recognition forms and their own philosophy of customer service.  

New! Margin definitions–appear throughout the text.

• Define words as they are introduced to improve reading comprehension and understanding.

Table of Contents

1.      What is Customer Service?

2.      The Challenges of Customer Service

3.      Problem Solving

4.      Strategy for Formulating a Plan for Success

5.      Empowerment

6.      Communications in Customer Service

7.      Coping with Challenging Customers

8.      Motivation

9.      Leadership in Customer Service

10.  Customer Retention and Measurement of Satisfaction

11.  Technology and Customer Service

12.  Excellence in Customer Service

Courses

Customer Service  (Business Skills)
Customer Service  (Hospitality)
Customer Relationship Management  [CORE TEXTS]   (Marketing)

Next Edition(s)

• Customer Service: A Practical Approach, 6/E
  Harris
  ©2013  |  Prentice Hall  |  Paper; 192 pp  |  Instock
  ISBN-10: 013274239X  |  ISBN-13: 9780132742399
  Suggested retail price: $80.00  Buy from myPearsonStoreNet price: $60.00  (What's this?)Brief Description  | 

  

  For undergraduate courses in Customer Service, Training and Development, and Service Marketing; also as a supplement for a course in Marketing Principles.

   

  The market-leader, Customer Service: A Practical Approach, Sixth Edition,goes beyond providing reasons why customer service is important to defining proven methods for creating customer service excellence. Using a hands-on approach, it covers a wide range of knowledge and skills and offers an extensive collection of activities to enliven and invigorate any lecture. This edition features a revised chapter on technology, new Ethics in Action exercises and coverage of the latest trends in the customer service field. Focusing on problem solving, communication strategies and technology, this classic text pinpoints the skills needed to improve and sustain customer satisfaction and business relationships.

  More Info
  

• Customer Service: A Practical Approach, 5/E
  Harris
  ©2010  |  Prentice Hall  |  Paper; 192 pp  |  Instock
  ISBN-10: 0135064333  |  ISBN-13: 9780135064337
  Suggested retail price: $64.80  Buy from myPearsonStoreNet price: $48.60  (What's this?)Brief Description  | 

  

  For undergraduate courses in Customer Service, Training and Development, and Service Marketing; also as a supplement for a course in Marketing Principles.

   

  The market-leader, Customer Service: A Practical Approach, Fifth Edition, goes beyond providing reasons why customer service is important to defining proven methods for creating customer service excellence. Using an organized and concise layout, it covers a wide range of knowledge and skills and offers an extensive collection of activities to enliven and invigorate any lecture. This edition features a revised chapter on technology, new quick quizzes, job link activities, team building exercises, and expanded challenge projects. Focusing on problem solving, communication strategies and self-assessment, it transcends superficial elements and pinpoints the skills needed to improve and sustain customer satisfaction and business relationships. 

  More Info
  

Backcover Copy

Today's customer service providers and managers are more important than ever to a company's bottom line.  Customer Service: A Practical Approach 4e was created to meet the growing need for qualified customer service professionals.  This practical text-workbook focuses on the skills and strategies needed to build and maintain customer service excellence.

This revision retains popular features from the previous edition like "Remember This" chapter opening quotes and the "Redi-Reference: card that anyone can use while on the job.  Based on reviewer and user recommendations, the following new features are incorporated in this revision:

NEW - Assignment material has doubled!  Each chapter now includes Quick Quizzes, Opportunities for Critical Thinking, and Skill Building and Challenge Exercises.

NEW - Key Terms are highlighted in the chapter margins when first covered and are listed and defined at the end of each chapter.

NEW - Team Time and Job Link boxes in each chapter provide additional discussion and group activities.

NEW - Chapter 11 Technology and Customer Service is significantly updated to include:

• Foreign Call Center
• Updated Automatic Call Systems
• Online Bill Paying
• Online Conferencing
• Internet Telephony

Praise for Customer Service: A Practical Approach 4e:

Barbara Van Syckle, Jackson Community College, MI

"The writing is very good.  The material is written at a level that is very appropriate for our students, and I feel that our students do like the readability of the text."

Pat D. Tadlock, Horry-Georgetown Technical College, SC

Visit www.prenhall.com/harris for online support and additional resources.

Companion Website for Customer Service: A Practical Approach, 4/E
Harris
©2007  |  Prentice Hall  |  On-line Supplement  |  Live
ISBN-10: 0131990128  |  ISBN-13: 9780131990128
This online resource is available at no cost at http://www.prenhall.com/harris.
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Online Instructor's Manual with Test Item File, 4/E
Harris
©2007  |  Prentice Hall  |  On-line Supplement  |  Live
ISBN-10: 0131990179  |  ISBN-13: 9780131990173

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Online PowerPoint Lecture Presentation, 4/E
Harris
©2007  |  Prentice Hall  |  On-line Supplement  |  Live
ISBN-10: 0131990195  |  ISBN-13: 9780131990197

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Online Test Generator, 4/E
Harris
©2007  |  Prentice Hall  |  On-line Supplement  |  Live
ISBN-10: 0131990209  |  ISBN-13: 9780131990203

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Companion Website for Customer Service: A Practical Approach, 4/E
Harris
©2007  |  Prentice Hall  |  On-line Supplement  |  Live
ISBN-10: 0131990128  |  ISBN-13: 9780131990128
This online resource is available at no cost at http://www.prenhall.com/harris.
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Companion Website for Customer Service: A Practical Approach, 4/E
Harris
©2007  |  Prentice Hall  |  On-line Supplement  |  Live
ISBN-10: 0131990128  |  ISBN-13: 9780131990128
This online resource is available at no cost at http://www.prenhall.com/harris.
More Info

Companion Website for Customer Service: A Practical Approach, 4/E
Harris
©2007  |  Prentice Hall  |  On-line Supplement  |  Live
ISBN-10: 0131990128  |  ISBN-13: 9780131990128
This online resource is available at no cost at http://www.prenhall.com/harris.
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  ©2009  |  Prentice Hall  |  On-line Supplement  |  Live
  ISBN-10: 0135075475  |  ISBN-13: 9780135075470
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