President's Tip of the Week

A 7-Point Program for Mastering Customer Service Leadership
(4/7/09)

I found this fantastic article written by Craig Harrison, DTM on some of the things he learned while serving in the various officer roles. I would encourage you to read his entire article. But for the sake of this tip, I will put his main ideas into bullet points.

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Did you know that Toastmasters provides a 7-point program for mastering customer service? It takes less time than a 4-year degree and can be pursued in your home club? True, it's not publicized in any Toastmaster documentation, but I am a graduate of this program. Allow me to explain. Over 42 months I served in all seven club leadership positions and, in the process, became an expert in customer service! Here's how.

Sergeant Salutes Guests: Set the stage for the customers, making it easy for them to find the meeting and understand procedures. Focus on repeat business. Learn and practice making guests feel welcome and at ease and learn to anticipate customers’ needs.

Secretary: Members’ Pipeline to World Headquarters: Learn to use written communication to fix problems, pay attention to details, and create a paper trail to help customers conduct their business.

Treasurer: Investing in the Success of Others: Learn about fiscal responsibility, prioritizing, and reinforcing the value of the product.

VP-Membership: Paying Attention to Retention: Honed listening skills, understand thoughts and motives, and problem solving skills. Learn the importance of selfless service to meet needs.

VP-PR: Promoting Solutions to Others’ Problems: Learn how to sell a service to potential customers.

VP-Education: The Answer is Know: Learn how to help individual customers, be a source of information, and focus on customer satisfaction.

President: Leading a Customer Relationship Management Firm: Experience leading a service organization, empowering others, advocating for customers, take up a supportive role.