Bus 140 Customer Relations         5 Credits

          Instructor:  James Braden       Office: 206-524-8464       bradenconsulting@comcast.net

Course Description                     

Develops skills to identify and resolve internal and external customer complaints, handle difficult customers, and utilize effective verbal and nonverbal communication methods. Teaches students how to contribute positively to the service culture of an organization. Emphasizes importance of effective customer service for business success. Examines future trends and changes in work environments.

 Course Outcomes/Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: 

1. To identify internal and external customers and their roles in business processes.

2. To communicate with customers in person by using effective verbal and nonverbal skills.

3. To learn the strengths and weaknesses of various electronic media to resolve customer problems.

4. Learn negotiation, time management and goal setting skills for dealing with customer complaints.

5. To recognize the importance of good business practices and maintaining high ethical standards.

6. To build leadership skills for self motivation and taking personal initiative to resolve problems.

7. To learn practical techniques and useful responses for dealing with customer demands.

                       North Seattle CC learning outcomes that relate to class assignments.

Outcome  #1  Think Critically in reading and writing.

Outcome  #4  Access, evaluate, and apply information from a variety of sources and a variety of contexts.

Outcome  #6  Work and communicate effectively in groups.

Academic Integrity

    Education, and distance learning in particular, assumes a high level of trust between the instructor and students. I expect honesty from all my students. Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated and could mean a failing grade for the assignment. All students are expected to do their own work, except where group activities specifically require collaborative efforts.
     If any situation interferes with your efforts to carry out the requirements of this course, please let the instructor know as soon as you are aware of these circumstances.  You are expected to communicate with other class members and the instructor in a professional and respectful manner. I trust that all work submitted will be the product of your own efforts and if you are referencing outside sources, you will cite all appropriate sources in your work.

    All written assignments will be graded for use college level English so be certain to run spelling, grammar and style checks on all papers. For those students needing assistance with writing please contact The Loft, upstairs in the campus library

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Readings  &  Assignments

Textbook:  Customer Service-Career Success Through Customer Loyalty – 4th Ed.     Paul R. Timm , 2008

Attention!    A completed bio with your photo is necessary before financial aid is notified.

Week 1     April  5-9

     Chapter 1   Know Why Service Matters

* If you are comfortable with Instant Messaging you may want to include that information in your biography.

* Review the biographies/photos of the other students on the class roster and contact the persons you would like to work with to say hello. It's expected that you will use the first weeks of the quarter establishing good working relationships with at least one or two other students during this time of no assignments. There will be little time for this bonding later on when the assignments are due.

* You may use Angel Chat, or any other Instant Messaging system for your group work, send regular email, or simply pick up the telephone to speak with your fellow students. To video CAM in groups, you may want to explore this software   http://oovoo.com

* PRINT A HARD COPY of this syllabus for later reference, just in case the servers are down when you have a question about assignments. It's also helpful to save the class website  to your favorites list by copying this link     http://facweb.northseattle.edu/bradenco/bus140jb     and pasting it into your browser so you can go directly to the website outside of Angel.

Week 2     April  12-16

     Chapter 2   Use Behaviors That Engage Your Customers

# 4   Keirsey Internet Exercise             *See instructions below on this page

                              Submit to Instructor by Noon on April 19

Not required, but you might find this article interesting and can add anything you learned about yourself to your Keirsey paper.    "What Money Type Are you?"  Money Magazine   Aug, 2005

A fun exercise. Do your vision/brain results support your Keirsey results? 

Week 3     April  19-23

     Chapter 3  Apply Your Best Listening Skills

     Chapter 4  Use the Telephone Right for Good Service

#1   How Are Your Phone Usage Skills and Attitudes? (20 points)      Page 71 in textbook.

- Write 1-2  page paper describing specific goals for any areas where you need to make improvements (the circled letters in the two right columns).  If you are doing everything right and did not circle anything in the two right columns then describe exactly what you are doing correctly for all 10 statements. (i.e.  for statement #1, tell me how your returning a call in a timely manner made a customer happy or "saved the day" for you.)   Examples of a good paper

                                 - Submit paper to instructor by Noon on April 26

Week 4     April  26-30

     Chapter 5  Use Friendly Websites and Electronic Communication

#6   TEAM:    Compare and Evaluate Websites.    *See instructions below 

-  Go to these two websites www.mountaindew.com   and www.rainforestcafe.com   Compare how well the sites use the Web to present their messages? (Do they enhance customer awareness, are they graphically pleasing, easy to navigate, useful to the target market, load quickly, accelerate the repurchase of products?)

-  Then contact your team mates to compare your evaluations.

                                     -Submit to instructor by  Noon on  May 3

Week 5     May  3-May 7

     Chapter 6  Recognize and Deal With Customer Turnoffs

#1, #4 & #11   Mystery Shopping Activity (30 points)    Pages 121-122 in textbook.  When you have gathered your data from 3 businesses of the same type (retailer, restaurant, banks, car dealers, etc.), write a 1-2 page report on what you found. If you owned this type of business what would you do to improve the service?  Be specific. If you have visited multiple locations of the same business, like different Fred Meyer stores, then compare the differences in service between stores.       Example of a good paper

                                            - Submit to instructor by Noon on May 10

Week 6     May  10-14

     Chapter 7  Get Customer Feedback

#1 & #11   Understand Your Feedback Receptiveness Attitude (30 points)     1-2 Pages.    Page 133 of textbook.

 Think back to a time when you received criticism from someone else. Recall a specific event or situation. Describe how you:    1. Avoided being defensive,    2. Asked for more information,    3. Expressed an honest reaction,    4. Thanked the person for providing feedback..  Then summarize by answering the question..... "Overall how would you rate your attitude when you are given feedback? What might you change, if anything?"   Example of a good paper

                                                       -Submit to instructor by Noon on May 17 

Week 7     May  17-21

     Chapter 8  Recover the Potentially Lost Customer

#1, #4 & #11   Does Behavior Influence Customer Loyalty? (30 points)      Pages 41-43 in textbook

- Interview 3 people mentioned in the assignment. Write a 1-2 page analysis of your results. Discuss what your 3 customers have to say about their shopping experience with one store or business. (if different stores, they should be in the same chain of stores), which will allow a balanced picture of one chain's overall customer service.  Discuss the behaviors that seem to relate to customer loyalty, as those customers see them.   Example of a good paper

                             Submit to instructor by Noon on May 24

Week 8     May  24-28

     Chapter 9  Exceed Expectations with Value

     Chapter 10  Give Customers A-Plus Information

#6   TEAM:  Evaluate Website for customer friendliness and usefulness.     *See instructions below.

- Go to www.niketown.com . Evaluate this site for good customer service. Click on  the NIKEiD button and build a shoe that fits your style. If you’re in the middle of your shoe design and have questions about what to do next, where can you go on the site for help?  Do you think it reaches its target market? Does Nike invite comments from visitors to this website? How does it attempt to build positive relationships with it’s customers?  Then contact your team mates to compare your evaluations

                              - Submit to instructor by Noon on May 31

Week 9     May 31 - June  4

     Chapter 11  Exceed Customer Expectations with Convenience

Week 10     June 7-11

     Chapter 12  Managing Your Time and Tasks to Reduce Stress

#6   TEAM   Identify the Errors in Garth’s Call.   *See instructions below.      Page 88
- List your own 4 or more ideas about Garths telephone problems then contact your team mates to compare your ideas. See if you can agree on what was wrong with the call and put those ideas into one paper.

                             - Submit to instructor by Noon on June 14

Week 11     June 14-18

     Chapter 13  Get Employees to Give Great Service

     Chapter 14  Recognize the Emerging Trends in Customer Service

#4   FINAL EXAM:   A Closed Book, 50 question, True/False-Multiple Choice Exam.   Log on to Angel  any time from Friday evening to the evening of the last day for finals.

FINAL EXAM   100 points.  A Combination of True/False/Multiple Choice or Essay questions based on text and any assigned readings listed in the syllabus.

***  KEIRSEY CHARACTER SORTER PAPER       1-2 pages          30 points

Sometimes understanding differences in employees’ personalities helps managers understand how to motivate them.  Find out about your personality by going to the Keirsey Character Sorter Web site   http://www.keirsey.com.

*  Click on the FOUR TEMPERAMENTS to review the different portraits listed under each temperament
    type. You will return to this section after completing the questionnaire.
* Look for and click on "Take the Keirsey Temperament Sorter II"  icon on the home page.
* Complete Background Information Questionnaire/email address form.
* Complete Keirsey Questionnaire.  Answer as you Typically or Usually behave. Press Finish to Score.

The test identifies four temperament types:  Guardian, Artisan, Idealist, and Rational. (Disclaimer: The Keirsey Temperament Sorter like all personality tests, is only a preliminary and rough indicator of personality.)

1.  Read the 4 Portraits associated with your TYPE   (i.e. GUARDIAN - Supervisor, Protector, Provider, Inspector).

2.  Choose the Portrait under your Temperament TYPE that you feel fits you the best.  Read the corresponding  description.
    How well or how poorly does this portrait describe you?

3.  Sometimes the test does not accurately identify your personality, but it may give you a place to start looking for a Portrait
    that fits. After you have chosen your portrait, ask a good friend or relative which of the portraits best describes you, without
    telling them what you have already selected. See if they choose the same portrait.  Do they agree or disagree with your
   choice? Then write about what they told you.  Discuss what you learned about yourself. Examples of good papers.

(For those interested in learning their Exact 4 Letter Type, contact me for further information or purchase the book Please Understand Me by David Keirsey)

* TEAM/CASE  ANALYSIS   (60 points total---20 points per case)     1-2   Single spaced pages per case. 
   Scores are not routinely sent out, only upon request by student.    Spelling and Grammar will not be checked on this activity, since you are grading yourself.

     Select 1 or more classmates to work with as a team (3 in a team is ideal), via discussion chat / email / phone contact.  If, for any reason, a student chooses to turn in their own answers without team interaction then the automatic score is 10 out of the possible 20 points per team/case analysis. A person may be a member of only one team per team/case analysis activity, with no overlapping teams. All members must claim each other as a part of the same team. You do not have to stay with the same team all quarter.
      Students should individually answer all questions accompanying each of the three team/cases listed on the syllabus, then SHARE their answers with other team members to see if there are points of agreement.  If you choose to work together at the same time, you might find using an electronic whiteboard useful in compiling your responses on one paper. http://writeboard.com

     Any COMMONLY AGREED UPON answers are compiled into a SINGLE PAPER.  All members of the same team must submit an IDENTICAL copy of this paper to me by email. This will verify all have actually worked together. (However, if any student has opinions which differ from those of their fellow team members they may include them as an addition on their copy.)  All papers will be emailed to me by the due dates stated in the syllabus.
     These papers should show EVIDENCE of group sharing and an exchange of information. Each student is expected to make an honest contribution to the effort of arriving at mutually agreeable answers to each of the questions. Do not be overly concerned if you can't all agree. Students will be expected to read the material and put in sufficient "thought time" to make meaningful Critical Thinking contributions to their group discussions.
     Each student paper should contain a self rating of their own efforts AND a rating of fellow group members.  Each student assigns themselves and the others a score from 0 to 20 points.  Students should list those points after their own name and the names of fellow group members at the top of their page of commonly agreed upon answers. Points roughly correspond to   20 = A     16 = B     12 = C     8 = D     0 = No preparation.  The average of a students self rating and that of their fellow group members will be each students grade for the activity.  (For example: John Smith submits a Rating of 19 for himself and his 2 fellow group members rate him a 15 and 11. The total is 45 points and his average is 15. This is John's score for the activity.)

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Grading

Please note

*Tips for writing good papers.  Give yourself plenty of time! Write your paper, then let it sit overnight. You will be amazed at the errors you catch the next day.  Read it aloud to yourself, your ears will catch mistakes that your eyes do not. Or read it aloud to a friend, or better yet, an enemy! If they say, HUH?, what do you mean by that, they have done you a favor. Your paper should be self explanatory to anyone reading it or listening to you read it.  By doing any one of these things, or all of them, you will produce your best work.

* All written assignments need  to use college level English so be certain to run spelling, grammar and style checks on all papers. For those students needing assistance with writing please contact The Loft, upstairs in the campus library

* All assignments are due on dates specified in the syllabus.  Late assignments may be penalized, unless student has contacted instructor for an extension.

* Any grading system is subject to human error, so please contact me if there are questions.

*  Final grades are assigned according to published grading standards for the course.

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