Date: 8 May 2024
Duration: 1 day
Level: Intermediate
Venue: Singapore University of Social Sciences
Minimum number to run: 20 participants (To be updated by SUSS)
Retaining existing customers and acquiring new customers are vital for all businesses. Good customer service retains existing customers and creates customer satisfaction. This would lead to increased sales and referrals. Your customers are the most powerful form of advertising and marketing. Empathy is crucial to enable you to be able to identify customers’ pain points, and find solutions to address customer needs, build trust and loyalty, and retain customers who would be your organisation’s word-of-mouth (WOM) advertisers.
The workshop will also deal with service process and design. The use of technology, like big data and Artificial Intelligence, will be discussed. We should not lose sight that the customers are real human not artificial. The dangers and pitfalls of excessive use of technology and checklists will be discussed. The human touch remains vital for good customer service. Handling of difficult customers vis-à-vis satisfied loyal customers will also be discussed in the workshop.
- Understanding customer service excellence
- Knowing your customers and their pain points
- Building a culture of empathy and caring for better customer solutions (a service culture)
- Building customer trust and loyalty
- Loyal customer to be treated better
- Rewarding loyal customers vs rewarding complaining customers
- Loyal vs new customers
- Designing and managing service process
- Appreciating that a sale is the beginning of a relationship not the end.
- Knowing that customers are humans not a data
- Being aware of pitfalls of technology and checklists in customer service
- Handling complaints and service recovery
- Being aware of rewarding unsatisfied customers over loyal customers
- Being aware of encouraging complaints to be the new norm.
- Dealing with unreasonable customers
- Rewarding good customer service
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Appreciate the essence and ethos of excellence customer service
- Knowing your customers and their pain points
- Cultivating a solution-based customer service culture
- Designing and managing a service process
- Handling complaints and difficult situations
- Retaining customers
- Class activities
- Short quiz
- Attendees should have a basic understanding of customer service or have worked in a customer facing role
- Attendees have to bring along their own laptop
Dr. Ameen Talib
Head of Applied Project
School of Business
Singapore University of Social Sciences
Ameen Talib is a Chartered Accountant, Academic, Consultant, CEO, Entrepreneur and social activist. He graduated from Ain Shams University in Cairo with a Bachelors in Commerce (Accounting) in 1983 and moved to London to pursue his Masters in Accounting and Finance from London School of Economics. He obtained his PhD from Warwick University in 2003 and left NUS (where he was since 1991) in the same year to focus on his business and consulting.
With more than 15 years’ experience in F&B as a owner-manager of lifestyle café and restaurant. Ameen introduced new lifestyle product into the Singapore market.
Ameen has also been strategy director and CEO of a manufacturing company in Thailand. He restructured the company from a trading company to a manufacturing company including the construction of the factory and the process design.
Ameen has over 25 years’ experience in lecturing and training and have also undertaken numerous training and consulting projects, in various parts of the world including (not exhaustive) Poland, China, Zambia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Saudia Arabia, Dubai, Thailand, Rwanda and Kuwait.
With over 25 years’ experience in non-profit organisations and community work; Ameen served as a board member of the Association of Muslim professionals (AMP) in three different occasions; in the inaugural board from 1992 to 1996 and then from 2002 to 2007 and again 2010 to 2013. He had also been Chairman of Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA); served in the board of the Malay Heritage Foundation; and is currently in the management board of the Arab Association (Al-Wehdah) and is Co-Chairman of the Al-Wehdah Bursary Fund. Currently he is Chairman (and c0-founder) of the Singapore Muslim Education Fund (SMEF) and was in the Management Board of the Middle East Institute, NUS. He has also served many other voluntary organizations.
Ameen has over 15 years’ experience in business consulting specialising in strategic restructuring, performance management and operating processes and has consulted for clients in Thailand, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Application Procedures
Please submit the following documents to cet@suss.edu.sg:
- Coloured copy (back and front) of NRIC for Singaporeans and PRs, or "Employment"/"S" Pass for foreign applicant
- Application form
1 Mid-Career Enhanced Subsidy: Singaporeans aged 40 and above may enjoy subsidies up to 90% of the course fees.
2 Enhanced Training Support for SMEs: SME-sponsored employees (Singaporean Citizens and PRs) aged 21 and above may enjoy subsidies up to 90% of the course fees.
- Participants are required to achieve at least 75% attendance and pass any prescribed examinations/assessments or submit any course/project work (if any) under the course requirement.
- Participants are required to complete all surveys and feedbacks related to the course.
- The course fees are reviewed annually and may be revised. The University reserves the right to adjust the course fees without prior notice.
- Singapore University of Social Sciences reserves the right to amend and/or revise the above schedule without prior notice.
For clarification, please contact the SUSS Academy via the following:
Telephone: +65 6248 0263
Email: CET@suss.edu.sg