For staff to fully appreciate customer vulnerability, training programmes need to be established that enable sound questioning and alerts to be established early in the customer handling process.
Therefore, staff should be able to handle customers in an unobtrusive manner eliciting key information that helps build a picture of the customer’s needs and concerns.
Ensuring that the customer fully understands the product or service offering with the information provided. If they do not, why not?
Identify if the customer appears concerned over complex issues. This is particularly important where financial products are on offer.
Verifying any needs that the customer has with regards contact and communication details.
Ensuring that the right product or solution has been offered and is in the interests of the customer. This can sometimes cause a dichotomy if sales staff work on commission incentives.
It is also important to ensure that a customer fully understands bills or the formats of transactions that create a key part of the contract. If there are signs of anxiety or concern this could be a trigger for focus in relation to customer vulnerability.
By adopting BS18477: 2010 the British Standard for Inclusive Service Provision a business can be assured that it is using the best model for dealing with customer vulnerability. By working towards external certification from BSI the organisation can become a leader in its class for the treatment of customers.
For further information and to book your BS18477 – Inclusive Service Provision survey please contact: Marcus J Allen at Thamer James Ltd. Email: [email protected]
Marcus has twenty years’ experience in delivering Governance, Risk and Compliance solutions to over two hundred organisations within the UK. Marcus holds the respected Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance from the International Compliance Association and holds a master’s degree in Management Learning & Change from the University of Bristol.