Who Are Our Customers? A short training session free from TenMinuteTrainerTips

Who Are Our Customers?

Aim

To encourage participants to take a broader view of ‘customer service’ by treating everyone as a customer.

Overview

Participants consider who are their ‘customers’ and then think about the benefits of treating those different groups as though they are customers.

Numbers

Any number, working in groups of three or four.

Suitable for

Induction, refresher, daily meetings.

What you need

A flipchart or wipe-board and pens.

Resource 1 – Customer Groups

Handout 1 – Action Plan

Handout 2 – Report Back (for evaluation)

Preparation

 

1. Copy Handout 1 – Action Plan (one per person)
2. (Optional) copy Resource 1 – Who Are Our Customers to use as a handout
3. Arrange your room so that participants can work in groups of tree or four.

 

What to Do

Activity – 2 minutes 30 seconds – whole group

Explain to the group that there are many different types of ‘customer’ groups, not just people who make a purchase from a shop.

Ask for suggestions of other people who could be classed as customers within your organisation.

Capture the answers on a flipchart, looking for some of the suggestions on Resource 1

Reflect – 3 minutes – groups

Allocate a number of ‘customer groups’ to each group of participants and ask them to suggest  reasons why we should treat this group as ‘customers’.

Conclude – 3 minutes 30 seconds – whole group

Take feedback from each group, using Resource 1 to prompt key benefits.

Capture the main feedback on your flipchart.

If appropriate, give everyone a copy of Resource 1 – Who Are Our Customers as a handout.

Plan – 1 minute – individuals

Give each participant a copy of Handout 1 – Action Plan, and ask each to plan one thing that they will do differently as a result of today’s session.

 

Evaluation

Two weeks after the training session send each participant a copy of Handout 2 – Report Back, asking them to complete and return it.

Variation

You could identify the customer groups in advance and spend more time in this session talking about the need to keep those groups satisfied.

 

Resource 1 – Customer Groups

Here are some suggested ‘customer groups’ together with reasons why it can be beneficial the treat them as ‘customers’.

Feel free to add other customer groups that are relevant to the organisation.

 

Existing Customers	So they remain loyal and come back again So they recommend us to their family and friends So we get a bigger share of their business and become their ‘provider of choice’
Potential Customers/Casual Enquirers	So they are impressed and come to us So they remember us for the future So we turn a potential customer into a regular customer
Ex-customers	So they come back to us So they recommend us So they stay in touch and come back when they need to
Contractors	So we have a good relationship and they understand our needs So they are motivated to do a good job on our behalf So there is good communication So our overall service to all our ‘customers’ improves
Colleagues	So we have good working relationships So we improve overall performance So we have a pleasant and productive working environment
Stakeholders	So that they have the best possible impression of us So that they become advocates of what we do So they support us in what we do

 

 

 Who Are Our Customers?

Handout 1 – Action Plan

Following the training session today, I am going to take the following action:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By (date):

 

I have chosen this because:

 

 

 

 

 

I shall know it has been successful because:

 

 

 

 

 

Signed:

 

Date:

 

 

Who Are Our Customers?

Handout 2 – Report Back

Following the training session I took the following action:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The result has been:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Signed:

 

Date:

 

Please complete this form and return it to:

 

By (date):

 

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