Customer Service Excellence: Building Service Champions in Your Company

Presented by Marcia Zidle

All planes are the same in the air. It is the people, primarily the front line, who interact with the passengers, which make the real difference. The way we think about service has changed. Who is responsible for service, how we achieve it and what service means are all being redefined. Leaders now recognize that responsibility for service does not reside in just the customer service department. It resides in every department Every employee shares this responsibility.

Customer service must be thought of as a leadership issue because of what you, as a manager, pay attention to on a daily basis. Most of the messages employees receive comes from their immediate manager as to what is important and what is not. Managers must constantly communicate that the customer’s experience is the team’s number one priority.

Best Practice for Complaint Handling to Assure Customer Retention

Presented by Jeff Kasoff

Complaint handling is likely one of the more cross-functional parts of your quality system: Customer Service may receive your customer complaints, Sales and Marketing may need to reach out to the customer for additional information, Regulatory Affairs may determine whether the complaint is reportable, QA may perform the root cause investigation, R&D or Manufacturing Engineering may need to be involved in the corrective action, and Quality Engineering may need to trend the complaints! This session will include the requirements for all of the above responsibilities, which will include defining, documenting, and implementing a complaint-handling system, the requirements for complaint review, investigation, and corrective action, as well as ISO-specific implications. Also covered will be a discussion of what constitutes a complaint, and recommended practice on how to handle "non-complaint" feedback. Also covered will be the application of risk management to a complaint handling system, and a specific risk management system explained.

Clarify Your Message to Compel Your Customers to Listen

Presented by Shakira M. Brown

If you think a brand is using a great logo and stellar well-designed marketing materials – think again. Your brand is ACTUALLY what others feel your brand to be. As your organization’s experience grows and your reputation builds, your brand will develop with or without you. Established firms of all sizes and industries must take a step back and ask: What is your story? Why are you worth the value you are presenting to the world?

In this presentation learn why having defined brand messages that effectively demonstrate a competitive advantage and offer defined purpose, vision, and values for everyone to rally around should be a part of your overall business strategy. Senior leadership and management level participants will have a clear understanding of what a brand truly is and ideas for how to embark on developing brand positioning at their firms for optimal success.

Marcia Zidle is a board certified executive coach, business management consultant and keynote speaker, who works with organizations to leverage their leadership and human capital assets that result in higher performance and profitability. She has 25 years of management, business consulting and international experience in a variety of industries including healthcare, financial services, oil and gas, manufacturing, insurance, pharmaceuticals, hospitality, government, and nonprofits. She brings an expertise in social and emotional intelligence; executive and team leadership; employee engagement and innovation; personal and organization change management.

Jeff Kasoff, RAC, CMQ/OE, LBB, has more than 30 years in Quality and Regulatory management. Over that time, Jeff has implemented and overseen quality system operations and assured compliance, at all sizes of company, from startup to more than $100 million in revenue. This multi-faceted experience makes Jeff uniquely qualified to address compliance issues across the entire range of company sizes. Jeff has also been the primary liaison with FDA inspectors and notified body auditors, giving him first-hand experience with the most common issues surfaced by regulatory agencies. Jeff has the following certifications: Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence certification from ASQ, Regulatory Affairs Certification from RAPS, and Lean Black Belt from IIE.

Shakira M. Brown is a 13 time award-winning PR & Branding expert and Founder & CEO of SMB Strategic Media LLC (www.pradviser.net ), a firm that helps small business owners get to the heart of why the customers/clients buy their goods and service helping them clarify their message via strategic brand messaging. The company helps businesses convey their competitive advantage with custom PR and content development services to help them stand out in their market. Shakira is also the founder creator of The Functional Entrepreneur TM principles and marketing consulting for America’s Small Business Development Center at The College of New Jersey. Shakira has over 25 years of experience in public relations, television production, branding, sales/marketing, content development and website strategy. She has won over 13 industry awards in various disciplines for her work and is a frequent business speaker at the professional conference (www.shakirabrown.com). Known as The Small Biz Whisperer, She is the host of Moment Masters Show Small Business Podcast (www.momentmasters.com), available on iTunes and Google Play, among others and she is also a contributing writer for Black Enterprise.com.