CUSTOMER SERVICE

Thus far, we have focused our discussion on attitude. Although attitude is important when dealing with others, good attitude alone is not enough. The customer comes to the contact point for service-not camaraderie.

What would be your reaction in the following situation? You have gone to the dental clinic with a toothache. The DT meets you at the door with a smile, shakes your hand, shows you to a chair, and offers you a cup of coffee. You say, "Thanks just the same, but this tooth is driving me up the wall. Can you take care of it?'

The DT replies, "Oh, I don't know anything about teeth-but I'm friendly."

This situation is ridiculous. You know that carrying out your responsibility at a contact point requires professional competence. Professional competence includes knowing what you can do, how to do it, and when to do it.

KNOWING MEMBERS' RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES

All Navy members have certain rights and privileges by law. You have the responsibility as a contact point representative to know what these rights and privileges are and to whom they apply.

Some customers choose not to take advantage of certain rights and privileges, while others may not be eligible for them; for example: . You may have no dependents; therefore, you

have no eligibility or need for dependents' health care. . You may choose not to take advantage of

available educational opportunities. . You have too many years of service remaining to

worry about the details of retirement.

Even though some customers will not use the rights and privileges they are eligible for, others will. You must be prepared to answer their questions regardless of whether they intend to take advantage of them or not.

Some contact representatives feel they are doing customers a favor by providing information about these rights and privileges. They think they may grant or withhold such information as they wish. That should not be the case, and it should never occur! The Navy provides these rights and privileges as incentives for enlistment and reenlistment and as a form of compensation. Withholding them for any reason except as provided by law undermines members' morale and confidence in the Navy and defeats the purpose of providing them.

KNOWING REGULATIONS

After the customer has explained a problem, you must then decide what you can do to solve it. You must have a thorough knowledge of pertinent regulations and directives if your decision is to be appropriate.

One thing common to all contact points is the volumes of regulations, manuals, and directives that set

forth the limits and procedures that govern your performance. You do not need to memorize their contents, but you should know what information each reference contains. Then when a question arises, you will know which source to turn to for the correct answer. In fact, rather than trying to learn all the answers, you should concentrate on learning the proper sources for finding the answers. You will soon learn the answers to many routine questions, and you will find that you don't have to look them up each time. However, if you rely on memory for answers to infrequent problems, you run the risk of error because of obsolete information.

Many sources provide information on the rights and privileges of Navy members. They include official and unofficial Navy publications and commercial periodicals as described below: l Official publications include manuals,

instructions, and notices; they are used by all levels of the Navy.

. Unofficial publications reach a larger audience than do the official. They include All Hands, systems commands and bureau newsletters, and ship and station newspapers. . Commercial periodicals, such as Navy Times,

also have wide circulation among Navy members and dependents.

All of these References contain information about the Navy members' welfare: rotation and assignment, pay and allowances, advancement opportunities, health care, and exchange and commissary benefits. You cannot cite unofficial and commercial publications as authority. However, since they usually contain information and reasons for changes or new programs, which are not included in official directives, you can use them to get background information. Background information can help you do a better job of explaining the directives to the customer. Often, unofficial and commercial publications also provide advance information that alerts you to forthcoming changes or new programs.

The contact point representative must afford the customers rights and privileges impartially, but keeping in mind that all customers don' t have the same rights and privileges. At some point, you will have the unpleasant task of explaining why a disappointed customer is not eligible for a particular program or service. The following are examples of such situations: l Two members are reenlisting. They are both

completing their first 4-year enlistment, and both are at paygrade E-5. One is entitled to a selective reenlistment bonus (SRB) and the other is not. l An MS2 and SH2 both reported aboard ship in

January 1988. Therefore, the projected rotation date to shore duty was July 1991 for the MS2 and July 1992 for the SH2.

The underlying reason for setting limits and qualifications is to ensure the Navy has enough capable personnel to perform the jobs to meet the needs of the service. If that were not a consideration, a member who attends college could at the end of a 4-year enlistment be handed a discharge and a diploma. That would provide the member with the maximum educational benefits, but it would not provide the Navy much in the way of operational manpower. Our programs must do both-maintain enough personnel to carry out assigned missions while offering the greatest possible opportunities to Navy members.

You have two responsibilities when dealing with a customer who is not eligible for some right or privilege. The first, of course, is to be certain of your facts so that you do not deny an opportunity to which the member is entitled. The second is to explain the reasons the customer is not eligible so that your motives will not be questioned. A customer must have no doubt that the denial was based on regulations, not on your opinion or favoritism.

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