Chapter 2 Web Links

Project 2.2 Techno Gadgets for Baby Boomers and Gen Xers

On-Time Technology Products sales manager, Mr. Brown, feels that not enough is being done to meet the needs of the generations of buyers. He plans to survey how the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers respond to innovations, especially in techno gadgets and communication devices.

Go to Barnes and Noble’s website and locate three published books on the two generations of customers that you feel would best answer Mr. Brown’s concerns. List the books you found that you would recommend, along with a brief description of each, below.

Title and Author Price Brief Description of Book

1.

2.

3.

Project 2.4 Free Personality Test for CSR Position

Many employers look for specific personality types to fit certain roles. For a CSR position, for example, they might look for someone who is an Amiable and has these general tendencies: cautious, gentle, and thoughtful; hesitant until they know people well, then affectionate and caring; very literal and aware of the physical world; uncompromising about personal standards; diligent and conscientious, organized and decisive.

What is your personality type? Visit any of the websites listed above for a free assessment of your personality type. After you have determined your personality type, do the following:

  1. Link the results of it to one of the four types most fitting you that were covered in the chapter.
  2. With that personality type in mind, assume you are a CSR interacting with each of the following personality types in a customer service situation: analytical, driver, amiable, and expressive.
  3. Using the information covered in the chapter, decide how you will react, based on your own personality type, to each of the personality types in a customer situation when the customer is returning a faulty product and wants cash back, not credit toward a future purchase. Your company’s policy gives you the authority to make that decision.
  4. Prepare a one-page synopsis in which you summarize these four situations. Be prepared to discuss your ideas in class, before you submit your report to the instructor.

Here is an example: You are the CSR and you are an Expressive. Your customer is an Analytical. As an Expressive, you really want to understand your customer as a person. You like to get enthusiastic about things—but that's the wrong approach with an Analytical. You will need to be as systematic, thorough, deliberate, and precise as you can in your approach. Provide analysis and facts.

Odgers, The World of Customer Service, 2e

©2008 Thomson/south-Western