CUSTOMER CARE FOR INTERNAL AUDIT
http://internalaudit.uonbi.ac.ke
Who is the customer?
The person who receives the output of our services. He may be an internal or an external
customer. For internal customers the customer may be a more senior or junior staff or one
from another department.
What does the customer want? Efficient and speedy delivery of service.
Why customer care?
To reduce operational costs through quality customer care
To facilitate the smooth running of the customer’s mission
To improve the perception of internal audit as Partners in value enhancement as opposed
to roadblocks and detectives.
Customers are the people we are employed to serve.
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Teamwork in customer care
There is a need for good interpersonal and inter-departmental co-operations. Less time is
spent correcting mistakes, arguing and blaming each other.
What do customers want?
Our objective should be to satisfy the needs of the customer, whose expectation may
include:
Clean premises friendly and knowledgeable people
Helpful people
Trustworthy people
Fair people To be heard/listened to Businesslike people
Understanding
Quality service
Efficient people
respectful people
Problem solving
Appreciation
Understanding
Willing to go out of ones way (doing more than the bare minimum)
Empathize with their tight schedules and deadlines
Courteous, polite and sensitive
Sensitivity to the customers’ feelings on service quality. Satisfaction is expressed by
the customer not the giver of service.
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BEHAVIOUR AND ATTRIBUTES THAT CUSTOMERS APPRECIATE
The performance of delivery of goods/services can be measured against customer
satisfaction by the following barometers:
Alertness
A greeting
Eye contact
Paying attention
Not blaming other colleagues
Self organization and planning
Positive body language
A smile
An offer to help
listening
Calling customer’s name
Solving problems
Right mental attitude
Take a customer as king
GOLDEN RULES OF CUSTOMER SERVICE
Take the customer as king
Always put myself in the shoes of the customer and treat them the way I would wish
to be treated
Always treat the customer as if he/she were a visitor in my house
Show him that attending to him/her is not a distraction but my main business
Stress the customer’s convenience, not mine
Never humiliate a customer
Never reciprocate if the customer is rude or abusive
In every case, saying “no” or “I doubt you” should be done diplomatically
Never mock a customer to his face
Our procedures exist for the customer and not the customer for our procedures.
We should aim to delight our customers and in case they are unhappy, it should
concern us
Never lord it over a customer
VARIABLES USED BY THE CUSTOMER TO DETERMINE THE QUALITY OF
SERVICE
Availability
Reliability
Timeliness
Responsiveness
Competence
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Access
Courtesy
Communication
Credibility
–
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Security
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of goods and services
consistency of your performance and dependability
no delays
your willingness or readiness to provide service
the possession of the required skills and knowledge by the
employee to provide the service
organization approachability and ease of contact
politeness, respect, friendliness of contact personnel
keeping customers informed in a language they understand
trustworthiness, believability, honest, customer’s best
interest at heart
freedom from danger, risk
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Understanding
willing to consider the circumstances
Knowledgeable
don’t display ignorance to the customer
Efforts to know customer needs - showing concern
Tangibles
physical evidence of service
buildings, appearance of personnel
tools used to provide service
other customers in the facility
CONFLICT SITUATIONS FACED BY THE AUDITOR
Below are listed a few of the various
situations faced by the auditor in the
Internal Audit Department when dealing
with the customer. Evaluate the various
responses. The recommended response
that is friendly to the customer has been
ticked. An explanation for the same is
given in bolded italics.
1. The customer is obviously wrong but ignorant of the fact, is angry with me.
• Glare at him and angrily tell him, “you are wrong…it isn’t true that……, raising
my voice above his.
• Put on a mean and confident face which says “what you are saying is irrelevant”
Tell him Please calm down and let us look at the facts……….Sorry about the fact
that you are angry but you may change your stance once you know
that……Thank him for understanding at the end of it all.
(Never humiliate a customer, never reciprocate if a customer is rude or abusive,
be courteous and respectful).
2. Instances when we tell a customer “sorry”
• Never! That would look like we don’t know what we are doing.
• Only when we have wronged him/her or contributed in one way or another toward
his/her displeasure
• When a customer demands it
When we notice that a customer has been inconvenienced in the course of our
interactions with him (It should concern us when our customers are unhappy)
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3. Customer is looking down upon me and asks to
deal with my boss
• Usher him but with a telling face and wry
smile show him proudly that nothing will
change in his favour (and that he still has to
come back to me anyway)
• Tell him confidently that whether he likes it
or not, ultimately, he has to deal with me as
the boss can’t help him.
Usher him in but tell him that he is
welcome anytime to come back and be
attended (Never reciprocate if the
customer is rude or abusive)
4. Customer, having overlooked me and gone to see my boss, swearing and seething
with rage against me, has been referred back to me to serve him
• Humiliate the customer so that he learns a lesson by asking him whether now he
has been served.
• Ignore him and continue with any other work/customer till he gets the message
that he can’t overlook me and get away with it.
Welcome and serve him as if nothing ever happened
Serve him and tell him that we are sorry at the fact that he was upset about our
service. (Never humiliate a customer)
5. Customer has been misled/ misdirected by finance staff and is angry, based on
information given.
• Tell him that “ finance have lied to you and anyway they are to blame”
Tell him, “the facts are different from the way they seem to have been put to you.
We shall investigate and rectify the situation. Meanwhile we shall do what we can
to assist you.”(Avoid blaming other colleagues to a customer, this does not add
any value to them. Problem solving, show sensitivity to customer’s plight)
6. Customer is agitated because the right person to serve him is not on her desk.
• show him that as a matter of fact anyway, he/she has to come back later
• Glare at him and angrily ask him whether he expects an officer to be glued to his
desk all the time without even going to the bank or to drink water, then pose for a
reply from him/her.
Apologise for the situation and offer to pass a message to the absent officer. Serve
him where possible. Assist him on the best time he can find the officer present.
(Treat the customer the way I would wish to be treated if I were in his shoes)
7. Customer expresses how he/she has been inconvenienced in terms of personal
schedules.
•
•
•
•
Continue with your work without attending to him, /her since it was not your fault
and he/ she contributed to the situation.
Tell the customer that it was his/ her fault
Pose the question to him, “ how does that concern the university/ audit /us?
Ask him, “how have we contributed to your situation?
Listen, show concern and apologise for the situation, promise to do your part and
wish him good luck.
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Advise him, if relevant, in a circular manner to start the process early next time so
that he is not similarly inconvenienced.
(Stress the customer’s convenience, sensitivity to customer’s plight)
8. Customer wants to be attended immediately oblivious of his/ place in the queue.
•
•
Ask him what is so important about him and whether he thinks he is the only one
we are serving in the whole University
Tell him that whether he likes it or not, he has to follow the queue.
Tell him politely that there are other customers ahead of him in the queue who
would be inconvenienced if he is attended earlier. However you will endeavor to
take the minimum time possible to serve them all. (Never humiliate a customer,
never lord it over a customer)
9. Customer offers “kitu kidogo” for faster service or for you to waive some requirement
in his/her favor.
•
Tell him that you will call the police to take him and charge him with corruption.
Tell him that in this place we don’t take bribes as a policy. Inquire from him and
follow up on any lead, like how he/she got the idea into his/her mind. (Never
humiliate a customer)
10. Customer presents a claim, which we think, is exaggerated or undeserving.
•
Tell him with finality that we have ruled that the claim cannot be supported and it
will not be paid
Tell him that unless he/she provides other supporting evidence, we fear there is no
justification for the claim. (Never lord it over our customer, saying no or I doubt
you should be done diplomatically)
11. Customer presents a claim whose budget appears to have been provided for in an
earlier payment.
•
•
This claim is fraudulent as the expense was provided for in an earlier payment
This claim cannot be paid, we are asking the finance staff to cancel the voucher as
the expense was provided for in an earlier payment.
It appears that an advance of ksh. 30,000 had been already processed to meet this
same expense. The basis of this claim is therefore not clear. Please explain. (Be
respectful, Saying no or I doubt you should be done diplomatically)
12. After searching our records, we realise that customer’s claim has not even reached
internal audit office.
• Tell him that he has wasted our time as if we have no better business to do other
than looking for what is not there.
Tell him, “sorry, our records show that it hasn’t yet been brought to internal audit
dept. Could he/she check in the office just before ours and next time start from
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there before coming to our office so that he/she is not similarly inconvenienced”
(Never humiliate a customer, stress the customer’s convenience, problem
solving quality)
13. Customer has come a second or third time having missed us earlier when we were
not in the office and is, as a result, agitated.
• Tell him, ‘for your information, we are not limited to working only from our
desks, some of our work is field based’
• Reply, “but finally we are here, what is your problem anyway?”
Apologise for the situation, give explanation and go out of your way in serving
him to ensure he is not inconvenienced again. (Show sensitivity to customer’s
plight, empathize with their tight schedules and deadlines)
14. Customer does not obviously understand the importance of the time consuming
procedures involved before he/she finally gets served.
• Tell him/her, “that is the system” and he/she should just know that that is how it
works.
Tell him that the system is designed to incorporate certain controls, which are
ultimately for the long-term convenience of clients. Tell him that the department
is currently reviewing the procedures so that in future, clients are not
inconvenienced.
(Our procedures exist for the customer and not the customer for our
procedures).
15. Customer comes to your desk while your are making a phone call or making
consultations with your colleague or assisting another customer and it takes some
time.
• Extend the object of the distraction or make no convincing effort at stopping it
• Ignore the inconvenience and ask him what you can do for him
• Ignore the inconvenience and just look at him, meaning he can now state his
problem
Make convincing efforts to shorten the time of the distraction, apologise for the
delay and serve him showing due sensitivity to his inconvenience. (Always put
myself in the shoes of the customer and treat them the way I would wish to be
treated)
16. A phone call or a colleague wishing to consult or other factor interrupts our service to
customer X.
•
•
Show excessive interest in the object of the interruption in a manner likely to
prolong it at the expense of the waiting customer
After finishing, continue serving him without apology for the delay
Make a convincing effort at shortening the period of the distraction, show unease
at the waiting customer, by throwing glances at him/her, postpone the issue till
after the customer has been served if possible and apologise on resumption of
service. (Treat the customer the way I would wish to be treated
17. The customer complains because of the distractions outlined in no. 12 and 13 above.
•
•
Ignore and continue serving him/her because these customers are difficult people
Wear a look saying just like customers, Iam immune to them, anyway when he
finishes complaining he will go away.
Make a genuine apology, ‘Iam sorry I inconvenienced you. The action was really
unavoidable and the effect was not intentional. (Treat the customer the way I would
wish to be treated, stress the customer’s convenience, not mine)
18. Customer comes for service just when you had stood up to leave as it is lunch hour or
5.00pm. You;
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•
•
Ignore him and continue packing so that he gets the message that am leaving. Tell
him when I have the keys on my hand that I want to lock the office
Tell him “Come at 2 pm or tomorrow as it is time for lunch/break”
Explain to him that unless it is an emergency, we really have to stop work and
break for lunch. If we don’t we might be late to open in the afternoon and that will
affect a lot of services. (Treat the customer as if he were a visitor in my house)
19. Customer comes for service when I have stood up to leave though it is working time.
•
Ignore him and continue packing so that he gets the message that I am leaving.
Avoid eye contact with the client.
Ask him; “yes, may I help you? After listening to his/her case, “Sorry, but I must
attend to another issue. Ms YYY will assist you. (Treat the customer as if he
were a visitor in my house.
20. Customer comes for service at exactly 8.00 am or 2.00 pm before I can even settle on
my seat.
•
Why are you coming at the hour on the dot? You cannot allow an officer even
time to take a sit? Surely when did you expect us to have worked on the
document?
Welcome. Give me one second to retrieve the relevant documents. We have just
come from lunch and hadn’t sorted them out.
(Never quarrel/humiliate a customer, attending to a customer is not a
distraction but my main business, empathize with their tight schedules and
deadlines, attend to a customer as if he were a visitor to my house)
21. My administrative head (Principal/Director) is approving some transactions which I
feel he has no authority to.
•
•
Write on the documents “you have no authority whatsoever to approve these
transactions” and send them to him.
Go over to the principal’s office and tell him, “ Sir you have no authority to
approve these transactions and therefore I shall not endorse my signature to them.
Seek an appointment with him and advice. E.g. sir, this document falls in the
category of those listed under part three of the xxx regulations. These require the
approval of the DVC (A&F)/ tender committee, etc. My humble advice is that you
forward the documents to the relevant office to obtain the requisite authority. That
act will free me to attest that it has complied with procedures. It will also
safeguard you from scrutiny in future on the basis of acting outside the powers of
the office. (Never humiliate a customer, be respectful, always be diplomatic)
22. Customer wants to explain himself but I know what he wants and it is not here.
•
•
I just tell him to go to the next office before she finishes explaining herself
I tell her to come later in the midst of her explanations
Wait for her to finish or hurry her with an interjection like, ‘is it to do with salary?
Sorry! Room 7 is the one which has been entrusted to handle such issues please
(with a smile). (Customers appreciate when they are heard, show the customer
that attending to her is not a distraction but my main business)
23. Customer speaks very softly and I cant hear well what she wants.
•
•
Pardon her once and if still I cant hear, tell her to go to the next office as I am
busy
Tell her, “if you don’t want to speak loudly, then you can go”.
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Tell her, excuse me, please speak up, I need to hear so that I can assist you
(Politeness, problem solving, attending to a customer is not a distraction but
may main business. Treat the customer the way I would wish to be treated)
24. Customer describes what she wants wrongly hence leading me to waste time checking
for her document in the wrong place.
• Tell her; “you have wasted my time, if you don’t know what you are looking for,
don’t come here to waste our time”.
Sorry, it appears that the description you gave us is not the right one as it is giving
us a wrong lead. We will ask you more questions to enable us try and make out
the right reference so that the document can be traced to enable us serve you
(Never humiliate a customer, never mock a customer to his face, cut the image
as being problem solving).
25. Customer due to ignorance of our procedures bitterly alleges that we are sitting on her
claim or using our pen to frustrate and sabotage her.
• Ask her if she thinks we have not seen bigger amounts of money being paid to
people before
Explain that we are there to facilitate not block and express an apology for any
actions that may have given that impression (Never humiliate a customer, never
reciprocate if the customer is rude or abusive, display sensitivity to customer’s
plight.)
26. When we are going to an office to carry out an impromptu audit or investigation.
Which is the right format?
•
Enter and just announce that we are the internal auditors and we have taken over
the office with all the documentation as they are, may everybody else leave.
Enter, greet them, introduce ourselves by name, inquire about theirs, their titles in
a friendly manner, comment on how the University is one uniquely large
institution where people working at various places easily fail to know each other.
Comment about their output with interest. They must be surprised to see us there
etc Then, introduce our mission, ‘ We are sorry / are afraid we will be forced to
tamper with your smooth operations as we will be conducting our investigations
from here. We will be most enabled if all the documentation in this room is left
intact as it is for our verification. We will endeavor to limit the period of
disruption of their normal activities as much as possible. We have instructions to
work expeditiously and report our findings to the VC. We believe the outcome
will trigger other decisions and changes in the systems as to enable them work
better. (Be diplomatic, be courteous, polite, take the customer as king, stress the
customer’s convenience)
27. What is wrong with the following expressions to a customer?
•
You launched the claim yesterday and you are already following it? You cant be
serious (Sensitivity to the customer’s plight, humiliating a customer, our
procedures exist for the convenience of the customers/ our customers don’t
exist for the convenience of our procedures).
•
If it was that urgent, why did you not follow up the claim earlier, after launching
it?
(Sensitivity to a customer’s plight).
•
We have tried our best to serve you with speed. If you are still complaining, then
God knows what will make you happy. (Satisfaction is expressed by the
customer, not the giver of the service, lacking courtesy and politeness and
sensitivity to customer’s feelings on service quality)
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