Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: define characteristics of exceptional customer service and explain why providing exceptional customer service is a top priority for many financial services companies; describe the knowledge and skills that service providers should possess to provide exceptional customer service, the challenges they confront, and the benefits to the company of exceptional customer service; describe how financial services companies gather performance information using customer satisfaction surveys, observation, monitoring, mystery shoppers, and complaint monitoring; identify and describe various forms of technology that financial services companies use to share and manage customer service information, including computer networks, knowledge management systems, databases, document management systems, and automated workflow systems; and describe the steps service providers can take to best manage and resolve potential conflicts presented by upset or difficult customers.