Question

Note: time permitting, instead of using the mental exercise recommended above, you may conduct your own original analysis by observing a service operation, by surveying the customers of a service firm, or by using the results of surveys from other classes or from a paper, cases, or textbooks (provided that they help you to list at least ten (10) “annoyances” with the service and to state their frequencies).
Your submission for this assignment must consist of:
?Your choice of the service organization and the identification of a list of ten (10) types ofcomplaints and the frequency with which they have been made.
?Your recommendation of the action to be taken to best address the situation of dissatisfied customers, based on the use of the Pareto analysis AND a detailed Fishbone diagram (suggest as many causes as you can, whether you know that they are real or they might be just "possible" causes).Choose a Service Organization that you are extremely familiar with. Identify ten (10) “problem areas” that dissatisfied customers are likely to be complaining about.
In order to do that, you may use your own top ten pet peeves and set up your level of annoyance with each such issue by approximating the number of times you have noticed the “problem”. Then, you would consider the frequency of your [recollected] observations as the number of complaints that the shop would have recorded if they had conducted a survey with a large number of customers.

Answer 1

Customer service isn’t just about being courteous to your customers – it’s a vital element of business operations that can impact your bottom line and affect how your company is viewed in the public eye. Several high-profile companies have been in the news of late, finding themselves in the spotlight because of poor customer service policies. The good news is, it’s relatively simple to implement a customer service improvement plan that keeps your business on top.

What Is Customer Service?

Customer service consists of a collective set of policies that govern every way you and your employees interact with your customers. It encompasses everything from how much parking you have available to how you greet customers, handle service complaints, and back up your product or service. At its core, quality customer service is about making sure your customers feel they are valued, treated fairly, and appreciated by your business.

Tip

• Customers frequently share their opinions of businesses online and through social media, which means even one wrong move or perceived slight – especially one caught on camera – can spread quickly and damage your business. In addition to providing high-quality service, monitor what’s being said about your business online so you can quickly address and resolve any complaints as they arise.

Why Customer Service Is Important

A lot of businesses just like yours are competing for customer dollars and customer loyalty. Chances are good that you’re investing in marketing and advertising efforts to bring consumers through your doors. The important part of customer service is in keeping the customers once you bring them in. It costs significantly more to attract new customers than it does to take care of the ones you already have.

Tip

• Customer service is important to reducing turnover. Employees who have to deal with unhappy customers are unlikely to enjoy their jobs for long and may leave to seek more hospitable working environments.

How to Provide Exceptional Service

Good service starts with your attitude and employee training. After all, good service works from the top down, and employees who are specifically trained in the art of quality customer service are far more likely to represent your company in the way that ensures satisfaction and repeat business.

Develop customer service policies: Implement service policies that address every conceivable aspect of the customer experience. This includes how quickly your phone is answered or your website or email questions responded to, how many cashiers you have on busy days, how generous your return or exchange policy is, and how you handle irate customers. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and brainstorm every potential scenario your specific business could encounter, and then develop customer-friendly ways to address them. Involve your staffers in the process – you’ll get fresh ideas as well as buy-in to the customer service concept.

Hire well: When you interview candidates, ask them what quality customer service means to them. Pose sticky customer scenarios and ask them how they would respond to the situation. This gives you an idea of whether the people you hire for your front lines will represent your business in a way you find acceptable.

Provide customer service training: Train your employees on customer service policies. Role-playing works well with one staffer acting as the customer and another as the staffer. Moderate the session to offer your take on what the role-players did right and where they can improve. Make customer service training an ongoing part of your company’s professional development program so that staffers are continually urged to up their games.

Survey Your Customers

Another way to gauge service levels is to invite customers to give you an honest assessment of the type of service you and your employees provide. Do this via surveys, focus groups, or by having an online or in-store comment box available. Carefully review compliments and complaints and look for common threads that can be addressed and improved upon.

Ask your employees to keep you apprised of the most common complaints and compliments they receive and strive to do less of the former and more of the latter. Consider rewarding staffers for exceptional levels of service as well. This encourages not only compliance but also above-and-beyond efforts.

Common complaints and solutions

There are a number of common complaints that customers make relating to products and services. Having procedures in place that find solutions to common complaints will help you resolve issues quickly and efficiently.

Seek outcomes that will satisfy your customers, and make sure these are feasible and affordable for your business. Remember that the cost of a short-term concession is worth preserving a long-term relationship.

The following list suggests some solutions to a number of common complaints.

Faulty product

• Investigate the fault with the manufacturer.
• Offer a replacement item or replacement model.
• Repair the product if it is under warranty.
• Consider replacing the product even if it is no longer under warranty.
• Train staff to explain warranty conditions at the time of sale and repair.

Incorrect descriptions of the product

• Train staff about the products they are selling.
• Ensure product literature is accurate.
• Investigate the product with the manufacturer.
• Make sure staff explain warranty conditions.

Poor client service

• Investigate the areas of issue.
• Train staff in customer service skills.
• Rotate staff so they can increase their knowledge of other areas.
• Encourage and support teamwork.

Slow delivery

• Investigate lead times.
• Re-prioritise delivery schedules.
• Train staff to provide more accurate delivery data to clients.

Poor response to information request

• Retrain staff in how to respond to client requests.
• Set procedures on how to respond and response time frames.
• Provide more take-home literature to customers.

Lack of communication

• Train staff in communication skills.
• Implement a documentation system (e.g. a hand-over book for shift changes).

Rude staff

• Train staff in client service skills.
• Develop and use disciplinary procedures.
• Rotate staff to more suitable duties.
• Review recruitment and selection procedures.

Uninformed staff

• Make sure staff know your products and services.
• Make more product literature available for reference.
• Encourage teamwork and support.

Needs not accurately defined

• Train staff in sales skills.

Promises not carried out

• Train staff in good customer service.
• Document promises made to clients and the mechanisms in place to ensure you deliver.
• Encourage teamwork and support.

Repeated complaints from the same client(s)

• Examine the nature of their complaints.
• Try to determine the reason for the frequency of complaints for this particular client.
• Discuss the pattern with your customer and your staff.