reflection
AKA-Pro
502Class7_MGT345_545.pptClass 7
The Role of the Employee in
the Service Experience
Self Service v. Live Service
Average cost of a live service interaction in a B2C setting is $7 and $13 for B2B. Result?
Companies invest an extraordinary amount of resources in self-service options with the intended consequence of resolving low-complexity issues.
What is the unintended consequence?
Frontline service reps get increasingly tough problems - the issues customers can’t solve on their own.
What’s Happened to Service Employees?
While self service continues to improve dramatically, the onboarding, training and management of service employees remains the same. The result?
Turnover can be as high as 24% annually.
This creates a GAP!
Which Gap is it?
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Gap 3 – Service Performance Gap
- Human capital issues are a major cause of Gap 3 because employees frequently deliver or perform the service
- Organizations can begin to close Gap 3 by focusing on the critical role of service employees, especially front-line service employees
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The Critical Importance of Service Employees
- Employees are:
- The service
- The organization to the customer
- The marketers and the brand
- The Power of One:
- Every encounter counts
- Every employee can make a difference
- Through their actions, employees shape the brand
7 Profiles of Service Employees
- The Rock – unflappable and optimistic; doesn’t take difficult conversations personally
- The Innovator – identifies ways to improve processes and procedures; generates new ideas and options
- The Empathizer – enjoys solving others problems; seeks to understand behaviors and motives; listens sympathetically
- The Competitor – focuses on winning, outperforming colleagues and changing other’s views
- The Accommodator – meets people halfway; involves others in the decision making; eagerly offers discounts and refunds
- The Controller – outspoken and opinionated; likes demonstrating expertise and directing the customer interaction
- The Hard Worker – follows rules and procedures; likes working with numbers; is persistent and deadline oriented
7 Profiles of Service Employees – Ranked By Managers
The Empathizer – enjoys solving others problems; seeks to understand behaviors and motives; listens sympathetically (32%)
The Hard Worker – follows rules and procedures; likes working with numbers; is persistent and deadline oriented (20%)
The Controller – outspoken and opinionated; likes demonstrating expertise and directing the customer interaction (15%)
The Rock – unflappable and optimistic; doesn’t take difficult conversations personally (12%)
The Accommodator – meets people halfway; involves others in the decision making; eagerly offers discounts and refunds (11%)
The Innovator – identifies ways to improve processes and procedures; generates new ideas and options (9%)
The Competitor – focuses on winning, outperforming colleagues and changing other’s views (1%)
Who Performs Best?
The Controller – outspoken and opinionated; likes demonstrating expertise and directing the customer interaction
The Rock – unflappable and optimistic; doesn’t take difficult conversations personally
The Accommodator – meets people halfway; involves others in the decision making; eagerly offers discounts and refunds
The Empathizer – enjoys solving others problems; seeks to understand behaviors and motives; listens sympathetically
The Hard Worker – follows rules and procedures; likes working with numbers; is persistent and deadline oriented
The Innovator – identifies ways to improve processes and procedures; generates new ideas and options
The Competitor – focuses on winning, outperforming colleagues and changing other’s views
Why do Controllers do better
than their counterparts?
- Driven to deliver fast, easy service
- Comfortable exerting their strong personalities in order to demonstrate their expertise.
- Describe themselves as “take charge” people who are more interested in building and following a plan than “going with the flow,” even in social situations.
- They’re confident decision makers, especially when nobody’s in charge, and they’re opinionated and vocal.
- Controllers are solution driven and great problem solvers
As one Controller explained,
“I like to take control of the situation and guide people.”
How does this happen?
- It all starts with hiring…
- Great leaders recognize the importance of hiring the ”right fit” for the job – harder to get a job at Zappos than to be accepted as an incoming freshman at Harvard.
- Three Interview Questions...
- What is the biggest misperception people have of you?
- What’s the last gift you gave to anybody for any reason?
- Whom do you admire?
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Competitive Advantage
- A company’s ability to create more economic value than its competitors
- In Service operations this is accomplished through:
- Managing employees effectively
- Training employees in skills they need
- Making employees feel valued
- Motivating employees to be productive
The Service Profit Chain
Traditional Organizational Chart
Manager
Supervisor
Front-line
Employee
Customers
Front-line
Employee
Front-line
Employee
Front-line
Employee
Supervisor
Front-line
Employee
Front-line
Employee
Front-line
Employee
Front-line
Employee
Customer-Focused Organizational Chart
30%+ of Fortune 500 Companies – Dell, IBM, American Express
Benefits and Challenges to a Customer Focused Org Chart
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Understand customers better
Develop deeper relationships
Increase customer satisfaction
Hard to differentiate if the segment already is customer focused
Low touch – low profitability industry
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Empowerment
Benefits
- Quicker responses to customer needs during service delivery
- Quicker responses to dissatisfied customers during service recovery
- Employees feel better about their jobs and themselves
- Employees tend to interact with warmth & enthusiasm
- Empowered employees are excellent source of ideas
- Great word-of-mouth advertising from customers
Drawbacks
- Potentially greater dollar investment in selection and training
- Higher labor costs
- Potentially slower or inconsistent service delivery
- May violate customers’ perceptions of fair play
- Employees may “give away the store” or make bad decisions
Be the “Preferred Employer”
- Reputation (local or national)
- Innovative HR policies
- Extensive training & advancement options
- Attractive incentives
- Offer quality goods and services that employees are proud to be associated with
- Preferred Employers do not have to hire “warm bodies”
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What is Human Resources?
Human Resource Management
- People Management
- Utilization of individuals to achieve organizational objectives
- All managers at every level must concern themselves with human resource management
- Five primary functions in most hospitality environments
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1
Human Resource Management
Human Resource Development
Compensation
Staffing
Employee and Labor Relations
Safety and Health
Human Resource Management Functions
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HR Challenges
- Organizational demands—strategy, culture, employee concerns
- Environmental influences—labor force trends, globalization, technology, ethics and social responsibility
- Regulatory issues—legislation protecting rights of individuals and the company with regard to employment processes
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EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
1
Human Resource Management
Other Functional Areas
Operations
Marketing
Finance
Legal Considerations
Economy
Technology
Society
Shareholders
Unions
Customers
Competition
Labor Market
Human Resource Development
Compensation
Staffing
Employee and Labor Relations
Safety and Health
Unanticipated Events
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Human Resources & Gap 3
Critical HR inhibitors to delivering service well:
- Employees do not understand expected roles
- Lack of training
- Employees feel in conflict between customers and company management
- Wrong employees due to poor recruitment
- Inadequate technology
- Inappropriate compensation & recognition
- Lack of empowerment & teamwork
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Human Resource Strategies for Delivering Service Quality through People
Break
1. There are over 1 million tweets about customer service every week, and 80% of them are negative.
Answer: TRUE
2. It’s estimated that $27 Billion is lost annually due to poor customer service.
5. It takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for one negative experience
3. 68% of customers say the experience a company provides is just as important as its products or services.
Answer: FALSE
Answer: FALSE
Answer: FALSE
4. 1 in 20 customers actually complain about a customer service experience after the fact.
Answer: TRUE
Customer Service
the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services this applies to internal customers as well!
What do customers want?
To be heard
To be understood – demonstrate/acknowledge your understanding
To believe you care
help
action
Consider the following scenario…
Employee: You work in a neighborhood pharmacy, WeCare, answering customers’ calls and ringing up sales. Even though you know that the pharmacy’s motto is “We take care of you, no matter what.” you have been given strict instructions by the pharmacist not to give medical advice or recommend particular medications.
Customer: You have a terrible sore throat and high fever but you don’t want to go to the doctor. You walk into the nearest WeCare Pharmacy and ask what might be wrong with you, and which over-the-counter medications you might take to alleviate the symptoms. As you walk in, you notice that the pharmacy’s motto is “We take care of you, no matter what.”
How should the Employee Respond?
Country Club Case
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