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This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to develop strategies to manage organisational systems that ensure products and services are delivered and maintained to standards agreed by the organisation.

It applies to individuals who supervise the provision of quality customer service within an organisation’s procedures framework by others. At this level, individuals must exercise considerable discretion and judgement, using a range of problem solving and decision making strategies.

No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

Stakeholder Relations – Customer Service

This section describes language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills incorporated in the performance criteria that are required for competent performance.

· Interprets and analyses textual information from a variety of sources and applies the knowledge that has been gained to evaluate standards for organisation’s products and services.

Writing:

· Produces a range of text types to convey information, requirements or recommendations matching style of writing to purpose and audience.

Oral Communication:

· Clearly articulates systems and standards in a team environment using language suitable to diverse audiences

· Uses listening and questioning techniques to obtain feedback and confirm understanding.

Numeracy:

· Interprets and comprehends mathematical information in organisation’s business and customer service plans.

Navigate the world of work:

· Recognises and applies organisational protocols and meets expectations associated with own work.

Interact with others:

· Identifies and uses appropriate conventions and protocols when communicating with colleagues and customers

· Collaborates with others, taking into account their strengths and experience, to achieve desired outcomes

· Provides support in field of expertise to team.

Get the work done:

· Develops and implements plans using logical processes and monitors and evaluates progress against stated goals

· Accepts responsibility for addressing complex or non-routine difficulties, applying problem solving processes in determining a solution

· Uses digital technology to access, organise and present information in a format that meets requirements.

Performance Evidence

Evidence of the ability to:

· Develop and manage organisational systems for quality customer service

· Develop and review plans, policies and procedures for delivering and monitoring quality customer service

· Implement policies and procedures to ensure quality customer service

· Solve complex customer complaints and system problems that lead to poor customer service

· Monitor and assist teams to meet customer service requirements

· Develop, procure and use human and physical resources to support quality customer service delivery.

Note: If a specific volume or frequency is not stated, then evidence must be provided at least once.

Knowledge Evidence

To complete the unit requirements safely and effectively, the individual must:

· Outline the legislative and regulatory context of the organisation relevant to customer service

· Describe organisational policy and procedures for customer service including handling customer complaints

· Identify service standards and best practice models

· Summarise public relations and product promotion

· Outline techniques for dealing with customers including customers with specific needs

· Explain techniques for solving complaints including the principles and techniques involved in the management and organisation of:

· customer behaviour

· customer needs research

· customer relations

· ongoing product and/or service quality

· problem identification and resolution

· quality customer service delivery

· record keeping and management methods

· strategies for monitoring, managing and introducing ways to improve customer service relationships

· strategies to obtain customer feedback.

Assessment Conditions

Assessment must be conducted in a safe environment where evidence gathered demonstrates consistent performance of typical activities experienced in the customer service field of work and include access to:

· Legislation, regulations and codes of practice related to customer service

· Business technology

· Workplace documentation and resources

· Complex customer complaints

· Case studies and, where possible, real situations

· Interaction with others.

Assessors of this unit must satisfy the requirements for assessors in applicable vocational education and training legislation, frameworks and/or standards.

Links

Companion volumes available from the IBSA website: http://www.ibsa.org.au/companion_volumes - https://vetnet.education.gov.au/Pages/TrainingDocs.aspx?q=11ef6853-ceed-4ba7-9d87-4da407e23c10

1.1. Investigate, identify, assess, and include the needs of customers in planning processes

1.2. Ensure plans achieve the quality, time and cost specifications agreed with customers

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Establish who their customers are

Use viable research methods to investigate customer needs

Collate research findings and use the RATER model to assess customer needs

Assess customer needs

Identify strengths and areas for improvement in customer service

Create targets, goals and plans in order to meet identified needs.

In a customer services environment, it is essential that the needs of the customer are fully understood and you should take the time to develop the skills needed to do this. If you are not able to listen and understand the customer’s requirements, they may lose confidence in you/your organisation’s ability to fulfil their needs and may decide to visit another establishment that offers the same services/products.

It is not only good business to look after the needs of the customer – it also promotes quality of service. Even if the customer does not take up the service or product(s), if they have experienced good customer service they will most likely come back to visit in the future.

Furthermore, accurately identifying the needs of your customers enables you to mould your organisation’s marketing and customer service strategies.

This will assist your organisation in:

Attracting more customers

Creating competitive prices

Sending the right marketing message

Increasing the amount of money customers spend

Increasing how frequently your customers make purchases

Gaining a greater number of sales whilst lowering organisation costs

Tailoring your customer service style.

You cannot identify and plan how you are going to cater to customer needs until you know who your customers are. You may have a small client base or a vast one; either way you need to understand their characteristics in order to establish how their needs can be best met. Knowing your client base well can ensure that the customer service you provide is suited to them and their shopping preferences. It can help in targeting customers at the right level, with the right products and the right information.

Characteristics of customers may include:

Key attributes:

age

gender

employment status

disposable income

family status

hobbies and interests

Shopping motivations

Shopping methods

Purchasing habits

Views of the organisation.

The success of your organisation is based upon your customers. For this reason, it is necessary to gather information about them on a regular basis to ensure you are always working to meet their needs. The way in which you do this will depend on the nature of the business and the services/products you are offering.

Before launching into customer research, you must consider what it is you are hoping to establish. For example, if you are looking to assess how long, on average a customer waits in a queue, there is little point in asking questions about product pricing. Think about the end result; that is, what information you are hoping to collect and tailor your research methods accordingly.

Viable research methods include:

Surveys

Focus groups

Sales data analysis

Market research

Concept testing

Brand testing

Price testing

Social media monitoring

Mystery shoppers

Audits.

Once you have conducted research and gathered information about customer needs, you need to interrogate the information, separate valuable information from that that provides little insight and collate it in an effective way. This may involve using some sort of spreadsheet or colour coding but this will depend on organisational requirements alongside personal preferences.

Using this collated information, you can then assess whether your organisation is currently meeting these needs. This can be done through just looking at your organisation but can also be done by comparing another company’s customer service to yours using the same criteria.

A valuable tool for assessing a customer’s needs is the RATER model of customer service. It revolves around 5 key facets that are believed to constitute quality customer service.

The RATER model of assessment is comprised of:

Reliability- Doing what you say you will. E.g. if you tell as customer you will call them back by the end of the working day then you need to do that

Assurance - Relates to competence, knowledge, respect, credibility, honesty, confidentiality, safety and security. It involves delivering customer service that is based on sincerity and solid information

Tangibles – Ensuring the shopping environment, presentation of goods/or services is appealing and that staff are well presented and approachable

Empathy – Catering to the individual needs of each customer in a non-condescending, clear and informative manner

Responsiveness – Providing a prompt service, showing a willingness to help and efficient problem solving.

The whole purpose of identifying and assessing customer needs is so that as a company, you can improve the quality of the service that you provide. Results from the research may confirm things you were already aware or of highlight completely new aspects of customer service that hadn’t been previously planned for.

The information gathered should be used as a basis for improvement and to do this, you must plan and set goals. When doing this, it is best practice to begin with what it is you want to achieve, e.g. Ensuring a customer waits no more than 3 minutes to be served and then work backwards to establish how you are going to reach this goal.

When planning to meet customer needs, it can be beneficial to undertake a business SWOT analysis which will uncover the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses as well as reveal opportunities that can be exploited and potential threats to the business.

SWOT analysis includes identifying:

Strengths:

what does your company do better than anyone else?

are there any advantages your organisation has? E.g. larger staff numbers

what customer service qualities ensure you get a sale?

Weaknesses:

what aspects of customer service can be improved?

are there any avenues that should be avoided? E.g. self-service checkouts

what facets of customer service lose the company sales?

Opportunities:

are there any market trends that you have noticed?

are there any upcoming local events?

can social media be used for customer service?

Threats:

how are competitors gaining sales?

what obstacles may prevent reaching goals? E.g. costs

is modern technology affecting face-to-face customer service?

As a result of planning based on customer interaction and feedback, it will ensure that the service you provide is specifically catered to them.

Outcomes from planning may include:

Training

Creation of a customer service model

Resources being provided

Social media accounts

Amended working hours

Price changes

Changes to product specifications

Changes to service provisions.

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Ensure the quality of products and services reflect customer expectations, price points and description

Oversee the provision of quality service by all team members

Relay expectations regarding time clearly to both staff and customers

Cost items according to competition, quality and expectations

Be upfront with customers about organisational standards for quality, time and cost.

Taking the time to gain insight and feedback from the customers is wasted if you are not going to take on board their views and alter your customer service accordingly. Customers will have a set of expectations that they believe your business should meet. These expectations can be with regards to a range of factors including quality, service, time and cost. If your organisation consistently fail to meet these expectations and show sign of improvement, then customers are likely to take their business elsewhere.

On an individual scale, each client will have criteria for each purchase that they make. They may have pre-determined expectations that they will want you to meet or you may need to explain your organisation’s standards to them. Organisational standards should be outlined to all staff members upon entry into the company and it is important that all employees are consistent in their customer service approach. Often, business is generated through word of mouth and if a customer recommends your services to a friend based on their experience but their friend’s is very different, then this could be detrimental to your organisation’s reputation.

The quality of the products you provide should be matched to the expectations of customers as well as the price point and their description. If a piece of furniture is labelled as bespoke for example, that usually denotes a high-quality product that has taken time and precision to manufacture. Therefore, a customer would not be happy to find that a bespoke chair they purchased had visible glue residue on the seat corners or loose joins, for example. At the other end of the scale, items found in the dollar store that malfunction after 3 months, whilst irritating, are likely to be expected by a customer.

It is an important aspect of customer service that you never knowingly mislead a customer or mislabel a product or service. Information provided to the customer should be accurate and clear.

When ensuring product quality ask yourself:

Is the item as described?

Is the item undamaged and in the correct packaging?

Does the item come with a manufacturer or store warranty?

Do our levels of stock reflect item popularity?

The treatment a customer receives when making a purchase can affect business just as much as the quality of the product they are buying. Whilst a customer may be pleased with an item they have bought, if the service they received fell short of their expectations, they may take their business elsewhere.

Customer treatment should be at the forefront of staff training and any organisation’s mission statement. After all, it is custom from the public that keeps businesses afloat. Any framework plans for customer service should be clearly outlined to staff and copies of expectations should be prominent and/or accessible within staff areas.

Plans may include expectations regarding:

Depth of staff product knowledge

Building of rapport with customers

Accuracy of information provided

Ease of purchase

Response to enquiries/complaints

Dress code and body language.

Time expectations can influence a range of customer service aspects. Any organisational standards should be made apparent to a customer with regards to time specifications from the offset so that they can make an informed decision about their purchases. For example, if a toy is out of stock and a customer was hoping to have it by their son’s birthday, the time it will take for the item to come back into store needs to be explained clearly. It would be immoral and really bad business to tell the customer it would be restocked in time if you know that it won’t just to get the sale. Time expectations are also a very important aspect of customer satisfaction; if a customer feels they have to wait too long for something then their perception of the organisation can change. Where it is possible, organisational expectations should be apparent. This can easily be achieved on your business website, phone message and any social media pages you may have. You can also evidence time specifications in any promotional materials or advertisements. For example, a pizza chain may use the statement ‘delivered in 30 minutes or your pizza is free’ to clearly show time expectations and promote sales.

Time specifications that need to be planned and clearly outlined include:

Delivery – e.g. your item will be delivered within 2-3 working days

Hold/queue times – e.g. the lines are busy right now but we aim to answer your call in 4 minutes

Interaction with staff - e.g. all staff being told that all customers should be greeted within one minute of entering the premises

Response to enquiries/ complaints – we aim to respond to all emails within 48 hours

Personalisation – personalisation time will depend on the request but on average takes 5 working days.

Without a doubt, the cost is a huge influence on purchasing decisions and overall spending habits. Customers will have an expectation of what an item will cost, whether that is a pint of milk or a new vacuum cleaner. Prices for the products or services your company provides along with the quality of those items should always be obvious. No customer is going to take kindly to believing an item is a certain price to find that it has been mislabelled, there are fine print criteria or there are additional charges for delivery that haven’t been explained.

2.1. Deliver products and services to customer specifications within organisation’s business plan

2.2. Monitor team performance to consistently meet the organisation’s quality and delivery standards

2.3. Help colleagues overcome difficulties in meeting customer service standards

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Follow their organisation’s plan for customer service

Meet organisational standards and customer expectations for delivery of products and services

Set targets and goals for product and service delivery in line with organisational requirements

Oversee implementation and continuation of processes that facilitate effective, consistent delivery.

In order to successfully deliver products and services to customers, there are actions that need to be completed. These actions are integral to a smooth system that is run by informed, motivated staff using equipment and procedures that are well rehearsed and simple to use.

These include:

Identifying customer needs and expectations

Creating realistic, achievable goals and targets

Establishing a business plan that specifies customer service standards

Implementation of procedures that enable products and services to be delivered efficiently.

Methods for identifying customer needs were outlined in section 1.1. Meeting customer needs should always be the driving force for any goal, plan or procedure. As an organisation, you may have plans in place for quality customer service for the general consumer population, guidelines for meeting individual customer specifications or both.

Business plans are the foundation of any company. In their simplest form, business plans are a map for the company and provide a structure for success. They are formal documents which state the goals of the business, why these goals are achievable and how the company plans to reach them. Within this plan, there will be information regarding the inputs that will drive the business forward, part of which is by meeting customer needs. Any successful plan is well supported by the input it receives. This can be physical resources, human resources or all factors.

Plans can be supported by:

Staff

Suppliers

Experts

Time

Money

Machinery, tools and equipment

Legislation, policies and procedures.

Any business plan should be integrated into the daily workings of the business. For example, if one of the unique selling points of the business is same day delivery for orders over $100, then this will need to be upheld. Similarly, if the business plan stipulates phone lines must be open 7 days a week, 365 days a year, then you need to ensure that you have the right quantity of staff and staff who are willing to work unsocial hours.

SMART goal setting is a well-established means of creating goals and there is a wealth of literature on the principle. This approach is not only used by individuals to create personal goals but also by large corporations to set project targets for the whole company. The method works on a range of scales and is a valuable tool in defining goals and setting their parameters. Goals and targets should be based on the business plan and the needs of the customer that have been investigated and identified.

SMART stands for:

Specific –goals should be clear and detailed and include what is wanted, when and where. E.g. the Melbourne branch needs a remodel to make it more customer-friendly by the end of March

Measurable – goals should have clear points where progress can be measured and whether goals have been achieved is evident. E.g. measuring an expected increase in customers entering the store based on a more inviting storefront

Achievable – The organisation should be able to take manageable steps to reach their targets. E.g. reduce mistakes in customer invoicing, the key reason for long payment times, through new accounting system and staff training, to be implemented over a three months; results to be tracked monthly to stay on track to goal

Realistic – Goals set need to be possible to achieve so that those involved don’t lose focus and can feel a sense of achievement when they reach them

Time frame – setting a date that the organisation wants to achieve a goal by gives it something to work towards and keep motivation. A time frame also gives a goal a sense of importance as it is something that needs to be done.

Once the delivery aspects of the business plan have been established and goals have been set to provide customer satisfaction in this area, it is necessary to implement procedures and processes that will enable the organisation to meet business plan requirements and reach the targets outlined. The processes which your organisation uses to meet these objectives will depend on the products and services you provide but one thing is the same regardless of the company; delivery of products and services must be consistent. This is the key to customer loyalty and generating new business through positive reviews and word of mouth.

The best way to create an effective delivery system is to break down all the components that your organisation provides. Focusing on each element of consistent product and service delivery means that you can provide staff training regarding that aspect and decide on the best process to use to ensure customer satisfaction.

For example:

A phone shop wants to improve its sales through overall better customer service. They have broken the elements down to focus on where improvements can be made.

They are:

Staff knowledge of phones and accessories

Waiting times for customers to interact with staff

Time it takes to set up a customer phone contract

Phone set up assistance service.

From referring to the business plan and customer feedback the company implement the following:

All staff attend training on the specifications and usability of a range of popular handsets

The store purchase tablets and software for the creation of client contracts more easily and train all staff on how to use the system effectively

The store implement a system where if all staff are busy with customers, additional customers within the store must be told of the potential wait time and be offered to be booked in for a designated slot at a later point in the day. This means they can choose to wait until a member of staff becomes available if they wish or come back, knowing for definite they will be seen to

Creation of a designated service desk that is purely for customers to get help with setting up their phone, transferring contacts, installing and using apps, etc. This service is free for the customers but is implemented to boost customer loyalty and public perception.

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Watch employees working to establish areas for improvement of customer service delivery standards

Talk with employees 1 on 1 to get feedback from them about the effectiveness of processes used

Facilitate self-assessment for employees about their own customer service performance

Assess data and other information as a means of monitoring team performance.

It is important to monitor the team performance of service delivery for a number of reasons:

To ensure customer equality and satisfaction

To identify problems and rectify them during the service delivery and before they adversely affect the customer

To reduce the costs of replacements; rework; refunds; etc.

To limit customer complaints

To ensure that correct procedures are being followed

To satisfy legislative requirements

To satisfy external parties’ requirements (e.g. equipment manufacturers, installers, etc.

To ensure quality and cost-effectiveness of service delivery, etc.

The way in which team performance is monitored will vary depending on the nature of the service being delivered and the staff that you have. Monitoring should never been seen by employees as a reason to find fault in their performance but instead as means of driving the company forward and creating efficiency and cohesion.

Viewing working practice

Perhaps the best way to monitor team performance is to watch your staff working. This way it can be clearly seen whether processes are being carried out the way that they should be and whether quality customer service is being undertaken. Watching employees in action will tell you more than any data sheets and will prevent assumptions. This form of monitoring enables you to establish which processes staff may be struggling with or areas that could benefit from staff retraining.

At the hair and beauty salon for example, the service provided by team members may be monitored using the following key points as a checklist:

1. Customer greeted within 30 seconds of arrival at Reception

2. Customer checked in on appointments system

3. Customer asked to wait in waiting area, if appropriate

4. Customer offered refreshments by receptionist

5. Customer introduced to stylist

6. Customer’s need assessed by stylist

7. Plan verbally agreed with customer, etc.

8. Team member checks client is happy with service and addresses any issues

9. Payment is taken swiftly and efficiently

10. Client is thanked for their custom and appointment is closed with a polite farewell.

Asking for an account

Another way to monitor performance is to provide each staff member an opportunity to discuss their working practice with you one on one. You should create an environment for this which is supportive and encouraging; one which shows the employee you are not looking to ‘tell them off’ or belittle their efforts. This will ensure that staff are open and honest with you about their performance. They are much more likely to tell you they are struggling with one aspect of their role if they know you are then going to help them overcome the obstacles they face. These discussions should be solely based on the individual employee’s performance and should not be used as a means to generate hearsay about other staff members and their attitudes to customer service.

Self-assessment monitoring

This method provides valuable insight into how staff members view their own performance. It can also give management an opportunity to open channels so that staff may discuss their personal goals as well as company goals and ways to develop working practice.

Some employees may struggle with completing a self-assessment as they fear they will come off as boastful if they mention achievements or customer service situations that they feel they dealt with really well. You need to reassure staff that you are looking for them to identify both their strengths and weaknesses, not only so you can provide support where it is needed but also so that may provide expertise and knowledge to others.

Sales data and other information

Team performance can be assessed through scrutinising company information and data. For example, a call centre may generate data on how many phone calls each employee takes in an hour and how many sales they process each day. Whilst this may give some insight into some aspects of customer service, it will not tell you the intricacies of the customer service that is being delivered or how employees are catering to the individual needs of customers.

This method of performance management is probably best used in conjunction with a more personal method of review in which you interact with employees to gain a deeper understanding of how they are implementing quality customer service.

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Accept responsibility for failures to meet service standards

Work collaboratively to solve problems affecting meeting service standards

Provide training, expertise and resources in order for colleagues to overcome difficulties in meeting customer service standards

Access and interpret information relevant to meeting customer service standards and relay this to staff in an appropriate presentational format

Oversee and support staff with changes to policy and processes as a result of difficulties arising.

Even the most successful business with a cohesive workforce can encounter obstacles that prevent customer service standards being what they should be. It is the ability to notice this and make adequate provisions to overcome these difficulties that truly shows dedication to quality customer service.

When difficulties arise, as someone in a managerial position who has a substantial influence on decision making and the implementation of customer service strategies, you need to accept responsibility for things going awry. This may be for failing to notice staff who are poorly trained, not providing adequate resources for strategies to be successful or for strategies being inefficient altogether.

Once difficulties have been identified, it can be beneficial to collaborate with colleagues and customers as a means of gathering feedback on current strategies and seeking ideas for effective change to achieve higher customer service standards. Involving customers in the process will demonstrate to them that you hold their experience with your organisation in high regard and that you want to ensure they are satisfied. Including employees in the problem-solving process will make them feel valued and mean that they are more likely to be on board with any changes that come into effect in order to overcome the difficulties identified.

Problem solving should be a methodical process where everyone involved has the opportunity to voice their opinions and ideas. All input should be listened to and noted down even if you do not feel it is useful at the present moment; it could be of use in the future.

The problem-solving process involves:

Defining the problem – What difficulties have arisen? What strategies are currently used?

Generating alternative strategies and solutions – How can current processes be changed? What can be done to ensure the same difficulties do not arise again?

Evaluating ideas and selecting a viable alternative ensuring that the solution does not create other problems, everyone is happy with the solution, implementation is achievable and the solution meets organisational and legislative requirements

Implementing and following up on the decisions made.

Example:

Imagine a large clothing store often has long queues at the checkouts. Customers are frequently dissatisfied with the time that they have to spend waiting. Till staff are frustrated as customers take out their annoyance on them plus they are under pressure to serve customers as quickly as possible to try and get the queues down which means that they feel they are becoming robot-like and building no rapport with customers. The management and employees meet to discuss ways to stop this from happening and thus improve service standards.

Ideas put forward include:

Having several self-checkouts where customers with fewer items can serve themselves

Hiring additional till staff

Training all staff on how to operate the tills so that during busy periods staff on the sales floor can help ease congestion by the tills before returning to their other duties

Have two staff members per checkout; one to scan items and one to remove tags and bag.

All the ideas were discussed, with the pros and cons of each talked about at length. The store was reluctant to get self-service checkouts as they were less personal, incurred a big installation cost, could potentially increase store theft and would need a member of staff manning them at all times for when errors arose. Hiring additional till staff was unfeasible due to costs and contractual issues. Two staff members for each till was not cost effective and would make the checkout area feel very hectic and crowded. All staff eventually agreed that the option to train all staff on till operation was the best solution. Training could be completed easily in the store, with no great cost apart from the usual wages of the staff being trained. The manager arranged training for all staff and the process for signalling for help at the checkouts was outlined.

It included:

Using a doorbell like signaller under the desk; under no circumstances should staff shout for other team members to come to the till

If there were more than 3 customers in the line

When a customer required a refund as these generally take longer to complete

When a member of till staff had to leave their station to aid a customer that had come to the tills.

There may be instances within your organisation where it is not strategies or processes that are proving difficult as a whole but where individual team members are finding it hard to meet organisational and customer expectations of service. There is a multitude of ways you can approach this and help the staff member(s) to overcome the difficulties.

Training

Ongoing training should be a facet of the business anyway but sometimes staff can benefit from additional training or retraining in order to meet customer service standards. Training needs to relay information in a clear, concise but interesting manner so that what the staff members are being told sticks. In many instances, practical training where staff are given the opportunity to practice what you have told them is the best way of ensuring they will be confident in implementing the training in their role.

Expertise

Expertise can come from many sources and it is beneficial to utilise these sources for helping colleagues when they have difficulties. You yourself may have an area of strength which you can use to help team members. Similarly, other team members may excel at certain aspects of customer service and be able to provide other employees with useful information and strategies. You may even be able to arrange for team members to shadow one another in order to share strengths and improve overall customer service standards.

Resources

Resources are any things which you can provide to colleagues in order to help them overcome difficulties in meeting customer services standards. They can be physical resources such as a laptop or stationary or human resources such as a mentor or a constant point of contact for advice. If a call centre employee is struggling with building rapport with customers for example, you may provide them with a sheet of phrases that can open up the conversation and help establish the customer’s needs. You should continually assess whether current resources are effective or whether resources need to be updated or replenished.

Presentations

Presentations are frequently used within a business setting to relay information effectively and provide training materials. Presentations can be particularly effective for helping colleagues if they can be given a paper copy to make notes on or access to an electronic version which they can reference at any point.

If using presentations to help colleagues, the information in them needs to be clear and posed to them in a way that is understandable. The advice given should be practical and easy for employees to implement.

3.1. Develop and use strategies to monitor progress in achieving product and/or service targets and standards

3.2. Develop and use strategies to obtain customer feedback to improve the provision of products and services

3.3. Develop, procure and use resources effectively to provide quality products and services to customers

3.4. Make decisions to overcome problems and to adapt customer services, products and service delivery in consultation with appropriate individuals and groups

3.5. Manage records, reports and recommendations within the organisation’s systems and processes

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Assess the monitoring methods already in place within the organisation

Monitor progress consistently using viable, effective methods

Involve customers, colleagues and data in the monitoring process

Alter both monitoring strategies and targets/standards according to information gathered.

Delivering a quality customer service is not something that just happens, it takes dedication and constant monitoring to maintain. If you reach a target and then just stop assessing the service/product delivery you are providing, then standards can quickly slip. Once a given target has been reached, a new one should be set so that as a company, you are always striving to provide even better customer service.

Within your organisation, processes and strategies will be in place for meeting customer service standards but alongside them, there must be monitoring strategies to ensure they are doing what you intended them to do. There is a range of ways that progress in quality service can be monitored and the method used will depend on the organisation and the products/ services you provide. Your organisation may already have a monitoring process in place but if not, it may be useful to assess which method could best suit the needs of the company and implement it. In the modern era, many businesses are making use of a range of technology not only to track progress but also to analyse and draw conclusions from the information.

Strategies for progress monitoring include:

Use of databases/spreadsheets

Feedback through use of internet, email, intranet or social media outlets

Feedback forms, questionnaires, etc. for customer completion

Feedback forms, questionnaires, etc. for colleague completion

Training and development exercises

Business plan/ procedure reviews.

Whilst all these methods hold some merit and can be used collaboratively, it can be argued that those where data is collated electronically are the best options. This is because there is not a massive amount of paperwork to sift through and pull data from, they can be relatively inexpensive, less manpower is required to look at the information gathered and trends and patterns can be more easily observed.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term that encompasses the process, strategies and technology that a business uses in order to manage and analyse the interactions it has with a customer throughout their time involved with the company. The purpose of CRM is to improve the relationship the organisation has with its customers, customer loyalty and promote sales growth. These systems are designed to accumulate information on a customer from a range of different avenues.

These include:

Telephone conversations

Use of the company website

Online ‘live chat’ feature

Direct mail

Marketing and promotional materials

Social media interactions.

For those members of staff that serve customer face to face, CRM systems can also provide information about the customer including their credentials, purchase history, shopping habits and any issues they have previously raised.

Customer relationship management software

CRM systems can be beneficial for monitoring the progress of targets and or/standards set when using a custom CRM software package. There are several currently on the market but they all consolidate customer information into one database. This database can then be used for tracking performance and productivity which in turn, can help in the monitoring of progress.

There is little point in implementing monitoring strategies and gathering information if you then do not do anything with it. In order to establish whether progress is being made, information collected during monitoring needs to be compared to previous information gathered regarding the same aspects of customer service. If you don’t’ do this, then you will not be able to see trends or patterns in the data and thus, whether progress is really being made.

When areas have been identified where slow or no progress is being made, it may be necessary to alter the target or work with colleagues to ensure their working practice is as it should be. Bear in mind, that targets and expectations should never be lowered in order to ensure they are met. Instead, it may be necessary to re-evaluate the time scale attached to meeting targets or to further break down the milestones that need to be achieved.

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Gather customer feedback through a range of appropriate means

Encourage customers to voice their opinions and concerns

Use customer complaints constructively to raise service standards

Review customer feedback and amend or incorporate new standards and targets in order to improve the quality of customer service provided.

Whenever possible, customers should be encouraged to provide feedback on their experiences of using your business. Information from customers should always be welcomed, as it will help you make informed decisions on working methods, policies and procedures which affect the customer experience.

The way your company collects customer feedback can have an impact on when, how and to what degree it can be used to improve working practices, which is why it is vitally important to gather feedback correctly.

Feedback, if collected regularly from a large cross-section of customers, will provide a useful measurement of customer service success. You may want to consult an expert for advice on sampling, as only a large enough sample from anonymous sources will be useful analytically.

Feedback may be gathered using:

· Email/contact forms

· a popular choice for a lot of customers

· provides a chance for customers to write exactly what they think, without the framework of specific questions

· Surveys

· usually done online or face-to-face, using a predetermined set of questions

· Usability tests

· can take the form of a customer diary

· this long-form method can help you understand the entire customer experience from their perspective

· Exploratory interviews

· multiple choice questions

· open questions

· Social media

· social media is now a popular method of expressing satisfaction or disappointment

· a lot can be learned from listening to social media chat

· Web site activity

· analytics can be used to gather data and identify customer trends.

Collecting customers’ thoughts and opinions

To collect data effectively, you will need to be aware of the appropriate methods of asking for customer contributions.

It can be a good idea to use incentives to encourage feedback. For example, offering discounts, gift vouchers or special deals to customers in exchange for providing feedback can be a useful motivational strategy. These special offers can either be verbalised by store assistants or advertised on store signs or on online platforms, including social media and company websites.

If you decide to ask store workers to verbalise requests for feedback, then you will need to be aware of the best times to ask customers. Ideally, you need to collect feedback when customers are most inclined to offer their thoughts and opinions. For example, it may not be a good idea to collect feedback when the store is busy and there are long queues, or if customers seem to be in a rush.

There will often be various types of complaints you may need to deal with when it comes to angry or irate customers. Whilst these are not desirable, they are a valuable form of feedback that should be used constructively to improve the quality of customer service that your organisation provides. Complaints should always be taken seriously – customers want to feel they are heard and understood and usually, this is how to make the situation better almost instantly. Customers also want to be informed of how you are going to address their concerns, so using their complaints to implement change will show this.

Organisations may get complaints in any of the following ways:

Phone calls – a customer may call when they are very angry and get even more irate if they are kept on hold for long periods of time or passed around from person to person. The right person to deal with a phone complaint should be located immediately so that the person is looked after straight away.

Hard copy letters – often a customer will send a letter of complaint as a formal method of making a point. This should be dealt with immediately, and a return letter and phone call should be made to assist in the resolution of the complaint.

Face to face – Customer may come into your store or place of business in order to vocalise their issues. This will require you to communicate with the customer then and there

Emails – emails are usually serious but on a smaller scale than a formal letter may be. They should be addressed promptly and a resolution sorted out as soon as possible.

Some specific etiquette related to the use of email includes:

· Check spelling before sending out the email

· Never write in capital letters as this implies shouting

· Don’t expect an instant reply

· Never send a message when you are angry – if the email sent to you has made you angry, have someone else read the intended response before you send it out, just in case.

Remember that anyone can read it – it is not a private method of communicating and can be posted on the internet, etc. Think about the image you are trying to project before you send an email.

If a customer is angry or irritated with you, remember not to take it personally. They could be having a bad day, they could be frustrated because they have been kept waiting a long time, or simply may not be feeling understood.

Some of the strategies to deal with angry customers can include:

· Listen to their issues calmly

· Tell them you empathise with their situation

· Explain that you want to help resolve the issues

· Ask them how you can work with them to help resolve the issues

· Determine what they want as a resolution.

It can be very difficult to deal with angry customers. Unfortunately, if you work with customers on a regular basis, sometimes it just takes one bad encounter to potentially ruin the rest of the day for you.

Therefore, as a manager or customer service staff member, you need to have some strategies in place so you can easily deal with angry customers and not let them impact on the rest of your working day.

Here are some strategies you can use:

· Don’t take it personally – work on your own attitude and understand that sometimes people are just having a bad day. They are not likely looking to personally attack you – often they just need to vent and unfortunately, you may seem like the only option to do so at the time. Even if a customer is annoyed with the service or product they have purchased from your company, remember, it is not likely to be a direct attack on you – they may simply not be happy with the product or service itself

· Never get angry back at a customer – stay calm and focused at all times. You do not have to put up with abuse from customers (your organisation will have policies and procedures around this).

· If you feel the customer is getting abusive or is threatening you, escalate the situation immediately or simply tell the customer politely that you cannot continue the conversation if they continue to speak in that way

· Show them that you genuinely want to help them, but also understand where your limitations are. Win over the customer by showing that you want to resolve the issue – do what you can to do so and, if you are unable to resolve it to their satisfaction, put them through to someone who is in a position to do so.

Customer feedback should regularly be analysed and reported on to identify strengths and weaknesses in customer service.

Knowing how to read and assess feedback is a skill that needs developing and refining. It should be done unemotionally – remember, negative feedback shouldn’t be taken as an insult – with a focus on highlighting any major or recurring issues as a priority.

Someone, either you or another capable member of your team, should be empowered to make decisions based on customer feedback and take responsibility for improvements. If this role is not allocated, customer feedback cannot make any meaningful impact on your organisation.

When analysing feedback, pay particular attention to:

· Any recurrent problems/issues that are raised

· How your view of service matches the customers’ views on service

· Any employees that are named regularly, both positively and negatively

· Any suggestions made

· Any complaints regarding rudeness, discrimination or negative attitude.

As soon as any of these issues have been highlighted, you can start to think about the best strategies to put in place to address service weaknesses.

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Recruit new staff as needed and train them to meet organisational service standards

Use employees effectively according to their strengths and areas of expertise

Establish the correct number of staff members that will be needed for a given duty or project

Review and check current physical resources to ensure they are fully working and fit for purpose

Purchase and use new resources effectively

Routinely review intangible resources

Manage the time of themselves and their employees effectively for the delivery of quality products and services.

Human resources, that is the people working within your organisation, are a significant resource and can have a massive impact on the quality of the products and services that are delivered to customers. Trained and used effectively, the personnel within your company can become experts in their roles and really help push the company forward. Underutilised, undertrained and unmotivated staff, however, can have a really detrimental effect on the business, changing the public’s perception of the company and the quality of the products and services required.

Recruiting staff

Most businesses have a level of staff turnover that means that new employees need to be employed. Companies also expand and require more manpower which can be accomplished through taking on new colleagues. During the recruitment processes, you should find out about each applicant’s prior work experience, their areas of strength and expertise and the opportunities for development that they are hoping for. The process can also help you gain an insight into whether you think the applicants have the right attitude for customer service and will be flexible to change in order to help the services and products the business provides improve.

Training

Once new staff members have been taken on, it is important that their initial training is done so that they are able to meet organisational standards. It is not fair to expect staff to meet customer and organisational expectations if they don’t know what they are or how to meet them.

Furthermore, development training should also be provided to colleagues, old and new to ensure that their working practice is always in line with changes that have been implemented or new processes which are being used.

Effective use of human resources

Staff are a valuable company asset only if they are used effectively. If a task can be easily completed with 2 people, then there is no need to have 4 work members on it. On the other hand, if 5 staff are overwhelmed and overworked, then delegating more colleagues to that particular task will help ease the pressure and raise the quality of the products or services provided.

When using human resources you should consider:

Their strengths and weaknesses

Their area of expertise

The number of employees required for a task

Working hours

Diversity

Employee friction /conflict

Rewards and incentives

External factors such as their family life or illness

Wage costs

Legal requirements.

Physical resources are tangible items that are owned by a company. In simple terms, they are objects that can be seen and touched. Having the right physical resources can ensure that customer service is consistent and efficient. Any physical resources that your organisation currently has should be routinely checked and reviewed to ensure that they are in full working in order and meet the needs of the business. For example, if the company gets a new logo, then you will need to order new letterheads. A company revamp will look shoddy is not everything matches and customers may feel like the organisation doesn’t care about the fine details of customer service. If your product portfolio expands, then your store may need to do the same. Customers won’t come into the shop and buy your new products if you have made it too cramped and it is not easy for them to browse with ease.

You should also keep up to date with new technology and other resources that may benefit your company in its quest to continually improve its service. Faster computers, for instance, may speed up the time customers wait on the phone whilst you track their order or using tablets in store to display information may mean customers can get the answers they are looking for without having to wait for staff.

Physical business resources include:

Premises and facilities

Equipment

Technology:

computers

servers

printers

cash points

telephones

Stationary:

letterhead

business cards

invoices

receipts

compliment slips

freebies to give to customers such as a pen or mouse mat

Stock

Money

Vehicles.

An intangible resource is one that is not physical in nature; it cannot be touched or necessarily seen.

They include:

Market position

USP’s

Copyrights

Trademarks

Internet domains

Software.

Intangibles can also include personal characteristics of your staff such as self-confidence or positive attitude. They are resources that can’t necessarily be quantified but can still have a massive impact on the quality of products and services that your company is able to provide.

Some intangibles, such as those mentioned in the list above, can help improve the quality of the services and products you provide by improving your position in the market and bettering your position over rival businesses. A trademark catchphrase, for instance, can be recognised by the world over and bring attention to your business and even demonstrate your businesses ethos. L’Oréal’s tagline ‘Because you’re worth it’ for example, shows that the customer is the priority and that the company are endeavouring to deliver a product which high quality and meets the customer’s expectations.

Time, when used effectively, can be one of the most valuable resources to a company. When managing time to meet customer service expectations there are a plethora of instances that can be considered. Your company’s use of time can make a big difference to the quality of service you provide. For example, staying open until 9pm may be of huge benefit to customers who work full-time hours and cannot visit stores during usual opening times. Or an elderly lady that needs additional time with a staff member to select a product and pay may remain loyal to your company as she feels that you really value her custom and don’t treat her like a nuisance.

Time resources include:

Opening hours

Promotion durations

Hold/Queue times

Delivery times

Time spent talking to customers about their requirements.

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Employ intuition and reasoning to make a decision

Use an effective, thorough decision-making process

Take on board the views and opinions of appropriate individuals when making a decision

Implement decisions made effectively by relaying information to staff and utilising resources.

In the simplest of terms, decision making is the action of choosing what to do from at least 2 possibilities. Decision making is a process that most people have to do on a daily basis, though usually, the decision that is made has little impact on other people or situations, what cereal to have for breakfast, for example. As a manager, however, you will be required to make bigger decisions about how to overcome problems and improve customer service and the choices that you make may impact upon your staff, customers and business in a range of ways.

Intuition and reasoning

When making decisions, there are two broad categories that you may use on their own or combined in order to make a choice; intuition and reasoning. Intuition is often referred to as your ‘gut-feeling’ and is a mixture of the past experiences you have had and your personal values. It can be a valuable decision-making tool, especially if you have a wealth of experience in customer service but can also skew your judgement as intuition is largely based on your perceptions of a situation rather than true reality. For example, you may need to decide whether or not to close the business’ social media page as it is having a low number of hits. However, from your previous experience you know that social media is one of the most effective ways of reaching a large number of customers and make the decision that instead of closing the page, you will send a few select staff on training on how to best use social media to generate business.

Reasoning is the process of using actual facts and figures in order to make an informed decision. This category can help you make a black and white decision but often ignores any emotional or personal factors surrounding the choices at hand. For example, data may tell you that the best day of the year for your business is Christmas Eve and you need to make the choice of whether to extend opening hours on that day to 10pm for last-minute shoppers. Whilst doing this would undoubtedly increase sales, it would have a detrimental effect on your staff who would not be able to spend the evening with their families.

Effective decision-making

When making decisions, it is important that you are invested in the decision that you make as otherwise, it is unlikely to ever be implemented effectively. Furthermore, it may be necessary for you to persuade others that the choice you have made is a good one in terms of the business so it is important that it is based on an effective, thorough decision-making process. Decision-making can become problematic if you let too many factors influence (or not as the case may be) the decision being made.

These include:

Having too little information

Trying to encompass too much information

Involving too many people and trying to keep them all happy

Vested interests of yourself and others

Emotional attachments of yourself and others

Not caring about the situation either way.

Where it is possible and in line with organisational policy, you may find it beneficial to adopt the following decision-making framework to ensure the process is effective and well-informed.

The framework is as follows:

List all possible options/ solutions to resolve the problem at hand

Set a timeframe for when a decision needs to be reached and decide who has final say on the decision reached

Gather information relevant to the problem, proportionate to the weight of the decision that needs to be made

Assess all potential risks related to the solutions put forward

Decide on the values that are important to the decision

Scrutinise the pros and cons, comparing all possible solutions

Make a decision. If at this stage, there is not one clear favourite solution or the solution reached is making you feel uneasy, you can go through the process again.

Although you may be the person in charge of a final decision being made, it may be necessary, beneficial or both to involve other individuals in the decision-making process. They may be able to put forward solutions to the problem or provide insightful information about aspects of the situation.

Appropriate individuals or groups to involve in the process may include:

Shareholders

Stakeholders

Employees

Customers

Suppliers.

By the end of this chapter the learner should be able to:

Include key details in service delivery reports

Create appendices which comprise of raw data

Store and organise records, reports and recommendations in line with organisational policy

Update and amend customer records accurately

Maintain the privacy of customer information in line with The Privacy Act 1988.

The outcome from the review and monitoring of service delivery is usually a report which outlines the key findings along with any recommendations for the future. The report may be formal or informal, presented in writing as well as verbally (in the form of a presentation), etc. The style and format of the report will very much depend on the organisation, its culture and any reporting procedures. However, there are some features which are likely to be common across many reports such as these.

Service delivery reports would typically include information about:

· The aspects of service delivery under consideration (e.g. which products/services; which areas of the business; which territories; etc.)

· The timeframe involved (i.e. the dates to which the report refers)

· Customer Satisfaction data (e.g. summary results of questionnaires/surveys; complaints; service call; audit/quality assurance data; etc.)

· Key findings (a summary of the main points arising from the data – trends and patterns, etc.)

· Recommendations (suggestions for action to be taken to build on the strengths and tackle the areas for improvement, in priority order).

It would also be good practice to include appendices in the report which gives the ‘raw’ data – that is, the actual detailed reports of questionnaire data, etc. Many readers may not actually access that detailed data, instead relying on your summary of it. However, the detail is there should readers wish to interrogate it, and it lends authority, transparency and credibility to your report as important data is not being kept from the readers.

Recommendations can simply be in the form of a list of issues to be tackled in priority order, or it may be a comprehensive overview of action that could be taken, how this could be achieved, the associated cost implications, etc. Again, this would depend on the protocols within the organisation.

The important thing to remember about this report is that is should accurately summarise the findings from the review of service delivery and it should make some valid recommendations for action, whether this action is aimed at stabilising and maintaining existing service levels or improving them.

It is important to remember that important decisions and the allocation of resources may be made as a result of such a report and so its accuracy and validity are essential. Decisions may be made about withdrawing or redesigning products/services; allocating time, people and money to actions to improve service delivery; etc. and so it is important that these decisions are made on the basis of accurate and reliable information.

These records should be held in a secure, easily accessible way as they may need to be looked at in the future in order to compare data from different points of time and to see whether targets are being reached. The way these files are organised will depend on your organisation but they may be stored as hard copies, electronically or both. Furthermore, there may be an organisational system that you must use such as filing by date or using coloured-coded files.

If you are unsure about the reporting protocols within your own organisation, you should seek advice from your supervisor or manager or a suitable person with designated responsibility for customer service delivery.

Your organisation will communicate with customers in a range of ways on a daily basis. Whilst some of these communications may be verbal, there will be others that are recorded in one form or another such as emails, social media interactions or phone calls. There will be occasions where you will be required to maintain or update records of communications with customers and this will need to be done in line with legislative and organisational requirements. These records can be useful for gauging customer satisfaction in order to inform new strategies being implemented or simply as a means of keeping customer information so that you may contact them regarding their product orders or services they are using.

If your company makes use of a customer relationship management system, then all customer details will be stored on its central database. It is important that when you access customer details through this system in order to update or amend details that you are accurate when inputting information. This is because it is likely that multiple members of staff will require access to the details so that the customer can be dealt with swiftly regardless of whom it is they are talking to.

If your company does not use a CRM system, then you may have a different electronic method of keeping customer communication and credentials or you may have a paper-based filing system. Either way, you need to make sure that you maintain them in line with organisational procedures.

The main consideration when keeping customer details is upholding their privacy. The Privacy Act 1988 outlines the stipulations for doing this and so should be the basis for any organisational policies regarding the retention of customer information.

The Australian Privacy Principles (APP’s) are included within schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 and cover:

The open and transparent management of personal information including having a privacy policy

An individual having the option of transacting anonymously or using a pseudonym where practicable

The collection of solicited personal information and receipt of unsolicited personal information including giving notice about collection

How personal information can be used and disclosed (including overseas)

Maintaining the quality of personal information

Keeping personal information secure

Right for individuals to access and correct their personal information.

At the end of your Learner Workbook, you will find the Summative Assessments.

This includes:

Skills assessment

Knowledge assessment

Performance assessment.

This holistically assesses your understanding and application of the skills, knowledge and performance requirements for this unit. Once this is completed, you will have finished this unit and be ready to move onto the next one – well done!

These suggested references are for further reading and do not necessarily represent the contents of this unit.

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