The Customer

NOTE: Complete this assignment only if you have included it in your Strategic Learning Plan. Please check the date due as not all major project assignments are due at the same time.

Overview:

The Customer Service Marathon Project illustrates some of the strategic management thought processes and choices that can be directly associated with customer service and satisfaction. Businesses make choices regarding how to treat their customers and how they choose to train their employees to handle customer service situations. The Customer Service Marathon Project is worth up to 1000 points if fully completed in a professional manner. All portions of the Customer Service Marathon Project are required. The Customer Service Marathon Project must be completed by an individual student – no multi-person teams are permitted. All work to be graded must be submitted by the due date stated on the Course Calendar. No late reports or other materials will be accepted.

NOTE: The Customer Service Marathon Project was written up and presented at a Midwest Business Administration Association meeting in Chicago, IL where it was awarded the John Berens Award for “Best Paper” at the conference.

When considering this project, please keep the following important points in mind:

· All businesses selected must be local to the area around Cincinnati and/or Miami University – in other words, businesses that the student may go to on a routine basis while at school. An exception will be made for students who live outside of the local area. A student who lives outside of the local area needs to contact the instructor for more information on this policy to receive an exception.

· All visits to businesses must occur over the time frame that the course is in session – no use of previous visits is permitted.

· Students must record the location of the business on each scorecard.

· Students must take a photo of themselves at the business each time they visit a business and include it on or along with the scorecard submitted for that visit. All photos must show the student’s face clearly. (Example: Take a “Selfie” in front of something at the business.)

· Students must include a photo of a receipt for a small purchase from the business, clearly showing the time and date of the visit, with each scorecard. (It is not essential to make a large purchase – a can of pop, candy bar or bag of chips, etc., is fine. Please do not spend a large amount of money on this project – it is not necessary.)

· Failure to include appropriate photos and receipts with each scorecard will result in forfeiture of the entire project.

· Students must turn in scorecards by uploading them to Canvas as they are completed. For Fall Semester and Spring Semester students, the limit is a maximum of two scorecards per week for five weeks. For Summer Session students, the limit is a maximum of four scorecards per week for two-and-a-half weeks. For Winter Term students, specific due dates for scorecards are listed on the course calendar. Plan accordingly – start this project early. Students sending in scorecards in a manner that does not agree with what is described here will forfeit the entire project. When in doubt, consult the course calendar for scorecard completion milestones. No late scorecards are permitted for any reason – project forfeiture will occur.

· Completion and submission of all ten required scorecards is mandatory – less than ten scorecards will result in project forfeiture, even at the final project report stage of the project.

· Extra credit points may be earned for a “video story” of the Customer Service Project. For example, a student could interview one of the managers of the business about customer service. At this point, there are no previous student examples. Be the first!!! The number of extra credit points awarded depends on the video’s content and on the quality of the video production.

Background and Purpose of the Project:

In the Customer Service Marathon Project, an individual student will have the opportunity to perform an in-depth investigation of the customer service and/or customer satisfaction principles, practices, and strategies in use at his/her favorite business(es). An often-cited article from the Harvard Business Review in 1985 explores the kinds of customers that businesses encounter on a day-to-day basis. The article divides customers into groups – Apostles/Loyalists, Defectors/Terrorists, Mercenaries, and Hostages. It also explains how each group of customers should be handled to achieve optimum customer service success. The article is summarized in the following PowerPoint deck of materials.

To start the Customer Service Marathon Project, the individual student needs to outline a strategy for completing the major work assignment based on one of two available options. Data for either option will be collected over the course of the semester using a customer service scorecard. Finally, a detailed report summarizing findings and a short presentation deck are required.

Options

An individual student will be able to select either Option #1 or Option #2 to complete the Customer Service Marathon Project.

Option #2: In choosing this option, an individual student is asked to identify one business that he/she visits frequently and a separate business that he/she may or may not typically visit, but that people would generally think is a competitor of the chosen favorite. Examples might include choosing Burger King as the favorite and Wendy’s as a competitor. Another example would be choosing Kroger (because he/she always shops there) and Meijer as a competitor. (Note: A single location for each business must be chosen and visited five times each, not five different Kroger stores versus five different Meijer stores.) An individual student will thus need to be able to visit each business a minimum of five times over the course of the semester.

If choosing Option #2, the strategic management piece will be to compare and contrast how customer service is handled across the two different businesses. Questions that may be worth considering for each business include: How welcoming is this business upon entering? How easy is it to get help when needed? Is the customer service consistent every time? What other factors may affect the customer service that is received?

Project Steps:

Select either Option #1 or Option #2 and select the business(es) where the data will be collected.

For either Option #1 or Option #2, a student will be completing a brief Customer Service Marathon Scorecard after EACH visit. The Customer Service Marathon Scorecard is designed to use a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Poor or Low to 5 = Excellent or High), plus allow room for comments. There are spaces for TWENTY questions on each Customer Service Marathon Scorecard. Sixteen out of the twenty spaces will be taken by questions that are used to evaluate the business(es). The remaining four spaces are to be used to “customize” the Customer Service Marathon Scorecard to fit the particular business(es) in use. A student must write four specific questions in the space provided and must use the same Customer Service Marathon Scorecard format every time the business(es) are visited.

Visiting Business(es) and Using the Customer Service Scorecard

A copy of the Customer Service Marathon Scorecard, including four blank spaces is available on Canvas in the module covering this assignment. Fill it out “on the computer” and save it to your hard drive.

Before visiting the chosen business(es) for the first time, fill in the additional four questions that have been selected for use. Remember that it is mandatory to come up with four questions that are tailored to the specific business(es). Do not leave these spaces blank. Also, be sure to fill in the name of the business, an address (nearest intersection will do if no street number is visible), and the date and time of each visit. Also, be sure to indicate if the business is busy, moderately busy, or not busy; and the amount of money spent, if any, during each visit.

Visit the business as normal. Do not tell anyone at the business that any type of data or information is being collected. It is necessary to purchase something, although it is perfectly acceptable to make only a small purchase. After the visit, complete the Customer Service Marathon Scorecard immediately, if possible. Along with “circling” the correct Likert scale number next to each question, there are spaces to jot down any notes that are applicable. At the bottom of the Customer Service Marathon Scorecard, there is also a space to note anything unusual (positive or negative) that was observed on the visit and that is not directly covered by one of the questions.

Once each Customer Service Marathon Scorecard is completed, e-mail a copy to the instructor as a draft for feedback if desired. To do this, type the responses onto a copy of the Customer Service Scorecard file, then save, and e-mail it to [email protected]. Final versions of scorecards are to be uploaded to Canvas. To be clear, Customer Service Scorecards should be generated across the entire length of the project and submitted promptly after each one is completed. Do not wait until one week before the project is due to make all business visits and submit all scorecards. A maximum of two scorecards per week should be submitted to the instructor and all scorecards should be generated/completed no later than two weeks before the project is due at the end of Module 12 so that data analysis and reports can be completed properly. Students sending in three or more scorecards within any single week or any scorecards at all within two weeks of the project due date should expect to see a substantial reduction in the number of points earned. Start this project early. (Winter Term students – see your course calendar for the dates and milestones applicable to you.)

Data Analysis

Once all of the business visits have been completed, lay out the ten completed scorecards and begin to analyze what the data are saying about the customer service and customer satisfaction procedures at the business(es). Pull as much information as possible from the data – do not just say, “Well, it all looks pretty good to me.” If it looks good, why does it look good? What are the customer service strengths? What are the weaknesses? If the business(es) has aspects of customer service that need to be improved, what are they and how can they be handled? Make some notes that will help develop the customer service report.

What To Turn In:

The Customer Service Marathon Project requires a PowerPoint presentation deck summarizing the learnings gained from the project plus a report. Due to the presence of two options in this project, please review the bullet points below for the option chosen before pulling together the final materials to turn in for grading.

·

Option #2: If two businesses were visited five times each, be sure that the following information is covered:

· Project title and student’s name.

· Name and location of the two businesses. (Indicate which business is the usual choice and which business represents the competition.)

· A picture of each business.

· Type of businesses – what is sold at each business and what is typically purchased at each business.

· Time series graphs showing each point of the quantitative data – start to finish -- collected for each of the twenty questions (two graphs on a page usually works well) for each of the two businesses. This will yield ten graphs. The X-axis is the date and the Y-axis is the score. Use one type of line and color for one business and one type of line and color for the other business. Be sure to indicate which business goes with which graph. Produce professional graphs that are easy to read and interpret.

· Overall customer service rating for each business on a 1-5 Likert scale for each of the twenty questions. (Take the five scores for each question, add them up, and divide by five for the average score for each question.) Put this information in two tables or charts (one for each business) with three columns labeled: Specific Question, Overall Customer Service Rating, and Explanation. Then, after each specific question and after the overall customer service rating, include a three-to-five sentence explanation of why that rating makes sense or does not make sense to you. Produce two professional tables or charts.

· Three to five specific customer service observations that were made while visiting each business over the semester -- written up as “qualitative data” comments. These could be about a good and/or a not-so-good experience(s) at each business. Put the customer service observations in two separate tables or charts (one for each business) in numerical order by question number. Produce two professional tables or charts.

· Three or more recommendations of what each business could do to improve customer service (written up as bulleted comments). Put the recommendations in two separate tables or charts (one for each business) in numerical order by question number. Produce two professional tables or charts.

· Be sure to support any statements made and conclusions drawn with proper references. Us a minimum of three references from the Rothaermel text (different page numbers). Additionally, use three or more external references from the business literature on customer service and satisfaction or related topics.

With this information in hand, prepare the following materials:

1. Prepare a presentation deck. The presentation deck should include an introduction of the presenter and an overview of the project. The materials should also briefly cover each of the areas listed in this assignment. It should include a conclusion about the specific “strategic thinking lessons” as they relate to managing projects internally or externally. Most importantly, the presentation materials should specifically state in writing what was learned about customer service theory and/or practices that center on developing positive and proactive relationships between a business and its customers. Discuss the positives and the negatives about choosing Option #1 or Option #2. Be sure to relate the findings to the topics of “customer service” and “customer satisfaction” pointing out specifically where results may differ from the theory in the research materials – and why.

NOTE: There is no live presentation to be delivered. Presentation decks need to be posted to “The Customer Service Marathon Project Discussion Forum” on Canvas. The presentation must speak for the author, so plan to do something more creative than just a simple PowerPoint deck. Easily add audio to PP decks to create a slide show with sound if desired. Alternatively, create something in SlideShare or Screencast-O-Matic. Have a friend videotape a short presentation and post it to YouTube. Whatever option is chosen for the video, the final result must have both audio and some form of visual information. The possibilities are endless. If something more unique is completed and needs to be posted as a link to the presentation deck materials – that is fine. Just be sure to “test drive” the link once posted to be sure that it actually works.

2. Prepare a professional-looking report. Assume that the report is being prepared for an external reader unfamiliar with the Customer Service Marathon Project. The report must include each of the following sections: an introduction, project details, conclusion, and future work applications. At the beginning of the report in the introduction describe the project for someone who is unfamiliar with this type of work. The project details section of the report should explain the “Who?, What?, When?, Where?, Why?, and How?” of the project with a strong emphasis on the “Why? and How?” pieces of the story. Within this section, be sure to include pictures of the business(es). Most importantly, the conclusion of the report should detail the relationship of the project to the topic of strategic thinking in management and specifically explain the learnings after completing the project. Finally, three well-thought out “bulleted” suggestions for future work applications in terms of the Customer Service Marathon Project should be included in the “Future Work Applications” section. What problems were encountered and what would be done differently if one works on another similar project? Be objective and concise. Include a graph(s) as needed. All tables and graphs should appear at the end of the report in an appendix. Place tables first in the appendix, followed by graphs. The report (usually 10-12 pages, maximum) must be turned in at the same time as the presentation deck for full credit. Use single spacing in the paragraphs and bulleted lists with a space between the headings and paragraphs. Use one-inch margins on all sides and a 12-point Times New Roman or similar font. (Use the look of the syllabus as a guideline.)

Note on References: Within the report, each student must provide theoretical support for the concepts studied, procedures followed, and conclusions drawn that relate to strategic thinking in marketing. A minimum of three references (separate page numbers) taken from the Rothaermel text and three external references on management and marketing strategy taken from the business literature must be provided. These references form a key part of report and must be explained in detail at the time of use. Failure to include suitable references will result in a substantial loss of points for the Customer Service Marathon Project.

This major work assignment will be due in accordance with the major courses on the Course Calendar. See the Course Calendar for this date. While on the Course Calendar, double-check the due dates for scorecards at the end of specific modules. Final copies of the report should be uploaded to Canvas for grading no later than 11:55 P.M. (MIDNIGHT) of the project due date. Students may select this project as any one of the three required major projects.

Where Most Errors Occur:

Often, the most critical error made by an individual student is failing to include enough well-documented customer service and customer satisfaction theory in the conclusion section of the report. Staying within the context of the CMR 495 strategy course, an individual student should carefully explore the concepts of understanding customer service and satisfaction. These concepts form the essence of why the Customer Service Marathon Project is undertaken and why this specific project is a core feature of the CMR 495 course.

An additional source of error occurs when students elect to import their PowerPoint slides into Word and attempt to call this document a report. PowerPoint slides lack the depth of thought and the explanation necessary to constitute a credible report. Students choosing to import their PowerPoint slides into Word for purposes of creating a report will receive a grade of “0” points on the report portion of the project.

Grading Notes for the Presentation Deck and Report

The presentation deck for the project will be evaluated on readability (Does it flow from section to section nicely?), content accuracy (Do the learnings make sense?), and originality (Are the learnings believable as they relate to the author?). Each student is responsible to make sure that the final presentation materials are turned in on time for his/her work assignment.

In order to receive full credit, students must turn in the presentation materials and the report no later than the due date set for the project. See the Course Calendar for this due date.