The Customer Service plan

The customer service plan as well as a review of the SWOT Analysis is the focus. These are two very important parts of customer service since knowing the plan of this department and the goals help to hone the strategy and align the customer service provided to the company’s mission, vision, and values.

Evaluate a SWOT Analysis just as you would in an actual customer service management position.

A new startup company has established the following preliminary SWOT to date. See the Strengths and Weaknesses and Threats from the company customer service SWOT and discuss what should be addressed as opportunities based on what has been completed so far.

· Enter the missing opportunities for building their customer base based on the information you have in the Reading*, Learning Activities and CSR Tool Belt.

· Then share the opportunities you found based on the scenario, in the Discussion area and explain why you chose them.

· Finally create two SMART goals you might use based on the opportunities you found and explain how you addressed each of the letters in SMART for these goals.

SWOT Template:

Strengths

-Ease of contact on live chat

-Customer Ability to post on Facebook® page

-100,000+ likes on Facebook®

Weaknesses

-Website issues –unable to manipulate site

-Website issues – not able to download as an app

-Website issues-not accessible for visually impaired customers

Opportunities

Question: What are their opportunities here for addressing these outside threats based on their strengths and weaknesses?

Threats

The newest competitor has very active participation on all the social networks.

The volume of customers is increasing demands on the providers.

Respond per the Syllabus guidelines.

* Read: You previously reviewed the internal aspects of the SWOT Analysis, the strengths and weaknesses of a company. Now you will examine the customer service plan in addition to reviewing the SWOT analysis from the threats and opportunities viewpoints, in other words, the external factors that impact the customer service plan.

You will not be reading in your text this week. Instead you will read through the following sections, accessing the linked information to assist you in better understanding and being successful in completing the assignments.

The customer service plan includes the department’s SMART goals aligned with the company’s mission, vision, and values statements. In larger organizations, the customer service department may have its own mission and vision statements.

Scroll down to continue Reading about the customer service plan contents…

The customer service plan specifies the target customer and describes the customer experience as a process from start to finish keeping it simple. It also discusses how feedback and preferences for the customer will be addressed and how problems or concerns will be resolved by Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) in a timely manner. It specifies the social networking plan and how these aspects are implemented. The customer service plan determines the feedback loop regarding analytics (i.e. the statistical data analyzed regarding customers’ use and experience) on the website for improvement. Although it usually includes budgeting and the like, for the purposes of this course, we will focus on customer service management excluding this area.

Review the customer service plan outline^. Then continue on to read about the specific sections of the customer service plan below.

See an example of alignment between mission, vision and values^^ at a real life company.

Review company mission, vision, and values statements explanations^^^.

Review information about the target customer and value creation for the customer^^^^.

Read about the Customer Experience Life Cycle^^^^^ (Tool Belt tab # 5)

Feedback/preferences, addressing problems/concerns :Based on the feedback to CSRs (see Step 4) and any statistics that have been gathered from the website and call center, how are customer concerns and problems resolved or dealt with in an expedient manner?

Read about the customer interface^^^^^^.

Read about in-house, offshoring, homeshoring, nearshoring or outsourcing versus online self-service^^^^^^^.

^ Customer Service Plan Outline:

Company Mission: (Company purpose - Why is the company in business?)

Company Vision:

Values Statement:

Customer Service Manager: Name

1. Customer research, feedback, and data analysis:

2. Department Goals and Strategy:

3. Target Customers:

4. The Value Proposition:

5. Customer Interface and experience:

Customer Experience:

6. Personnel/ Training

7. Budget

8. Implementation

Quarterly actions needed:

By Manager

By CSRs

^^ Example of alignment between the mission, vision, and values statements at a real company.

An industrial products company’s mission was to produce a product that had zero negative impact on the planet by 2020. They kept an interactive timeline on their website that showed the company’s progress in attaining their mission. Their ultimate vision was to eventually stop producing the product at all but to recycle existing product (see Ray Anderson interview by Ariel Schwartz 2/07/2012, “Climbing the Mountain of Corporate Sustainability” accessible doing an Internet search). Among other values they valued integrity, company responsibility to take care of the planet and commitment by employees to do their part in helping to make a more environmentally sustainable planet.

Their customer service personnel knew and lived this mission and the values. All CSRs reported any travel that would affect carbon emissions and thus the environment. To mitigate the carbon emissions if they could not eliminate travel for instance, they would plant a certain equivalent of trees to offset the emissions. CSRs started carpooling so as not to cause more emissions than absolutely necessary. The employees started providing suggestions and innovating to increase environmental friendly processes and products. Because the mission was so ingrained throughout the company, customers viewed the company as having integrity and improving the planet’s environmental sustainability. As a result, the company’s customer list started growing to the point of becoming a world leader in their product and eventually employees speaking on environmental stewardship around the world and ultimately providing consulting services to other companies to help them become more environmentally friendly. The company has inspired millions of people to adopt more environmentally friendly operations and processes. A full length film was created with a well-known film star concerning the founders’ and employees’ inspirational mission, vision, values and environmental journey.

For an initial look at the company alignment with mission and vision view the YouTube video: “The Business Case for Sustainability” with Ray Anderson original founder of the company on youtube.com or go to any of the many interviews located on the Internet.

Interface® Global website. (2015). Mission and vision section. Retrieved from http://www.interfaceglobal.com

^^^ Review company mission, vision, and values statements explanations.

Company Mission Statement

The company mission statement is basically the direction in which the company is going and what they see as their focus. An example could be “The mission of our company is to ensure 100% customer satisfaction with XYZ green brand”. This shows that the focus of the company is on the customer.

Company Vision Statement

The company vision statement is a statement of the future of the company and the plan for what they would like to happen but cannot be sure is possible. An example could be “The vision of our company is to harness our customers’ preferences to make XYZ company the environmental leader in the industry”. This shows that the company wants to increase their use of media in the future.

Company Values Statement

The company values statement is a statement of the values of the company employees and management.

“We value honesty, integrity and concern for the planet. We are honest with each other and with our customers. We do what we say we will do (i.e. integrity). We value the planet; the air, land, sea, and all mankind and animals that inhabit it.”

^^^^ Target Customer and Value Creation for the Customer

Read about the Target Customer and value creation for the customer

As previously discussed, the target customer is the best suited customer for the service or product that the company is offering. This target customer is the primary focus of the customer service representative. However, sometimes the person calling into customer service is not the end user although they purchased the product as in the case of parents purchasing for their children. Based on the mission, vision and values statements above, the target customer would certainly in general be a customer who is concerned with the environment. The latter target customer needs to be further defined however using demographics, customer life stage, generation etc.

The Customer Value Proposition section of the plan:Each company should delineate the customer experience (i.e. the ease of use) in their customer service plan as a process from start to finish. This can be illustrated in graphic form with explanations below the graphic. The company should keep this simple. They also want this to define customer control-how much and when they have control of the tools the company provides. Can they go back and forth to view different aspects of the company website? If there is video, can they pause the video and is there closed captioning for the hearing impaired, or audio for the visually impaired?

According one recent article, “Value occurs when the offering is useful to the customer or beneficiary” (Lusch & Nambisan, 2015, p. 159). Although a company’s management may believe they are offering value or additional value to the customer, it is only really value if the customer or the user thinks so based on the currently used Service Dominated logic in the marketing and customer service literature (Terblanche, 2014). This is consistent with our consideration of customer defined service.

Reference

Lusch, R. F., & Nambisan, S. (2015, March). Service innovation: A service-dominant logic perspective. MIS Quarterly [Special issue: Service Innovation in the Digital Age], 39(1), 155–176. Retrieved from Business Source Complete.

Terblanche, N. S. (2014). Some theoretical perspectives of co-creation and coproduction of value by customers. Acta Commercii, 14(2), 1–8. Retrieved from Business Source Complete.

Feedback/preferences, addressing problems/concerns:

Based on the feedback to CSRs (see Step 4) and any statistics that have been gathered from the

website and call center, how are customer concerns and problems resolved or dealt with in an

expedient manner?

^^^^^ http://extmedia.kaplan.edu/business/Media/AB221/AB221_1503B/AB221_CSR_ToolBelt/story.html

^^^^^^ Read about the Customer Interface

Read about the Customer Interface: (the communication aspects of the plan)

This part of the customer service plan specifically outlines the use of the company website and other communication aspects that the company and CSR use to communicate with the customer. Since social networking and social media is a large aspect of business these days, this section should include future uses of social networking/media such as the company blog or live chat as well. You can use the Website Checklist to determine how the company’s website meets the needs of the customer.

Other considerations using the 5 W’s: Do you want your call center or live chat to be available 24/7 or only during United States (U.S.) daylight hours? Will you increase your hiring for the in-house call center CSRs or will you outsource extra volume to another company within the country or offshore the volume abroad where they can also address the night time hours due to the time differences? Will this be another office of your company, or will you contract this offshore operation?

In order to decide about using another company to handle the volume or another company abroad for instance, you would consider some of the following:

Are the products complex (with a lot of technology or parts) versus simple ? (Ex: A stuffed animal (simple) or a mechanical robot (complex).

Who calls in by phone or live chat, a parent, an adult, or a child or a young person? What are the problems and why? When do the customers typically call in or contact the company (where)? What volume of calls or contact are anticipated? How long does it take to resolve the issue (when)? What language or vernacular will be an issue?

The answers to these questions along with the department’s budget (which is not addressed in this course) will help you decide the answer.

Considerations regarding the customer interface: How is the customer service function implemented in the company?

^^^^^^^ Read about the customer service function location possibilities

In-house, Offshoring, Homeshoring, Nearshoring or Outsourcing Versus Online Self-service:

Homeshoring: When a company has employees working from their homes using the phone and or Internet providing customer service. Although less expensive that in-house customer service, it is still more costly in some cases than offshoring and possibly outsourcing. It also has the advantage that the company can monitor employees’ effectiveness and provide training updates rather easily while maintain intellectual property control and some control over the level of service provided.

In-house: This entails having a company customer service department within the company building. This location of the customer service function is preferred when the product or service is complex or involves intellectual property (ex: original software for which the company has a patent). The major concern is that this is usually the most expensive option.

Nearshoring: This involves a type of outsourcing of customer service to a location that is near to the company in terms of time zone or a nearby state that requires lower wages.

Offshoring is usually done when the call center needs to be open 24/7 and can be done more expediently offshore due to the time zone. Many times in the “off hours” late at night, this part of the day is offshored. However, if the business is complex or expertise is needed or needs protection from the competition, it may be a mistake to offer customer service this way.

Outsourcing is done by U.S. companies for instance to independent call center businesses in the U.S. who specialize in their industry areas and that can address their needs in a cost effective manner. However, there is often some difficulty in ensuring that the outsourced supplier of the customer service demonstrates that the company’s customers are valued as much as the home company might be able to communicate (Price & Jaffe, 2015).

Recent self-service research (Scherer, Wünderlich, & Wangenheim, 2015) suggests that self-service customer service only works if the customer is very familiar with the online website, it is easy to use, and they have been a customer online for some time. Otherwise the online self-service option can cause customer defections, especially at the beginning of the relationship. More importantly the research findings suggest that one means of customer contact is not enough. Customers were found to remain more loyal to those companies providing multiple means of contact versus only one.

Reference

Price, B. & Jaffe, D. (2015). Your customer rules! Delivering the me2b experiences that today’s customers want. San Francisco, CA: Josse-Bass.

Scherer, A., Wünderlich, N. V., & von Wangenheim, F. (2015, March). The value of self-service: Long-term effects of technology-based self-service usage on customer retention. MIS Quarterly [Special issue: Service Innovation in the Digital Age], 39(1), 177–200. Retrieved from Business Source Complete.