Category: Customer

Customer service defines as taking care of the customer’s requirement by providing or serving and delivering professional, efficiency and high quality service. The service will be provided during and after the customer’s needs are reached. In logistics industry, customer service is the activities, service actions that are provided and acting as added value. The purpose is to bring more value than the core service that customers need and bring the most satisfaction to customers. For businesses or business organizations today offer more services to customers besides their main products. It is also means the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. It takes into account the priority an organization assigns to customer service relative to components such as product innovation and pricing. In this regards, an organization that treasures good customer service may utilize more money in training their staffs than the average organization or may eagerly follow up customers for their valuables feedback. In the organization, customer service, sales and marketing effort lead crucial role to generate revenue and reputation. To gain the customer loyalty, your service should be better than your competitor from the same industry. One good customer service experience can turn the entire perception a customer holds towards the organization. (https://lecvietnam.com)

Customer service is the direct one-on-one interaction between end user who makes the purchase and the representative of the company that is selling it. Most of the retailers understand that this direct interactions is a critical factor in confirming buyer satisfaction and encouraging repeat business. Nowadays, most of the business are serving the customer service by automated self-service systems but it can’t speak as a human being and is seemed as necessary to most businesses. The customer service representatives are the persons who have to deal directly with the prospect buyers of your products. The buyers’ regards of the organizations and the product are shaped in part by their experience in communication with the person. Customer Service can be defined as the attitude, it is everyone’s job and it is not a department. Below are the customers service quotes that every organization should realize. (https://www.investopedia.com)

1. Customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care
2. Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.

To develop the long term relationships, cooperation, information sharing and trust in implementing logistics management of firm depend on the customer service activity. Because it is the important interface between supplier and customer, the customer service interface has obvious implications for relationship quality and exchange of information between 2 firms (i.e, Business to Business). The nature of interaction between the supplier and customer are fully depends on the quality of service and relationship between them in logistics management which insights the role of customer service in enhancing customer relationship and customer satisfaction.

The term ‘customer service’ in logistics considerably utilized to mention both marketing and substantial distribution activities which aimed at enhancing the product offering or facilitating the exchange process between supplier and customer. But it has been proved that an institutional client in the logistics has much greater and often different requirements than the end consumer, at the same time appearing in two role of the supplier and the customer, and first and foremost, should take an active part in creating and implementing logistics strategy.

Performance Criteria for Customer Service

Logistics is one of the management of flows products, finance, information among business functions. It performs the important part of the supply chain along with procurement, new product research and development, sales & marketing, operations, finance and customer service. Previously logistics was in the form of a supportive duties to all the functional areas but in nowadays it has been provided a far-reaching strategic role.

The crucial of logistics has significantly improved with advancements in communication and transportation technology. It has an important role to perform even in understanding the aim of regional business integration and development (Tongzon, 2011). It possess a huge impact than just transaction cost and on-time delivery (Kumar, Andersson & Rehme, 2010). During processing time, all the sales and market information strategies are combined with all aspects of logistics strategy with a clear focus on customer service, then logistics distributes to organizational competitive responsiveness. Thus the good coorperative logistics strategy improves customer service effectiveness as well (Kohn, McGinnis, & Kara, 2011).

Most of the organizations attempted to keep fully owned supply chain with the thinking of forward and backward vertical integration. According to some competition, businesses are now forecasting specialized fields to build major competencies in specific areas and strive to gain competitive advantage by delivering better outcomes to customers. Logistics management is is very important that try to possess competitive advantage.

It could be the best resource for the successful organizations because most of the competitors firms are not able to attain it. Even they can compare with other facilities but it is difficult to obtain customer satisfaction. The best practices that the latest logistics management practice is the reduction of stocks, reduce cost of production but better quality, and lead time.

To develop the positive goodwill among customers and in the industry, customer service is crucial. The key factors that should perform are to make your stakeholder satisfy your service, maintain their relationship, timely attention to the matters informed by the customers.

All logistic organizations should have the clear set of goals and objectives. It is necessary to define the logistics industry as a whole. There are several goals and objectives for logistics industry. These are:

• ncreasing Efficiency
• Rapid Response
• Fewer unexpected Events
• Minimum Inventory
• Reduced Transportation and Logistics Cost
• Quality Improvement

Increased Efficiency

The most important and preference for every logistics industry is increasing efficiency for both inbound and outbound logistics and transportation. To make it success, the improvement in cost effective transportation, decrease in overhead, processing expenses for cost per order and inventory. By operating efficiently, standard operations processes, layout and process flow of warehouse operations will be better too. Working together with the suppliers who provide value added services such as packaging or quality inspections will help in efficiency increasing. Logistics management will know their flows and sharing best practices and other opportunities.

Rapid Response

Same as the efficiency, customer satisfaction is important factor to be the successful logistics entity. Fulfilling customer service goals, is considering as a rapid response approach. The advantage of latest technology is that we can control and check the logistics operations through the system. It can manage the storage of the excessive inventories in the thinking of that customers requirement will be more. Nowadays, logistics management are fulfilling customer requirements based on a delivery-to-delivery basis.

Unexpected Events

These can occur in every aspects of logistic operations. Disruption at the time of manufacturing, goods received are damaging at the final place, Takes long time to deliver customers order or doing wrong delivery, all these are the wasting of time and resources used. To control these, the software which are capable of obtaining a positive logistics system control are used. To be the best, everyone should participate to minimize the unforeseen matters.

Minimum Inventory

Inventory management is also very crucial for logistics management. Inventory availability and increase in turnover shows that the stocks are utilized effectively. The aim of reducing inventory movement to the minimum possible levels also makes the customers satisfying and less the total logistics cost.

Reduced Transportation Cost

It is the main cost in logistics. It is directly connected with the mode of product being shipped, the measurement of the shipment, and also the location. Most of the logistics systems that offer premium, high quality service are mostly based on high speed, small shipment transportation. Ability to make small shipments consolidated is very special. If the shipment is huge, and the location is far, cost per unit will be cheaper.

Quality Improvement

Another goals that every logistic organization should achieve is to improve in quality, increasing their services and getting customer satisfaction. Total Quality Management becomes the main issue throughout the business landscape.

All these main goals and objectives should be obtained by every logistics organization. It will benefit both the organization and the customers.

Physical Distribution is the movement of finished goods from the final step of production operation to the end users. It includes wholesaling and retailing distribution channels, and also crucial decision factors such as customer service, inventory control, materials handling, protective packaging, order processing, transportation, warehousing. It is part of the process called distribution, which wholesale and retail marketing are included.

Logistics is harmonizing the movement of goods, services, and concerned information between members of supply chain. The main target of its is physical distribution or marketing logistics, doing the planning, implementing and controlling the physical flow of materials, finished goods and concerned information from points of origin to points of consumption to reach end user requirements with profit. Physical distribution includes the handling and moving of raw materials and finished goods from the production to end user often through the agent. It is the design and administration of systems to control the flow of products. It produces ‘time’ and ‘place’ utility, which highest the value of products by delivering to the right customer at the right time and place.

Physical distribution has 2 dimensions, the process of information from the individual customer or groups of customer to the producer and the process of materials from the production to the end user. The main functions of physical distribution process are

1. Customer Service – It must set the customer satisfaction that should make sure that all the product are delivering to the end users and it maintains the standard.
2. Order Process – It is the most important process for the organization as it need to take orders from various customers and to ensure all the orders are satisfied by customers. It should handle efficiently. By doing this, it can minimize the cost of transportation and logistics.
3. Inventory Control – It is also one of the crucial process in the physical distribution. Inventory carrying costs, depreciation costs are included.
4. Transportation and logistics – It is the process to communicate with the procurement of raw materials supplier and final delivery of the finished products to the customers. Depends on the location and the urgency of the order, different transportation mode will be arranged.
5. Packaging – It could be different based on the product and the level of protection requirement for the products.

(http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts)

Customer service is significantly important in logistics management of physical distribution operation

In nowadays, a customer experience is very important in global marketing and it can determine a reputation of a business firm. Thus, a customer service plays a vital role in the modern marketing nowadays. Sometimes, customer service looks like a science for selecting a service which is necessary to customer in order to keep and to attain the customer loyalty by providing quality service and efficient communication which will support an image of customer value. Actually, a customer service is one of the components in the modern marketing management which has changed largely from the previous time according to the current market place is basically changed from the past which leads to many challenges. Therefore, the business firm has to compete with its rivals as well as to develop or create a proper satisfaction which will keep a customer loyalty for a long term. Additionally, Ferrell et al. (2015) pointed out that a customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors in a successful business strategy.

There are two things that the people talking about in the present global market; quality of service and a quality product. Therefore, a customer service is becoming a major role of the marketing because of globalization and technology that the major forces for making new challenges in the market as well as creating different opportunities in the market.However, the present economic tendency is facing both opportunity and threats. A customer may share his experience with others in terms of a customer service of a company. A company could attain a good reputation according to its quality of service if a company makes its customers satisfy. Consequently, a happy customer will indicate others for a company’s servicing and it will help to spread the company’s image for making a business in the market. However, it is very difficult to provide or maintain a perfect customer service because it will be according to temporal and spatial factors. Therefore, it is impossible to provide a perfect service to everyone but it can be possible to provide the best service possible.

Kotler and Keller (2016) stated that the physical distribution commences at the factory and it is required to make a consideration on a place of warehouse and transportation that will influence on delivering the products or goods of the company.

For a logistics session, some companies may rely on the third party to facilitate or helping for transportation in order to deliver their products to customer in time and on time. Therefore, a business firm must consider for targeting its customer who prefers to a short response time and it is necessary to locate adjacent to customers (Chopra and Meindl, 2016).Moreover, a business firm needs to think about its rivals’ service standard. A relation with customers is more important than those with employees of a company in terms of logistics.

The business firm has to consider in terms of decision making for the company’s value proportion to its customers and it is also required to develop an operation for warehouse management and transportation management which are important to customer satisfaction. Therefore, a business firm needs to consider collecting raw material, storing, warehousing, delivery which are involved with physically distributing product.

Many companies emphasize on the logistics management by producing the right products to the right places at the right time with minimum costing (Kotler and Keller, 2016). Hence, a customer service in logistics is mainly the activities that relates with servicing that providing besides the business firm’s product. The end user will be fully satisfied if the products were available at the time they require with enough quantity.

Bibliography

1. http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mbaskool.com: http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/operations-logistics-supply-chain-terms/15561-physical-distribution.html
2. https://lecvietnam.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lecvietnam.com: https://lecvietnam.com/en/operations/news/what-is-customer-service-in-logistics-72.html
3. https://www.investopedia.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/customer-service.asp
4. Tongzon, J. (2011). Liberalisation of logistics services: the case of ASEAN. International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, 14(1), 11-34.
5. Kohn, J. W., McGinnis, M. A., & Kara, A. (2011). A structural equation model assessment of logistics strategy. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 22(3), 284–305.
6. Kumar, N., Andersson, D., & Rehme, J. (2010). Logistics of low cost country sourcing. International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, 13(2), 143-160.
7. De Wit (2017) argued that logistics should be focused on reducing shipping distances, streamline handling and improve vehicle route.

CUSTOMERS

In your role as a work coach you will deal with customers on a daily basis the definition of a customer for the purpose of the work coach role can be defined as a person or organization who requires our service.

You will deal with two types of customer internal and external, below are two examples but these are not the only customers you may come across on a regular basis.

Internal Customers

In your role as work coach on universal credit you will laisse with the Universal Credit (UC) Service Centre and they are one internal customer. The level of service they expect from you is to support the delivery of services to external customers enhancing and assistant their customer service role. You can do this by making the best of our digital channels to maintain contact with them over any customer issues that may arise that they require your support with enabling a joint approach to managing claimants and their accounts, supporting our external customers to the highest standard possible. Ensuring queries are answered; payments are made on time and ensuring a seamless and hassle free journey for the customers we share. In order to maintain this symbiotic relationship, it is important that both parties agree to act in a professional manner, treating each other with respect and fairness. In addition to this we need to recognize the differences, values and skills individuals and teams bring to the relationship. If services are not being delivered to the agreed standards and attempts to resolve the failings are unsuccessful issues need to be escalated through appropriate channels. This will then ensure that we fulfill our organizational team and individual objectives. Namely the reduction of poverty and worklessness, whilst promoting growth and opportunities for all.

External Customers

The main external customer/s work coaches have, consist of Universal Credit claimants. These consist of a diverse group of individuals with their own specific needs and circumstances. We currently deal with Universal Credit claimants that are self-employed, have health issues, lone parents and those actively seeking employment for example. Each client and client group expects you to behave in line with the department’s customer charter. So each individual with their own circumstances is treated with empathy, respect and fairness. Work coaches should use their communication and listening skills to ascertain the customer’s circumstances and explain what is expected of them to maintain their payment of universal credit. You should ensure they understand these commitments and the consequences of not abiding by them. In return they can expect you to provide them with the support they need to successfully move closer to, into work and increase their earnings. They can also expect you to explain things should they go wrong and help them correct their behaviors to ensure the issues don’t arise again. They can expect you to use my knowledge and experience to guide them. They will also expect you to ensure thier personal information is kept confidential and secure.

As a work coach you will be expected to support your caseload move closer and into work. You will do this by employing a variety of techniques and below we are going to explore the advantages and disadvantages of some of the techniques you will use.

Information, advice and guidance

This will be something you will employ regularly as a work coach and will probably be the mainstay of your work. One advantage to this method is that we can use it to support a wide range of customers. We deploy this to assist them make decisions based on their individual circumstances and needs. Providing the correct information, advice and guidance allows them to make an informed decision based on their individual circumstances and needs. Another advantage to this is the customer will ultimately feel they have made the decision and thus be more committed to the outcome leading to a greater chance of success. The main drawback to this method is the need to ensure the information advice and guidance offered is unbiased and factually correct so we need to ensure as work coaches our knowledge base is constantly kept up to date. Providing inaccurate information could lead to misdirection and the customer being given a poor service. The information is also open to misinterpretation by the service user and individuals can interpret advice and guidance in different ways which can lead to misunderstanding and undermine trust. So when dealing with service users we must ensure there understanding of the information, advice or guidance is interpreted in the way it was intended by questioning their understanding of what has been given.

Technical Information

Definition of technical information associated with operation, use, process, or system. In relation the work coach role this would be not only IT skills but the knowledge we have around training providers, Processes and support mechanisms.

Having technical information will allow you to carry out your work coach role within the department which in turn will help the department deliver on its customer service goals. We can use our technologies and technical information to ensure we operate our systems correctly this is allow you to ensure vital tasks are completed correctly and on time, payments being issued for example or assist customers with queries and even locate the relevant information you wish to share. This ensures customer service and relations are maintained. Another advantage to this is that using technical information can show a customer you are confident it what you are discussing with them and can inspire confidence in your abilities within the customer helping to established trust. There are downsides to consider as well, for example if you are confident in your technical knowledge you may not explain it to the customer correctly using terminology they don’t understand. As a universal credit coach you will be expected to communicate to customers via IT systems and be able to show and explain to them how it is operated, you need to take care not to pitch you vocabulary at the correct level and check understanding. Another disadvantage to this is differing levels of knowledge with the work coach team itself this can lead to information not being consistent leads to confusion if a customer has dealt with more than one work coach especially when dealing with the most venerable of society.

Signposting

Signposting means directing an enquirer to other more suitably qualified legal representatives where the registered organization cannot provide the service required, or lacks the capacity to do so.

For example as a work coach you will not have the skills to instruct someone to drive a fork lift truck and as an organization the DWP also can not perform this task, however the DWP work in partnership with training organizations who can so you are able to give the customer information on where they can fulfill this need. This is signposting and it allows us to fulfill those needs that we are not equipped or qualified to do allowing. Another advantage to signposting is that it allows the customer to gain information independently of the work coach for example you might signpost the customer to the citizens advice beaux for further advice on what benefits they may be able to claim. As a Work coach you will undoubtedly know this information and may well have communicated this to the customer but signposting them to get independent advice can simply boost their confidence in the information you have given them. You can also use signposting to empower the customer giving them basic information like a website to look at to gain the answers for themselves can increase there confidence levels. Disadvantages of signposting include a lack of control over the information given or time scales, if the fork lift course is popular for example it mat take a while to get the customer started on it, this can cause issues as a work coach as customers may become resistant or apathetic to other activities such as job search stating things such as “I cant get a job till I get that fork lift license… so theirs no point looking”. Creating a new barrier to progress rather than resolving an existing one.

How organisational change can affect delivery of customer service

The department of Work and Pensions is a constantly evolving and changing government body the biggest change in recent times is the introduction of Universal Credit that is currently taking place throughout the country. This is a massive undertaking not only for our customers but for you as a work coach as well. Universal Credit promotes personal responsibility on behalf of the customer something that in the past the benefit system hindered. It places the responsibility for actively seeking employment, increasing earnings and maintaining their information firmly at the customer’s door. It is the work coach’s role to ensure that we continue to support our customers in this especially those who need it most. The underlying ethos to Universal Credit is doing what’s best for the customer, so as a work coach quality service should be at the forefront of everything you do.

To support this change the department put it to place a new Work Coach Delivery Model to help the transition between what have become known as “legacy” or “historical” benefits to Universal credit. It introduced a mixed case load approach as part of its development meaning that work coaches would be working with a larger customer base often with more complex needs than they traditionally would have managed and removing the need for specialist advisers. This means that a customer can remain with the same work coach irrespective of how there life may change. This helps maintain rapport and confidence, removes the need for the claimant to repeat information that may be distressing and improves the continuity of the support the work coach can offer and ultimately the service the department provides. However as we move away from the specialist work coach role we must be mindful to ensure that we maintain our own skills and knowledge to enable us to maintain and improve customer service.

Maintaining customer service during transformation is imperative. We can not risk losing customer satisfaction, reputation and confidence during the change period. Therefor the change needs to be well planned to minimize its impact on staff and customers reducing the resistance from all parties involved. If the transformation is not handled well it can have wide ranging implications. It can impact on staffs health and wellbeing, a breakdown in trust with management and decrees in moral, which will inevitably lead to reduced job satisfaction and a down turn in productivity that will impact on customer service. If staff are not properly equipped and trained to deal with the new working environment this will also impact on there ability to fulfill there new role and again have a negative impact on the services offered to customers. Employees being ill equipped to carry out there role will again negatively impact on staffs wellbeing and moral and in a customer facing environment these issues will be apparent to the customer no matter how professionally the staff present themselves. It is imperative that any change is managed positively to reduce these factors.

The change will also have a direct impact on our customers themselves and it is vital that we present it to them in a positive manor encouraging them to erase the change and minimize any fears they face by ensuring that any information ion is factually correct and supporting them through your work coach role to ensure they have confidence in there own ability to manage there information and educating them on how the changes will affect them and the service they receive. The work coach role is vital in ensuring the success of any change especially one as fundamental as Universal Credit.

If the change is managed correctly via good communication, consultation and meeting any development needs. Then the organizational goals will be met whilst maintain customer service levels within expectable parameters. However it is important to note that with a change as large and wide reaching as the change to Universal Credit is even the best plan will have some negativity attached to it and will probably have some detrimental impact on customer service as you go through the learning curve. The aim should then be to return to excellence as soon as possible using the information gathered through lessons learned so the same mistakes are not repeated time and time again and become embedded in new processes so deep that they will be difficult to overcome.

The Customer Service Champion

Customer service is the department’s ability to meet the needs of its complex customer base whilst delivering on its operational aims and objectives. By demonstrating outstanding customer service it allows us to form relationships with our customers and building trust. Outstanding customer service increases customer satisfaction and reduces compliant handling. It increases staff moral and thus increases productivity which in turn leads to a leaner organization with reduced waste and costs. This in turn should impact on customer satisfaction and the cycle continues.

To embed a customer service culture within the work coach role communication is essential. This communication between management and staff and staff and customers needs to be easily understandable, factual accurate and above all easily accessible. It is important that you are well trained and knowledgeable in the process and good practices promoted by the department. You will need to remain customer focused and remember the importance of customer service in every interaction and task you do. Ensuring you incorporate the values of the organization in everything you do ensuring you remain professional and efficient.

In order to ensure we maintain customer service levels going forward we need to engage with our customers at every opportunity taking on board feedback and evaluating the service we offer ensuring we continually make improvements where needed.. You will also receive feedback from managers, team leaders and colleagues that will help you improve your own skills. You should also ensure you support any ad hoc customer surveys that aid in the gathering of this information.

In order to support your colleagues with customer services and to promote customer service practices. Accomplishments should be shared. You should also reward good practices recognized in yourself or others via a simple “well done” or one of the departments reward and recognition schemes. This encourages good customer service in others by highlighting examples.

You will always do your best to resolve any issues but there will be times where the resolution is beyond your abilities or accountabilities, so you need to be knowledgeable of the customer complaints and compliments procedures for those issues you are unable to resolve and be able to communicate these to customers.

REFERENCES

1. How to manage change- ACAS https://www.acas.org.uk/media/2673/Advisory-booklet—How-to-manage-change/pdf/Acas-How-to-manage-change-advisory-booklet.pdf
2. Rewrad and recognition https://intranet.dwp.gov.uk/page/dwp-award-and-recognition
3. Good news stories https://intranet.dwp.gov.uk/section/organisation/work-and-health-services-group/uc-one-service-central-england-and-wales/north-and-east-midlands-group-homepage/good-news-stories
4. Five golden rules to complaint resolution https://intranet.dwp.gov.uk/page/five-golden-rules-complaint-resolution
5. Small changes big difference https://intranet.dwp.gov.uk/page/small-changes-big-difference
6. Customer Charter https://intranet.dwp.gov.uk/page/our-customer-charter-0

In order to create a customer service team from scratch, I would start with a plan containing what I am setting out to achieve, what resources I require to create the team and going forward how I will maintain resources and manage the performance of my team.

My resource plan would include the physical resources I would need such as:

• Human Resource – Based on what roles are involved.
• Environment – Costs involved in property/office space, lighting.
• Equipment – IT hardware and software (PC/printer/fax/photocopier/phones), office furniture, office stationary.
• Training of workforce – Additional/Temporary staff, Initial outset costs, time involved.

I would need to consider how much of each resource I need based on supporting the estimated customers expected. This will determine the labour resource required, how many full time and part time staff I need to complete the task factoring in the skill level of the employees, the number of desks/PC’s and how big the office space needs to be to accommodate the team and customers.

I would also need to consider the costs per item and per day and the timescales of completing tasks to work out expected productivity.

To make the business sustainable I will need to factor in the needs of the customer base in order to meet them for example, how accessible the office is to the public and whether there is a lift to accommodate all customers. These considerations not only apply to customer but also to the workforce in line with adhering to the Equality Act 2010.

3 ways in which the resources will be managed

In order for employees to deliver a good level of customer service, the resources laid out in the initial planning of the team must be sufficient and well planned. This involves the forecasting of customer demand being well calculated to ensure staffing is at the optimum level to deal with the workload, not having the correct staffing levels will lead to an ineffective and un-motivated team, and therefore it is to be reviewed on a regular basis so that changes can be made where needed. This is to be managed by a Human Resources department or line manager of the team, IT systems could also be used to manage the amounts of resources used.

Managing time effectively is the responsibility of all employees; this requires organisational skills and planning. The team working together to schedule work in a systematic way will result in a more efficient way of working, this in turn increases productivity providing time to deal with more customers on a daily basis. Inadequate time management will lead to resources being under-utilised or over-exhausted. To reduce time losses to the team, each individual’s productivity will be reviewed and where needed, training will be provided to better manage time on a daily/weekly basis.

IT systems need to be kept up to date as they are an invaluable resource for customer service based teams therefore I would have a virtual IT team available that can attend the office as and when required and incorporate online fixes as early as possible to minimize the impact on service delivery to our customers. So that the business can still operate in the instance of loss of IT, I would also include clerical/contingency processes that can be used in place of IT systems when they unavailable such as forms, letters, templates etc.

One way to reduce IT issues could be to have timeframe standards for how long information will be stored for depending on the type of information the documents contain, i.e. customer data will only be held for 12 months, if it has not been accessed within the last 12 months, it will auto delete after this period has past. This would ensure the company do not hold unnecessary information for prolonged periods whilst complying with the General Data Protection Regulations.

Why performance management is important

The importance of performance management is to gain the most productivity, whilst maintaining a happy workforce to achieve the best outcome for our customers, in line with the organizations goals and targets in the most effective and efficient way.

This can be applied through setting targets, these need to be:

• Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
• Achievable (agreed, attainable).
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

As part of employee’s job descriptions it will state the company’s objectives and stipulate that as part of their contract they will achieve specific measures. By setting goals this provides standards and measures for employees to perform to meaning that if an employee is not achieving the agreed targets, a plan will be put in place to help improve the employee’s performance to reach the required standards.

When poor performance is identified, I would tackle this by inputting a support plan at the earliest opportunity based on the individual and their needs. This may involve reviewing performance more frequently, checking for gaps in knowledge, training/coaching, observations and confidence building.

In order to identify whether employees are meeting their targets, observations via a manger and systems that record and track performance are used. Benchmarking to compare team members against each other and your team against similar teams can also highlight areas of concern to be addressed. At regular intervals I would set up performance reviews to ensure the employees are on track whilst discussing their well-being and offering any support to improve performance where needed.

The higher performing the team is, the higher the customer satisfaction ratings. I would monitor the team’s ratings to check for dips in service delivery and attain reasons for this to resolve any issues. This can be measured by completion of customer surveys on a frequent basis which also identifies feedback on any areas of improvement and if there is anything the customer would like to suggest to improve the service they receive. The data obtained from these surveys is recorded to provide employees with qualitative and quantitative feedback to provide motivation to deliver excellent service.

Bibliography:

1. Website: Gov.uk, Equality Act 2010, Available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance
2. Website: Tenstep.com, Steps to create a resource plan, Available at: https://tenstep.com/use-these-three-steps-to-create-a-resource-plan/
3. Website: Flevy.com, Ways to manage resources more efficiently, Available at:Nhttp://flevy.com/blog/4-effective-ways-to-manage-resources-more-efficiently/
4. Website: Gov.uk, General Data Protection Regulations, Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation
5. Website: mindtools.com, SMART meanings, Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm

Introduction

Hilton hotel Singapore providing high quality services to the customer. It is a 5 star hotel in Singapore. It is situated at 581 Orchard Rd, Singapore. There are so many accessibilities like public entrance, guest room, elevators, and public rest room. Set in a concrete-and-glass constructing within the Little India district, this polished motel surrounded by using stores and eating places is a four-minute stroll from the nearest subway station, and 4 km from The Esplanade – Theaters at the Bay waterfront appearing arts complicated. Warm rooms come with loose Wi-Fi, flat-display TVs and mini fridges, plus tea and coffee making facilities. Some have bay windows and/or metropolis views; upgraded rooms characteristic balconies and/or sofa-beds. Room carrier is to be had. Amenities include an airy grill-fashion restaurant, an out of doors pool and a gymnasium. There’s additionally a 24-hour comfort store, as well as coin-operated laundry centers. There are so many things around the hotel like Broadway hotel, TEKKA center, little India metro station and taxi stand for approaching the airport.

Customer service operation in hospitality and tourism

Customer carrier is the manner of making sure purchaser pride with a services or products. Often, customer service takes place even as acting a transaction for the client, such as creating a sale or returning an item. Customer service can take the shape of in-person interplay, a cell phone name, self-service structures, or by way of other approach.

Anticipating customer needs is an important part of hospitality business. Anticipating needs helps hospitality industry to grow personal and professionally. Customer needs explaining customer behavior. Customer preferences are expectations like, dislike, motivation.

Service requirements are important for clients, potential clients, personnel and management of a business. They assist to define what a patron can expect and to remind control and personnel of the undertaking and duties that they face

Competent and trained staff- Worker idea is noticeably crucial for every corporation due to the blessings that it conveys to the corporation. At the factor while representatives are persuaded to work, they will for the maximum part positioned their pleasant exertion within the undertakings which might be allocated to them.

Empowerment-When workers are engaged, they need to acknowledge duty. They can never again assert, ‘That is not my activity’. At the point when representatives are not enabled, clients must work their way up the hierarchy of leadership so as to get their issues settled.

Facilities- Association need to give best quality services and facilities in light of the fact that if facilities are bad then it might cause customer disappointment; nature of items might be bad. In this way, association needs to give better offices to customer.

Every organization should have a basic expectation for employees to provide good customer service. This is important because taking care of all customer groups is to business success. Investing the time to create service standards

Methods of collecting feedback

• Through websites: Through social media an organization can collect feedback about products and services. Social Medias are like trip advisor, organization’s website etc.
• Comment boxes: organization collects feedback forms from comment boxes. Guests fill up feedback forms about the products and service and drop in comment box. Organization utilizes customer feedback forms to enhance your current items and administrations.

How to improve?

Staff should be so much possessive with the customer’s needs and happiness. The bell boy should stand on the gate to receive the customer’s luggage and receptionist also asking about the customer’s needs and comfortable things from the customer’s before approaching or give the room if the customer book a room at online there should be also give options for related to the rooms and hotel’s locations.

The resolution of customer’s queries and complaints in hospitality and tourism

After the dust has settled, allow your purchaser understand that they’re in your thoughts. Even if there is no real want to follow up, send a handwritten word or personalized email asking them how matters are going. You may additionally even want to send them a special discount if you have been partly at fault.

Possible actions to prevent problems

To prevent issues the business ought to make customer fully satisfied like fulfilling changing or new desires, pleasurable vital desires, perceived value and so on.

Improve customer service- Provide nice service is important to deliver exceptional revel in for every purchaser because customer service is the only of most critical property of corporation. So, it’s far important to admire aid and deliver first-class service.

Improve communication- To prevent primary troubles the companies ought to improve communiqué abilities. Like 24*7 phone service or truly offer email or message facility. Now day’s commercial enterprise use CRAM software that permit employees to make notes of troubles of man or woman clients which helps to enhance enterprise.

Proper Training of staffs- Having well trained staff may benefits your business in many ways. Staff training is very important to avoid problems. Staffs should be properly trained to provide best services; they should know how to handle customers’ problems etc.

Reasons for customer complaints

• Poor customer service- Main reason for customer complaints is poor quality customer service to customers. Whenever customer’s needs and wants are not fulfilled complaints arise.
• Slow delivery- Another important reason of customer complaints is slow delivery of services. So, Hilton hotel needs to do more on service delivery and deliver the products or services more quickly.
• Lack of communication- Lack of communication may lead to major problems and a big reason for complaint against company.
• Not fulfilling promises- Another major reason for complaint in Hilton hotel is not fulfilling promises towards customer like check-in time or regarding services etc.

Based on the above case study (1.5) there are many reasons about these complaints like not keeping promises, poor customer services, rude staff, low quality products and services etc. Customer complaints describe an issue, regardless of whether that is an issue with your item, workers or interior procedures, and by hearing these issues specifically from your customers, you can research and improve to prevent further complaints in future.

A customer complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction towards company. Customer provides feedback to company, customer complaints are usually informal complaints directly addressed to company or public service provider.

Handling customer complaints

Complaint handling is most important for any company. Resolving complaints efficiently creates good opportunities for your company. Resolving complaints may increase confidence in your services and improve quality of product and services through feedback and prevent smaller issues from developing into major issues.

Listen and understand customer- Staff has the ability or passion to listen customer first and understand the customer problem. Staff should take time and truly understand the problem.

Solution of complaints- After listening problem, always focus that what solution you can provide. Staff should provide a solution quickly and efficiently.

While dealing with customer complaint try to be claim even if customer is angry and never argue with customer. Try to solve customer complaint as soon as possible, for dealing with complaint staff have to follow process like listen carefully, apologize, ask customer what you accept, and at last provide solution.

In hospitality industry it is very important to maintain records like (issues, problems, incidents) which can directly or indirectly help business. Maintaining records may monitor the progress of business; records give information about problems and issues which a company has to solve. Records are also helpful in identifying sources of income and what improvements are needed.

The effectiveness of customer service in hospitality and tourism

Providing satisfactory and splendid provider could be very vital in each business however in hospitality enterprise it’s far first precedence to offer brilliant service and satisfy client desires because hospitality industry ought to offer what they promised and meet consumer’s expectation.

An evaluation plan in accordance with organizational requirement

An evaluation plan critically examines the progress of your organization. It collects and analyzes information about organizational requirement. A well planned and carefully executed evaluation plan will benefit an organization in various ways. Evaluation plan can helpful to identify areas require for improvement and help you to realize your goals or aims efficiently.

Monitoring can be done by two keys.

• Customers feedback by means of manner of client questionnaires, comment playing cards, client forums, word of mouth
• Staff feedback by the way of mystery customer, complaints/compliment letters, external comment.

Evaluation can be done by various ways:-

• Employee Turnover?

  In human useful resource terms, worker turnover is a dimension of the way lengthy your employees live together with your company and the way often you need to update them. Any time an employee leaves your organization, for any motive, they’re referred to as a turnover or separation.

• Awards?

  The company gives the awards like a respect to the best manger, executive officer and to the other staff.

• New customers?

  We believe that the statistics we have provided on our internet site will come up with an amazing summary of our operations and extensive perception on our management system and the well-known resort in Singapore.

• Level of complaints/compliments?

  ‘Complainants’ are described as clients who’ve had a recent trouble, and feature advised a member of personnel approximately it. They have now not necessarily lodged a proper grievance, and their issue might also or won’t be captured in an enterprise’s court cases monitoring machine.

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Staff feedback:-if the hotel gives discount to all customers (it’s some cheaper for them) and make not so much profit.

Guest/client feedback:-this type of offer for some short periods and limited also and so many customers cannot take advantages of this type of offer.

Information analysis using agreed techniques

Impact analysis- This is a simple technique that is used to assess the impact on specific environmental changes in an organization or its competitors. Simply impact analysis means contingency plan or backup plan for an organization.

PESTEL analysis- This technique uses to search information on political, economical, social, technological, environmental and legal aspects. This technique assesses impact they make on the tourism and hospitality industry.

SWOT analysis- SWOT is a technique to find out particular strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of any particular company.

An off growth strategy matrix- This strategy provide four strategic options to an organization like focused on high selling of product, related to people whom to sell, product development and diversification (getting into new business)

The use of quality system in the tourism and hospitality industry

Using quality system or quality service in tourism or hospitality industry is very important because customer satisfaction is first aim of this industry. Quality is the delivery of service that meets the standard which is set by hotel. Guest requires quality service and reward with loyalty.

Normally quality means fully meeting customer needs and requirement all the time. Quality is an experience of customer. Service quality perception comes from your service process design and the customer contact impressions.

Quality attributes can be implemented on those organizations which have adequate resources and have an effective quality team which maintain quality and training department. Quality attributes are many like availability, performance, reliability, security, conceptual integrity. Quality attributes are realized non-functional requirements used to evaluate the performance of a hotel.

Quality measures

1. Total quality management (TQM) – Total Quality Management is an organizational management strategy which aspires to improve the quality of products or services
2. European foundation of quality management (EFQM) – A measure for benchmarking, self-assessment and improvement. EFQM promotes the following things like setting a target, providing consistent leadership, provide opportunities and development.
3. ISO 9001 – ISO 9001 covers the process relating to production and service. The international organization for standardization (ISO) has defined a series of standards for hotels, which all hotels have to follow like improve quality, rules in quality management, reduce wastage and defects.

The components of an effective quality system

Quality management system is a collection of plan, policies, procedures for the production or development of product or services. These set of rules or policies is implemented in organization to satisfy the needs of its customers.

How to identify problems, defects and shortfalls against quality standards

These are some reasons for defects and problems against quality standards like standards being managed by wrong people, not properly understanding need of quality standards, shortfalls in designing overall system.

Some points show how effectively quality standards should be used to overcome these defects or problems

Strategic quality planning- Strategic quality planning includes aim, goals, vision and values for Hilton hotel. Effective strategic quality planning efforts employees take into consideration for development of goal, aim or values of hotel.

Quality improvement culture- Hilton hotel always ready to improve their quality standards because quality management system is a continuous process and this require continuous improvement in policies , plan implemented by management of hotel.

Focus on customer requirement- It is essential to measure customer requirement because today customer require perfect quality of service and product without any defect. So hotel has to focus on customer requirements for long term survives.

How quality standards can be used to make improvements

Some benefits for Hilton hotel using quality standards

Increase level of profit- Setting quality standards may increase the profit and it main benefit that Hilton hotel require. Hilton hotel use quality standards effectively, so they get higher level of efficiency and productivity which automatically increase level profit.

Develop morale of employees- Using quality standard which define responsibilities of each employee and anything which make employees carrier progression, which make them happier and more confident at work. This automatically increases morale of employees working in Hilton hotel.

Make better decision- Having proper quality standards, procedures or structure which helps management to make better decision for hotel. Having the ability to make quality decision will help a firm to grow and make continuous improvement.

Improve customer satisfaction- Using quality management system will definitely improve the customer satisfaction and quality standard also help in maintaining good relation with customer and Hilton hotel. Hilton hotel depends on customers and therefore this hotel understands customer’s future or current needs.

Increase in production- Proper evaluation of quality standards help Hilton hotel to improve production level. A better quality standard process helps in performance consistency. Increase in production help hotel to achieve goals which they set.

CONCLUSION

Customer service has to be managed properly. Customer service in tourism and hospitality industry is very important because they are totally dependent on their customers. Proper customer service is important to satisfy their customers. Customer Satisfaction is of utmost importance in hospitality and tourism industry. Customer is the person behind whom this whole industry is running. Every hotel and restaurant wants its customers to be fully satisfied, so that they can make an impact on the customer. Every hotel and restaurant has to establish a standard of their customer services and which should be regularly improved. The hospitality industry has to anticipate the needs and wants of their customers, so that they can be fulfilled without the customer asking for fulfillment of these services. Hotel and restaurant should regularly be in touch with their customers while they are on their visit to the place. The hotel and restaurant should manage data with regard to customers’ feedback. This will help in improving the customer services. Hilton hotel is famous for its customer service, which makes it different

A business customers are their biggest assets because without them, no business would grow well and no business would succeed in their endeavours; in fact, there would be no purpose for business at all. You cannot pick them up and drop them whenever it satisfies you, no matter how galling they may become. You need to retain them, and you need to develop your relationship with them so both business and customers are satisfied. By building trust between business and your customers, you are establishing better work ethics in your employees, improving your business reputation and most importantly, you are providing something of worth to your customers. There are three types of Trust based in customer relationship within a business; they are Calculus Based Trust, Knowledge Based Trust and Identification Based Trust. I will elaborate more in my following points.

Calculus based Trust exist when business and customers are developing trust at first time they meet or build up a relationship between business and customers. This type of trust takes deterrence a step further. This form is grounded not only in the fear of punishment for violatin trust, but also n the rewards for preserving it. Trust is based on a calculation comparing the costs and benefits of creating and sustaining a relationship versus the costs and benefits of severing it. For deterrence to be an effective threat, the potential loss of a relationship must outweigh the parties. The person has been harms must also be willing to follow through on threats of punishment. Control of another persons behaviour is central to calculus based trust or CBT. A metaphor of for growth of calculus based is tactical climbing as in scaling ladders or mountains. Parties coordinate their actions as they increasingly take risks and reveal their vulnerability to each other

Knowledge Based Trust is the most and common trust and it is based on the behavioural predictability that comes from a history of interaction. This type of trust exists when an individual has enough information and understanding about another person to predict that persons behaviour. Accurate prediction depends on understanding, which develops from repeated interactions, communication and building a relationship. It is different from calculus based trust is founded not on control but information. Parties cultivate knowledge of each other by gathering data, seeing each other in different context and experiencing each others range.

Identification based trust occurs when parties understand and endorse one another and can act for each other in interpersonal transactions. This requires parties to fully internalize and harmonize with each others desires and intensions. Certain activities enhance trust based on identification. For instance, Eveni Carruthers store and their customers can assume a common identity. They can co-locate, create joint products and goals and share core values. This type of trust builds on trust based on knowing predicting another persons needs and preferneces; these needs and preferences are also shared . It also enables us to think, feel and respond like the other person.

Oil is a commodity that is desired by multiple players and is essential in order to sustain the needs and lifestyles of consumers, businesses, and employees that depend on the natural resource to heat their homes, transport their products, and generate their paychecks. The top oil and gas companies in the world include Phillips 66, ExxonMobil, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell to name a few. The companies that profit from oil include the oil and gas companies, utility companies, and other organizations that utilize oil byproducts to produce plastic for their goods. The goals of these companies are to increase profits, create jobs, and supply the demand for gas and oil. However, the consumer’s interests are to reduce the cost of oil, reduce the environmental effects of oil by seeking alternative energy solutions, and lower the demand of oil through the creation of renewable energy. These conflicting interests between the two groups have created a situation that is unwelcome by consumers because the gas and oil companies have been raising prices to benefit their pockets and the effect is impacting the consumer negatively. Understanding the issues surrounding this topic will not only help to identify the issues, but create an effective solution to protect the interest of the consumer.

A recent interview conducted by Spectrum News 1 with Jamie Court, president of the Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group, highlights the prevalent issues with oil refineries and how they impact the consumer. He explained that refineries control the gas supply and they are often owned directly by those that dominate the retail gas market. The refineries sell gas to their own stations and then charge more to purposely keep prices high. When a refinery goes down, the price increases because demand increases and cycles back to increase refinery profits. However, Jamie Court was missing some information in his analysis. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, “18% of gas prices are from taxes, 17% is distribution and marketing costs, 12% of the price is refining, and 53% is crude oil” (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2019). Most individuals would not consider marketing to be a key factor in the gas price makeup however, there is competition amongst gas stations and large retail brands like Costco, Walmart, Kroger, and Sam’s Club for the consumer to use their pumps. There are multiple factors that go into getting the oil from the refinery to the consumer’s gas tank including the employees at the refineries, businesses that store the gasoline in tanks, and the individual delivering the resources to gas stations to be sold.

Even though taxes, marketing and distribution, refining, and crude oil are the four major components that make up the current gas prices, the consumers role in this cannot be overlooked when demand for the product is high and essential for society to function. The consumer has to commute back and forth to work every day and depending on their job, traveling may be a large component of their day. During the summer months, families tend to increase their fuel consumption on vacations and holidays. When gas prices get too high, consumers will attempt to conserve their spending or decide to spend a vacation with their family in a way that does not involve traveling far, ultimately hurting the economy because less money is being spent. When the gas prices rise, big oil companies are immediately to blame. It is not socially responsible to sell fuel to your own gas station and charge 40 cents more for the consumer to purchase the fuel when it is essential to function. It is not cost effective and society cannot support the inflation for long without the economy suffering. However, there is also the social responsibility of the consumer and businesses to find alternatives to rely less on fuel and encourage the development of energy efficient alternatives.

One solution to consider is educating consumers on what changes they can make in their everyday lives in response to the rising fuel prices. Purchasing a more fuel-efficient vehicle can support more miles per gallon and have an idle stop that automatically turns your engine off when you are stopped at a red light. Routine maintenance on vehicles, such as keeping the air in the tires at the correct pressure and changing the air filter will help cut costs in the long run. There are multiple apps that consumers can download on their phone to find the best gas prices in their area, the most popular is GasBuddy. If consumers live in the city, utilizing public transit when commuting to work or carpooling with other individuals can help them save money. The value in this solution is that consumers will evaluate their fuel usage and attempt to reduced their need, which reduces demand, and ultimately lowers the price. Having consumers utilize apps that advertise real time gas prices will keep the local markets competitive. The challenge that this solution presents is that it only works if the community is participating as one entity and individually responsible for conserving their fuel usage.

Another solution to consider is forming a partnership with an organization, such as Greenpeace, to lobby for the environment and more fuel-efficient alternatives in a civil manner. Greenpeace is currently collecting signatures for a petition to stop offshore drilling. Supporting this initiative can help put pressure on the government to take in active role in regulating the demand for energy. The government can then encourage the major oil and gas companies to consider their social responsibility in the cost of fuel for the consumer and the impact it has on the economy and environment. Creating a membership with this has the potential to create a long-term solution and has the power to generate donations to help fund future hurtles with the oil and gas companies. There is even an opportunity to lobby for research in developing different sources of energy. However, this solution does not have an immediate result for the consumer who will still be struggling with the hardship of the fuel prices in their budget.

The best option to pursue is a combination of both solutions and pursue an environmentalism approach, which is “an organized social movement of citizens, businesses and government agencies to protect and improve our living environment” (Levens, 2016, p. 42). It is important to increase your network to increase the impact of the demand for change. This can be accomplished by creating a membership with active groups worldwide, like Greenpeace, that support a solution for the gas and oil prices. In addition, establishing a brand and marketing on an online platform through social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter will be a way to gain attention and educate consumers on how to incorporate fuel efficiency into their lives. Marketing on how the solutions will help the environment and economy will add value and credibility to the organization.

References

1. API Global. (2019, January). Wells to Consumer. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.api.org/oil-and-natural-gas/wells-to-consumer
2. Co, A. R. R. (2019, July 31). 11 Different Sources of Alternative Energy. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/alternative-energy-sources/
3. Foundation, S. (2019, March 22). The Link Between Fossil Fuels, Single-Use Plastics and Climate Change. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.ecowatch.com/fossil-fuels-single-use-plastics-2565595371.html
4. Greenpeace. (n.d.). Membership FAQ. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/membership-faq/
5. Levens, M. (2016). Marketing: Defined, Explained, Applied (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education Inc.
6. Loris, N. (2014, September 4). What Contributes to Gas Prices and Solutions to Help. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.heritage.org/environment/report/what-contributes-gas-prices-and-solutions-help#_ftn3
7. Schoen, J. W. (2005, August 15). Who Benefits from Rising Gas Prices? Retrieved October 6, 2019, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8670108/ns/business-answer_desk/t/who-benefits-rising-gas-prices/#.XZvKB-dKi-x
8. (2019, October 3). Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://youtu.be/sOPdu-Y-YXM.
9. U.S. Energy Information Administration. (2019, October 7). U.S. Energy Information Administration – EIA – Independent Statistics and Analysis. Retrieved October 7, 2019, from https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/
10. Vara, V. (2019, June 13). Largest Oil and Gas Companies: Ranking the Top 10. Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://www.offshore-technology.com/features/largest-oil-and-gas-companies-in-2018/

Customer services, the very aspect in completing the formality in treating customers with the respect and pleasant services as expected by the recipient. What started in the old times has carried through many changes as society evolves. Of course, thanks to the power of literature and documentation, the record of customer services is kept for analysis on how much it has evolved over time through each cultural society. In the story of “Letters from Thailand”, it can be inferred that there was an indication inscribed about customer services. It’s the very nature of such study that indicates the element of social interactions such as customer services. Although it is clear that it has evolved over time throughout cultural societies, there is no indication of how much the evolution has changed the very nature of customer services. It is, therefore, our research main goal to find out the density of cultural evolution and whether or not its very nature has changed over time.

Body

To further illuminate the very aspect in the evolution of customer services, our research team has conducted a thorough analysis of articles, books, and published journals related to the aforementioned topic. As mentioned, the purpose of this research is to answer the doubts of whether or not customer services have drastically evolved beyond recognition. As further analogy on the subject needs extra illumination, we, the researchers, have come up with another objective question. A question to compare the perspective of customer services in the present to that in the past period within Chinese cultures much like that in the story of “Letters from Thailand”.

For the very purpose of this research, we decided to approach this matter through the method of random samplings. First of all, we decided to select 15 people with Chinese backgrounds so that it would be much relevant to our analysis of the Chinese culture as written in the “Letters from Thailand”. Randomly selected participants will be followed with a requested interview with each of them to discuss the topic of customer services. As researchers who are collecting data, we have prepared a set list of questions to ask the participants. The interview started with an introduction to our purpose of the interview, followed by letting the participants introduce themselves and their familiarity with the term “customer services”. Having answered the question, we proceeded by them about their perspective on customer services back in the past. Depending on their answer, we brought up the relativity to modern services that customers would receive on daily basis. All the questions are made to reflect on their experiences to ensure the credibility and legitimacy of the data of which we inquire.

Having inquired the data from the interviewed participants, we later arranged them into categories in order to find out whether a majority of participants believe that customer services have drastically evolved beyond recognition or not. Through “Mean” analytical testing, it can be seen that our final result has led us to believe that the customer services we provide and receive today are completely different from what used to be practice in the past. The majority average of people believing that customer services today have far transcended that of the past has open up a new gate of our research. We, the researchers, believe that further research is needed to illuminate the different elements between the past and present customer services, as well as why, are they so different.

To our effort in finding out the significant difference between the customer services in the past and in the present days, we came to upon a revelation. Among all the pieces of literature we have read so far, the differences between customer services in the past and in the present are undeniably clear. In the past, it can be seen throughout the story of “Letters from Thailand” the very definition of customer services. Customer service is the act of providing customers before, during, and after they purchase the product. Customers absolutely expect an enjoyable experience from the products or services. It’s one of the reasons behind their reliability towards a business. The more they are pleased, the more likely they continue doing business with you. From what we have explored from the story, Saung U never believes in selling at the highest price that a customer is able to pay. In their perspective, selling the product at less than the market price would work well for their customers to learn that bargaining the price is a waste of time. Saung U’s father advised him that “we sell our products at the going rate, they will do far better in the future”. “What we call the fair price is the fairest they will find. Better than selling high and send them away feeling they have learned a hard lesson. To take advantage of anyone is to lose.” These viewpoints show that customer service solutions are not about selling at the highest price to their customer and keep selling their products at the going price rate in order to gain a better achievement. For them, Earning the customers is the most important thing to focus on like some business people out there claim that we must put our customers first then we will focus on the profit and that was actually applied by many business starters. Everything is all about providing the nicest hospitality and pleasure to the customers so that they might have great experiences. It can be seen that customer services have developed as time passed by in societies. Furthermore, customer service is getting closer to the customers so close that you can tell what they need before they realized themselves, so close that you will know what they desire and what their first requirement. Back in the past, there was a lack of technology and telecommunication so customer services substantially relied on human interactions. From the studied text, we have noticed that Suang U discovers what would sell best in Bangkok and he also learns that he needs to attract the regular customer first by sending his friend, Kim to find out which confections that people like the most and who are the exact buyers. And, that is the process of how Saung U’s business is getting successful and is well known by people. The way people deal with customers has clearly shown us that it might take months to find customers but it can rapidly take a second to lose one so be kind, be patient and respect your customers even they choose not to do business with you.

Contrastingly in the present days, it can be seen that customer services tend to soothe the clients’ convenience in their purchases. With the inclusion of responses made by the costumers to business owners, it can be inferred that the modern customer services today are to be superior in more ways than one such as surveys and rating that would ensure the owners how to best improve their services and performances (ASQ, n.d.). However, that’s not all. With the revelation of the internet, comes new ways in costumer services such as online shopping (Jiang et al., 2013). Costumers perceived online shopping convenience plays a vital role in accessing satisfaction (Guatam, 2018). For instance, during holidays. For it is a holiday, it would be too crowded to get anywhere. That’s why with the capability of the internet as well as the customer services of online shopping and delivery services provided by the company owner, consumers can easily get access to any purchases without having to travel as the package would directly come to them. Besides, customer lifetime value can also be an addition to modern customer services as it would ensure that customers would likely come back for more purchases on your services (Amaresan, 2021). While it is a well-known fact that words travel fast within the vast space of the internet, all it takes for a business to boom is a post of good review. Consumers tend to leave a review regarding the experience of the quality in which the service they received. More importantly, those reviews can be spread as more and more customers will be enticed by the review and attract even more customers thus making the business strike gold. All these methods are possible because of the internet. Customer services indeed have now worn a new face as it will continue to evolve through time.

Discussion

Having completed the two separate analyses on both the customer services in the past and in the present days, it can be seen that the very nature of customer services has yet to change at all despite the technique used for the implementations highly differentiate one from another. In the past, customer services can be seen heavily relied on human interactions with one another, most likely between business owners and clients. People were friendly to one another to ensure a smooth process of services and purchases. Friendliness was used to ensure a complete return of the other proceeding as a customer would likely be back for the satisfaction they receive from their purchases. On the other hand, it can be seen that with the modern interpretation of customer services, people tend to prioritize more on technology for convenience and competence. People tend to are compelled by the convenience of technological tools that make it so that could easily make their purchases. This can be seen through the example of online shopping conducted through the revelation of the internet as mentioned above. However, what’s fascinating is the fact that the feeling of satisfaction of customers never changed. The fundamental value of customer services is to ensure customers’ satisfaction and desire to return for future purchases. While it is true that customers between two drastically distinguished periods of time enjoy different satisfaction as inscribed above, it doesn’t change the fact that customer services have evolved beyond recognition. It is therefore our conclusion that while it is true that customer services have evolved over time, the very fundamental aspect of it still remains the same as when it was born.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, while the methods used in implementing customer services may drastically evolve over time throughout societies, the fundamental value in which to ensure the customers’ satisfaction and desire to make future purchases still remains. At first, through the data we have collected from Chinese cultured participants, we were led to believe that customer services have transcended beyond recognition as time passed to modernization. However, through further studies on the very aspect of customer services, we are highly convinced that customers still receive the same fulfilling emotion whether they receive warm and friendly hospitality or when they can only have to spend little effort to easily make their purchases. It can, therefore, inferred that this research has awakened an understanding of the very purpose of customer services no matter the form of implementation, which is to emotionally entice and appeal to customers’ needs and comfort.

There are various resources needed in an office environment to keep the customer service running in the department for work and pensions. The types of resources are, work volumes, staff members, training opportunities, working patterns, opening hours, I.t software and hardware, skillsets, premises, photocopiers, printers, telephones, legislative requirements (e.g. health and safety, Equality and Diversity).

Staff work forces are important to delivering the customer service and running operations. Within the work force there are different leads that specialize in their own field such as, NEA, work coach and front of house. For instance when customers attend JCP they are sought by the front of house team who then direct them to the correct staff who can deal with their benefit query.

The DWP provide training opportunities to up skills staff in order to maintain the highest level of customer service across the department. For instance when a JSA advisor migrates onto UC they will undertake 3 weeks training in order to up skill themselves on how to navigate the UC system so that they can deliver the service necessary.

Office equipment such as IT software and hardware, premises, photocopiers, printers, telephones etc has made it easier to carry out and automate regular yet important tasks that were previously timing consuming. This will reduce the work burden on work coaches and will help maintain operational delivery and prevent staff from tiring out. The use of IT equipment reduces work coaches’ workload. Certain tasks such as booking a gateway intervention appointment for self employed claimants can find their notification letter automatically attached in their journal. This lessens the need for work coaches to carry out repetitive manual tasks which allows them to focus more on important part of their role. In addition, this will lessen errors in the workplace, and improve the quality of the work from staff.

Legislative requirements such as health and safety, Equality and Diversity are highly important and necessary within a workforce to ensure efficient and positive operations. This gives staff members’ sense of security where their rights are being protected. Since DWP is a diverse and welcoming department, the staff equality rights promote well being of the workforce for them to carry out their role to the best of their ability.

How this information can be used to produce a resource plan

Staff work force is highly important to have an efficient operational delivery. There are various employees who work on different roles to deliver the range of service which caters to the specific need the claimant has. For example, a customer attending the JCP may need support with updating their CV whereby then the front of house team would direct the claimant to an NEA adviser. The claimant can then go back to his work coach who now can support him on being referred to a live vacancy. Both the work coach and the NEA adviser work back to back in order to delivery customer service to the highest level. This information is necessary to make a resource plan before carrying out any operational delivery.

It is important to lay out the training staff will need before carrying out any customer service operations. This is because there are constant and ongoing changes in policy and guidance. For example the migration from Job seekers allowance to universal credit full service. In addition it is necessary to have adequate staff members before sending out any colleagues to training cover their work whilst away.

Technology is transforming how the claimants who rely on DWP services expect to interact with their work coaches. The department published their digital strategy which highlights how the DWP will provide the high quality digital services that people prefer to use. It is important to have the IT services laid out in the resource plan prior to having any operational delivery being taken place. The employees will know the services they have available to carry out their role as wells the customers knowing what services are available to them when finding work.

It is important to highlight the opening hours in the resource plan and to balance out the working pattern across the office to ensure efficient operations. This is because the department does not need every in at 7am when they are no customers. Since work coaches are contracted to work 37.5 hours per week.

How to manage the resources in order to improve customer service going forward

Digital statistics is an important resource that needs to be monitored regularly to improve employee performance and ensure customers are paid within a timely manner. In the job Centre plus, the high priority is ensuring customers are paid on time. Monitoring the payment accuracy and blockers are vital to making sure quick payments are issued to customers.

In the DWP, customer feedback is information provided by claimants about whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with a product or service and about general experience they had with the department. Their opinion is a resource for improving customer experience and adjusting employee actions to their needs. The following reasons show why customer feedback is important in the DWP:

• Helps with improving products and services
• Helps with measuring customer satisfaction
• Shows you value their opinions
• Helps to create the best customer experience
• Gives data that helps taking department decisions

In order for DWP to provide the highest level of service, they must put claimants at the centre of their operations and treat customer feedback as the most valuable source of information in the department. It is the customers who the services, therefore they are most aware of what could be improved to make them more satisfied. If DWP fail to ignore their feedback, it may incur customer complaint thus leading to bad press.

“A customer complaint highlights a problem, whether that’s a problem with your product, employees or internal processes, and by hearing these problems directly from your customers, you can investigate and improve to prevent further complaints in the future.”

It is vital for DWP to manage customer complaints. It highlights the customer perception and the attitudes of work coaches. Paying attention to complaints can improve customer satisfaction.

Many claimants with a complaint won’t report it to the department and instead will inform other people(i.e other customers, and the press). Those who do make a complaint are highly valuable to the department as they give information the DWP need to improve customer service. It is important for the department to review, revise and reinforce customer complaints management policy to make sure every upset customer becomes satisfied.

Analyse how important Performance management is In relation to improving Customer Service Delivery

Performance management is an ongoing process of communication between a manager and a work coach that occurs every month, in support of accomplishing the strategic objectives of the organization. The communication process includes clarifying expectations, setting objectives, identifying goals, providing feedback, and reviewing results.

To initiate the planning process, management and a work coach review overall expectations, which includes development of performance objectives. In the meeting, work coach development goals are also updated. Management then develops a performance plan that directs the work coach efforts toward achieving specific results to support department and employee success.

Goals and objectives are discussed throughout the year, during 1-2-1 meetings on a monthly basis. This provides a framework to ensure work coaches achieve results through coaching and mutual feedback.

At the end of the performance period, management review the work coach’s performance against expected objectives, as well as the means used and behaviors demonstrated in achieving those objectives. Both management and work coach establish new objectives for the next performance year.

In order to get the best performance from work coaches, they need to know what is expected of them. One could be that the management shows the work coach the job description that highlights the main functions, skills, and responsibilities of the role.

To perform well, employees need to know what is expected of them. The starting point is an up-to-date job description that describes the essential functions, tasks, and responsibilities of the job. It also outlines the general areas of knowledge and skills required of the work coach to be successful in the job.

Having a constructive performance management in place feeds in to improving customer service overall. This comes as a result of more skilled workforce, satisfied work coaches, more productive work coaches leading to more engagement, focused and creative employee engagement and promoting positive customer service.

The consequence of not having a performance management in place could affect the communication between management and work coaches, averse from helping work coaches attain performance objectives and meeting standards, it may also have an impact on work coach motivation and commitments.

Apple offers in-store and online services in order to ensure good customer service and satisfaction, the first being the genius bar. The genius bar is a tech support station located inside the Apple stores with the pure purpose of providing support and advice for customers. This service can help the business reach customer expectations as this service offers support and help for those customers who are experiencing problems with their devices or might be unsure on how to use them. By offering this support, consumers are assisted with help, increasing customer satisfaction. On top of this, consumers are sometimes able to walk into the store and receive a genius bar appointment straightaway without the need of booking, further adding to the good customer service as it means that consumers don’t have to wait around and can be served straightaway further increasing satisfaction. As well as this service in-store, Apple also offers customer service support online. Customers are able to phone up and receive support, help and advice over the phone. This service helps the business reach customer expectations as it caters to those customers who might not be able to travel into the store to receive help but can rather call from the comfort of their own home. By having this service, customers feel as if their needs are being met as employees can help with any problems or queries that the consumer may have, subsequently, increasing customer satisfaction. Finally, another thing in which Apple does to ensure good customer service is by building relationships with customers through their employees. Apple ensures that all employees have product knowledge and can assist in answering any questions or queries. When walking into the store an employee is normally assigned to a consumer who can then help them throughout the process of buying. This service allows the business to reach customer expectations as the customer’s needs are attended to as well as having the full focus of the employee. This helps the business build relationships with the consumers as employees ensure that the consumer has a pleasant experience when shopping, increasing their customer satisfaction as well as the chance of the consumer repeat buying.

Primark offers several services in-store in order to ensure good customer service and satisfaction, the first being customer service desks around the store. In all 370 Primark stores, the business ensures that there is a customer service desk to help and assist customers with returns, queries or complaints. This service can help the business reach customer expectations as this facility compensates for any problems that the customers may be having, as by going to the customer service desk their problems can be attended to. This increases customer satisfaction as the consumers will feel that their needs are being catered for. As well as having this service in-store, Primark have a customer service line online to help those customers who may not be able to travel back into the store to get help for the issues that they may be experiencing. This increases customer satisfaction, as it saves some consumers the trip of having to travel back into one of their stores but can rather resolve the issue from over the phone. Another example of good customer service is that Primark ensures that there are employees on the shop floor to assist any customers. This can help the business reach customer expectation levels as by having employees on the shop floor, customers are able to talk to them if they need assistance or if they have any questions or need help. By having the availability of the employees, customer satisfaction will increase, as without them, consumers may feel agitated or annoyed if they were to have to seek out assistance if there were no employees on the shop floor. One thing that Primark could do in order to improve their customer service is by offering their service online. Although the company offers an online customer service line, Primark only offers an in-store service, meaning consumers can only purchase the company’s products from inside one of their stores. This could be seen as a massive disadvantage for the company as they are excluding a large demographic of customers. By offering an online service, it will help the business reach customer expectation levels as this new service will be useful for those who can’t travel to the store or for those who prefer to shop online. This will not only increase sales for the business but additionally improve customer satisfaction.

Tesco

Tesco is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer. It is the third largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenue. It has stores in seven countries across Asia and Europe and is the market leader of groceries in the UK, Ireland, Hungary and Thailand. Tesco was founded in 1919 as a group of market stalls; from there the first Tesco shop was opened in 1931 where the business then expanded rapidly. Tesco aims to provide consumers with products at a great value. They believe that as a business, serving customers is at that heart of everything they do. Tesco states that ‘In the UK, we serve 66 shoppers every second, so it’s our goal to ensure every one of those customers experiences just a little better service on each visit’.Tesco offers several facilities in-store and online in order to ensure good customer service and satisfaction, the first being offering 24-hour service. This means that Tesco is catering their business to a wide range of consumers as with 24-hour service, consumers can have access to the business whenever they want during the day. This is good customer service as it increases customer satisfaction. The service of being open 24 hours a day can help the business meet customer expectation levels as consumers will be able to reach the business whenever they want as well as catering for if any emergencies were to arise. Another example of good customer service is how Tesco has clear signing around the store. This allows consumers to be able to read and understand the signing clearly, helping them to travel around the store very easily; this increases customer satisfaction. This service helps the business reach customer expectations as the business is doing the best that they can in order to make the activity of a weekly shop for example, as easy as possible for customers. This means that consumers don’t have to go out of their way to ask employees where items may be as the signing clearly indicates where they need to go.

Another example of good customer service is that Tesco has a customer service desk towards the front of the store. This allows customers to make any complaints or queries that they may have and can allow them to return goods. By having this desk, it meets the needs of the consumer. As well as having a customer service desk in-store, Tesco offers a customer service line online which caters to their consumers which may only have home deliveries or who may not necessarily be able to travel into store. These service helps the business reach customer expectations as it allows consumers to be able to give complaints about the company that they may have experienced or be able to receive help for any problems they are experiencing. This increases customer satisfaction as the consumers will feel that their needs are being met and catered for. Finally, another way in which Tesco provides good customer service is through the facilities and services that the company provides their consumers with. These services include; access to car parks, toilets and lifts as well as their own coffee shop. These services can help Tesco reach customer expectations as they help facilitate consumer needs and offer support to those customers that may need it. For example, for those customers who may have a disability or who are limited to using a wheelchair, then the access to the lift will help the consumer go around their daily or weekly shopping much easier. As well as this the carpark and selected disabled bays will allow these consumers to enter and get to the shop much easier, overall making the experience more pleasant. This increases customer service and satisfaction as consumers will feel catered to and cared about.

How Legislation Affects Customer Service for Tesco

Legislation and regulations impact any business massively and can affect customer service. One example of this being the Sale of Goods Act. This act states that goods must determine a level of satisfactory quality for the price that the consumer is willing to pay and meet the description and relevant factors at the time of the purchase. Tesco can adhere to this legislation and improve their customer service by making sure all the descriptions of their products are accurate and useful in order to make buying easier for the consumer. As well as this, by pricing their products at a good value for their quality, the company is abiding by legislation and improving customer satisfaction and service due to its good value products. If this legislation is not met, it can impact the business massively, for example, if a product is given an inaccurate description, the customer may feel as if they have been a part of fraud. If this is to an extreme level, then the customer could sue the business resulting in legal trouble for the company. Therefore, by abiding by this legislation, customer service is impacted positively as consumers are provided with accurate descriptions and prices, making buying easier, and increasing customer satisfaction.

Another legislation that will affect Tesco is the Consumer Rights Act. Under the Consumer Rights Act you have a legal right to reject goods that are of an unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described, and get a full refund within 30 days. Tesco adheres to this legislation through their use of customer service desks. These allow consumers to bring back goods that they deem to be faulty or that they are unhappy with. This improves customer service as consumers can get a full refund for the unwanted products or they can be exchanged to a different product or products, increasing customer satisfaction. If Tesco didn’t offer this service, it would be considered poor customer service as they aren’t considering the consumer’s wants or needs but instead could be argued to be operating for their own financial gain as consumers won’t be able to return products. Therefore, by offering the service of returns, Tesco is meeting the needs of customers.

Furthermore, another regulation in which Tesco must abide by is the Consumer Contracts regulations. These regulations are the rules that apply if you are buying products or services from suppliers without face-to-face contact, and where the consumer has not had an opportunity to examine the goods before buying or discussing the service in person. These regulations were previously known as the Distance Selling Regulations but they were replaced in 2014. These rules apply to Tesco due to their online shopping service. These regulations mean that the trader has to provide the consumer with information surrounding the total price of goods, delivery charges and other costs, details of the right to cancel, contact details of the seller, written confirmation after purchasing the goods and information about refunds on items if they aren’t delivered on the agreed date. Tesco ensures that these regulations are met on their online shopping service. These regulations affect customer service positively as if these are met then customer service is improved due to the fact it makes the process of online shopping much easier and safer for the consumer. Through these services, the customer feels as if their wants and needs are being met and acquired for.

Moreover, another regulation in that Tesco must abide by is the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations. These are rules that protect consumers from misleading information and advertisements that companies may put out. These regulations protect consumers from unfair or misleading trading practices and ban misleading omissions and aggressive sales tactics. It follows from this that there is a duty to trade fairly and honestly with consumers. Tesco ensures that these regulations are met by putting out faithful and honest advertisements and descriptions of their products and services to ensure that everything they put out is truthful and not misleading to any consumers. These regulations affect customer service positively as if Tesco meets these regulations then the company will have an improved and stronger relationship with their customers, as consumers will think of the business in a better light due to the honest and truthful information that the company is putting forward. An improvement in the relationship between consumers and the business is essential and will overall, increase the level of customer service and satisfaction.

Finally, the last rules and regulations in which Tesco must follow are the new COVID-19 rules and guidelines set out by the government. In this current climate, businesses will now need to follow new guidelines that they never would have thought of putting in place a few years ago. These unprecedented times have changed business activity and procedures in shops massively, including Tesco. Tesco has been abiding by these government guidelines by putting a range of PPE equipment in their stores such as perplex screens at tills and by separating self-scan tills, as well as enforcing staff to remain safe by wearing masks. As well as this, the company have enforced 2m social distancing stickers at tills, to encourage consumers to stand a safe distance apart when queuing for any service at a till. Additionally, due to government guidance, Tesco has increased their level of the contactless payment limit up to £45 from £30 to help consumers avoid the use of chip and pin machines. By following these government guidelines and rules, customer service is affected positively as consumers will be more likely to feel safe when shopping in the store, as well as feel satisfied with the procedures that the company is putting into place in order to protect their customers as well as their employees. This increase in customer service will strengthen the relationship that Tesco has with their consumers and their employees, increasing their satisfaction.

Ways in which Tesco can Improve and Monitor their Customer Service

Customer service is very important as satisfied customers increase the likelihood of repeat customers and business. With this being said, it is important for businesses to constantly improve and refine their customer service and the techniques that they use. One way in which Tesco could improve their customer service is by monitoring and collecting customer feedback. This could be done in two ways, one online and one in-store. The online service could include a small survey after the customer has completed their order, in order to gain information about how they found shopping online and things in which the company could do to improve. Customer feedback might be harder to gain in-store as consumers may not have enough time to give feedback or they might just not want to; however, it could be done by directing consumers to a website to give their feedback on the back of a receipt. This is done by many companies through the enticement of a potential reward. By collecting and monitoring customer feedback, the company can analyze what they need to improve on through consumer recommendations. The business can then improve its services and methods through the customer’s advice which will boost their levels of good customer service as the buying process will be easier and more comfortable for customers, increasing their satisfaction.

Another way in which Tesco could improve its customer service is by employing well-trained employees to deal specifically with customer service and complaints. This is important as by employing specific employees they are able to deal with any issues that may arise in a professional and skilled manner. The business will need to ensure that they hire people with the right skills: good communication, empathy, patience and product knowledge. It is essential that the employees carry these skills as it will strengthen their customer service performance. By having a skilled and efficient customer service team, customer service will improve as well as customer satisfaction, as the employees will ensure that consumer needs are met in a skilled and professional manner. By having these skills, the employees can guarantee that consumer complaints and queries are managed in the most effective way possible.

Furthermore, another way in which Tesco can improve its customer service is by improving checkout times. This is a problem for nearly every big supermarket chain due to the number of customers that travel through the store every day. Tesco can improve their checkout times by ensuring that there are enough tills open during peak shopping times to guarantee that consumers are served quickly and efficiently. By doing this, customer satisfaction and service will improve as consumers won’t have to be waiting in long queues, decreasing the time spent on the shopping experience, subsequently, improving efficiency. This will make the whole process of shopping much easier and more enjoyable for the customer.

Having a good customer service area within your business makes customers feel more welcome. If you make sure that your customers are well looked after and well respected, customers will be impressed and will want to return as they know that they will be respected and treated carefully. For a business, good customer service means treating customers with kindness. Customers don’t want to be waiting a long time. Customers want to be helped as quickly as possible. For smaller businesses this can be difficult, as they will only be able to afford to pay a small group of people, however for businesses such as Virgin Media, they can afford to employ many more people, allowing faster response time to customers. The size of the businesses really depends on how efficient their customer service is. If you don’t have the money to pay your employees, you can’t have more than you afford, whereas for other big businesses, they can employ many more people, allowing their customer service section to be more efficient.

The two contrasting businesses that I will be writing this report on are Virgin Media and Bershka. Whilst they both sell things, Virgin Media provides a service and Bershka sell physical products, such as clothing. These two contrasting businesses both handle customer service in different ways. I will start by reviewing the customer services from Virgin Media. On their website, they have a few different options that you can ask for assistance for. The layout of this website is also perfect for those who may not be as confident in using the internet, or technology in general. Everything is labelled clearly, allowing you to find what you need quickly and easily. Most of customer services can be done via a phone call. This is good for a lot of people that need to be guided through a process in order to fix what the customer called for.

Whereas for Bershka, their customer services are mostly done over email, or live chat and over the phone. Personally, I think that live chat is the best way to help someone as it is dealt with there and then, emailing is a much slower process as you have to wait an x amount of time before someone actually sees the email, then you have to wait for a response. Some businesses are good at keeping on top of emails and responding within shorter time frames, but some businesses have too many to handle. And for phone calls, it’s very similar to Virgin Media as they can help customers deal with something efficiently, for example, as their website can be quite confusing, going through this with someone over the phone can be very useful.

In terms of employees, businesses need to ensure that they employ individuals with good people skills. If they are socially awkward, then they are clearly not right for the job. Choosing the right people is very important both for the business and the customers. Customers want to be spoken to with respect, with kindness, and sometimes customers enjoy having a little chat with the employee whilst they are waiting for something to be done, e.g. an update on a phone. Employees must also be trained to deal with harsher of customers. Sometimes it can be harder to deal with these types of customers as they tend to be more demanding, so having employees that can either calm them down, or stay as professional as possible is very important. It helps the business look more professional, and other businesses may take what their business does and adapt it to fit their customer services.

It is very important that businesses do have excellent customer service. There needs to be some sort of ‘helpdesk’ available during the day. Especially during the Pandemic of the Corona Virus, businesses needed to have increased customer service as people were no longer able to leave the house for any reason other than an hour of exercise a day or shopping for essentials. During this time, customer services all around became a lot more popular. So, during times like these, businesses need to make sure that they can keep on top of customer service requests and calls.

Virgin Media’s customer service during the Pandemic of the Corona Virus needed to be top tier, as all of their customers were relying on their broadband to work from home, to communicate with family members, and not only broadband but also their landlines. Offering the services that Virgin Media offer means that you must be able to offer support 247. If this is not the case, then there should be information written on their website which may help the customers if they have missed the opening hours for customer services.

As for Bershka, their customer services may not be needed as often. As Bershka are a fashion brand that sells clothes, they will only be contacted regarding delivery times and possible damaged products. Naturally, they will not be as busy as the contrasting business, Virgin Media, however, customer services are still important to a lot of customers, and during the many months of 2020 when the country has been on lockdown, their stores have been closed, so the only way for customers to shop is online, and so their customer services are also online as a result. Their online customer services have gone from, being used from time to time, to being used as the primary way to contact employees, so undoubtedly, they would need more staff working to help these customers, and so there is a possibility that they may have to employ new staff to help, and there will be some sort of training to help them. This training can be done by monitoring the customer services for new staff to listen to and understand.

There are many ways to monitor customer service. Here are just a few:

• Recording phone calls
• Asking customers for feedback

By monitoring the quality of staff-customer interaction across multiple channels, organizations can learn from their customer’s interactions, leading to better decision-making, service and processes. Monitoring customer services also allow you to see what can be improved to make the customer service calls andor emails be responded to more efficiently.

By recording phone calls, you will be able to see how your employees are responding, how your customers are reacting, and what your customer needs assistance with. If there are many customers with the same issue, then maybe there is something wrong with your product or service, and it should be investigated. You can also use these recorded calls to train new employees. This can be very useful as it allows new employees to deal with real scenarios to prepare for when they have to deal with real customers.

When asking customers for feedback, it is important that you take what they say into consideration. This will help you improve your customer services dramatically, as you are adapting to what the customers think. This will show your customers that you care about what they say suggest.

Legislation can help protect consumers, but companies need consistent attention for outstanding customer service. There are many laws within every business that they must all follow in order for the business to be able to operate lawfully. Some ways that businesses can be sure to follow legislation are listed below:

Keep up with ever-changing laws and regulations. Your company does not only happen to be compliant. It’s a continuous process of scanning for new laws and regulations, determining how they affect your company, changing policy and enforcing policy changes, and tracking the results. Make sure you know which laws and regulations apply to your company and that you keep up to date with any changes. When you’re prepared for future changes, you won’t be caught off guard when new legislation goes into effect.

Specialists should be consulted. Small and growing businesses, in particular, could inadvertently break the law. To avoid this, make sure the organization’s activities are clear. Furthermore, to ensure that everything is in order, it is advisable to recruit experts or consult with consultants. This enables owners and workers to seek advice if required in order to ensure that their acts and practices are compliant.

Ensure the workers adhere to protocols. Employees must obey company policy in order for it to be effective. Changes in policy, in particular, will not always be well received by the workforce, and workers may be unable to alter their daily routines. It is critical to include HR in this process.

Most significantly, make sure the organisation’s policies and practices are well communicated. It’s also important to make sure they’re well recorded and available, both digitally and physically. Additionally, ensure that workers understand why policies and practices are in place or have changed. It may also be appropriate to include employee training on how to change procedures properly. Finally, you may want to consider introducing a compensation scheme for workers who follow the rules and developing penalties for those who do not.

A proposed Consumer Protection Act is expected to improve the economy by £4bn in the next 10 years. The Bill is designed to consolidate overlapping consumer legislation into one single straightforward Act, making it easier for companies as well as customers to recognize their rights and obligations.

This can have a huge impact on customer service, as it, as mentioned previously, it can help protect consumers. This will, however, require mass concentration in order to achieve great customer service that customers are pleased with.

I have taken the time to do some research on how businesses can improve customer service provision. One of the best ways to improve is to try and show the customers that you are listening to them. Clarify and rephrase what the customers say to ensure you understand them. Empathize with and reflect on their feelings by saying things like, ‘That must have upset you’ or ‘I can see why you feel slighted.’. Little things such as these show the customers that you do care, and do listen, as there are sometimes some employees that don’t listen, or simply can’t understand what the customer is saying. A good business also has excellent relationships with customers. But a smart firm will always ask ‘what is good customer service?’. Good customer service centers around listening carefully and attending to the needs and desires of your customers. If you are not actively searching for ways to improve your customer service, your relationships can stagnate.

There are many other ways of doing so, such as:

• Practice active listening (as mentioned above).
• Learn to empathize with your customers.
• Use positive language.
• Improve your technical skills.
• Know your products and services.
• Look for common ground.
• Communicate clearly.
• Measure and analyse customer feedback.

These are just a few other methods that businesses can use to improve their customer service provision. I will briefly explain why these are good ways of improving customer service provision. Empathizing with customers shows your customers that you care about their opinion and that you will do everything you can to help them. Using positive language can also put the customer in a good better mood, this also shows that you care about the well-being of your customers. Improving technical skills is also a great idea as it means that you may be able to deal with a few more things yourself, without having to make the customer wait for someone else to assist them, you can do it all for them! Knowing your products and services is extremely important. There may be times where they have to sell to customers, for example, if someone using Virgin Media decides to leave them for another broadband company, then usually, the employee will offer some sort of deal to encourage them to stay longer. This shows customers that staff value their customers and will try their best to make them happy. It is also essential that you communicate clearly. If customers cannot understand you, it could frustrate them, so making sure that you are speaking clearly is very important. And finally, note down any customer feedback, it is very important that you take their feedback and use it to make your services better than other competitors.

Moving on, businesses need to make sure that they meet the expectations and satisfaction of customers, but how can they do that? I will be using my chosen business Bershka for this explanation. An obvious way to do so is to make some aims and objectives. This will allow Bershka to see what they need to do all the time, and so will be encouraged to put this into action. When they get used to it, it will become second nature for them, and they would then be doing it every day. They will also need to understand what it is their customer needs assistance with. They need to do their best to try and help them, however at the same time, Bershka will have to adhere to the current legislation and regulations. They need to do their best to meet the needs of the customer so that they return, and possibly tell others about their great experiences with Bershka, creating a free form of advertisement called, Word of Mouth.

Meeting the needs of customers is very important. As mentioned, many times, making the customers happy is what makes a successful area of customer service. Without customers, there would be no customer service, so a business (Bershka) will need to do everything in their power to keep customers satisfied, and follow any critiques they may have that will help improve these services.

When delivering customer service, different businesses will deliver differently. Virgin Media and Bershka will have different delivery methods. Virgin Media can make every experience for their customers different yet give them the customer satisfaction they need by personalizing their experience. This can build rapport, which is very important. The stronger the rapport, the more successful the business’ customer services. Bershka can also do the same however customer service for Virgin Media tends to be a lot longer, as Virgin Media talk to their customers longer as their calls tend to be about upgrading mobile phones, broadband etc… whereas Bershka’s customer service tends to be used for questions and returning pieces of clothing that are damaged, or just simply do not fit well. Virgin Media will need more trained staff than Bershka, as they will most definitely have more customers than Bershka, due to the size of their brand, and the different services and products they have to offer. The employees for Bershka’s customer service will still need training as they do get a lot of calls and emails, however their queries tend to be short, and easily fixable. Both businesses can put in the effort of a friendly voice over the phone. This will show customers that you have friendly staff that are always willing to help. Even after a long day at work, it is important that employees build a stronger rapport with customers. For Virgin Media, they can have quite a long hold time on the phone. This is simply due to the size of their business. There are always customers waiting to talk to staff. Another way to deliver great customer service is to improve response time. This is a huge factor for delivering good customer service. Some customers are impatient and tend to hang up them phones after waiting what they think, is a long time. So, by reacting quicker to customers’ calls, they will have more customers and more satisfied customers. People don’t like waiting a long time for help, they call you in order to get assistance quickly, but there may be times where Virgin or Bershka are very busy, so the waiting time will be longer. You could tell this to customers so that they know what to expect, otherwise, it looks like you are just taking a long time, with no reasoning. You must communicate with your customers in order to create a strong rapport with them, and that is the key to successful customer service.

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