In this assignment, there is going to be a discussion about a few contrasting businesses. The contrasting businesses that I have chosen are Tesco and Mcdonald’s. There are multiple reasons why I have selected these businesses, the reasons for me selecting Tesco are because I do regularly shop there with my family members and I see that they always have new products which are of a wide range for all ages. Having a wide range of products does make them a supermarket which is in most countries, but Tesco is huge within the United Kingdom. Tesco is extremely popular for groceries, they have large competitors which are Asda, Lidl, Aldi, etc. They gain customer loyalty by always making sure to give great customer service, they also have a customer loyalty card. The reasons I chose McDonald’s are because of their great customer service, they are the biggest fast-food franchise in the world whose customers are of all ages. McDonald’s competitors are Burger King, KFC, Subway, etc. Their fast-food franchises also offer great customer service which makes their customers loyal.
What is Customer Service?
Customer Service is the act towards customers from an employee whilst they are buying a product or service and after buying it. These are the needs of an organization to their customers when helping them. One great customer service experience can give the company a good reputation.
Why are customer services important?
Customer services are important due to helping a company gain loyalty from their customers which will also improve a business’s reputation. All Staff is trained thoroughly to know fully about all products and services they provide to then give customers the best customer service possible, also they must know how to deal with the inquiries from all the customers.
Do customer services affect Tesco?
Customer service does affect Tesco’s business and reputation in many ways. The first way is through word of mouth, this is very damaging for any type of business and its reputation, and this without a doubt will affect the sales and profits of any company. Word of mouth is an extremely easy thing to do to a business, for example, if Tesco does not give good customer service, then people may tell their family and friends, and this will then get around the location where Tesco is based and potentially further. To prevent this from happening Tesco has trained their staff very well to handle different situations which means their customers will receive excellent customer service which will help keep their reputation.
Do customer services affect McDonalds?
Customer services do affect McDonald’s business and reputation in many ways, this will always have a serious impact on such a fast-paced place that offers a range of services. Employees must always offer great customer service, positive services, and fast service too. If the customers are happy, they will be happy to buy again which helps McDonalds to result in higher profits.
The different types of customers:
There are two different types of customers these are internal and external customers.
Internal customers are the customers who will be directly connected to an organization, some examples of Internal customers are departments, employees, and shareholders. The employees of Tesco will give good customer service by treating the customers how they would like to be treated and also by being polite, kind, and friendly which will make the customers feel welcome to come back another time.
External customers are customers who buy a company’s products or services; these are the people who are not directly connected to an organization. Some examples of external customers are customers, users, and stakeholders. Stakeholders of Tesco or Mcdonald’s would be able to help these give great customer service by telling them if their customer services are good or even sending in mystery shoppers which will help the businesses with customer services.
The different approaches to customer services:
Face-to-face- this is when there is a face-to-face talk between staff members and customers physically. The best thing about this is that this is the most personal approach out of them all.
Online- this is when there is online communication between customers and staff members. This can be through social media or even a live chat. The best thing about this is that it can be accessed anywhere and at any time of day.
Phone- this is when an employee and customer communicate through the phone. The thing about this is that it is only a limited amount of time which is bad for some customers.
Post- this is when the customers post a letter to a company. This will be time effective due to having to travel to post the letter.
The effects of customer services on different businesses:
Customer service is extremely important for any business as a customer will give feedback that the business can use to get better. If the business supplies bad customer service then it can give them a bad name and reputation. However, if the customer service is positive the purchasers can leave a positive review of the shop which might lead to stronger customer loyalty and a gain in profits. This is positive.
Mcdonald’s always tries to better their customer service, this is for them to gain a far better reputation than they already are maintaining. The way they have done this in the past is by increasing staff wages and improving training. Mcdonald’s also supplies coupons to the public to maintain satisfaction.
Most methods of communication are used by McDonalds and Tesco which is great for them due to customers having multiple choices of communication with the companies which makes it easier for them to get into contact when needed. For example, If the customers want to complain then one customer may feel that using email is the best process for them, but another customer may feel over the phone is best.
To contact Tesco then email or telephone is what they use, they do have separate line numbers for different customer conveniences. To contact McDonald’s the website, post, and telephone are what they use.
Benefits of good customer service:
If a business gives good customer service, then they will benefit from this, one main benefit of giving good customer service is that they will receive good customer loyalty, another benefit is that if they get a helpful review from the customers this will then motivate other customers to visit their store which will gain them more customers. The next benefit of having good customer service is that the store will increase in sales and profitability. All these benefits can lead to having an advantage over competitors and a better work environment for the employees.
Shopping activity had been recognized as a simple buying behavior for decades until the cognitivist approach was introduced and presented shopping as a complex array of feelings and experiences (Csaba & Askegaard, 1999). Shopping malls can be perceived as organized spaces that comprise not only shopping activities but entertainment and social activities as well. Users are drawn to shopping malls that meet their shopping motives as reasons for visiting the mall, and malls that offer a wide range of activities (Farrag, El Sayed, & Belk, 2010).
The first and most obvious experience in shopping malls is the act of shopping itself. Some of the reasons why users choose to shop in shopping malls were identified in research by Anuradha & Manohar (2011) as: “shopping ambiance, availability of different types of shops, parking facility, ease of shopping, good product quality, pride and prestige attached to shopping”. The shopping activity may be planned shopping, recreational shopping, or browsing. Planned shopping has a directed pre-purchase motive and includes purchasing goods such as clothing, accessories, groceries, or household products. Recreational shopping may be a non-directed shopping activity where users scan random stores and make unplanned purchases, or it may be a browsing activity with a non-purchase motive (Bloch & Nelson, 1991; Bloch & Richins, 1983). Browsing is the act of examining stores within the shopping mall without the intention of buying anything. According to Bloch & Richins (1983): “Browsing may be done “for the fun of it”, to see new developments in a product class, or perhaps just to fill time while waiting…Browsing can provide a consumer with a way to spend a rainy afternoon … the search aspect of browsing may be pleasurable in and of itself”. Recreational shopping is considered one of many entertainment activities that users experience while visiting shopping malls.
Entertainment and spending leisure time are the second group of experiences that motivate users to visit shopping malls. Multiple researchers studied the entertainment dimension of shopping malls. For example, research conducted in Egypt by Farrag et al. (2010) showed that users commonly used the term “fun” when they described their experience at shopping malls. They considered their trip to shopping malls as a source of enjoyment and a fun activity. An earlier research by Bloch & Nelson (1991) identified five leisure activities in shopping malls; eating, movies, walking, socializing, and browsing. Another research by Eastlick, Lotz, & Shim (1998) studied the term “retail-tainment” which proposed that adding entertainment activities to shopping activities will draw more users to shopping malls.
In general, shopping malls provide functional activities as planned shopping and meetings for business, in addition to providing various entertainment activities which include: going to the movies, hanging out in coffee shops and food courts, visiting children’s play areas, walking for leisure, recreational shopping, in addition to socializing with friends, family members or random strangers (Anuradha & Manohar, 2011; Bloch & Nelson, 1991; Farrag et al., 2010; Gilboa & Vilnai-Yavetz, 2010).
A recent report published in the article by Ahmed (2018) indicates that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ranked in the 21st position globally and the leading country in the Arab world in terms of citizens’ level of happiness. However, the latest open letter by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is a reminder of the government’s commitment toward making the nation the happiest country in the world. In seeking to help the UAE government and various departments with their mission, this paper examines the relevance of customer touchpoints in promoting the country’s objective. Numerous studies have been conducted regarding the impact of touchpoints on customer satisfaction. In the context of the UAE government, such elements include the Internet and social media, policies, and frameworks, and service delivery time.
Aims and Objectives
Accordingly, this paper aims at offering a critical literature review of the concept of touchpoints before proceeding to examine its implications for the UAE government. Further, it presents a reflection of the UAE Happiness Index. The objective is to analyze major issues that stand in the way of this government’s goal of achieving customer satisfaction. Key emphasis will be laid on the UAE’s national agenda and vision 2030. Based on the analysis made, this paper takes the view that studying touchpoints will indeed promote customer satisfaction in the UAE.
Literature Review
The Concept of TouchPoints
Most successful companies, particularly those that operate in the service industry, rely on customer experience to improve their services to match clients’ expectations. As such, they often ask customers to respond by narrating their experiences when interacting with the said businesses. These companies attempt to identify and focus on customer touchpoints. Therefore, according to Lim, Al-Aali, and Heinrichs (2015), it follows that customer touchpoints are a brand’s areas of customer contact before, during, and after the transaction. Such interactions extend to non-physical contacts, such as online reviews. For their part, McColl-Kennedy et al. (2015) define touchpoints as any customer-business interactions that may affect the way clients feel about merchandise, brands, or organizations. Touchpoints occur via channels such as the media (advertising), physical promotions, and online marketing, among others. As Lim et al. (2015) reveal, common touchpoints include email, fax, telemarketing, kiosks, direct mail, and sales. Businesses have adopted customer relationship management (CRM) technologies for the specific purpose of controlling the mentioned touchpoints. Some scholars, including Lemon and Verhoef (2016), depict the idea of touchpoints as beneficial to organizations, while others perceive it as detrimental.
In particular, according to Lemon and Verhoef (2016), the emphasis on touchpoints helps businesses in improving interactions with customers, as well as understanding the value of such dealings. Touchpoints inform nearly all aspects of customers’ decision-making regarding their desire to invest in a particular business. Further, according to Kolko (2015), touchpoints improve the quality of experiences for clients, hence facilitating lasting relationships with various companies or countries. Better customer experiences automatically result in greater satisfaction and, consequently, improved sales and profitability (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015). In addition, in this era of increased market competition, buyers’ loyalty has become a key competitive advantage for major businesses. Based on the above expositions, the UAE government should devote time to pursue and implement touchpoints aimed at promoting positive customer experiences across its departments.
Implications of TouchPoints for the UAE Government
As mentioned earlier, Sheikh Mohammed has demonstrated his desire to improve the UAE’s Happiness Index level. According to Ahmed (2018), these efforts are in line with the national agenda and the country’s vision 2030. They include national indices involved to measure achievements regarding the steps taken by the government toward the realization of its goals. Key elements of happiness include the state as a family cohesion system, nationalism, social camaraderie, and sports accomplishments (Ahmed, 2018). In demonstrating its commitment, the country has recently appointed the minister for happiness, thus becoming the first nation to take such a direction. Therefore, given the UAE’s dedication to guaranteeing happiness to its citizens, the country may benefit from the focus on touchpoints in numerous ways. To begin with, monitoring how the population perceives government programs and policies is a key step toward ensuring that its efforts translate into remarkable standards of living and harmony (Rose, 2017). Through its emphasis on touchpoints, the UAE may succeed in integrating happiness into all its policies, services, and programs. Further, touchpoints promote positivity and contentment as principal aspects of life in this country.
Additionally, according to Khan, Woo, Nam, and Chathoth (2017), through touchpoints, benchmarks for measuring happiness can be created and evaluated from time to time. Presently, the “Happiness Index” is one of Dubai’s smart city missions, an indication that strategies for pursuing the measurement of happiness are already in place. This meter is expected to obtain data across the city of Dubai, which will then be used to create a map indicating the population’s level of happiness. As Khan et al. (2017) reveal, the plan indicates citizens or customers’ experiences based on their interactions with various industries and government departments. Additionally, Dubai has recently founded a happiness portal (Khan et al., 2017), in which residents and visitors use it to quantify their contentment levels. These initiatives indicate that the UAE government is already considering the use of touchpoints to facilitate its objective of achieving high happiness indices.
Another implication of touchpoints pertains to the reduction of service delivery time across all industries and government sectors. According to Lim et al. (2015), in 2015, Dubai’s director of customer service, Khalid Al Ramsi, explained that the service delivery time had been between 10 and 12 weeks. Additionally, the country also faced challenges of overlaps and duplicates, which contributed to further delays. As a result, the customer satisfaction index was placed merely at 66 percent, thus forcing stakeholders to consider introducing significant changes in service delivery (Lim et al., 2015). Delays in service delivery are a major cause of dissatisfaction among customers. By recognizing this fact, service firms often compete based on delivery times. Consequently, customers report high satisfaction levels if the delivery period is shorter compared to what is anticipated (Lim et al., 2015). One way that the UAE government can tackle any delays is by examining its service delivery capacity to determine whether it matches the existing demand. A recently formed campaign, namely, Initiate Team, suggested the idea whereby customers could be served while in their sitting areas (Khan et al., 2017).
Key Quality Issues Facing the UAE in its Objective of Achieving Customer Satisfaction
The UAE government has demonstrated deliberate efforts to attain quality service delivery across various sectors, the most evident of them being the aviation industry. Using the comparison theory of testing the extent of clients’ satisfaction, the study by Obaid, Ali, Saleh, Thani, and Minhas (2015) depicts this country’s aviation sector as the leading in the world in terms of quality whereby it has registered a scoring rate of 99 percent, which is the highest in history. Other industries, such as construction, health, and banking, have also recorded high customer satisfaction rates. Moreover, particular areas have lagged behind regarding customer satisfaction.
One such sector is housing, whereby 52 percent of the UAE’s residents indicated that they are dissatisfied with the present state of accommodation. According to Abu-Hijleh, Manneh, AlNaqbi, AlAwadhi, and Kazim (2017), unhappiness levels are considerably higher among non-citizens, perhaps because of income disparities. These authors point out that the number of nationals dissatisfied with the country’s housing is increasing significantly (Abu-Hijleh et al., 2017). One of the explanations offered by experts is that residents may still be shouldering the burden of the global financial crisis of 2008 that saw a crash in the housing market. While rent values dropped significantly post this monetary predicament, they have remained too high for the regular UAE national. For instance, the average annual rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Dubai is $35 402, a figure that is equivalent to $35 244 in Manhattan, the most expensive real estate market around the globe (Abu-Hijleh et al., 2017).
The UAE also faces the challenge of economic uncertainty because of the fluctuating oil prices. As a nation whose financial system is primarily hinged on oil production, the country has experienced panic following the recent fall in the prices of this commodity (Obaid et al., 2015). The result has been a drop in customer confidence, which has negatively affected its Happiness Index. In its attempt to boost customer confidence, the UAE government has launched programs aimed at diversifying the economy to avoid over-relying on oil. However, recent developments have led to a rise in oil prices. This situation may restore the confidence of the UAE’s residents because the country’s revenue is likely to gain a major positive boost.
Furthermore, the prevailing fluctuating prices have often resulted in uncertainties in the banking sector. Other challenges relate to the political space in the nation. According to Human Rights activists, as presented in the article by Parreñas and Silvey (2016), the UAE disregards various fundamental civil liberties. For instance, in addition to the country lacking democratic structures, its citizens find it troublesome to exercise the freedom of electing their leaders. Additionally, failing to conform to the government is hardly tolerated to the extent of occasioning forced disappearances (Human Rights Watch, 2015). These issues have impeded the attainment of a high Happiness Index level because citizens’ rights are stifled. Additionally, migrant workers have to contend with considerably lower incomes in relation to their counterparts, who are UAE citizens (Parreñas & Silvey, 2016).
Recommendations
Applying the TouchPoints to the UAE’s National Agenda and Vision 2030
The UAE’s national agenda was launched in 2014 as a component of its vision in 2030. It focuses primarily on sectors such as healthcare, housing, education, security, infrastructure, housing, and government services. For its part, the country’s vision 2030 encompasses objectives, including competitive knowledge, a sustainable environment, quality healthcare, security, and cohesive society (Obaid et al., 2015). This section presents the implications of using touchpoints to achieve the UAE’s agenda and vision of 2030.
Utilizing touchpoints can help the UAE to create comprehensive customer feedback systems for important sectors. Today, virtually every business operates a website and social media platform aimed at reaching clients with important information and updates. These platforms can be used to obtain consumers’ reactions. According to Radcliffe and Lam (2018), the UAE administration has already invested in seminars and guidelines demonstrating the use of social media to optimize service delivery. These campaigns target both government sectors and private businesses. Because of these efforts, this country now operates numerous social media apps aimed at connecting directly with people. Key updates are released from 58 ministries and official spokespersons who collectively command an audience of over 31 million followers (Radcliffe & Lam, 2018). If properly utilized, this touchpoint can transform the way service delivery is conducted in the UAE. Social media offers an opportunity for real-time interaction between businesses and customers. As such, changes can be implemented in services as soon as feedback is obtained.
Successful policies should reflect and address the needs of the UAE people. Consequently, social media can provide a tool for shaping policies and governance frameworks. A recent study by Al-Badi (2014) indicated that 58 percent of UAE residents express their views about government activities on social media. This information can be used to evaluate whether citizens are satisfied with projects implemented by this country. Governments around the globe are continually experimenting with data obtained from social media to determine their accuracy in predicting citizens’ preferences. The UAE government should adopt a model whereby policy proposals are first discussed and voted for via online platforms before being implemented. This strategy ensures that citizens have a major say in the way the administration spends resources. Ultimately, such a move can lead to increased customer satisfaction levels.
The question of transparency often arises concerning the UAE government’s decision-making. Particularly, this country’s policies are constantly criticized for lacking adequate public participation. This challenge can be navigated by adopting various touchpoints with the aim of improving communication between the government and people. In December 2013, Sheikh Mohammed announced a brainstorming event that would take place via Twitter. The target was to come up with ideas that would help to improve healthcare and education in the emirates. Surprisingly, over 50,000 Twitter users came forth, with more than 82000 ideas being floated (Al-Badi, 2014). Additionally, some members of the public were requested to join the cabinet to help in refining their ideas. The above example illustrates the importance of transparency in the pursuit of public confidence. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the UAE government has increased its use of social media to reach people. Present reports indicate growth in the positive view of the government by the public, who now feel included in policymaking processes (Al-Badi, 2014).
The use of technology in service delivery is another key implication of integrating touchpoints into customer interaction systems. Since 2013, the government has demonstrated efforts to engage in online service delivery, as opposed to the past where customers had to visit physical locations (Lim et al., 2015). Today, services such as voting are obtained online via smartphones and similar gadgets. By 2015, 96 percent of all 337 government departments were operating online service delivery platforms (Khan et al., 2017). Nonetheless, the government can increase this rate by employing touchpoints that address key customer satisfaction areas that relate to the most critical services that should ideally take short times to process, including queries about health, security, and infrastructure. Additionally, online platforms should be examined based on metrics such as ease of use, efficiency, and innovation. Major customer satisfaction concerns in the UAE’s public sector should be identified and evaluated. One major issue revolves around the way people interact with law enforcement agents. For example, the payment of fines and reporting of crimes is often riddled with delays and inconveniences. Thus, online apps can be developed to facilitate rapid interaction with police officers in the UAE.
Conclusion
The UAE is the leading nation in the Gulf region regarding its nationals happiness levels. It takes the 21st position globally. Vice president, She,ikh Mohammed disclosed his plan to make this country the happiest in the world. This paper has argued that utilizing touchpoints can promote this goal. The concept of touchpoints has helped organizations to understand customers’ experiences. For the UAE government, one key touchpoint involves the deployment of the Internet and social media. This country is already using mobile apps to communicate with people. These tools can be used to reach the population directly, thus offering a platform for discussing and modifying policies and frameworks to reflect the needs and policies of its citizenry. Ultimately, such efforts can contribute to the realization of the national agenda and the country’s vision 2030. Nonetheless, quality issues such as the fluctuating oil prices, the limited political space, and unaffordable housing inhibit service delivery in the UAE.
References
Abu-Hijleh, B., Manneh, A., AlNaqbi, A., AlAwadhi, W., & Kazim, A. (2017). Refurbishment of public housing villas in the United Arab Emirates (UAE): Energy and economic impact. Energy Efficiency, 10(2), 249-264.
Al-Badi, A. (2014). The adoption of social media in government agencies: Gulf cooperation council case study. Journal of Technology Research, 1(5), 1-26.
Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 69-96.
Lim, J. S., Al-Aali, A., & Heinrichs, J. H. (2015). Impact of satisfaction with e-retailers’ touch points on purchase behavior: The moderating effect of search and experience product type. Marketing Letters, 26(2), 225-235.
McColl-Kennedy, J. R., Gustafsson, A., Jaakkola, E., Klaus, P., Radnor, Z. J., Perks, H., & Friman, M. (2015). Fresh perspectives on customer experience. Journal of Services Marketing, 29(6/7), 430-435.
Obaid, A., Ali, M., Saleh, M., Thani, M., & Minhas, W. (2015). Improving employee satisfaction and customer service through total quality management in the United Arab Emirates. The Macrotheme Review, 4(7), 1-20.
Parreñas, R. S., & Silvey, R. (2016). Domestic workers refusing neo-slavery in the UAE. Contexts, 15(3), 36-41.
Regardless of the propagation and persistence of requests concerning the process of serving customers, the relationships between the public and the organizations that provide services are impacted by the performance expectations and public priorities (Jos & Tompkins, 2009). For the majority of organizations, the key goals are to mitigate the existence of ineffective merchandise strategies and get rid of the liabilities inherent in the customer segment. Consequently, these public relationships are designed in a way that allows distinguishing between the watchdogs and subjects (experts and customers) and all the other roles that they may take (Jos & Tompkins, 2009). Therefore, it is important to preserve public service values and realize the complexity of relationships among numerous organizational actors within the legal and organizational contexts.
Article Critique
The authors of the article provided extensive evidence regarding the relationship between an organization and the public. On a bigger scale, Jos and Tompkins (2009) acknowledge that these particular interactions are affected by the government and subsequent policies developed by the executives. The authors discuss the importance of market transactions for the seller-buyer relationship and provide several features that are characteristic of successful organizations. Jos and Tompkins (2009) conducted an extensive literature review and synthesized the findings into a consistent overview of the existing market and the implications that are inherent in it. It is safe to say that the authors of the article performed an in-depth analysis of the consequences of the organization-customer relationships. Further, Jos and Tompkins (2009) actively elaborated on the topic of public transactions and their impact on the basics of customer service. Another pivotal section of the paper includes different types of transactions that are characteristic of public service. The authors of the article outline the key similarities and differences and discuss the problems that may transpire during the transactions.
In addition to the comparison of different types of transactions, Jos and Tompkins (2009) accurately evaluated the availability of opportunities and strategies that could be helpful when dealing with public service values. It is important to mention that the authors of the article were able to assess the issue from both the client’s and organization’s perspectives. This is a definite sign of a judgmental approach to the valuation of the existing system and its components. Jos and Tompkins (2009) managed to point out deficit areas and emphasized the importance of a collaborative approach when it comes to preserving customer (public service) values. One of the key findings of the study is that the differences between private and public administration should be distinguished and public policies may have a substantial impact on the process of fostering public service values. This article can be characterized as an accurate reflection on the relevant issues inherent in the field of market research and proof of the necessity of further research in the area of public service.
Conclusion
The authors of the article comprehensively presented the information and divided it into relatively equal subsections. On the whole, this article provides the reader with extensive information regarding the peculiarities of public service and the values that have to be preserved by organizations. At the end of the paper, Jos and Tompkins (2009) make rational conclusions and outline the relationship between organizations and their customers one more time. Ultimately, this paper contributes to the existing literature on public service and draws parallels between the conventional notion of public service and its “customer service age” modified version.
Reference
Jos, P. H., & Tompkins, M. E. (2009). Keeping it public: Defending public service values in a customer service age. Public Administration Review, 69(6), 1077-1086. Web.
Atrium Health is committed to the improvement of people’s wellbeing by providing high-quality care to all patients irrespective of their backgrounds. Primary care is one of the key services of the organization in question that introduced a new model of primary care delivery in 2017 (“E14: Proactive Health Part 2,” n.d.). The program Proactive Health implies the provision of healthcare services with an emphasis on wellness and lifestyle management (Atrium Health, 2019). The project involves bridging the customer and a healthcare team through regular visits and mobile-based communication. The customer receives reports and updates, as well as reminders and messages, which facilitates the communication process and helps the person to remain aware of the state of their health. The health team includes a physician, a health advocate, nursing staff, and a dietitian. This paper is concerned with possible failure points in the process of care delivery and ways to address them.
Service Delivery
In order to identify potential failure points, it is necessary to consider the process of this service provision. The customer subscribes online or can call the Customer Care Department (see Figure 1). The customer communicates with a care manager to clarify some points and order the service. Care manager provides detailed information regarding the program options (standard or premium), types of communication channels, and other relevant data. This healthcare professional then initiates the creation of the health team using the existing software and makes sure that no issues arise. If some problems occur, the care manager contacts the corresponding department (IT specialists, Financial Department, or medical staff) to address the issues. The customer is in close contact with their health team, but they can also contact Customer Care to receive consultations or solve issues that may emerge.
Figure 1. Service delivery process.
Contact Point Failures
It is noteworthy that Atrium Health employs a sophisticated information system (IS) that ensures the proper work of the project. The use of effective IS is pivotal for the delivery of high-quality service, and communication is one of the central aspects contributing to improved patient outcomes and patient satisfaction (Nelson & Staggers, 2016). Atrium Health acknowledges the benefits of technology and employs technological advances and personalized approach. The service delivery process can be characterized by precision and user-friendliness. Nevertheless, certain contact point failures are still possible and need to be addressed.
It is clear that the position of care manager can be regarded as a data hub that, in a way, defines the further development of customer-staff relationships. At the same time, this can be a serious contact failure point. Customers report about technical or financial issues to this professional who then addresses the corresponding departments trying to solve the problem. However, this can lead to the loss of time or an ineffective solution, which has a negative impact on customer satisfaction. The introduction of standard protocols, reports, and guidelines incorporated into the information system will improve the situation. Healthcare employees are often overwhelmed with tasks, which results in errors or low-quality services delivery (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2017). Therefore, it is important to make sure that many operations will be automatized or directed to specialists who have the necessary skills to deal with the issue. All problems customers address will be solved quickly, so no negative emotions regarding the provided services will not be evoked.
Another significant contact failure point is also related to the care manager’s responsibility. Once the customer is in contact with the healthcare team, they lose their link with the care manager until an issue occurs. However, it can be much more effective to address the customer asking for their feedback. The leaders of the project stress that they utilize the post-factum approach meaning that they asked patients about things they liked or disliked during the initial stages of the program (“E14: Proactive Health Part 2,” n.d.). Care manager could contact customers (through the mobile-based platform or by phone) asking to give feedback or suggest any possible improvements. Osei-Frimpong, Wilson, and Lemke (2018) state that value co-creation has become one of the characteristic features of the contemporary business world. Organizations that empower their customers to co-create manage to develop their competitive advantage. Thus, it is necessary to introduce a communication channel between care managers and customers.
The third contact failure point to be discussed is associated with an online subscription. The role of the care manager in this service delivery process seems redundant as the customer can be contacted by the health team directly. The customer can (and does) provide the necessary information when subscribing, and the health team is the one that identifies all the details regarding the customer’s health and ways to improve their health status. Instead of being called by the care manager, the customer who subscribed can be sent an invitation for the first introductory visit. Clearly, the system should incorporate health team’s schedules to make sure that the optimal time is chosen.
Revisited Brand Positioning Statement
The new brand positioning statement can be formulated as follows:
Proactive Health is a program that enables customers to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle and improve their health status by providing 24/7 support and care. Customers receive services before they understand they need them, which is essential for modern people who have little time to spare but want to be healthy and fit during their lifetime.
This statement reveals the two major aspects that create the highest value for the customers. These components are health and time as people want to be healthy but invest as little time as possible in this sphere. People skip regular visits to doctors due to the lack of time as health is not the priority of many, which is especially true for young adults.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is possible to note that Proactive Health is a program that can be regarded as the future of primary care. Customers receive healthcare services that are personalized and easily accessed. Healthcare staff and customers are in close contact, which leads to positive patient outcomes and customer satisfaction. However, service delivery care is still associated with certain downsides. The identified contact failure points are mainly related to the role of the care manager. Thus, some of the functions can be automatized while such responsibility as feedback collection should be introduced. These changes will help to improve the provision of care and make the program more competitive. The use of advanced information systems is the primary condition that will ensure the creation of value for customers. The central elements of the program to focus on when positioning the improved service are health and time. Customers should be informed about an opportunity to improve their health while spending less time on this essential aspect of human life.
References
Atrium Health. (2019). A new kind of healthcare experience. Web.
Nelson, R., & Staggers, N. (2016). Health informatics: An interprofessional approach (2nd ed.). Saint Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Osei-Frimpong, K., Wilson, A., & Lemke, F. (2018). Patient co-creation activities in healthcare service delivery at the micro level: The influence of online access to healthcare information. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 126, 14-27. Web.
Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2017). Health care information systems: A practical approach for health care management (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
The United States of America is among countries where healthcare provision has been widely articulated to consumers increasingly demanding transparency and accountability in the costly healthcare system (Sparrow 86-96). Expenditures in healthcare seem to be on an increasing trend an average annual increase of approximately 5%. 2007 healthcare expenses amounted to $2.26 trillion, growing by 10% to 2.25 trillion dollars in 2009.
Based on this trend it is expected that by 2011 the expenses will amount to $2.625 trillion. Records reveal that every year the US economy suffers losses due to frauds linked to healthcare ranging from $20 to over $50 billion. This significantly accounts for approximately 2.0% of total health care budgets. American Justice Department reveals that over $1billion was accrued in settlements and judgments from fraudulent healthcare claims within 2009 (Sparrow 86-96).
Pfizer Company
Pfizer, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the United States was involved in historic healthcare fraud in the year 2009. Its subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company used inappropriate brands in promoting the sale of several drugs contrary to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act which requires pharmaceutical companies to specify the intended uses of their drug products to consumers.
The drugs wrongly prescribed included; Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, and Lyrica. These drugs were prescribed for uses that were not medically accepted and not covered by healthcare programs through which Pfizer was to make claims. The overall objective of this action was to defraud the public through false claims submitted to the Government by the company. After being convicted, the company paid total legal fees amounting to over $2.1 billion, criminal charges amounted to approximately $1.2 billion. Their constituent partners Pharmacia & Upjohn were also required to pay over $100 million (Stanton 28-41).
Pfizer was found to be criminally responsible for paying kickbacks to health care providers in support of prescribed drugs manufactured by the company to patients. The company’s intention was purely focused on making a profit without caring about public health concerning health care laws. Consequently, the company agreed to pay $1 billion in legal fees to resolve this allegation in separate ways, involving federal civil settlement and Medicaid civil settlement. The justice department stressed that illegal conduct among healthcare providers will be met with hefty fines to act as a good lesson to others. The priority should focus on patients’ health safety rather than the company’s profits (Allmon 62).
Several reasons are responsible for healthcare fraud in the United States and these include reasons such as the complexity of Medicine which makes patients fully entrust their doctors during treatment. Secondly, ambiguity in payment systems results in organizations deliberately skimming off small extra payments from a large number of claims (Stanton 28-41). Lastly, limited knowledge on fraud compounded with few experts in investigations results in many unresolved cases (Sparrow 86-96). To check this vice several suggestions were put in place. First was the process of building strong human resource capacity through training in checking and evaluation of payment and claims transactions (Grayson 1-3).
Conclusion
Modern fraud detection software should be used in detecting and checking out for health care frauds in the massive database within the healthcare system (Allmon 62). On the other hand, companies should also install their internal compliance programs which coordinate in line with local laws and regulations within the healthcare system. Lastly, adequate consumer education to citizens should be done with the sole objective of making healthcare seekers know their rights.
It is necessary to note that healthcare units tend to have their websites, which enables them to provide more comprehensive services to the clients (existing as well as potential). In the first place, the website should contain all the contact information and details on the hospital’s department and services provided. Clients should have all contact details to be able to access healthcare professionals. They should also be able to understand what services they can obtain while browsing the website. It can be effective to employ such tools as Wareed as this will improve booking an appointment and can even improve the payment process. Admittedly, the use of such tools will help healthcare professionals to manage data more effectively as such information as diagnosis, radiology and so on will be easily accessed. A lot of healthcare unites have already benefited from the use of IT and launching the hospital’s website (as well as the use of some tools to manage information) will make Al Baraha hospital more competitive.
Assessment Criteria
The hospital pays attention to client’s needs and the level of their satisfaction. The hospital’s clients complete surveys and this helps to make sure service provided are appropriate and meet clients’ needs. Nonetheless, assessments criteria have not been outlined so far. However, these criteria are essential as collecting data is only the first step. Analysis of the data obtained through surveys will show whether the hospital meets certain standards. Though, it is necessary to set certain standards to check whether the hospital meets them. Effectiveness of healthcare professionals can be defined if it is clear what is expected from each department or even each employee.
Training
It has been acknowledged that training is crucial for an organization and lots of companies pay a lot of attention to this aspect of development. Al Baraha hospital also holds numerous trainings and meetings. However, it is also clear that knowledge and skills of some employees can be quite out-dated. Therefore, it is important to make sure that employees’ skills are assessed and each employee has an opportunity to develop through participation in training courses, meetings and so on. As has been mentioned above, assessment criteria should be developed to evaluate effectiveness of employees as well as training. Team building training should also be a part of overall training of employees. It is crucial to make sure that employees are a team of professionals.
Development of the Customer Service Department
The hospital includes the customer service department which focuses on customers’ satisfaction and needs. This is beneficial for the hospital which can process clients’ complaints (if any), analyse clients’ needs and expectations, and makes sure these expectations are met. This department is the one which can significantly improve the quality of services provided as it is a mediator between the client and the hospital’s employees.
Communication
Finally, it is also important to assess effectiveness of communication between healthcare professionals and between departments. It is often quite difficult to set proper communication channels. Nonetheless, they are crucial for effective functioning of the healthcare unit. Thus, all employees should be an effective team fulfilling the necessary tasks, and proper communication is the only way to achieve this. IT technologies, weekly meetings and completing certain reports can contribute to development of proper communication channels in the hospital.
The title of the in-service training program attended was ‘Why is customer service important in healthcare?’ It was held on 28th September 2018. The location of the training was the Brooklyn Hospital Center, and the presenter was the Nurse Educator. The time framework for the program was between 9 am, and 11 am on October 5th, 2018.
Target Audience
The audience comprised of RNs, nurse aides, and nursing students. The objective of the training session was to explain why customer service is a crucial component of quality care. It was presented in an auditorium with an audience of over 100 nurses. Since the professional background of the audience was nursing, the subject was clinically relevant, and the nurses could grasp essential concepts. It comprised of nurses of different ages, both genders, and a minimum BSN degree.
Philosophy Statement or Vision Statement
The presentation included a customer-service philosophy statement that encompassed three aspects: being there for the patient, lighten their day, and have a positive attitude. The presenter urged nurses to be compassionate listeners in order to provide patient-centered service. She envisioned a polite, friendly staff that relate to each patient in recognition of the diversity of healthcare needs in clinical settings.
Program Objectives/Stated Goals
The presenter stated the learning objectives for the teaching program. She noted that by the end of the training session;
the audience should be able to articulate the importance of excellent customer service in healthcare.
the nursing staff should be able to identify different approaches to customer service throughout the patient care process.
Physical Setting
The training was held at the Brooklyn Hospital Center Auditorium. The environment was appropriately prepared for the teaching session. The physical setup of the room from the layout, heating, and audio-visual equipment was ideal for the training. The seating arrangement could allow trainee interaction and improved engagement and focus.
Presentation Design
Evidence of Use of Learning Paradigm/Approach/Model
The Nurse Educator built on basic concepts on customer service procedures first before leading the audience to a self-directed learning orientation. Further, consistent with the andragogy mode, the session centered on real-life hospital context, not on discrete topics. The presenter stressed the connections between inpatient experience and satisfaction scores to elicit critical inquiry into what constitutes quality care from the perspective of the patient. The teaching approach involved greater participant involvement augmented by instructor explanations. She prompted the audience to give poor customer service encounters at the facility and suggest improvements.
Greater audience engagement by the instructor was evidence of active learning. She encouraged participants to reflect on customer service scenarios in a role-playing kind of environment and group collaboration. Each individual was required to articulate his/her comprehension of the material during the training session. The active learning approach ensured a deeper understanding of the subject since participants could give their reasoning to the audience and acquire customer service skills to apply in their practice. Enhanced peer interactions and exchanges with the instructor provided an ideal environment for addressing misconceptions about the subject matter.
Domains of Learning Addressed
The training and its delivery were designed to appeal mainly to the cognitive and affective areas of learning. The aim was to enhance recall and practice application of approaches to excellent customer service as well as sensitivity to patient needs. There was a clear instruction intended to improve specific cognitive functions of “knowledge, comprehension, and application” (Bluestone et al., 2013, p. 15).
Using illustrations and tasks, the nurse educator explained the nature of customer service, the customers, i.e., patients, families, and communities, and healthcare as a business to facilitate recall, understanding, and application of the material learned in practice. She indicated that nurses could give excellent customer service by being personable and relatable and by using appropriate language when communicating with the patient/family.
The affective domain centers on feelings or emotions (Bluestone et al., 2013). Through participation and responses, it was possible to receive, integrate, and internalize the values of excellent customer service. Explanations about the connection between patient experience and HCAPS scores enhanced the willingness and commitment to compassionate care and effective communication with patients. Practical examples were used to promote recall and appeal to the affective domain of the participants.
Teaching Strategies/Program Delivery Methods Used by the Presenter
The presenter used a Socratic seminar to keep all participants involved in learning. This instructional strategy entails the use of questions and answers to engage learners in whole-class discussions (Bluestone et al., 2013). The presenter asked open-ended questions on what patients want when they are likely to complete hospital surveys, common complaints, and the nurses’ role in ensuring excellent customer service to patients/family. To enhance engagement, participants were given an opportunity to respond and build on one another’s ideas. Problem-based learning was another delivery method used. In this case, the presenter gave a practical example of poor patient interaction and required participants to suggest changes to ensure excellent customer service.
Other more traditional delivery strategies were also used to pass information. One such method included a lecture that involved slide-shows and videos in illustrating customer service concepts and their application. The presenter also referred to cases of patients with low educational level and required participants to brainstorm appropriate language or communication approach to the scenario. Discussions were encouraged to foster customer management skills and address biases and other barriers to productive interactions with the patient. The presenter also used visual aids and supplementary handouts to assist in learner retention.
Management Skills of the Presenter
The presentation reflected mastery of delivery and content. Additionally, the presenter had good management skills concerning both the use of self and time. The material was delivered in an organized manner and a clear speech. She exhibited a high level of awareness, composure, stage presence, enthusiasm, and connection with the audience. She did not appear nervous, which was a sign of adequate preparation.
She started by introducing herself before delving into the subject. The participants were actively engaged throughout the presentation, and sufficient time was allowed for a question and answer session at the end. The presenter used eye contact to keep the audience engaged and gauge our understanding of the subject matter. Her glances shifted between the audiovisual content and the crowd.
Her movements and body language on the stage communicated energy and confidence. Her gestures were natural and matched the words. When illustrating a point, she varied the pitch and volume of her voice to stress key concepts of customer service. She also paused occasionally to increase focus and transition between ideas. Effective management of time was a hallmark of the presentation. The presenter delivered the content within the indicated period. The question-and-answer session was also well managed. She anticipated and gave brief responses to the questions posed in a way that directed the critical points of the presentation.
Evidence of Presenter Appropriate Skill Base
The presenter exhibited great mastery and in-depth knowledge of the subject. There was a logical flow of concepts. She framed healthcare as a customer service impacted by nurse-patient interactions during routine exams, assessment, and treatment. It became clear that patients are customers who can prefer one provider to another because of the quality of care received. For this reason, hospitals and units must offer excellent customer service to gain a competitive edge over others and benefit from HCAPS-linked reimbursement. She indicated that rudeness and long waits are key reputational risks to a facility that affect customer satisfaction. Therefore, the presenter was able to make connections between poor customer service, quality of care, and HCAPS ratings.
There was evidence of in-depth research and preparation. The presenter outlines the top four factors that contribute to high HCAPS scores as the courtesy during treatment, adequate information and explanation, timely care, and cleanliness.
She also listed some common customer complaints about the quality of service, including rude staff, dirty hospital, long waits, and delayed responses to call bells. She concluded the presentation by giving evidence-based recommendations for improving customer service, which included being personable and relatable to the patients, use of appropriate language based on patient age and educational level, and showing compassion. The presenter gave a summary of the session and a recap of the main points, which helped enhance learner retention of the content.
Use of Evidence-based Practice/Theory
The presentation included evidence-based practice recommendations for personal and process changes that could lead to better care provision. From the delivery, the techniques that nurses can use to ensure excellent customer service are listening, using touch, making eye contact. Using a language that a patient can understand when passing medical information and showing compassion in your communication is also important.
Patient-involvement in their care is another evidence-based recommendation for improving customer service indicated in the presentation. The speaker stated that nurses should offer patients a choice, consider their preferences, involve them in care planning, and be sensitive to socioeconomic and cultural factors specific to each case.
The theoretical foundations of excellent customer service were included in the delivery. The inclusion of hospital experience surveys in the HCAPS metrics and the rationale for using them to compare hospitals were explained. In this regard, a business case was made for customer service excellence at the facility and practice levels. It would contribute to a better inpatient experience, which would result in a higher HCAPS rating, facility reputation, and reimbursements. Change frameworks were also alluded to in the presentation. The speaker indicated that training programs help equip employees with customer service skills to trigger and sustain a patient-centered culture in hospitals.
Use of Supplemental Materials
Supplemental materials were utilized to increase the efficiency of teaching. The content was segmented into sections augmented by supplementary video content. For example, appropriate multimedia embedded in the presentation were used to explain the nature of customer service and how to prioritize patient needs. Other supplementary materials used included simulations and case studies. The presenter gave real-life scenarios of customer service as a supplement to the presentation. She also gave questions to guide further deliberations on the discussion board.
Links to additional study materials and open-access resources on customer service were included to supplement the training materials. Short online modules illustrating how to interact with patients throughout the care process were also provided. Additionally, the presenter listed the blogs where participants could obtain structured information on improving customer service in a hospital setup. She also indicated that the learners could benefit from specific sites offering computer-graded quizzes.
Use of Audiovisual Aids
Audiovisual aids enhance the pedagogical efficacy of presentations. Examples include simulations, slides, and handouts that help clarify information and promote recall. The speaker used slides projected to a whiteboard to reduce the subject matter into themes. The strategy also helped her deliver content in a sequential and organized manner. Simulations embedded in the presentation slides helped augment critical aspects of customer service in healthcare.
Overall, the audiovisual aids used supplemented the speaker’s words. They were well-designed to appeal to “visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners” without causing any significant distraction (Bluestone et al., 2013, p. 21). The slides were written in an appropriate font, consistency, and contrasting color shades that enhanced their readability even from the back of the auditorium.
Another audiovisual aid used included short videos explaining various aspects of customer service, such as why customer needs should come first and how to show compassion when caring or communicating with the patient. Other multimedia features such as custom animations were used to transition between slides and increase participants focus on the subject. The presenter simultaneously interacted with these tools and the audience, which enhanced the efficacy of the audiovisuals.
Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Factors Related to this Presentation
Linking customer service to HCAPS survey scores is growing in the era of value-based purchasing. From a legal standpoint, lawsuits over medical malpractice are more likely to arise if the patient is dissatisfied with the interpersonal aspects of care than when he/she is satisfied. Therefore, a greater focus on customer service is required to ensure a better inpatient experience. Ethical factors pertinent to this presentation include penalties for low HCAPS that may force providers to avoid vulnerable populations with complex needs and biased patient reporting or evaluation of customer service. Thus, a greater focus on hospital experience alone may increase disparities and community health outcomes.
Among the regulatory factors related to subjective patient experience and expectations from a healthcare service is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Under this legislation, hospitals with excellent customer service, as indicated by reported HCAPS scores, qualify for financial incentives that are tied to quality. On the other hand, those with low patient experience scores are penalized through the withholding of Medicare payouts. Hospitals with high HCAPS numbers have better patient engagement or customer service mechanisms than those with low scores. Thus, ACA rewards providers based on patients’ ratings of the interpersonal aspects of the care received.
Cultural Competence
The presenter showed sensitivity to cultural differences in the audience. She used culturally appropriate language to explain the significance and approaches to customer service. She used technical words and nursing concepts, which were appropriate for the audience’s literacy level. Her communication skills were suited to the level of expertise of the participants. The speaker seemed to be aware of cultural assumptions and biases over the significance of customer service to overall hospital performance.
She addressed these misconceptions and explained that inpatient experience is an indicator of quality. She also used team resources to address cultural dissimilarities in the audience. The session facilitated active engagement and learning, which allowed participants to give their perspectives in a whole-class discussion.
The printed training materials and audiovisuals were designed for in-service customer service training of nurses. Thus, they were suited to the literacy level of the audience, as no participant complained that the content was difficult to understand. Culturally appropriate videos and pictures were embedded in the teaching materials. They reflected a broad spectrum of customer service scenarios that were not neutral and inoffensive to the participants. The speaker also responded to questions respectfully and considered the great diversity of perspectives and views in the audience.
Evaluation Methodologies
The evaluation methods utilized as a part of this presentation included assessment of learning and audience feedback. The presenter prompted the participants to indicate if the session was useful, challenging, or well-organized through a short post-training evaluation survey. The qualitative feedback from the audience helped the presenter gauge if the trainees enjoyed the training. However, it was not possible to tell which specific aspects of the presentation the participants understood as this methodology focuses on the entire session. It was also qualitative, and thus, was not an objective measure of the audience’s perceptions of the program. The presenter also used verbal feedback from the audience to evaluate the presentation.
Assessment of learning was used to measure the participants’ understanding of the importance of customer service after the training. A post-training survey was administered to assess if there was an improvement in skills due to the presentation. However, the assessment involved self-reported knowledge gains, not objective measures.
Summary
Overall Effectiveness
In general, the presentation was well-designed, and the delivery style was excellent, contributing to the effectiveness of the program. The training goals were clear and meaningful, and the presenter emphasized key points – customer service, patient satisfaction, and the role of nurses – to enhance the learning experience and retention. The purpose of the teaching was defined, and the speaker demonstrated in-depth knowledge of the subject. The content was also relevant to the participants. Personally, the utilization of visual aids enhanced my learning and involvement in the training.
Recommendations
The presentation could be improved further by including real-life demonstrations and role-playing to illustrate customer service problems and how to resolve them. Assigning small tasks to groups during the sessions can also enhance engagement and reflective learning experiences. Additionally, offering the training in real-life settings such as a ward or department can improve critical thinking and use of customer service concepts in practice. Pre- and post-training surveys should be used to compare knowledge gains to baseline skill levels.
Strongest Messages
As an attendee, I learned the link between customer service and patient satisfaction with care and how it affects HCAPS scores. I also understood that patients want courtesy, information/explanations, timely care, and cleanliness. Nurses, being the caregivers with direct patient contact, can ensure excellent customer service by being relatable, using appropriate language, and showing compassion. As a future nurse educator, I learned the strategies of effective professional presentation and delivery skills such as active audience involvement through audio-visual aids and open-ended questions.
Reference
Bluestone, J., Johnson, P., Fullerton, J., Carr, C., Alderman, J., & BonTempo, J. (2013). Effective in-service training design and delivery: Evidence from an integrative literature review. Human Resources for Health, 11(51), 1-26. Web.
One message that is consistent all through about service recovery in all my internet searches is that service recovery is about ensuring dissatisfied and irked customers after receiving poor service leave the business premises reassured, happy and more loyal customers. While emphasizing the need and importance of good customer recovery strategies in business, Hart, Heskett and Sasser, Jr. (1990) acknowledges that mistakes are inevitable and a critical part of every business service–however, dissatisfied customers are not.
They reckon that, while it is almost virtually impossible to put in measures that would prevent any problem or mistake from happening in customer service, businesses can learn to turn the tide and recover from such happenings. Service recovery done perfectly well has the potential to turn angry and frustrated customers into the best loyal ones – better even than if nothing went wrong in the first place. According to Tschohl (2005), service recovery is;
“….putting a smile on a customer’s face after you’ve screwed up. It’s solving a customer’s problem or complaint and sending him out the door feeling as if he’s just done business with the greatest company on earth — and it’s doing so in 60 seconds or less” (Tschohl, 2005, p. 18).
Poor or inadequate service recovery will definitely lead to customer defection. In order for an organization to craft the best and most adequate service recovery strategies strategist need to understand and indeed know what are the real primary causes of customer defection.
Well, many things in a business can result into irked and dissatisfied customers but they will all emanate or border on the failure to meet customers’ expectations and hence make a customer leave satisfied. Ideally, having dissatisfied customers necessitates the need for service recovery but even then when that is not done correctly or even done at all customers will have no choice but to leave you and seek elsewhere.
According to Lucas(2011), customer defection is inevitable when customers; perceive poor services in part of the organization that does not meet their needs, their problems are handled inefficiently or they themselves feel treated unfairly, and finally, when no adequate systems in part of the organization are put in place to prevent or even handle customers problems.
Good customer recovery strategies and hence proper and adequate measures to make amend when the organizations services or products are unable to meet the customers’ expectations are essential to ensure customers do not result in defection.
While every strategy or measure to be put in place purely depends on the specific issues the customer has against the organization, well there are available broad measures that an organization can put in place to ensure its broad service recovery strategy works or succeeds. These broad measures will either fall under any of the three subcategories namely; the organization, employees, and the customer.
Under the organizational level, a firm needs to ensure that all its processes, procedures, policies and structure as relates to customer service are effective and efficient. For instance, the policy, procedures and indeed the entire process of handling customer grievances should ensure unnecessary hurdles of bureaucracy are done away with, and that unhappy customers are able to get adequate and reassuring answers to their grievances as quickly as possible and in the most time conscious manner.
Under the employee banner, empowerment is vital to enabling customer service staff carry out their duty well and effectively as possible in a manner that leaves the customers happy to come back. Empowerment could be in the form of ensuring employees receive the relevant training ton ensuring resources and necessary permissions to handle customer complaints.
Third, but not the least, is the customer category. Surprising as it may seem, customers may defect because of themselves. Understanding the customer is vital to avoid defection. Some customers may not understand how your product or service works or might assist them but they will not ask. It is therefore incumbent upon the organization to diagnose and identify such customers to assist them to avoid losing them.
Having talked about service recovery and customer defection, let us now turn our focus on the real factor that necessitates the two, service breakdown. Service breakdown refers to inadequacies in service delivery that results to the organization as ability to meet customers’ expectations in effect culminating to unsatisfied customers (PRweb, n.d.).
Well, just like the cures given above to avoid customer defection, service breakdown remedies also fall in three categories namely, organizational, employees and customers. Organizational remedies are such that all processes, policies and procedure should aid and actually be designed in manner that ensures good service delivery.
This means that from the top management and indeed the entire line of authority should not lose focus on the customer and service delivery. The structure should empower those directly dealing with customers give the best services as well as enhance communication and timely feedback and where possible immediate remedial actions where deficiencies are noted.
Employees, on the other hand, could as well be the reasons for service breakdown. Here, attitude knowledge as well as communication skills of the employees can turn the tide between excellent service delivery to a disappointing service breakdown and vice versa. Empowering employees such as through training can ensure have the requisite knowledge and are able to communicate well offering solutions to inquisitive clients.
A customer service supervisor will however require going work an extra mile to ensure his or her staff is in their right attitude to handle the customers. Unlike knowledge and communication skills which if a customer service staff lacked can readily be identified, attitude is difficult to assess as even the best customer service representative could have a bad attitude on a particular day or client.
As such, it is always important that the customer service supervisor is able to read the psychology of his or her staffers and ensure that all are of positive attitude to avoid service breakdown. It is important to also always remind the staffers that in whatever they are doing they should not take matters personally but rather they should carry themselves as the organization. Once they understand that, attitude becomes much easier to manage.
In conclusion, customers will become dissatisfied if their expectations are not met and if they feel badly treated and or if ignored. As such, the very first strategy to ensure customer satisfaction is by surpassing their expectations. Never paint a notion of some expectation to the customer that you cannot meet.
Secondly, customers are indeed the king and they require to be treated like one- focus on the customer. Everything that is done in a business should not lose focus that customer is the king; they should all be geared to achieving and addressing customer needs. Third, but not the least, respect the customer. Business is the customer. No business can survive without customers. This basic tenet should not be lost and by what better way than to respect and treat the customer like a king.
High quality and superior customer service is one of the principal requisites for success in business within the private sector, as well as the public sector.
Even though the public sector is not an absolutely for-profit outfit, it is also facing challenges of the need to offer high quality services to the members of the public partly because provision of public services under various ministries is no longer an exclusively preserve of the state (Birkland 2010, p.32). This paper is a report on customer service operations and excellence of the Meriden Hospital in Coventry, Warwickshire in the UK.
An overview of The BMI Meriden Hospital
The Meriden Hospital is one of the many hospitals and clinics belonging to the BMI Healthcare organization owned by the General Healthcare Group PLC (GHG) (Moore 2002, p.155). BMI Healthcare situated in Coventry, Warwickshire, is the largest private hospital group running about seventy hospitals across the UK (BMI Healthcare 2011).
General Healthcare Group (GHG) came into being in 1993. The Meriden Hospital is sufficiently equipped with state-of-art medical facilities and has fifty-two patient bedrooms. The BMI Meriden Hospital offers various healthcare services ranging from ordinary routine checks to complicated surgery, thanks to its integration of the latest technology, as well as its on-line customer support services round the clock.
BMI Meriden Hospital Quality of customer service
Superior customer service, as well as overall success in business, is certainly an outcome of strategic planning, strategic management, and well designed marketing schemes that are informed by concrete knowledge of the target markets.
As mentioned earlier, even though the performance of a given player in a particular Industry depends on a range of factors, the quality of customer service is imperative to profitable performance of an organization. However, it is pertinent to note that there is a direct relationship between employees’ satisfaction and the quality of customer service offered by a certain organization (Kuballa 2007, p.6; Phongkusolchit 2008, p.28: Allen & Wilburn 2002, p.1).
In other words, there is an evident link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction (Kuballa 2007, p.6).In reality, this connection explains the differences in client base between various organizations offering the same services in a particular sector or industry. Evidence available shows that a happy and satisfied workforce is more likely to offer superior customer services than a demoralized and de-motivated staff.
Virtually, every citizen yearns to have prolonged good health. In fact, governments from welfare economies shoulder the responsibility of providing quality healthcare services to the citizens where healthcare is more of a basic human right than a commodity for sale.
Nevertheless, private healthcare sectors are key players in healthcare service provision in all societies including high-income societies like the Britain. Therefore, the BMI Meriden Hospital is a player in a service sector where clients are consciously concerned about the quality of service they get because it touches on the quality of their lives and their ability to lead a normal life and continue with their normal activities.
The quality of customer service at the BMI Meriden Hospital is, according to my first hand experience at the hospital, very good and even excellent from certain viewpoints. During my first visit to the hospital in July year 2009, staff members whose public relations skills are unmatched right from the receptionist desk all the way to the moment I met the doctor, served me with great pleasure. The BMI Meriden Hospital departments are well coordinated and there is an evident strong culture of teamwork among the employees.
From a management point of view, a strong teamwork culture fosters healthy relationships among employees and individual workers and their managers or supervisors (Turner 2007, p.103). Every employee appeared to be enjoying whatever s/he was doing. Apart from their motivated staff that seemed to enjoy and derive satisfaction from whatever they were doing, my assessment showed that, the Meriden Hospital’s high quality facilities enables its staff to offer satisfactory services to their patients.
The hospital has modern entertainment system, broadband Internet access, three major operating theatres, fifteen outpatient-consulting rooms, and endoscopy, physiotherapy, and radiology departments (BMI Healthcare 2011).These facilities enable the hospital to offer a perfect environment for outstanding healthcare services and comfort for quick patient recovery.
An assessment of the Meriden Hospital customer service operations reveals deliberate approach geared towards achieving high levels of customer satisfaction. For instance, the hospital has installed a twenty-four hour customer care support service available on-line and through telephone lines. This enables patients and relatives, or friends with patients at the hospital, to access reliable information about virtually anything on a real time basis.
The inspiring smiles and positive attitudes of majority of the workforce point to deliberate attempts of the hospital at putting customer satisfaction ahead of anything else. These customer service operation features are accompanied by an inspiring environment for patient recovery, thanks to its state-of-art facilities, which naturally encourage a repeat purchase of services by customers.
There is definitely a direct relationship between the kind and number of facilities owned by a healthcare provider and the quality of service that it is able to provide to its customers (Kobus et al 2008, p.4; Cartin 1999; Watkins, Edwards & Gastrell 2003).
The hospital has also instituted a reliable patient-satisfaction survey through partnership with HWA Consulting, which enables it to assess its customer service provision on a regular basis. Furthermore, the BMI Meriden’s customer tailored healthcare products, which are economically friendly to patients from varying social-economic backgrounds, has given it a competitive advantage over the other private players in the region (BMI Healthcare 2011).
My opinion is harmoniously buttressed by a report compiled on behalf of the hospital by the HWA Consulting for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2010 (BMI Healthcare 2011). Over seventy-five percent of all the patients queried during this period said they would recommend the BMI Meriden Hospital to their family members and friends.
Patients responded to significant questions relating to service delivery at the hospital with a rating of good, very good, or excellent (BMI Healthcare 2011).More than eighty percent of the patients, who responded, rated the hospital as excellent in overall quality, consultancy, and nursing services, and would recommend the BMI Meriden to their relatives and friends.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Various factors contribute to the quality of service that a business organization is able to offer. In return, these factors influence customer satisfaction more so in the healthcare sector. These factors range from employee satisfaction to the quality and number of facilities that a given healthcare organization owns. Even though the BMI Meriden Hospital has state-of-art medical facilities, integrated modern technology in its customer service operations, and managed to motivate majority of its staff, there is still a room for improvement.
The management at all levels should strive to embrace integrative and participatory leadership and management styles in order to make all staff feel appreciated and make them see their contributions as adding value to the overall organizational success. The management should appreciate and make the auxiliary staff to feel as part of the bigger BMI Meriden hospital family by remunerating them fairly and giving them an opportunity to be heard when they have grievances.
References
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