customer service strategy
TRANSCRIPT
Customer Service Strategy
What is Customer service?
Customer service Is the service or care that a consumer receives before, during and after a purchase. It's one of the factors that come in to play when a consumer is determining buying value, the other is the quality of the product or service that is being offered.
Determine the most important service attributes for meeting and exceeding customers’ expectations.
Determine the most important service attributes on which competitors are most vulnerable.
Determine existing and potential service capabilities of the company
Develop a service strategy that addresses important, enduring customer needs, exploits competitor vulnerabilities and fits the company’s capabilities and potential.
Steps in Identifying A Service Strategy
Differentiation strategy Is an integrated set of action designed to produce or deliver goods or services that customers perceive as being different in ways that are important to them.
Customer service as differentiation strategy
InternalCustome
r
External Customer
StrategicCustomer
SatisfactionManageme
nt
Exhibit 5-1: Customer satisfaction Framework
Customer Satisfaction need not to be limited to the external customers or those final buyers of the company’s products or services. Top Management must consider the bigger picture –that the customer is the benefactor of one’s product or service.
Customer service as differentiation
strategy
3 Critical Components of Strategic Customer Satisfaction
1. Market Segmentation > Different groups of customers have different
expectations, marketers must apply , must apply market segmentation to choose the specific type of customers or groups of customers that they can serve competently.
2. Leadership > Leadership is critical as
decides on what kind of corporate vision and culture it wants.
3. Feedback and Reward system > Customers Satisfaction
measurement can be qualified.
Customer Service: Who our Customers?
3 Groups of constituents to satisfy in order to qualify as having superior service quality. These are External Group, Customers & Internal Staff
1. External Groups > Corporate image
studies are conducted not only to determine the perception of specific community groups such as Stockholders, Financial Institutions, and Option Leaders towards the Company.
1.External Groups
Leadership% Awareness 100
0
50
50
100Competitive
Weakness
Image Ratin
g
Exhibit 5-2: Awareness-Image Relationship
Image Deficit
Awareness Deficit
>A high awareness level and a high image rating are best as they connote leadership position in the mind of consumer. On the other extreme, a low awareness level and a low image rating need correction. When an imbalance occurs, such as when awareness is a lot higher than image (or vice versa), improvement is needed.
1.External Groups
High Importance
Low Importance
Low Rating
High Rating
FOCUS MAINTAIN
LOW PRIORITY
OVERKILL?
Exhibit 5-3: Relative Importance Criteria Affecting Image
>Efforts in improving the company’s image as well as any sift in perceptions about competitors are tracked to evaluate improvement and assess the relative standing of the company in the marketplace using the same grid as in exhibit 5-2.
2. Customers
> Critical issues are specific, highly annoying incidents, which create customer dissatisfaction.
> The improvement in customer satisfaction will increase customer retention and improve company’s profitability year after year.
2. Customers
POSIBLE COSTSAVINGSOPPORTUNITY
InvestmentInformation
X
LEVERAGEOPPORTUNITY
Consolidated Statements
X
X StaffAppearance
MONITOR SITUATION
Responsiveness
X
X Self-esteem
CRITICALIMPROVEMENTREQUIRED
Low High
High
Low
> The critical issue to improved are those with high damage impact to the company with low existing delivery performance versus customer expectation.
DAMAGE IMPACT
Exhibit 5-4: MBL Priority Action Indicator
2. Customers
35
0
30
0
25
0
20
0
15
0
10
0
50
0
a. Insufficient customer contact
b. Difficulty to contact
service department
c. Frequent maintenance
required
1 2 3 4 1
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IMPLEMENTED
SERVICE IMPROVEMET
Quarter Time
> As quality improvement programs are implemented, the arrows point to a downward trend indicating service improvement due to decreasing critical element incidence
Example: Office Automation Supplier
CriticalElementIncidence
Exhibit 5-5: Critical Elements Monitor
3. Internal Staff
Indirect Motivators
Primary Motivators
Secondary Motivators
Selective Motivators
Low High
High Mentio
n
Low Mentio
n
Employee Needs
Degree of Satisfaction
Exhibit 5-6: Staff Motivation Impact
> The Primary Motivators for employees are those they frequently mention as their needs with expressed hope for a high degree of satisfaction.
> Their satisfaction and motivation are determined and the elements with highest impact on productivity and customer services are measured against the company’s performance.
> Secondary Motivators have lower degree of satisfaction and are frequently mentioned as a need.
Casual Wear on Weak ends
Staff Provident Fund
Alternate5-1/2 day week
Performance Reward Schemes
Modern Uniform
X X
X
XX
Low High
High Mentio
n
Low Mentio
n
EmployeeNeeds
> The expectations for service Quality attributes such as politeness, and initiative which are rated as important by the customers must be known and monitored with gasps signaling a possible need for staff training or re-orientation.
Exhibit 5-7: Example of staff Motivation Impact
Degree of Satisfaction
3. Internal Staff
> An internal customer can be a co-worker, another department, or a distributor who depends upon us to provide products or services which in turn are utilized to create a deliverable for the external customer.
Internal Customer Service System
Exhibit 5-8: Customer Satisfaction Guide Matching Buyer And Seller Process
1. Information
Search
2. Evaluate
3. Purchase
4. Take Possession
5. Payment
6. Usage
A. Pre-Transaction
B. Transaction
C. Post-Transaction
1. Marketing 2. And Sales
3. Order processing
4. Delivery
5. Billing & Collection
6. After Sales Service
Buyer Process
Seller Process
> Customer service can be expanded into three parts to comprise a full cycle instead of limiting it to the usual customer complaint, inquiry or claim. The 3 parts are: Pre-Transaction, Transaction and Post Transaction.
Internal Customer Service System
MAKETING AND SALES
Organization
Forecasting
Inventory Management
Distribution points
@
@
ORDER PROCESSING
Order entry
In stocks
Quality Assurance
DELIVERY
On Time
Product condition upon approval
Product Installation/ ManualUnderstanding Manual
BILLING & COLLECTION
Accuracy, Promptness,
Courteous
(b)
(b)
AFTER SALES SERVICE
Warranties
Parts & Services
Customer Inquiries/
Complaints, Claims
Pre- Transaction
Training Post- Transaction
Exhibit 5-9: Expanded Customer Service Activities
Internal Customer Service
System
Internal Customer Service System
Marketing & Sales > Structure must come after strategy and not the other way around as practiced by most companies. The firm’s policies must be marketing oriented and not self-oriented.
Order Processing > The entry of an order must be accurate and prompt considering the firm’s many internal needs for data gathering and analysis.
Delivery > The now famous free delivery of food from fast food stalls and restaurants are changing consumer dining habits.
Internal Customer Service System
Billing & Collection > A sale is not a sale until collected.
After Sales Service > Customer service is most often limited to after-sales service.
A Note on Product Manuals > Most product manuals of technical products are not user friendly.
Internal Customer Service System
Exhibit 5-10: Customer Service Improvement Cycle
1. Identify room for improvement
2. Describe the Customer’s need
3. Prepare Service standards
4. Test Standard if realistic
5. Modify and adopt
6. Monitor and improve
Internal Customer Service System
1. Identify room for improvement > Nobody would make an effort to improve unless
they realize that something is wrong.
2. Describe the customer’s need > The hospital could make a simple telephone
survey to ask the main companion of their patients how many minutes they be willing to spend in the casher’s office without feeling offended.
3. Prepare service standards > Having defined customer’s need for quick
processing of payment, systems must be reviewed and bottlenecks identified.
Exhibit 5-10: Customer Service Improvement Cycle
4. Test Standards if realistic > The supervisor of the cashier can then test whether
the 2 minutes waiting time as expected by customers can be done.
5. Modify and Adopt > less ambitious goal such as 4-minutes be used as a
transition goal to the final 2-minutes waiting time goal.
6. Monitor and Improve > Periodic audit of standards must be done.
Internal Customer Service System
Exhibit 5-10: Customer Service Improvement Cycle
Warranty: Sign of Customer
Service Seriousness
>The marketing training specialist, Mansmith and fielders, instituted a unconditional money back warranty for their public seminars since 1990, the only company to do so.
Best friend Concept:Dealing with Customer
Complaint
>Customers may be disappoint once and they may not give the company another opportunity to fail. Marketers must, therefore, be happy that customers are complaining about their shortcomings , as this will allow them the opportunity to rectify their error instead of not patronizing them again.
SE
R
isten
cknowledgE olution
mpathize
einforce
LA
Handling Customer complaint
>Customers Satisfaction Surveys- The survey is known for its flexibility and wide variety of uses. Ranging from identifying quality strengths and weakness to tracking customers perceptions.
Customers Satisfaction Measurement
>Quality Improvement Experiments- Unlike the survey, it is possible to make fairly strong casual inference if the experiment is properly conducted.
Critical Incidents- Respondents are asked to describe in story like fashion memorable events, which would have affected their satisfaction or dissatisfaction .
Problem Analysis- In general, such analysis involves effort to develop a list of problems and to evaluate the impact of problem on customers satisfaction.
Conjoint Measurement- This can be use to align performance standards with customer expectations and to evaluate quality before they are introduced.
Customers Satisfaction Measurement
Forms Versus Substance
>Customer service must not be superficial. A smile campaign teaching salesladies to always smile is good but what is more important is whether or not behind those smiles, the salesladies are capable of answering customer’s questions.
Exceptional Customer Service Ideas
1. Companies with parking space, instead of serving the space closest the company’s gate for the president of the company, why not reserve it for the customer.
2. For hotels, they can offer a money-back warranty if a cockroach is found in the hotel room of the customer.
Exceptional customer service ideas
3. For school, customer-oriented administrators can open more booths that will shorten lines during enrolment. They can also ensure that the education they provide students are relevant to the industry by regularly consulting on school programs.
4. For auto repair shops, automatically checking brake fluid, oil, water, batteries, clocks, ensuring a clean car even if customers didn’t ask for it may do wonders.
Exceptional customer service ideas
5. For airlines, installing a video station in airports to record customer’s complaints and suggestion may immediately help them correct the indifferent attitude of some of their staff.
6.For photocopiers, why not print a few dozen resume for job applicants.
Exceptional customer service ideas
8. For telecommunication companies like PLDT, offering free telemarketing seminars year round may improve their customer relations.
7. For business law firms, distributing a booklet on how to get started in business outlining how to register, how to name your company properly and tips on how your business can survive can be given for free.
SUMMARY
Customer service is a requirement in any competitive business. By developing a strategy to make customer service a differentiator, it can become a competitive advantage in business. Using customer satisfaction surveys and focusing top customer complaints and what causes biggest damage to customers, improvement projects or training can be developed to reduce complaints and increase customer satisfaction. Looking at every step of customer engagement, from pre-transaction, to transaction and post-transaction steps, careful attention to service and quality will help retain customers