Question:
Describe about the Basic Principles Associated With Good Customer Care?
1. Front line Representatives create impression for the company- Opinions about the company mostly depends on the “customer touch points.” The front line customer representatives are those who communicates with the customer either face-to-face or on the telephone or connects via e-mails, must be trained in order to achieve a better customer experience and good impression of the company.
2. Employee Satisfaction- A strong positive correlation between employee’s job satisfaction and the quality of customer service provided by the same employees. If an employee is not satisfied with his job, then he may not get the incentive or motivation to render a high level customer service. This hampers the customer satisfaction arena. Hence it is very important for an employer to ensure employee job satisfaction to fulfill customer satisfaction.
3. Value your Customer- Each employee must ensure that they make an initiative to show the customers that they are valued and not just assume that they already know it. Before disconnecting the call or ending a face-to-face conversation, employees must greet customers with respect and integrity like, have a nice day or good luck for your venture.
4. Balancing the importance of an internal as well as an external customer- sometimes the organization lose focus on the internal customers and place greater importance on the external customers. But it is highly necessary for an employee to emphasize equally on both types of customer.
5. Training Staff to render great customer service- The employee must trained to be responsive, be reliable, not commit words whose fulfillment is in doubt and acquire the ability to mould a customer complaint into a positive dealing effectively. (Deming, 2015)
1. Non caring work culture- If the company environment is not empowering and the employees do not get that urge to work efficiently then it is hard to ensure that a customer may be satisfied. Thus an unhealthy work culture hinders the path of a good customer care.
2. Bureaucracy- The more the layer in an organization, the more complex is the process of customer care. A customer’s request may need supervision of few other departments, which meant transferring the customer to several other representative. This makes the procedure complex and not all employees treat the customer at the same stature creating a weak customer care.
3. Unskilled staff- The lack of skill and knowledge of the employee dealing with customers may result in a bad customer care.
4. Poor Accountability- Carelessness of any employee can lead to customer being not satisfied. It becomes difficult to identify the staff who didn’t try hard enough to make the customer happy due to poor tracking mechanism that records the handling of customers by each employee.
5. Inefficient system- Customers get disgusted if the system in the company which is responsible for providing information and solution to them works slowly or undergoes too long steps to reach the endpoint. This causes a barrier to good customer care.
6. Customer Value not communicated- If the staff is unaware of valuing his customer, then they must not have the knowledge to treat customers in a proper way causing a fall in the standard of customer care.
7. Lack of Incentive- If the staffs are offered incentive then they may not get the extra urge to render good performance lowering the customer care mark. (Thomas, 2015)
The major aim of any company is rendering the best possible services to the customers that can b expected. The objective of the company is complete customer satisfaction and in achieving this each company formulates a Customer Care Policy. The company is entitled to be committed to this policy for all kinds of jobs regardless of the size and strength. The policy states:
Employees must be honest, fair, polite, reliable and understanding towards the customer.
Identifying the needs of the customer and ensure appropriate care at agreed times.
Professionalism in attitude and presentation must be maintained by the employees.
Being efficient and effective towards customers by keeping them informed about the progress & status of their query.
Innovation and suggestion of alternative when exact solutions are unavailable within deadlines is the duty of the employee.
Employees must be apologetic if things go wrong and take a step to put things in right order.
Ensure customer feedback and respond.
Customers must be well informed about new and improved services or products available in the line. (Rmltd.co.uk, 2015)
1. Implementation of standards can help to achieve better performance and satisfying the needs of customers with quality and reliability.
2. Standard helps to gain the confidence of the customers by providing them quality customer service. This confidence leads to increased sale of the products.
3. Relevant standard creates a positive perception and reputation of the organization that catapults it to a long term success.
4. Customer service standard ensures customer loyalty and the scope of repeat business that is the customer loyal to the organization may refer to his friends and family. (CEN – European Committee for Standardization, 2013)
Dan Hese, CEO, Sprint Nextel who is cited as #1 most improved service company in America gave an exclusive interview to the Forbes. Dan tried to change his business around customers by eliminating 85% of rate plans in order to simplify premium for his customers. And this strategy worked for his company. He has got three things in his customer dashboard- churn (customers who leave), the calls count to customer care and customer satisfaction surveys. Dan Hese had undertaken an old fashioned way to connect to his customers by a letter writing campaign called “thank you Thursdays”. He made sure that his employees send personalized letters to the customers including notes saying thanks for the association with this organization. Dan thinks that empathy and a drive for excellence can be characterized as an exceptional customer service. Dan concluded the interview with his three agendas down his sleeves. This included great customer service are cost less. He takes an initiative to empower all employees by an “elevator speech” award, recognizing the non-front line employees. And third he compensates each and every employee of his company who is attached to customer satisfaction.
The interview of Dan Hese left a mark on how he mastered the skill to practice good customer care in his organization. (Reiss, 2012)
Internal customers are in the form you friends, family or any relatives who gets service without any money exchange. Internal customers do not have the right to dictate terms within the organization. The behavior of the internal customers can be controlled. The profit and loss of the company affects the internal customers. Internal customers are supposed to communicate with the identified staff or department for the goods and services. Internal customers are an important part of an organization & can frame policy and stick to it. They must abide by the rules and their functions are monitored by their supervisors.
External customers are those people and businesses who get the service from the organization. External customers have the right to dictate terms. Their behavior cannot be controlled. The profit and loss of the organization does not affect the external customers directly. If the organization culture is not in harmony then external customers may not get affected. The survival of the company is in the hands of the external customer. However, the external customer is not bound to the company. External customer also has the choice to discontinue the services of the company if he feels that it does not meet his needs. (Bindra, 2015)
A strong relationship can be established between the client and the company by identifying the needs and expectations of the customer. In order to perform this, the company must distinguish between wants and needs. A want signifies the desire to acquire some product. A need is more of necessity. To identify the needs of the customer the first step is to listen to the customer and act according to the Voice of the Customer Data. It is also necessary to understand the functional need of the customer which means the usage of the product must be learnt. Emotional needs be utilized by the employee as the functional needs can be copied by the competitors but emotional benefits tend to be consumer drivers. The employee must keep track of the changing customer needs from time to time. Understanding the customer intensely to help them identify their purchase decision and thereby acquiring the expectation of the product that they are looking for. The ever evolving process in any business is customer expectations. The customer expectation can be identified by directly asking the customer using several customer research techniques. Also by involving the customer into a survey where he can state whether his expectation from the company is met. (Mcorpconsulting.com, 2015) (‘Customer Needs and Solutions – Mission, Vision, and Strategies’, 2014)
Proper identification of the customer needs and expectation can lead to an enhanced customer service reputation. Meeting or exceeding the expectation can transform the first time customer into loyal clients. The customer’s reliability is achieved which causes a rise in the sales of the company, as customers feel comfortable to do business with this company. Satisfied customers help in bringing additional business by referrals done by word of mouth. (ESTEPON, 2011) (Gures, Arslan & Yucel Tun, 2014)
Customer complaint is an evolving process whether it’s a large company or a small business. Effectively dealing ways to pacify customers include:
Quick think- Immediate reply to a customer complaint is required.
Apologize to the customer to show sympathy and calm the situation.
Employees must be calm and composed when dealing with his area complaint.
Always take an optimistic approach towards the solution making.
Depict a genuine concern for a positive outcome.
If the complaint is in the respective area then it is effective to own the fault and assure the customer that it is going to be solved soon.
Let the customer get the knowhow of his problem and its solving by communicating with him regularly.
Understand the reason that caused the problem so it can be avoided in future.
Serious complaints which cannot be solved straight away must be handed over to a third party for solution or advice. (‘Customer complaints Top Ten’, 2000) (Lam & Dale, 1999)
Most of the companies face a tough situation of dealing with a difficult customer. These difficult customers may argue with the staff, confront the competency of the staff, make inappropriate comments. It is necessary for the staff facing a difficult customer to listen patiently to the complaint without reacting, keeping calm and composed behavior. Apologize to the customer on behalf of the company and take the responsibility to render effective solution. The staff should be trained to assess, monitor, ability to defuse situation and negotiate and set a limit. (Estep, 2011) (Dealing with Difficult Customer Behaviour, 2015)
The goal of every organization is ensuring complete customer satisfaction which is achieved through the process of obtaining customer feedback. The benefits of customer feedback include identification and the designing of the market trends based on the ideas and feedback surveys of the customer. Customer feedback is important to ensure the position and reputation of the organization by assessing the customer loyalty. Lastly, the feedback of the customer rotates around the ideas of improvement and changes within the organization for a better customer service. (Suttle, 2015) (Market Smartly | Marketing Consultants Brisbane, 2014)
There are basically two methods of collecting customer feedback: informal and formal. The informal method considers obtaining feedback by directly talking to the customer and by observing the behavior of the customers. It is a part of day-to-day customer service. Formal method considers scripted discussions with customers in the form of a survey sheet or questionnaire. Formal method also includes acceptance of letters of complaint or praise or make a telephonic survey to gather feedback. (Woods, Hebron & Bradley, 2001)
Customer comments must be categorized and each category will eventually fall under certain factors such as speed, accuracy, availability, product enhancement, location, price etc.
Reviewing the customer feedbacks is necessary so that the factors fall under the correct category.
If customers comment about two or more things, then fragment the comment allocate it under different heads.
Sometimes a particular feedback can contain both positive as well as negative comments. Separate sections should be made to analyze both positive and negative aspects to rectify faults. (Simonis, 2010) (‘Customer-Feedback – Neue Servicemaßstäbe setzen’, 2011)
Treat customers like they are the boss by thanking, appreciating and go out of the way to impress them.
Online survey tools and customer satisfaction metrics can help to improve customer satisfaction by measurement.
To enhance customer satisfaction it is necessary to establish customer loyalty by remembering birthdays of customers.
By setting customer expectation even before its expiry can increase the level of satisfaction.
Usage of e-mail is probably the best way to improve customer satisfaction.
Focus should be on customer experience also. (Beard, 2013) (DR.K.VANITHA, 2012)
The Data Protection Act controls the usage of personal information by organizations, businesses or the government. (Iversen, 2006)
Implication of the Act:
They must make sure that the information/feedback shared should be:
Fairly and lawfully used.
Used for specific purposes.
Used accurately without modification.
Not kept for a unlimited period.
Used and handled according to people’s data protection rights.
Stored safely.
Not transferred to other source. (Government of UK, 2014)
References
Beard, R. (2013). Increase Customer Satisfaction (9 Strategies). Client Heartbeat. Retrieved from https://blog.clientheartbeat.com/increase-customer-satisfaction/
Bindra, V. (2015). Double Your Growth Through Excellent Customer Service. Published by Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd.
CEN – European Committee for Standardization,. (2013). Standards and your business. CEN – European Committee for Standardization CENELEC – European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization.
Customer complaints Top Ten. (2000). Work Study, 49(7). doi:10.1108/ws.2000.07949gaf.005
Customer Needs and Solutions – Mission, Vision, and Strategies. (2014). Customer Needs And Solutions, 1(1), 1-4. doi:10.1007/s40547-014-0008-x
Customer-Feedback – Neue Servicemaßstäbe setzen. (2011). ZWR – Das Deutsche Zahnärzteblatt,120(07/08), 398-398. doi:10.1055/s-0031-1286573
Dealing with Difficult Customer Behaviour. (2015) (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.davcorp.com.au/wpdata/files/43.pdf
Deming, V. (2015). 5 Principles of Customer Care. IMPACT BLOG. Retrieved from https://www.impactlearning.com/5-principles-of-customer-care/
DR.K.VANITHA, D. (2012). Customer Relationship Management on Customer Satisfaction. IJSR,3(4), 1-3. doi:10.15373/22778179/apr2014/240
Estep, M. (2011). Five Ways to Diffuse an Angry Customer. Unitiv.com. Retrieved 6 February 2015, from https://www.unitiv.com/intelligent-help-desk-blog/bid/64923/five-ways-to-diffuse-an-angry-customer
ESTEPON, M. (2011). The Importance of Meeting Customer Expectations (And How to Meet Them!).Intelligent Help Desk Blog. Retrieved from https://www.unitiv.com/intelligent-help-desk-blog/bid/80165/The-Importance-of-Meeting-Customer-Expectations-And-How-to-Meet-Them
Government of UK,. (2014). Data protection. UK: Government of UK.
Gures, N., Arslan, S., & Yucel Tun, S. (2014). Customer Expectation, Satisfaction and Loyalty Relationship in Turkish Airline Industry. IJMS, 6(1). doi:10.5539/ijms.v6n1p66
Iversen, A. (2006). Consent, confidentiality, and the Data Protection Act. BMJ, 332(7534), 165-169. doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7534.165
Lam, N., & Dale, B. (1999). Customer complaints handling system: Key issues and concerns. Total Quality Management, 10(6), 843-851. doi:10.1080/0954412997253
Market Smartly | Marketing Consultants Brisbane,. (2014). Customer Feedback and Surveys. Retrieved 6 February 2015, from https://www.marketsmartly.com/customer-relationship-management/customer-feedback-and-surveys/
Mcorpconsulting.com,. (2015). Identify Needs and Expectations | MCorp Consulting. Retrieved 6 February 2015, from https://mcorpconsulting.com/customer-experience/how-to/identify-needs-expectations/
Reiss, R. (2012). Top CEOs Share Their Best Practices For Exceptional Customer Service. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertreiss/2012/07/09/best-practices-in-exceptional-customer-service-top-ceos-share-insights-including-handwritten-letters/2/
Rmltd.co.uk,. (2015). Customer Care Policy. Retrieved 6 February 2015, from https://www.rmltd.co.uk/library/assets/Customer%20Care%20Policy.pdf
Simonis, J. (2010). 5 Simple Steps to Analyzing Customer Feedback. Web Surveys. Retrieved from https://survey.cvent.com/blog/tips-for-collecting-feedback/5-simple-steps-to-analyzing-customer-feedback
Suttle, R. (2015). The Importance of Customer Feedback. Houston Chronicles. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-customer-feedback-2089.html
Teaching and Learning Programme. (2015) (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://tlp.excellencegateway.org.uk/tlp/xcurricula/cc/assets/documents/cc_principles_customercare.pdf
Thomas, M. (2015). 8 Barriers to Outstanding Customer Service | Entre-Propel.com. Entre-propel.com. Retrieved 6 February 2015, from https://www.entre-propel.com/customer-service/8-barriers-to-outstanding-customer-service/
Woods, A., Hebron, L., & Bradley, S. (2001). Customer service. Oxford: Heinemann.
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