Improving Customer Services: A Guide For Sunny Side Outlet

Part A Q1

Every employee should be allocated duties which are relevant to his/her training, qualification and experience gained. To effectively allocate work Sunny Side outlet should perform the following tasks.

Properly training new employees on customer services.

Improve the rewarding system.

Improve communication between the manager and employees

Setting out actions to be taken if the results are not achieved.

The key result areas which need to be addressed are;

Improving the employees’ behavior and attitude.

Improving the quality of customer services.

Minimizing the level of employee turnover.

This refers to a broad statement that in most cases is unrealistic of why the organization exists. In this case, Sunny side outlet’s goal is to be the best and efficient outlet offering quality women outfits to its customers.

Objectives refer to realistic and tangible targets or even achievements that need to be made to achieve the set goals. In our case, sunny side outlet needs to have the following objectives which include; ensuring new staff is well trained on customer services, ensuring there is proper communication between the manager and employees. Ensure employees are well rewarded and motivated and ensure that there are set guidelines on actions to be taken if results are not achieved.

Refers to actions or interventions that should be taken to ensure the objectives of the organization are achieved. Sunny side outlet should perform the following activities which are not limited to increasing the quality of customer services, increasing the employee’s behavior and attitude, controlling employee turnover and increasing customer satisfaction.

This refers to the effects of the activities or interventions on the objectives of the sunny side outlet. Well, selected activities will have positive impacts on the objectives of the firm. The impacts include offering quality customer services, reduced employee turnover, improved customer behavior and attitude and lastly increase customer satisfaction.

This refers to determining if the set objectives, activities or interventions have been achieved, determining the impact of the activities of the firm and if there are deviations in the plan of the organization. The evaluation will be done by observing employee retention in the organization, customer acquisition, and retention, the market share, feedback and performance indicators.

Duties will be allocated according to the employee qualifications and experience.

Steven who has experience dealing with customer and high rate sales will be responsible for handling phone answering services because he is capable of professionally dealing with customers and also handle high rates of customer orders. The employee will be given the resources needed to perform his duties and also be rewarded if he achieves his target. The employee will also be trained to improve his efficiency in phone answering services. The metrics for measuring performance will include customer acquisition, customer satisfaction, and retention.

Tom who has experience in fashion trends and has a degree in trading and management will be responsible for handling customer retail services in the organization. This is because he has the skills needed to handle customer needs regarding styles and trends. Tom is a new employee, and he will require training to effectively perform his duties. The employee performance will be measured by observing the quality of services offered, improved market share and customer acquisition.

Q2. Goals

Anne who has skills in managing stock will serve in storage and take stock. This because she has the needed experience to handle the operational area. She is currently placed in customer retail services but she has a bad attitude and this makes her unable to provide the needed services to customers. The performance will be measured by efficiency in stock taking and effective storage facilities.

John will serve in parking/shipping stock operational area. This is because he has the needed energy to effectively pack stock to different destinations. Having no experience in this department, he will be trained and given the needed resources that will enable him to execute his duties well. The performance will be measured by customer satisfaction and quality shipping services.

Mickey who has a degree in business management will work in receiving order/stock operational area. This because she has the needed knowledge to handle stock effectively. Mickey will be given the needed resources that will enable him to get the needed train so that he can perform his duties well. The performance will be measured using metrics such as high rate of orders, customer retention, and increased sales.

The organization has set both quantitative and qualitative performance standards. The quantitative standards set include achieving and accomplishing tasks within the given budget, realizing high revenues and profits and producing a high quantity of products using minimal resources. The qualitative performance standards set include ensuring customer satisfaction and offering quality products to customers. The set code of conduct of employees in this firm includes performing high quality work, being competitive, being open and honest during communications, being trustworthy, excellence in customer service and performing duties and services in good faith.

The following is an individual work plan for the team.

INDIVIDUAL WORK PLAN Sunny Side Outlet
Goal(s) To become the most efficient outlet dealing in women outfits.
Description. Sunny Side Outlet is determined to rise against all the odds to become the best women outlet. The company will do everything possible to achieve its objectives and goals.
EMPLOYEE POSITION	KEY RESULT AREA	ACTION IF TASK NOT UP TO STANDARDS
Customer services	To improve the customer satisfaction. To improve the quality of services offered. To improve customer retention.	To train the staff to improve their operations. Review the set standards
Retail staff	To improve the number of order received. To increase the sales. To improve customer satisfaction.	To train the employees. To conduct periodical reshuffling of staff.
Store Supervisor	To improve stock taking services. To improve the storage of fast moving products	To train the employees. To improve the compensation of the staff to motivate them
Handling staff	To improve the shipping/packing services	Opt for extra working hours with pay. Train the employees to improve their performance.

There is also the need to conduct the risk analysis to determine the areas in the workplace and possibilities the may hinder the implementation of the set work plan.

Task description/risk areas in Sunny side outlet	Risk process	Risk communication	Risk analysis management
Primary risks	Improving sales Improve shipping services. Improve customer satisfaction Employee retention	Medium Low Medium Medium	Employees in each department should communicate the possibility of the risk to the manager	Lowering the selling price. Have shipping contracts with other shipping agencies. Improve the compensation of the employees.
Secondary risks	Improve the quality of services. Improve customer retention	Medium Medium	Employees in each department should communicate the possibility of the risk to the manager	Seeking the opinions of experts. Offering discounts and bonuses to regular clients.
Other risks	Sickness and emergencies. Legal regulations	Medium Low	The manager should anticipate for this risks all the time.	Training staff to be able to multi task. Seeking services of legal experts.

To effectively ensure the plan is working, there is need to conduct performance assessment. The table below will help to conduct the assessment process.

Performance management protocol and timeline Sunny side outlet
Design features	Guiding principles	Review process
Employee duty statement	To perform all the duties allocated by the manager.	The duties are performed as expected.
Performance indicators	To improve the quality of services offered. To improve customer satisfaction	90% of all performance indicators have been achieved.
Staff development plans	Offer training after every six months	Though the duties are performed well, there is need to train the staff.
Recognition for performance	Rewarding staff for exemplary performance	The best performers are rewarded without discrimination.
Feedback	Efficient channels of providing feedback are established	The feedback provided is used by the management to improve service delivery.
Grievance procedure	Employee grievances are addressed well by the established channels	80% of all grievances are well addressed.
Formal performance reviews	After six months, formal performance reviews are issued to the employees.	The performance of the employees reviewed after every six months to check their progress.

There is need to train the employees to improve the quality of services offered by sunny side outlet.

TRAINING PLAN Sunny Side Outlet.
Employee name. Trainer Venue Date
Employee position	Areas requiring improvement	Professional development required	Strategies for improvement	Outcomes sought and by when	Schedule for monitoring progress
Customer services	Communication skills	Proper business communication skills	Creating awareness on importance of communication skills	Quality services should be achieved after one week	Review after two weeks
Retail staff	Order receiving	Training on handling different orders	Training staff	Handling high rate orders after two weeks	Review after one week
Store Supervisor	Proper inventory management	Different inventory management techniques	Attending inventory related seminars	Efficient storage of products after one week	Review after two weeks.
Handling staff	Efficient packaging methods	Professional products packaging and shipping	Benchmarking in other organizations	To offer satisfying packaging services after one week.	Review after three weeks

The purpose of performance management is measuring and improving effectiveness of people in a work place. The purpose of formal performance is to enable the employee prepare for the review, ensure the employee is able to give feedback and what is the future of the employee in the organisation. Ensure all staff participate in performance reviews, receive written evaluation of their performance and the record be kept in employee file and also be given a copy.

Continuous performance and monitoring can be enhanced by creating performance plans, give the employees feedback, provide coaching and discuss the performance of the staff with them. Reporting for the performance review should be 12 months like in many organizations. The manager should also provide each employee with the requirements expected from him.

There is need to provide feedback to employees and below is the feedback and recognition plan.

Performance improvement plan Sunny Side Outlet.
Areas of excellence performance	Customer services, receiving orders, phone answering, and packaging stock.
Areas needing improvement	Storage and taking stock
Strategies for improvement	Give warning notice to Anne because she is lazy and spot checking for improvement.
Details of informal feedback	Recommendations for improvement
Details of formal feedback	Action plan to improve performance.
Praise and acknowledgment	Giving thanks cards and small gifts to high performers
Schedule for monitoring progress	Review the progress after one month after the issue of the feedback

How to address the poor performance will be first by identifying the problem and in this case, Anne has bad altitude. Counselling support is needed because Anne’s problem is persistent. In this case the problem with Anne appears to be deliberate and so her services should be terminated.

The role of coaching is to help bring out the best in a person as it helps improve the skills of a person. On the job coaching can be conducted by providing regular employees. The ones performing well are helped to develop their skills further. Those performing poorly should be given advice, coached and counselled to improve their performance.

Steps for formal feedback are;

1. Staff are given time to prepare for the formal review.
2. Give feedback constructively.
3. The review process should be two way.
4. Don’t dwell on the past, deal with future of the employee.
5. Follow up.

Performance records should be well recorded and stored for future decision-making purposes. Avoid generalizing situations when it comes to giving feedback. It sholud be recoreded in performance improvement plans.

The staff who continue performing well will be promoted or their compensation increased. This will help to motivate them and encourage them to keep performing well. Poor performers will get three warning letters within a year. Failure to improve their performances will result in dismissal from their duties.  Training should also be offered to improve performance and seven keys of coaching should be used.

Lee should be trained and helped so that he can perform his duties well. Lee should be assigned to a counsellor for counselling sessions and it should be paid by the employer. If lee does not improve, feedback should be provided to him through writing and if he does not respond positively to the feedback, he will be dismissed on grounds of poor performance.

The procedure for termination include ensuring there are reasonable grounds for termination. The employee is notified of the termination and given time to respond. The employee should be told that previous employee who had the same performance were dismissed so that it does not appear like discrimination.

Specific ways of reinforcing excellence in performance and recognition include personal recognition, verbal praise, written praise, a letter of commendation can be written, a thank you card can be offered to the employee, a small gift and even a personalized certificate of achievement can be offered to the employee.