CUSTOMER SERVICE - The Truth About Achieving High Standard of Customer Service

THE TRUTH ABOUT ACHIEVING
HIGH STANDARD OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

Try Answering These Questions Sincerely
●  Why do customer complaint?
●  Why the same complaint repeating?
●  Why a 5 star service provider received the same complaint as the 2
     star?
●  How many meetings you had in addressing customer service
     problems?
●  How many loyal customers do you have? And how many had left you
     and never return?
●  Are your employees aware of common courtesy?
●  Do they practice common courtesy?
●  Do your employees understand what a customer wants?
●  How do you train your employees? And how you monitor their
     performance?
●  Do you know what your employee feels about your organization?
●  Are your employees working happily?
●  Do your systems motivate your people?
●  re your control strategies giving you the desired outcomes? Are they
     sustainable?
●  Can a weak organization culture provide excellent customer service?
●  Can a poorly trained employee provide excellent service?
●  Can leaders which spent most of their time in the office have an
     excellent team?

These are some examples of common issue which service providers are facing and spending so much time in identifying and settling and repeating the whole effort from time to time.

In settling problems, we must treat the root causes and not the symptoms. To begin with, we must first define the issue into two components clearly and specifically and work on them as follows:

Internal Issues
1.   Conduct a survey on how the employees feel about the company.
2.   Assess how the team communicates.
3.   Assess how you handle employee complaints.
4.   Assess what and how you train your employees.
5.   Assess how you monitor performance.

External Issues
1.   Conduct a survey on how your customer feels about your services.
2.   Assess how you handle customer complaints.
3.   Identify the common complaints made by your customers.
4.   Identify the root causes of the complaints.
5.   Treat the root causes of the weaknesses.

What next?
Contact TRANS MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS for a discussion on “Customer Service Coaching” program.

Email : admin@transmgt.com

Tel : +6014-7048875 (Faudzil Harun)

CUSTOMER SERVICE - The Truth about Achieving High Standard of Customer Service

THE TRUTH ABOUT ACHIEVING HIGH CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARD

Try Answering These Questions Sincerely
●  Why do customer complaint?
●  Why the same complaint repeating?
●  Why a 5 star service provider received the same complaint as the 2 star?
●  How many meetings you had in addressing customer service problems?
●  How many loyal customers do you have? And how many had left you and
     never return?
●  Are your employees aware of common courtesy?
●  Do they practice common courtesy?
●  Do your employees understand what a customer wants?
●  How do you train your employees? And how you monitor their performance?
●  Do you know what your employee feels about your organization?
●  Are your employees working happily?
●  Do your systems motivate your people?
●  re your control strategies giving you the desired outcomes? Are they
     sustainable?
●  Can a weak organization culture provide excellent customer service?
●  Can a poorly trained employee provide excellent service?
●  Can leaders which spent most of their time in the office have an excellent team?

These are some examples of common issue which service providers are facing and spending so much time in identifying and settling and repeating the whole effort from time to time.

In settling problems, we must treat the root causes and not the symptoms. To begin with, we must first define the issue into two components clearly and specifically and work on them as follows:

Internal Issues
1.   Conduct a survey on how the employees feel about the company.
2.   Assess how the team communicates.
3.   Assess how you handle employee complaints.
4.   Assess what and how you train your employees.
5.   Assess how you monitor performance.

External Issues
1.   Conduct a survey on how your customer feels about your services.
2.   Assess how you handle customer complaints.
3.   Identify the common complaints made by your customers.
4.   Identify the root causes of the complaints.
5.   Treat the root causes of the weaknesses.

What next?
Contact us for a discussion on “High Performance Direct Coaching” program.
We provide direct coaching base on Human Nature, Common Courtesy and The Reality of Day-to-Day Practice.

Email : admin@transmgt.com  or  transmgt@yahoo.com

Tel : +6014-7048875 (Faudzil Harun)

CUSTOMER SERVICE - What is Customer Satisfaction Survey?

Definition

Process of discovering whether or not a company's customers are happy or satisfied with the products or services received from the company. 

May be conducted face to face, over the phone, via email or internet, or on handwritten forms. Customer answers to questions are then used to analyze whether or not changes need to be made in business operations to increase overall satisfaction of customers.

CUSTOMER SERVICE - How to Measure Customer Satisfaction: Do You Overlook these 4 Key Customer Satisfaction Measurements?

Written by Scott Smith, Ph.D.

When we have a great food experience at a new restaurant, we usually want to go back. Positive evaluations result in greater customer satisfaction, which leads to customer loyalty and product repurchase.

Mission accomplished.

But how do we effectively measure customer satisfaction?

Many strategies exist, but overlooking the fundaments ofhow to measure customer satisfaction can be detrimental to your business. Here are 4 keycustomer satisfaction measurements that are critical to your business success

1. Overall Satisfaction Measure (Emotional)

Example question: Overall, how satisfied are you with “La Jolla Grove restaurant”?

This question reflects the overall opinion of a consumer’s satisfaction experience with a product he or she has used.

The single greatest predictors of customer satisfaction are the customer experiences that result in attributions of quality.

Perceived quality is often measured in one of three contexts:

1. Overall quality
2. Perceived reliability
3. Extent of customer’s needs fulfilled

It is commonly believed that dissatisfaction is synonymous with purchase regret while satisfaction is linked to positive ideas such as “it was a good choice” or “I am glad that I bought it.”

2. Loyalty Measurement (Affective, Behavioral)

Example question: Would you recommend “La Jolla Grove restaurant” to your family and friends?

This single question measure is the core NPS (Net Promoter Score) measure.

Customer loyalty reflects the likelihood of repurchasing products or services. Customer satisfaction is a major predictor of repurchase but is strongly influenced by explicit performance evaluations of product performance, quality, and value.

Loyalty is often measured as a combination of measures including overall satisfaction, likelihood of repurchase, and likelihood of recommending the brand to a friend.

A common measure of loyalty might be the sum of scores for the following three questions:

• Overall, how satisfied are you with [brand]?
• How likely are you to continue to choose/repurchase [brand]?
• How likely are you to recommend [brand] to a friend or family member?

3. A Series of Attribute Satisfaction Measurements (Affective and Cognitive)

Example question: How satisfied are you with the “taste” of your entre at La Jolla Grove?

Example question: How important is “taste” in your decision to select La Jolla Grove restaurant?

Affect (liking/disliking) is best measured in the context of product attributes or benefits. Customer satisfaction is influenced by perceived quality of product and service attributes, and is moderated by expectations of the product or service. The researcher must define and develop measures for each attribute that is important for customer satisfaction.

Consumer attitudes toward a product develop as a result of product information or any experience with the product, whether perceived or real.

Again, it may be meaningful to measure attitudes towards a product or service that a consumer has never used, but it is not meaningful to measure satisfaction when a product or service has not been used.

Cognition refers to judgment: the product was useful (or not useful); fit the situation (or did not fit); exceeded the requirements of the problem/situation (or did not exceed); or was an important part of the product experience (or was unimportant).

Judgments are often specific to the intended use application and use occasion for which the product is purchased, regardless if that use is correct or incorrect.

Affect and satisfaction are closely related concepts. The distinction is that satisfaction is “post experience” and represents the emotional affect produced by the product’s quality or value.

4. Intentions to Repurchase Measurements (Behavioral Measures)

Example question: Do you intend to return to the La Jolla Grove restaurant in the next 30 days?

When wording questions about future or hypothetical behavior, consumers often indicate that “purchasing this product would be a good choice” or “I would be glad to purchase this product.” Behavioral measures also reflect the consumer’s past experience with customer service representatives.

Satisfaction can influence other post-purchase/post-experience actions like communicating to others through word of mouth and social networks.

Additional post-experience actions might reflect heightened levels of product involvement that in turn result in increased search for the product or information, reduced trial of alternative products, and even changes in preferences for shopping locations and choice behavior.

CUSTOMER SERVICE - 5 Effective Ways to Measure the Quality of Your Customer Service

POSTED BY MEREDITH ESTEP ON THU, MAY 12, 2011 @ 01:51 PM

Customer service is a vital component to any successful business today, but how do you know if you are making the grade with your own quality of customer interactions? Measuring your customer service is an important step to ensuring consistency and quality in all your company's dealings with their most important asset.

There are many good ways to accurately assess the quality of your customer service, and we have five of them right here.

Consider Your Supply and Demand

One of the easiest metrics for measuring the quality of your customer service is simply your number of sales. Happy customers tend to purchase more products, so if sales are increasing, it could be attributed in part to your level of service.

However, this method alone will not give you the most accurate assessment on the quality of service; an increase in sales could also be attributed to the season, economic climate or recent price markdown. This gauge is more effective when combined with other measurement tools.

Ask Your Customers

One way to determine whether customers are happy with your level of service is to simply ask them. You can do this informally, by inquiring when they come into your establishment. You can offer follow-up phone calls or emails to ask customers about the quality of their last visit to your business. Or you can make the process more formal by creating surveys that ask questions about different aspects of your service and ask customers to fill them out and return them to you.

Number of Customer Complaints

Some companies evaluate the quality of service by the number of complaints they receive.  A common assumption is that when the number of disgruntled customers is decreased, that the quality of services has increased.  Take note: by not paying attention to your quality of service, you may be inadvertently sending those disgruntled customers down the street to a competitor.

Identify Your Weaknesses

Effective measurement of the quality of your customer service will help you identify specific weaknesses within your operation. For example, perhaps customers are not happy with the length of time they have to wait for assistance, or they are frustrated because a certain product always seems to be on backorder. No matter what metric tool you use to evaluate your current level of service, it should be able to help you identify very specific areas where you have room for improvement.

Assess the Competition

Knowing what your competitors are offering in terms of customer service can also help you know whether you are on track with your own service level. Send an employee down the street to act as a customer and find out how they are treated.  Talk to customers who have worked with both businesses and ask them which company's service they like better and why.

Measuring your customer service will help you know if your service level is on par and where it can be improved. Through these easy tools, you can get an accurate idea of whether the quality of your customer service is where it needs to be or what you can do to raise the bar on your current service level.

-Meredith Estep

CUSTOMER SERVICE - How to Measure Customer Satisfaction: Do You Overlook these 4 Key Customer Satisfaction Measurements?

Written by Scott Smith, Ph.D.

When we have a great food experience at a new restaurant, we usually want to go back. Positive evaluations result in greater customer satisfaction, which leads to customer loyalty and product repurchase.

Mission accomplished.

But how do we effectively measure customer satisfaction?

Many strategies exist, but overlooking the fundaments ofhow to measure customer satisfaction can be detrimental to your business. Here are 4 keycustomer satisfaction measurements that are critical to your business success

1. Overall Satisfaction Measure (Emotional)

Example question: Overall, how satisfied are you with “La Jolla Grove restaurant”?

This question reflects the overall opinion of a consumer’s satisfaction experience with a product he or she has used.

The single greatest predictors of customer satisfaction are the customer experiences that result in attributions of quality.

Perceived quality is often measured in one of three contexts:

·         Overall quality

·         Perceived reliability

·         Extent of customer’s needs fulfilled

It is commonly believed that dissatisfaction is synonymous with purchase regret while satisfaction is linked to positive ideas such as “it was a good choice” or “I am glad that I bought it.”

2. Loyalty Measurement (Affective, Behavioral)

Example question: Would you recommend “La Jolla Grove restaurant” to your family and friends?

This single question measure is the core NPS (Net Promoter Score) measure.

Customer loyalty reflects the likelihood of repurchasing products or services. Customer satisfaction is a major predictor of repurchase but is strongly influenced by explicit performance evaluations of product performance, quality, and value.

Loyalty is often measured as a combination of measures including overall satisfaction, likelihood of repurchase, and likelihood of recommending the brand to a friend.

A common measure of loyalty might be the sum of scores for the following three questions:

·         Overall, how satisfied are you with [brand]?

·         How likely are you to continue to choose/repurchase [brand]?

·         How likely are you to recommend [brand] to a friend or family member?

3. A Series of Attribute Satisfaction Measurements (Affective and Cognitive)

Example question: How satisfied are you with the “taste” of your entre at La Jolla Grove?

Example question: How important is “taste” in your decision to select La Jolla Grove restaurant?

Affect (liking/disliking) is best measured in the context of product attributes or benefits. Customer satisfaction is influenced by perceived quality of product and service attributes, and is moderated by expectations of the product or service. The researcher must define and develop measures for each attribute that is important for customer satisfaction.

Consumer attitudes toward a product develop as a result of product information or any experience with the product, whether perceived or real.

Again, it may be meaningful to measure attitudes towards a product or service that a consumer has never used, but it is not meaningful to measure satisfaction when a product or service has not been used.

Cognition refers to judgment: the product was useful (or not useful); fit the situation (or did not fit); exceeded the requirements of the problem/situation (or did not exceed); or was an important part of the product experience (or was unimportant).

Judgments are often specific to the intended use application and use occasion for which the product is purchased, regardless if that use is correct or incorrect.

Affect and satisfaction are closely related concepts. The distinction is that satisfaction is “post experience” and represents the emotional affect produced by the product’s quality or value.

4. Intentions to Repurchase Measurements (Behavioral Measures)

Example question: Do you intend to return to the La Jolla Grove restaurant in the next 30 days?

When wording questions about future or hypothetical behavior, consumers often indicate that “purchasing this product would be a good choice” or “I would be glad to purchase this product.” Behavioral measures also reflect the consumer’s past experience with customer service representatives.

Satisfaction can influence other post-purchase/post-experience actions like communicating to others through word of mouth and social networks.

Additional post-experience actions might reflect heightened levels of product involvement that in turn result in increased search for the product or information, reduced trial of alternative products, and even changes in preferences for shopping locations and choice behavior.

 Source: qualtrics.com

CUSTOMER SERVICE - Ten Characteristics of Bad Customer Service

Posted by MEREDITH ESTEP

In customer service, it only takes one negative 

incident to lose a client for life. In this article, we 

will take a look at ten common characteristics of bad 

customer service with the purpose of showing 

alternatives that would serve customers much more 

efficiently and positively.

1. Failing to greet customers when they walk in the door.
A customer that is not acknowledged upon entering your business will not feel like the valuable commodity that they are.

2. Hanging up on an angry customer.
No one likes being yelled at, but disgruntled customers sometimes need time to vent before dealing with their concerns in a rational manner. If the customer becomes abusive, get a manager. Never hang up on a customer.

3. Eating in front of customers.
No one wants to watch someone eat their lunch - or even a mid-morning donut. Leave the food for the break room and keep your mouth clear for talking to your customers.

4. Putting a call on hold without asking first.
It is a simple courtesy to ask before putting someone on hold.  In addition, you are less likely to have the customer hang up in frustration when the elevator music starts to blare.

5. Avoiding eye contact with a customer.
When you are talking to someone, you want to know that other person is listening to what you say. Customer service representatives who do not make eye contact look rude at best, and downright shifty or dishonest to others. 

6. Socializing with other employees when customers are present.
Customers do not care to hear about your plans for Friday night. Unless you are asking a question about your customer's business specifically, stop all personal conversations until there are no customers in the vicinity.

7. Forgetting to use common courtesies.
"Please" and "thank you" are mainstays in customer service. Unfortunately, they are not used nearly as often as they should be. Common niceties exude professionalism, as well as courtesy, and should be used without fail.

8. Yelling at a customer.
Let the customer vent and then deal with their complaint in a calm, rational manner.

9. Using technical jargon when talking to customers.
You do not need to talk down to your customers, but it is helpful to use language they understand when explaining company policies and procedures. Leave the technical jargon for your coworkers.

10. Complaining about the company to customers.
There are no exceptions to this rule.  There is never an appropriate time to bad-mouth your own company to a customer.  This could potentially cost your company money or even lose the customer altogether.

Bad customer service is prevalent today, but it is not 

hard to overcome. By studying the bad, you can 

replace it with stellar service that will boost your 

customer base and your profits.

- Meredith Estep

CUSTOMER SERVICE - Bad Customer Service? Blame the Bosses' Bad Policies

by M. Joy Hayes, Ph.D. 

Ever wonder why good customer service seems to be the exception rather than the rule? Are good employees really in such short supply?

Not necessarily.

In many cases, bad customer service isn't caused by negligent or incompetent employees. Instead, the blame for poor service lies with their bosses -- or, more specifically, the policies put in place by the higher-ups that undermine the employee-customer relationship.

It's the pursuit of short-term growth that often drives businesses to engage in practices that end up alienating the very people they should be treating like royalty -- customers. Consider the following business practices that often lead to shoddy customer service.

1. Hyper-Focus on Selling to, Not Serving, the Customer
Greg Smith, a former executive director at Goldman Sachs (GS), raised a ruckus when he publicly aired accusations against his former employer. He said that the company's focus was no longer on serving their clients; it became, instead, about "how we can make the most possible money off of them."

Problems like these are partially caused by difficulties in balancing long-term success goals with quarterly revenue growth goals. While long-term success depends on quality products and good service, short-term growth is sometimes best achieved by cheating customers.

2. Short-Changing Employees
For years, Costco (COST) has been pressured to pay its employees less. After all, the company is pretty generous with its compensation package compared to its peers -- with average per-hour pay about $6 to $7 higher than what is offered at Walmart's (WMT) Sam's Club. In addition, Costco offers better worker benefit packages than most of its competitors.

So how does lower pay translate to worse customer service? Consider employee turnover. Higher-paid employees are more likely to be satisfied in their jobs and less likely to quit. Costco's employee turnover ranges from 6% to 20% each year, compared to 20% to 50% of Sam's Club employees who quit each year.

Customers benefit from employee loyalty. Costco customers are more likely to be served by experienced customer service representatives who can assist them quickly and competently, for example. Also, Costco can afford to keep prices low if it doesn't have to shell out a lot for expenses associated with recruiting, hiring, and training new employees.

3. Policies That Penalize
Ever been confronted with a team of employees who are eager to help, but all lack the authorization to solve your problem? Perhaps the item you wish to return needs to be processed by a manager. And that manager just happens to be unavailable at the moment because she is too busy carrying out other small tasks. Or perhaps the employee you're talking to is near the end of his shift, and can't go into overtime to solve your problem without management's approval.

Policies like these are often developed after some employees abuse their power by taking unnecessary overtime, or by helping their friends make a few extra bucks by refunding discounted items at their full price. In other words, some businesses create these policies in an attempt to minimize the opportunities employees have to rip off the business.

However, such policies cost businesses money in other ways. They create a situation in which customer needs are only met after long delays, or not at all. The result: Consumers take their business elsewhere.

And the only thing worse for a business than bad customer service is having no customers to serve at all.

by M. Joy Hayes, Ph.D. 

CUSTOMER SERVICE - How Does Poor Customer Service Affect a Business?

by Lisa McQuerrey, Demand Media

Poor customer service can negatively impact a business in a variety of ways. This is especially true for small businesses that rely on repeat business and positive word-of-mouth advertising for its success. In addition to running the risk of alienating current customers with sub-standard service levels, chronically poor service can impact the business’ potential for attracting new customers as well.

Loss of Current Customers

Poor levels of customer service can cause you to lose even the most forgiving of customers. Consumers tend to do business with a company because it’s convenient, it’s a habit, or they’re looking for particular product or service that’s hard to find elsewhere. Even these stalwart customers can be turned away by inferior levels of service.

Loss of Potential Customers

Poor customer service has the potential to cost your business customers before they even buy a thing. When new patrons walk into a business and find themselves ignored, talked down to or subjected to long lines and uneducated employees, they might head for the door before they even reach for their wallets. Anything that makes it challenging or unpleasant for a person to do business with you should be cause for alarm, warning you that your service levels need improvement.

Loss of Future Customers

Customers who experience poor service levels often tell their friends and family members about the bad experience to warn them away. This will cost your business potential customers. People will have already formed a negative opinion of your business before ever setting foot in your door.

Loss of Reputation

A reputation for poor service can be hard to shake. It can keep other businesses from partnering or working with you. It also can turn away good employment candidates who might assume that if customers are treated poorly, employees are treated badly as well.

Loss of Employees

Even poor-performing employees don’t like to be yelled at or scorned by unpleased customers, which can result in high turnover among your workforce. it is costly and time consuming to constantly have to advertise for new workers, then screen and train them. Customers might start to wonder why your business can’t retain staff members and question the management practices of your business.

Loss of Profits

Poor customer service typically results in fewer customers, which translates into lower sales and profits for your business. This can initiate a vicious cycle in which a company tries to save money on staffing or customer service training, which makes service levels spiral downward even further. A company that can't keep pace with the financial demands of running a business faces increasing operating debt and ultimately, a loss of the business.

by Lisa McQuerrey, Demand Media