CustomerService Strategy“We work all the time, seven days a week.

Even if we are the leader, we make it a point to serve and not be served”

5

-Wilson LimPresident, Abenson Group of companies

Raymund Magdaluyo

• Graduated from the Ateneo de Manila with a degree in Management Economics in 1995.

1. What restaurants have you set up?2. What preparations do you do in order to ensure excellent customer service?

A. Training and simulations

B. Basics

3. Will low price be better than excellent service?

STRATEGY

Customer satisfaction framework

Strategic Customer

SatisfactionManagemen

t

ExternalCustomer

InternalCustomer

Customer satisfaction need not be limited to the external customers or those final buyers and users 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. Therefore, anyone who receives the output of one another is an “internal” customer of that person.

The upper level of customer satisfaction framework - Strategic Customer Satisfaction Management, focuses on three critical components:

1. Market Segmentation

-Since different groups of customers have different expectations, marketers must apply market segmentation to choose the specific type of customers or groups of customers that they can serve competently.

2. Leadership

-External customer satisfaction activities not aligned with internal customer satisfaction activities are of doubtful value. Leadership is critical as it decides on what kind of corporate vision and culture it wants.

3. Feedback and reward system

-Customer feedback also allows company to learn key attributes in the product or service design that are most important to customers as well as give companies a chance to recover in case of service failure.-Rewarding employees who did well in customer service reinforces its mission of customer and thus makes their customers happy and in the same breath, giving rewards communicates the company’s commitment to maintaining happy and affirmed employees.

Customer Service.pptx

POSSIBLE COSTSAVINGSOPPORTUNITY

X

InvestmentInformation

LEVERAGEOPPORTUNITY

X

ConsolidatedStatements

X StaffAppearance

MONITORSITUATION

Responsiveness

X Self –esteem

CRITICALIMPROVEMENTREQUIRED

X

High

Low

Low HighDamage Impact

DeliveryPerformance

Exhibit 5-4: MBL priority action indicator

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

1 2 3 4 1

SERVICE IMPROVEMENT

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IMPLEMENTED

TimeQuarter

CriticalElementIncidence

Example:Office Automation Suppliesa. Insufficient

customer contact

b. Difficulty to contact service department

c. Frequent maintenance required

Exhibit 5-5: Critical element monitor

Exhibit 5-6: Staff motivation impact

IndirectMotivators

PrimaryMotivators

SecondaryMotivators

SelectiveMotivators

HighMention

LowMention

EmployeeNeeds

Low HighDegree of Satisfaction

Exhibit 5-7: Example of staff motivation impact

X CasualWear onWeekends

X StaffProvidentFund

XAlternate

5-1/2 day week

X PerformanceRewarding Schemes

XModern uniform

Degree of SatisfactionLow High

HighMention

LowMention

EmployeeNeeds

Happy employees make happy costumer. How do you have a happy employee?Aside from rewarding them fairly, try to catch them doing right instead of something wrong

It must stressed that all employees must not be just consistent with the brand in terms of profile, values, and positioning, they must understand their customer, product/service and brand promise as well

Using the “carrot-stick approach”, subordinates should be scolded also privately (as much as possible, as opposed to in front of his peers) if the same mistake are repeatedly done a last report is to change mediocre employee to prevent to prevent the quality of service to the customer from suffering. It is critical then that the right kind of employee are hired and given appropriate training from the very start.

Employees in any company must realize that customer satisfaction is the job of everybody

Exhibit 5-8 & 5-9.pptx

Firms must be structured in a way that is consistent with their strategy. Structure must come after strategy not the other way around.

The entry of an order must be accurate and prompt considering the firm’s many internal needs for data gathering and analysis.

A sale is not sale until collected. Are billing accurate and prompt? Are collectors courteous ?

After sales service involves providing a sensible warranty, ensuring the availability of parts and service, and maintaining communication with customer in case of inquiry, complaint or claim

1. Identify room for improvement

2. Describe the customer’s need

3. Prepare service standards4. Rest standard if realistic.5. Modify and adopt.6. Monitor and improve

Profile of an outstanding service provider

Jan Carlzon

Turning around an aging hospital

Makati Medical Center’s financial situation was bad before Metro Pacific’s Manny Pangilinan and his team, decided to invest money and resuscitate the institution in 2007

If there is one common rule in marketing, selling, and customer service, it is never to overpromise. Never overpromise! You might

end up having nothing. It is better to under promise and over deliver than over promise and under deliver, but always make your

strengths known to target market as this could be your differentiation and then continue to strive to exceed expectations.

Dealing with customer complaint:

How does one deal with customer complaint? When a best friend calls about a product or a service complaint, how would one react to help him? Wouldn’t one make sure his best friend is more than satisfied with the recovery process? The acronym LASER below is formulated to help our readers remember the basic steps in dealing with product complaint like when they deal with their best friend.

FIRST STEP

LISTEN - show interest in what customers have to say. Never argue with customer and never interrupt them especially if they are angry.

SECOND STEP

ACKNOWLEDGE - is to acknowledge what customers are saying. Apologize for customer’s inconvenience, the episode that happen or the upset feelings caused by the incident. Address the customer by name. This will at least convince the customer that you were really listening.

THIRD STEP

SOLUTIONS - this means that more than one solution should be given,-allowing the affected customer to choose among alternatives most suitable for him.

FOURTH STEP

EMPATHIZE - show the company’s concern. Customers want their problems acknowledged and honored, not overlooked and ignored.

FIFTH AND FINAL STEP

REINFORCE - this means that the company has to record all customer complaints to be able to track them. Ask the customer if the solution agreed on has worked for them. Otherwise, offer more work on the company’s part until the customer is satisfied

1. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS - the survey is known for its flexibility and wide variety of

uses, ranging from identifying quality strengths and weaknesses to tracking customer perception.

2. QUALITY IMPROVEMENT EXPERIMENT - unlike the survey, it is possible to make fairly strong

causal inferences if the experiment is properly conducted.

3. CRITICAL INCIDENTS - respondents are asked to describe in story-like fashion

memorable events, which could have affected their satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

4. PROBLEM ANALYSIS - involves effort to develop a list of problems and to

evaluate the impact of problems on customer satisfaction.

5. CONJOINT MEASUREMENT - this can be used to align performance standards with

customer expectations and to evaluate quality concepts before they are introduced.

6. COMPLAINT ANALYSIS - this involves efforts to record, categorize, act track and more

recently, solicit customer complaints.

7. MYSTERY SHOPPER STUDIES - this where people pose as a customer in an effort to gauge

the performance of employees. Done properly, it is a valid observation technique.

8. COMMENT CARDS - obvious limitations are low response rate, a tendency

towards extremes and a lack of control over who fills them out.

Each eight approaches provide a unique perspective on the customer which could be integrated into a systematic and continuous CSM research process instead of doing the above separately.