D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12 D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06 ...€¦ · D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12 D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06 Nominal Hours: 35 hours Element 1: Identify customer/guest

Maintain quality customer/guest service

D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12

D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06

Trainee Manual

Maintain quality

customer/guest service

D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12

D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06

Trainee Manual

Project Base

William Angliss Institute of TAFE 555 La Trobe Street Melbourne 3000 Victoria Telephone: (03) 9606 2111 Facsimile: (03) 9670 1330

Acknowledgements

Project Director: Wayne Crosbie Chief Writer: Alan Hickman Subject Writer: Nick Hyland Project Manager: Alan Maguire Editor: Jim Irwin DTP/Production: Daniel Chee, Mai Vu, Jirayu Thangcharoensamut

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967. The Member States of the Association are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

The ASEAN Secretariat is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

General Information on ASEAN appears online at the ASEAN Website: www.asean.org.

All text is produced by William Angliss Institute of TAFE for the ASEAN Project on “Toolbox Development for Priority Tourism Labour Division”.

This publication is supported by Australian Aid through the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II (AADCP II).

Copyright: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 2012.

All rights reserved.

Disclaimer

Every effort has been made to ensure that this publication is free from errors or omissions. However, you should conduct your own enquiries and seek professional advice before relying on any fact, statement or matter contained in this book. ASEAN Secretariat and William Angliss Institute of TAFE are not responsible for any injury, loss or damage as a result of material included or omitted from this course. Information in this module is current at the time of publication. Time of publication is indicated in the date stamp at the bottom of each page.

Some images appearing in this resource have been purchased from various stock photography suppliers and other third party copyright owners and as such are non-transferable and non-exclusive.

Additional images have been sourced from Flickr and are used under:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

http://www.sxc.hu/

File name: TM_Maintain_quality_customer_service_310812.docx

http://www.asean.org/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

© ASEAN 2012 Trainee Manual


Table of contents

Introduction to trainee manual ........................................................................................... 1

Unit descriptor................................................................................................................... 3

Assessment matrix ........................................................................................................... 5

Glossary ........................................................................................................................... 7

Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements ............................................................. 9

Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services ........................................... 29

Element 3: Evaluate customer service ............................................................................ 51

Presentation of written work ............................................................................................ 67

Recommended reading ................................................................................................... 69

Trainee evaluation sheet ................................................................................................. 71

© ASEAN 2012 Trainee Manual Maintain quality customer/guest service

Introduction to trainee manual


Maintain quality customer/guest service 1


To the Trainee

Congratulations on joining this course. This Trainee Manual is one part of a „toolbox‟ which is a resource provided to trainees, trainers and assessors to help you become competent in various areas of your work.

The „toolbox‟ consists of three elements:

A Trainee Manual for you to read and study at home or in class

A Trainer Guide with Power Point slides to help your Trainer explain the content of the training material and provide class activities to help with practice

An Assessment Manual which provides your Assessor with oral and written questions and other assessment tasks to establish whether or not you have achieved competency.

The first thing you may notice is that this training program and the information you find in the Trainee Manual seems different to the textbooks you have used previously. This is because the method of instruction and examination is different. The method used is called Competency based training (CBT) and Competency based assessment (CBA). CBT and CBA is the training and assessment system chosen by ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) to train people to work in the tourism and hospitality industry throughout all the ASEAN member states.

What is the CBT and CBA system and why has it been adopted by ASEAN?

CBT is a way of training that concentrates on what a worker can do or is required to do at work. The aim is of the training is to enable trainees to perform tasks and duties at a standard expected by employers. CBT seeks to develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes (or recognise the ones the trainee already possesses) to achieve the required competency standard. ASEAN has adopted the CBT/CBA training system as it is able to produce the type of worker that industry is looking for and this therefore increases trainees chances of obtaining employment.

CBA involves collecting evidence and making a judgement of the extent to which a worker can perform his/her duties at the required competency standard. Where a trainee can already demonstrate a degree of competency, either due to prior training or work experience, a process of „Recognition of Prior Learning‟ (RPL) is available to trainees to recognise this. Please speak to your trainer about RPL if you think this applies to you.

What is a competency standard?

Competency standards are descriptions of the skills and knowledge required to perform a task or activity at the level of a required standard.

242 competency standards for the tourism and hospitality industries throughout the ASEAN region have been developed to cover all the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to work in the following occupational areas:

Housekeeping

Food Production

Food and Beverage Service


2


Front Office

Travel Agencies

Tour Operations.

All of these competency standards are available for you to look at. In fact you will find a summary of each one at the beginning of each Trainee Manual under the heading „Unit Descriptor‟. The unit descriptor describes the content of the unit you will be studying in the Trainee Manual and provides a table of contents which are divided up into „Elements‟ and „Performance Criteria”. An element is a description of one aspect of what has to be achieved in the workplace. The „Performance Criteria‟ below each element details the level of performance that needs to be demonstrated to be declared competent.

There are other components of the competency standard:

Unit Title: statement about what is to be done in the workplace

Unit Number: unique number identifying the particular competency

Nominal hours: number of classroom or practical hours usually needed to complete the competency. We call them „nominal‟ hours because they can vary e.g. sometimes it will take an individual less time to complete a unit of competency because he/she has prior knowledge or work experience in that area.

The final heading you will see before you start reading the Trainee Manual is the „Assessment Matrix‟. Competency based assessment requires trainees to be assessed in at least 2 – 3 different ways, one of which must be practical. This section outlines three ways assessment can be carried out and includes work projects, written questions and oral questions. The matrix is designed to show you which performance criteria will be assessed and how they will be assessed. Your trainer and/or assessor may also use other assessment methods including „Observation Checklist‟ and „Third Party Statement‟. An observation checklist is a way of recording how you perform at work and a third party statement is a statement by a supervisor or employer about the degree of competence they believe you have achieved. This can be based on observing your workplace performance, inspecting your work or gaining feedback from fellow workers.

Your trainer and/or assessor may use other methods to assess you such as:

Journals

Oral presentations

Role plays

Log books

Group projects

Practical demonstrations.

Remember your trainer is there to help you succeed and become competent. Please feel free to ask him or her for more explanation of what you have just read and of what is expected from you and best wishes for your future studies and future career in tourism and hospitality.

Unit descriptor



Unit descriptor


This unit deals with the skills and knowledge required to Maintain quality customer/guest service in a range of settings within the hotel and travel industries workplace context.

Unit Code:

D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12 D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06

Nominal Hours:

35 hours

Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements

Performance Criteria

1.1 Research and assess needs of customers and or guests

1.2 Conduct data analysis to identify deficiencies in service delivery

1.3 Identify options to improve service levels

Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services


2.1 Ensure products and services meet customers‟ needs and reflect enterprise standards

2.2 Ensure team performance consistently meets enterprise standards

2.3 Assist colleagues to meet and exceed customer service standards by providing appropriate professional development

Element 3: Evaluate customer service


3.1 Review customer satisfaction with service delivery using appropriate methods that produce verifiable data

3.2 Compare systems, records and reporting procedures in order to identify and report on any changes in customer satisfaction

3.3 Evaluate and report on customer service evaluation outcomes to designated groups or individuals

3.4 Obtain agreement on appropriate course of action to take to overcome problems and adjust products and services in consultation with designated individuals/groups

Unit descriptor

4


Assessment matrix



Assessment matrix

Showing mapping of Performance Criteria against Work Projects, Written

Questions and Oral Questions

Work

Projects

Written

Questions

Oral

Questions


1.1 Research and assess needs of customers and/or guests

1.1 1,2 1

1.2 Conduct data analysis to identify deficiencies in service delivery

1.2 3,4 2

1.3 Identify options to improve service levels 1.3 5,6 3

Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products/services

2.1 Ensure products/services meet customers‟ needs and reflect enterprise standards

2.1 7,8 4

2.2 Ensure team performance consistently meets enterprise standards

2.2 9,10 5

2.3 Assist colleagues to meet and exceed customer service standards by providing appropriate professional development

2.3 11,12 6

Element 3: Insert element

3.1 Review customer/guest satisfaction with service delivery using appropriate methods that produce verifiable data

3.1 13,14 7

3.2 Compare systems, records and reporting procedures in order to identify and report on any changes in customer satisfaction

3.2 15,16 8

3.3 Evaluate and report on customer service evaluation outcomes to designated groups or individuals

3.3 17,18 9

3.4 Obtain agreement on appropriate course of action to take to overcome problems and adjust products/services in consultation with designated individuals/groups

3.4 19,20 10

Assessment matrix

6


Glossary



Glossary

Term Explanation

Analysis This process as a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its essential features and their relations:

Benchmark A standard of excellence, achievement, against which similar things must be measured or judged:

Colleague A fellow worker or member of a staff, department, profession, etc

Customer A person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron; a person one has to deal with

Data A single piece of information, as a fact, statistic, or code; an item of data

Deficiency The state of being deficient; lack; incompleteness; insufficiency

Enterprise Number of individuals assembled or associated together; group of people

Environment The social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or a population

Feedback A reaction or response to a particular process or activity: evaluative information derived from such a reaction or response

Offering The output of products and services provided to a customer

Performance The execution or accomplishment of work, acts or feats

Quality Producing or providing products or services of high quality or merit

Report An account or statement describing in detail an event, situation, or the like, usually as the result of observation, inquiry

Reporting To relate, as what has been learned by observation or investigation

Research Diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories or applications

Satisfaction An act of satisfying, fulfilment, gratification. contentment

Service The providing or a provider of accommodation and activities required by the public

Standard Something considered by an authority or by general consent as a basis of comparison; an approved level of performance

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nature

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/which

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/patron

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/deficient

Glossary

8





Element 1:

Identify customer/guest requirements

1.1 Research and assess needs of customers and

or guests

Introduction

The hospitality industry is always associated with customer service. Many people see hospitality organizations, whether hotels or resorts, as a place to relax and take a break from their normal everyday stresses.

As we know, there are a wide variety of customers who frequent a hospitality organization, for many reasons. They may be customers utilising:

Accommodation –leisure, business or resident

Food and Beverage –restaurants, bars, functions, room service, banquets

Leisure facilities – pools, spa, sauna and gymnasium.

Regardless of the reason for their visit it is important that they receive quality service. Quality service is being able to use a combination of products and services, as a combined offering, that at a minimum, meets the expectations of the consumer.

Quality customer service is not just associated with 5 star hotels, it is a fundamental aspect of all hospitality businesses, whether budget or luxury. Simply customer service is important to any business in any industry. It is about ensuring customers leave your premises pleased with the experience they received.

Role of marketing

Before we can tailor our products and services to provide an offering that the guest wants, we first need to find out what the guest actually wants.

Many businesses make the mistake of providing an offering they THINK the guest wants, but what is offered doesn‟t meet their needs.

Therefore research of what the customer wants is an essential activity. This is the essence of marketing.

The marketing perspective on a business says everything we do must be customer-focused.

To identify exactly what this focus needs to be we have to obtain information on customer needs and wants by undertaking some basic market research.

This section begins by trying to define what a customer is and looks at some appropriate and effective research techniques which can be used to determine their needs and wants.


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The customer

So what is the definition of a customer?

A customer can be seen as:

A person on the receiving end of what the business offers

Someone who is willing to pay a fair price for a quality product and wants to be neither over-charged nor under-served

The reason the company is in business

Someone who has certain needs and wants them filled and who, if we cannot fill them, will go to a competitor who will.

The quality of service is realised by the customer and is interpreted and perceived by him or her. As mentioned, his means that quality of service is not defined by those who deliver it.

The point from the above is there is really not one „thing‟ called a customer. Customers are all individuals and come with individual needs and expectations.

As each hospitality organisation caters to a range of types of customers, known as target market segments, the challenge lies in being able to provide an offering to meet their individual needs.

We have to recognize each type of customer and treat them as individuals.

We must actually act in a manner that acknowledges, without them the business ceases to function, and we have no jobs.

The old saying „it‟s the customers who pay your wages, not the boss‟ is true. It has been so often used, it risks becoming ignored but if you have ever worked in an establishment where trade has been going down, staff hours have been reduced and others are being laid off, you‟ll know what it truly means.

Unfortunately, all too many premises and staff members only realise how true this saying is when it‟s too late when customers are voting with their feet and spending their money somewhere else.

It is a very sobering exercise to see how many other hotels, clubs, restaurants and bistros there are for the customer to choose from.

Most other places offer a similar product so it is often the service, the standard, level and how that service is delivered, that differentiates one place from another.

The Customer is …

You may have seen what follows on posters and postcards around the place. Sometimes it‟s hung up in staff rooms and sometimes it graces the walls of the manager‟s office.

It is a pretty good description of who the customer is and sends us a fairly clear message about how we should treat them:

“The customer is not dependent on us, we are dependent on them




The customer is not an interruption to our work, they are the sole reason for it

The customer does us a favour by walking in or phoning up, we don‟t do them a favour by serving them

The customer is part of our business, not outside it

The customer is not a statistic. The customer is a flesh and blood human being with feelings and emotions

The customer is not someone to argue with or match wits with

The customer brings us their wants and needs and it is our job to satisfy them

The customer is deserving of the most courteous and respectful attention we can give them

The customer is the lifeblood of our business, because without them there is no business

This is what a customer is”.

Customer needs, wishes and expectations

Customer service revolves around us meeting or exceeding customer needs, wishes and expectations. It seems appropriate, then, to identify what these mean.

Needs

These underlie wishes and expectations and are the things customers are unable to do without. They may be in a foreign town and simply cannot do without a bed for the night, a meal or beverage.

Wishes

These refer to the way in which our customer would prefer to satisfy a specific need, but they may not have the resources to meet these wishes. They may wish to stay in the luxury suite, dine at an internationally renowned, 5-star, fine dining restaurant and drink expensive, but they haven‟t got the money to pay for it so they settle for something else.

Expectations

These spring from the customers‟ needs and wishes but are also influenced by:

The company‟s image or reputation in the market

The customer‟s previous perceptions and their experience with the company

The company‟s advertising.

Customers know they can‟t afford the luxury mentioned above, but as a result of our advertising and their previous experiences with us, they know they will get a clean and satisfactory room, wholesome food at value-for-money prices and a good range of drinks at fair prices to pick from, all delivered with great service - so they elect to stay and dine with us.

Our big problems start when what the customer actually experiences is at odds with their expectations.


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How to identify customer needs, wishes and expectations

To gain a real understanding of the customer’s needs,

wishes and expectations, we should:

Involve the customers in developing new services

Use market research tools such as questionnaires, taste testing and observation to identify their likes and dislikes, needs and wants, expectations and experiences.

Organise and conduct a series of focus groups

Establish a regular meeting between the establishment and specifically chosen customers. The customers should represent a cross-section of your clientele and each focus group meeting should have a well-defined focus point. The person chairing the focus group guides discussion, debate, opinion, feedback about the topic and records the input from the focus group members. This information becomes the basis for management-staff discussion and eventual policy modification, or creation. Focus groups are an excellent way of bringing „customer focus‟ to your service standards and service delivery.

Actively listen to the customers

Prompt the customers to communicate with you, follow-up on non-verbal cues when they talk to you as body language often indicates a hidden desire to say something. Encourage them to expand and clarify problems and criticism.

Make decisions and act on the basis of the customer’s motives, needs and

expectations

We must operate in a way that focuses on what the customer wants rather than on what is easier for us, simpler for our „in house‟ systems or in accord with „what we‟ve done in the past‟. We absolutely must be customer-focussed as opposed to being self-focussed.

Wear customer spectacles and see with the customer’s eyes

We have to strive to find out what our establishment and our service looks like from the customers‟ point of view. We can become too obsessed on what the service looks like from the delivery viewpoint, when really the customer sees it from a „receival‟ viewpoint. We need to identify how our service looks from the other side. We can often think the service is great when the customer thinks it is appalling.

Actively look for customer feedback

We need to implement not only written response sheets and questionnaires, but also encourage staff to be proactive in soliciting verbal feedback from customers in a face-to-face setting such as at check-out, after they have finished their meal and via personal follow-ups with hosts and clients after functions.




Ask customers what elements or factors of service are of particular importance to

them

Determine what they value and do not value. Sometimes, what we think is important isn‟t. This reinforces we must be customer-focussed. We do not always know what the customer wants because their needs and preferences are always changing. If we don‟t change with them we risk losing patronage and market share. As the saying goes “customers are the school books from which we learn”.

Analyse the market trends

We need to tap into any information generated by industry bodies to help to identify what is happening industry-wide or elsewhere within the industry, be that on a national or internationally basis. All peak bodies undertake some form of research and it is essential to read what the research finds.

Analyse the competitors

Check out the opposition. This can include becoming a customer there and getting first-hand knowledge about what they are doing, what they have to offer, their prices and their service levels, from making the booking right through to departure. Get hold of their advertising and analyse it. What image are they projecting? What offers are they making? How do we compare?

Staff feedback

Staff must be actively encouraged to provide input to the development of quality customer service, too.

After all it is staff who are delivering the service and they who are best placed to understand what the needs and wants of customers may be.

Not including staff in this research process is a very dangerous thing to do. Not only do you risk missing out on vital information they know or have obtained from customers but you also send a message to staff their input, opinion is not valued or valid.

Excluding staff at this stage also makes it a lot more difficult to build commitment to any service delivery changes or initiatives which need to be implemented.

Involving staff in this research process could include:

Encouraging staff to feedback all relevant comments from customers

Past feedback is a great way to understand the needs and wants of customers.

Most people won‟t normally make a formal complaint, whether in writing or verbally to management, but will often make deliberate and pointed comments in front of staff. These must be reported back as they are central to improving service delivery. These comments are market research „gold‟. You should recognise excellent examples of feedback.

Not shooting the messenger

If staff are to be encouraged to relay feedback negative criticism from customers, it is very important not to criticise them simply for delivering the bad news. Obtaining their feedback must not embrace allocating blame or guilt.


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Setting agenda items for staff meetings which include ‘customer

service’

Every staff meeting should have a standing agenda item for „quality research and feedback‟ in relation to service delivery so staff become familiar with the process and used to doing it.

Developing appropriate documentation

The establishment should have documents for staff to complete in writing if they don‟t feel comfortable with delivering verbal feedback.

Only once the needs and wants of the customer, either as individuals or grouped in target market segments, have been identified, it lays a sound foundation to:

Collect research data to see if what we are currently providing meets the expectation of customers

Prepare and implement a strategy to meet these needs and wants.

1.2 Conduct data analysis to identify deficiencies

in service delivery

Introduction

Now that we have identified the needs and wants of customers, it is vital to gain a detailed, complete and accurate understanding of our current operations and whether they are suitable to meet the needs of the customer.

Research into all aspects of the operation is important in ensuring the offering to the customer is appropriate in meeting their needs. By conducting research it is easier to identify any problem areas where a product or service is not to standard and to highlight deficiencies in service delivery.

By identifying both the strong and weak areas of performance, appropriate changes can be made to help improve the customer experience.

Types of research

As mentioned, marketing is all about research. As identified research should be designed to identify:

What the customer wants – needs, wants and expectations

What we are currently offering to the customer – products and services

What we can improve.

Research can be defined as a search for knowledge conducted on an informal and formal basis.

This knowledge should be used as the basis for customer-focused action.




Informal research

Informal research is casual in nature and may include:

Discussing information with colleague

Seeking customer feedback by asking questions

Personal observation of customers and service delivery and then self-reflection on what you have seen

Discussing information with a wider network of contacts

Discussing information with the public in public places

Articles seen on TV or reading the newspaper, magazines or books.

Formal research

Formal research is more structured and deliberate in nature and involves:

Reading printed material from your property – food menus, beverage lists, compendiums, advertising and promotional material

Enrolling in a specific course related to the area you want to find out about

Reading product and service information brochures

Surfing the Internet for information about a specific topic

Visiting the library – reading books and viewing tapes about a specific topic

Developing, distributing and analysing questionnaires – this is fundamental market research

Attending conferences and seminars – to seek information and to network with others

Attending product launches

Attending Industry Associations functions.

Management will generally be supportive of attempts to find out information about customers, so contact them and explain any proposed research you plan to undertake.

Management may even pay for your course or allocate you some time to do the research. If nothing else, it shows you are interested! Also, they may be able to up-date you on recent research they have done or are currently doing.

One example of (semi-) formal research is the „questionnaire‟ situated in the accommodation rooms, which seeks feedback from customers about the service we provide.

Unfortunately any research activity is useless unless we act on it. It has been said „Customer comments are the school books from which we learn‟ so knowledge needs to be converted into action.

Customers have told you they don‟t like XYZ … so why are you still doing it?

It is truly amazing some properties will literally spend thousands of dollars on advertising, and consultants when the way of improving their service, sales and profit are right under their eyes in the form of customer feedback.


16


Conducting research

When conducting research it is usual to follow the steps below:

Specify at the outset the information that needs to be gathered to address the issue you have identified as being a problem – the issue may be falling patron numbers in the restaurant, lack of booking in the rooms

Design and trial the data collection method to be used – see below

Collect the data - do the research and compile the information

Analyse the results – what does the data tell you? What do customers want? What do they dislike?

Communicate findings, implications and recommendations to appropriate persons or departments – this includes staff and management

Develop policies and procedures to align with identified customer need and preferences –and promote these to staff to ensure the identified service requirements of customers are met.

Primary and secondary data

Research can be categorised into two main types: primary data and secondary data.

Primary data

Primary data is fresh, new, original information you discover, uncover, find or bring to light.

Primary data collection methods include:

In-house observation – watching people, watching what goes on (perhaps taking notes)

Conducting interviews – with customers, staff, suppliers to find out why they do what they do, what they prefer, what they like or dislike about the venue

Applying questionnaires – to customers as they leave the venue, after they have made a purchase, or as they visit the property. The questionnaires can seek answers to a range of topics including customer service delivery standards

Conducting surveys – such as using focus groups top provide feedback to the venue about customer service.

Primary data is very useful as it is not only structured to finding out data that is specific to your organization, it allows you to gain a firsthand understanding and explanation of results.




Secondary data

Secondary data is information which already exists somewhere in the world. It could be within the organisation, or research conducted by another organization, but which you bring together to use to help shed light on the topic central to the research.

Secondary data collection techniques include:

Reading newspapers, books, magazines, trade journals and the media

Researching library catalogues and other sources

Subscribing to on-line computer information systems

Analysing trading figures, occupancy and booking statistics, costs, profit and any other relevant internal information.

Secondary data is a great tool to use when you are limited on time, require broader industry information and that which you could not collect yourself.

It provides sound evidence which is helpful in seeking to improve service.

Quantitative and qualitative data

Research data can further be separated into quantitative data (known as „hard data‟) and qualitative data (known as „soft data‟).

Quantitative data

Quantitative data is statistical in nature.

It deals with „quantifying‟ things such as:

The number of times a person visits the premises

The amount of money they spend

The number of minutes they are kept waiting for service

Their satisfaction rating in % terms with our service.

Qualitative data

Qualitative data is important in a service industry such as hospitality because it answers the „Why?‟ questions such as:

Why do they eat with us and not the opposition across the road?

Why do they prefer healthy food?

Why have they stopped coming to the nightclub?


18


Changes in the business environment

Development of successful customer service is an on-going exercise, and involves monitoring of the internal and external environments, and the integration of findings into future planning.

It is vital to understand what can cause changes in our operational environment and describes several factors currently seen as having the potential to impact on customer service delivery.

The business environment consists of two parts- the internal environment and the external environment.

Internal environment

The internal environment is the environment within the business.

It can include the level of staff available, the policies and procedures of the organisation, the skill and knowledge levels of staff, the opening hours of the business, the facilities available within the venue. In theory, a property has control over these internal factors because it is in a position to influence them.

Any aspects of the internal environment causing deficiencies in service can be identified, altered and controlled a lot easier than impacts caused by the external environment.

Possible causes of deficiencies from within the internal environment could include, but not limited to:

Substandard products – products may be outdated, inferior or in need of replacement or renovation

Equipment - faulty equipment or new equipment which staff are not familiar with

Marketing – the wrong message is being delivered to customers giving them unrealistic expectations

Staffing – staffing levels may not be appropriate (under or over staffing), wrong mix of staff (experienced and new staff)

Recruitment – people with insufficient knowledge, skills and attitudes have been employed

Training – staff are unaware of what to do resulting in inconsistency

Management – lack of controls, standards, guidance and support

Financial support – limited availability to funds required to provide necessary products and services

Changes in management style - changes in management may entail a variation in orientation to service or the setting of some directions in relation to service. What was acceptable under the previous management may not be acceptable to the new management. This doesn‟t mean that was done before was wrong, it just means the new approach is different. Note too, changes in management often herald changes in client focus, and the creation of new and different target markets which, by their nature, often demand a change to service standards, techniques and styles




Organisational re-structures – the trend is to reduce middle level management and with that comes new responsibilities for all concerned. As the organisation re-structures, whether for efficiency reasons or as a result of declining profit, new roles for all staff in relation to customer service will emerge. Staff and managers will have their responsibilities enlarged, or their focus altered. To state the obvious, the industry is very much a dynamic one.

External environment

The external environment refers to the area outside the business over which the venue has little or no control.

It can relate to changes in technology, changes in legislation, state of the economy, political situations, and competition in the marketplace.

Service deficiencies caused by external factors may be harder to control, however steps should be made to understand them and make changes whether the organisation has some control.

External environment impacts include:

Changes in the competitive environment

As competitors introduce new services and facilities, the nature of our industry is we are often forced to respond and match their offerings or introduce something else in opposition to it. The key here is we have to know what the competitors are doing. We have to monitor their advertising, visit their premises and talk to our suppliers about what the opposition is doing. We then have to take some action to exploit an opportunity or mitigate any potential negative impacts – whichever way we go, we have to realise „knowledge is power‟ only if we act on it. Knowledge on its own is next to useless.

Economic climate

Monitoring the media and discussion with our finance facility will help identify the state of the economy. There is no doubt the state of the economy is extremely influential on trade and we have to be prepared to respond to the emerging economic climate. At times we can offer indulgent, extravagant, high-roller packages, whilst in other times we need to focus on low cost, value-for-money deals.

Trends in customer preferences

Whether we lead the pack or follow the opposition (or a combination of the two), we must respond to customer preferences.

Advent of E-business

More and more people are using the „Net to access information and make bookings. We need to tap into this emerging but already substantial market and establish a web site (making sure it is someone‟s responsibility to keep it up-dated weekly which illustrates our property and describes our services, facilities etc.


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We also need to exploit the opportunities this medium presents for reservations and various other activities such as retail sales (internet sales), take-away sales, and a forum for questions and feedback as well as a platform for information dissemination.

Markets

Markets are complex and rapidly changing with new and more complex customer demands, products and services.

Internationalisation is increasing and international competition is intensifying in many markets.

To ensure the right quality, companies must be better at understanding their environment and building-up the competence and ability to change before, or at the same time, as the outside world changes.

The luxury of lagging behind (global) changes has evaporated.

International customers expect the same standards here as they receive in any developed country overseas.

Environmental issues

The demand for quality in the outer environment will place greater demands on how companies conduct their business, which sources of energy they use, and how they design their products.

More establishments will seek to portray publicly their environmentally friendly image.

This may mean they subscribe to organisations such as ECO-Buy or Green Globe.

Most organisations appreciate there are cost savings to made from „going green‟, as well as marketing potential and the obvious effect of reducing the impact of the business on the planet.

Most businesses today will seek to demonstrate they align with triple bottom-line principles, taking into account not only the financial goals of the organisation but also social and environmental responsibilities too.

Technological development

Technological development has played a key role in the structural changes in the service sector.

Boundaries between transportation, communication, travel-service and hospitality industries are disappearing as airlines (and others) begin to provide direct reservations, tours, conferences, car and accommodation arrangements, in-flight telephone service, and electronic retailing package delivery services in competition-and-coalition with thousands of other service units.

Many customers are looking for seamless service – a one-stop shop for all their holiday or travel needs, and technology is providing the means for this to be done.




Technology has also impacted on operational service delivery via computerised reservations systems, online reservations, hand-held ordering systems in restaurants, bar code scanning and the growing trend for customers to do their own checkout and payment after selecting goods.

Reviewing the research

Doing research is admirable. In many cases it is an absolute necessity, however you must check and question it so as to identify whether or not you can use it as the basis for future action.

You must be able to answer „yes‟ to all the following:

Is it valid?

Is it reliable?

Is it relevant?

Is it accurate?

Does it make a useful contribution?

Is it clear and unambiguous?

Is it sufficient in volume to be useful?

Does it represent the views of our target markets?

By collecting the correct types of information, in the correct manner, it helps you to have a clear understanding of how service can be improved.

Recommendations on how to improve service are identified in the next section.

1.3 Identify options to improve service levels

Introduction

This section continues the natural progression of improving service offerings. In the last section we identified causes of service deficiencies. Staff and management must address these and seek to find options to improve service levels.

Firstly we must look at how we can involve staff in the planning process and how investing in staff is a worthwhile exercise.

Following are some recommended options, directly addressing causes of service deficiencies identified in the last section, which management could explore to improve service standards.

These are just a few suggestions. Each individual property will have their own unique characteristics which will influence the use of suitable options.


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Involving staff in customer service planning

Involving colleagues in customer service planning is important as it helps staff to understand what is required of them, as well as providing them with an opportunity to make input to areas that will ultimately greatly impact on them.

Their participation at this stage also increases the likelihood they will „own‟ the changes, and thus strive to better implement any actions agreed to.

From our perspective „customer service‟ may be provided in various modes including:

Face-to-face

Online

By telephone

Email

Written communication.

Getting the staff involved

Activities providing opportunities for staff participation in the planning process include:

The formation of quality improvement groups or „quality circles‟ – made up of people from different departments so ideas, problems and issues can be integrated across the establishment

Establishment of group training sessions so group members can learn about each others‟ work, cross-fertilise ideas and strengthen the concept of a team approach to customer service delivery

Introducing a variety of methods and systems to spread the quality message throughout the organisation by means of internal marketing – the key here being to make quality service delivery constant and on-going, rather than a sporadic, hit and miss affair

We have to keep the message in front of everyone‟s eyes – staff need to be constantly reminded of the quality program we have developed and this can be achieved through posters, checklists, notes in pay envelopes, use of intranet, badges.

From a management perspective, it is important to accept and act on input from staff, where appropriate. Where staff contributions are not incorporated into planning, it is a good idea to explain why they were not. This lets staff know their input was at least considered even though it may not have been acted on.

There is no point talking about staff participation and then ignoring any subsequent input they make.

If staff input is not acknowledged, or acted on, it will cease.

In addition, there is also the potential staff may then see themselves as being ignored and treated as second class by management. This can lead to all sorts of adverse staff-management relations.

As they say, management can‟t just „talk the talk‟. They‟ve got to „walk the walk‟ too.




Investing in staff

Greater efforts must be made to develop the competence of the staff.

Company growth now comes as much from the employee development as from expansion with more employees and this applies as much to customer contact staff as to other professional and managerial staff.

Businesses must be prepared to invest time and money in staff and recognise them as key assets for the organisation.

Service improvement options

Operational focus

Options include:

Create a competitive advantage over competition by either doing something different, more superior or cheaper

New or revised products

New services

New menus

Renovations

New equipment with staff fully trained in their operations

New marketing strategies to new target market segments

New advertising campaigns with suitable attractive packages

New branding to give the organisation a new and fresh approach

Correct staffing level and mixes

Recruitment – people with necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes

Structured training programs

Management – lack of controls, standards, guidance and support

Financial support – limited availability to funds required to provide necessary products and services

Changes in management style - changes in management may entail a variation in orientation to service or the setting of some directions in relation to service. What was acceptable under the previous management may not be acceptable to the new management. This doesn‟t mean that was done before was wrong, it just means the new approach is different. Note too, changes in management often herald changes in client focus, and the creation of new and different target markets which, by their nature, often demand a change to service standards, techniques and styles


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Organisational re-structures – the trend is to reduce middle level management and with that comes new responsibilities for all concerned. As the organisation re-structures, whether for efficiency reasons or as a result of declining profit, new roles for all staff in relation to customer service will emerge. Staff and managers will have their responsibilities enlarged, or their focus altered. To state the obvious, the industry is very much a dynamic one

Greater use of e-business – in all aspects of business

Greater use of technology – to be incorporated to collect valuable information, improve communications or streamline operations

Environmental awareness.

Staff focus

Ensuring staff play an active role in improving service standards, is a key objective for management. Staff are their eyes and ears and are able to communicate important information about the customer.

Approaches to the staff may include:

Creating and implanting the business concept in the entire organisation, which helps to determine the direction the company will take in the future

Involving staff in planning and implementing quality improvement

Building a spirit of working together towards goals

Creating instruments and channels to disseminate the company‟s philosophy, goals and values throughout the organisation

Promoting a climate of open communication and feedback

Encouraging and recognising innovation and teamwork

Recognising the right of every employee to understand the requirements of their assignment, and to be heard when offering suggestion for improvement.

Customer focus

Approaches to the customers may include:

Making the customer a „member‟ of the organisation – or a guest of the organisation – as opposed to a „customer‟

Rewarding faithful customers – with special deals, discounts, verbal acknowledgment and thanks. Loyalty schemes can underpin this approach

Communicating with customers to promote goodwill, trust and satisfaction – for example, your menus and in-rooms description of facilities must be honest and not raise expectations which the product/facility cannot fulfil

Identifying customer‟s unstated needs – be reading body language, monitoring what they are doing and predicting need monitoring




Ensuring customers‟ needs and (reasonable) requests are met – this addresses the idea of „exceeding expectations‟ as opposed to just „meeting‟ expectations

Providing friendly and courtesy assistance – without having to be asked.

As mentioned, each business is different and will have different solutions to improve their service offering that is consistent with their organisational mission statement and objectives.

Regardless of the type of organisation, solutions will only work if the customer believes them to be:

Meeting their needs, wants and expectations

Is of good value

Is better than that provided by the competition.


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Work Projects

It is a requirement of this Unit you complete Work Projects as advised by your Trainer. You must submit documentation, suitable evidence or other relevant proof of completion of the project to your Trainer by the agreed date.

1.1 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to:

Explain the difference between customer‟s needs, wants and expectations

Identify customer‟s needs, wants and expectations.


Identify types of research you can use to identify deficiencies in customer service

Identify types of data you can use to identify deficiencies in customer service

Explain the impact both the internal and external environment has on a business‟s ability to provide quality customer service.


Identify ways you can involve staff in customer service planning

Identify service improvement options based on:

Operations

Staff

Customers.




Summary

Identify customer/guest requirements

Research and assess needs of customers and or guests:

Role of marketing

The customer

Customer needs, wishes and expectations

How to identify customer needs, wishes and expectations

Staff feedback.

Conduct data analysis to identify deficiencies in service delivery:

Types of research

Conducting research

Primary and secondary data

Quantitative and qualitative data

Changes in the business environment

Internal environment

External environment

Reviewing the research.

Identify options to improve service levels:

Involving staff in customer service planning

Investing in staff

Service improvement options.


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Element 2:

Ensure delivery of quality products

and services

2.1 Ensure products and services meet

customers’ needs and reflect enterprise

standards

Introduction

Once the different options to improve customer service have been identified, the next logical steps are to:

a) Develop standards and plans for suitable options selected to improve customer service

b) Communicate these standards to all staff so they are understand what they need to do

c) Provide information to colleagues regarding customer service standards

d) Monitor customer service according to organisation policies and procedures to ensure standards are met

e) Measure actual performance against standards

Develop standards and plans to address key quality service

issues

The time spent actively considering your establishment‟s orientation to quality service issues should result in a set of standards and plans, which may or may not, be included in policies and procedures.

The important thing is they are developed, and they are in writing so everyone can be sure about them, understand what they mean, and know what is expected.

Management needs to consider:

Different areas for which standards and plans may be created

Development process for plans and standards

Identifying several approaches towards quality management for staff and customers.


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The development process

Developing quality customer service standards should incorporate the following considerations:

Establish a „customer service‟ team of interested, experienced and dedicated staff – these will be your reference group and form the basis of the planning stage

Look at what other venues are providing in terms of service – try to describe their service in writing wherever possible

Identify the areas in the venue about which you believe there needs to be a customer service standard and a plan

Determine the standards to apply to the identified areas with reference to:

Your image, reputation and advertising

Value-for-money for the customer

What the opposition is doing

Identified customer expectations

Incorporate the standards into a formal plan – this plan should identify:

Dates for implementation

Dates for review

Resources available to support the introduction of the standards – such as time, money, training

Responsibilities related to the initiative – for training, explanations to staff, monitoring and reviewing

Key Performance Indicators to be used to evaluate service delivery at the designated review dates.

These plans must next be shared with staff, explaining what is required and advising them of training etc to support the initiative.

Take time to address any anxiety staff may have about the new requirements – anything new in the workplace tends to create anxiety and an effective manager takes the time to reassure staff, highlight the need for change and explain the benefits of it.

Possible areas for service standards and plans

The precise nature of the standards and plans will vary between venues, and may even vary between departments within the same venue. For example, the service standard in the public bar may be different to the service standard in the cocktail bar.

Likewise the topics covered will vary. In essence, most things occurring in a service industry like hospitality can have a service standard attached to them.

Most operators tend to rely on generic customer service training to provide the basics and then depend on the common sense and service ethic of staff to deliver on their expectations.

In some cases this is effective, and in others it is not.




Topics where you can expect service standards to apply

include the following:

Response times

The usual example is “We will answer the telephone before it rings X times”. This is all well and good (and commendable too), but we must go further and address other service points such as:

“We will return a phone call to someone who has contacted us within X minutes or hours”

“We will have all room service food delivered to the room within X minutes”

“Every guest in the restaurant will be greeted and presented with a menu or have a drink order taken within X minutes of entering the restaurant”.

Service guarantees

This involves developing a statement about your service level and what you will do for the customer if such service is not provided.

Your statements in the „response times‟ area can provide a starting point for your service guarantee statements. Examples include things like:

“If it‟s not there in 15 minutes, it‟s free”

“If we don‟t check you in within 2 minutes, it‟s 20% off the bill”.

What opportunities present themselves in your venue for you to include in your service guarantee? When you develop such a guarantee it is usual to actively promote it so customers understand your commitment to them.

Pricing guarantees

Deals and packages are part and parcel of our industry, but there has to be a limit to them. The quickest way to go out of business is to constantly try to complete solely on the basis of price.

You have to be able to offer a price that reflects a fair profit, so the value adding may have to come from extra service, or some other „bonus‟ or perceived bonus in the eyes of the customer. This could be a late check out or valet parking.

However, pricing guarantees may mean staff must offer the lowest available price to callers rather than starting at the top and working down. It may mean if the guest‟s bill shows a charge in excess of an advertised rate, a certain procedure applies – the charge may be removed, double the difference between the charged rate and the advertised rate may be deducted from the bill.

Product quality

A statement may be developed about certain products and services. The customer receives a stated, pre-determined response such as a discount, gift, extra service, extra product, free XYZ if the product fails to comply or live up to the promise.


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Document presentation standards

Policies may be prepared that specify document requirements for letters, menus, forms, invitations, reports, etc. These may apply to format, type size, font, English or American spelling and layout.

They may dictate salutations, signatures required, and letter closures, and they may specify copies required and filing requirements. In other instances these issues may relate to the presentation of menus to ensure customers are only ever presented with neat, clean and presentable menus.

Or it may apply to in-room reading material to ensure that magazines and stationery are always of top quality.

Personal presentation standards

This is simply a list of requirements, separated into male and female sections stating the required:

Dress

Personal presentation – including statements relating to perfume, make-up, facial hair etc

Hygiene standards required of all staff by the establishment.

Complaint management

Any complaint really is an opportunity to rectify a problem, or make a long-lasting customer, providing they are dealt with quickly, properly and fully.

The standards should specify the steps to be taken for a range of complaints. There are several predictable complaints we are likely to get and it may be possible to foresee the majority of them.

The standards should spell out the discretionary power that staff have to fix a complaint to the benefit of the customer.

Whilst acknowledging we do not want to be exploited on the issue of complaints it is worth bearing in mind that no-one ever won an argument with a customer, and for every customer who actually does complain, there are probably another ten with grounds to, but who haven‟t.

Simply stated, customers like to have their complaint treated seriously, acted on quickly and be apologised to.

Communicating customer service standards and plans

After developing approaches to enhance customer service quality it is critical to share these with staff.

Having developed the required customer service standards for your establishment, they need to be communicated to those who need to know them.

Whilst most of the communication of standards will come from departmental managers and supervisors, staff can also communicate amongst themselves to ensure everyone understands exactly what is required and the procedures to follow to ensure the standards are met.




Communicating customer service standards can come in many different ways including:

Orientation programs

Formal meetings

Staff briefings at the start and end of shifts

Training sessions

Observation and mentoring

Informal communication during a shift.

Giving colleagues access to information on standards and plans

This aspect of the management of the delivery of quality service requires staff members have ready and easy access to the standards on service and service delivery, we have developed.

In some cases the establishment may have decided to also make these protocols public and make them available to customers too.

Common methods of enabling such access include:

Mention of service standards at job interview

This should be standard operating procedure at all interviews where people are being interviewed for a customer contact position, that the organisation‟s customer service standards are mentioned, described and explained.

Attention should be paid to highlighting the centrality of this aspect of the job to applicants, leaving them under no illusion about our orientation to service.

Documentation of service standards

All the protocols agreed to must be „reduced to writing‟. This means they have to be entrenched in the establishment‟s operations by being enshrined as part of the organisation‟s policies and procedures and operations manual.

Induction and orientation

All successful applicants must be given copies of all relevant customer service expectations, standards and protocols as part of their induction into the organisation.

This will involve supplying each new staff member with a copy of our customer service policies, procedures and practices (as appropriate).

The person responsible for conducting the orientation must allocate sufficient time to this aspect of the induction to enable full explanations, illustrations and demonstrations of identified service levels and practices. In effect, this will underline the customer service principles stated and outlined at the interview.


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Office computer system

Most establishments will have a networked computer system (intranet), and it is usual to find the full range of Policies and Procedures on this under some shared drive arrangement, so all staff may access all information freely whenever required.

Printed copies in staff areas

Some properties also have a collection of policies and procedures in common staff areas. This may be a staff room or in each of the Department Manager‟s offices.

Monitor customer service according to organisation policies and

procedures to ensure standards are met

Simply because standards have been developed, reduced to writing, explained to staff and ratified by management, doesn‟t mean they will always be implemented.

After all, people are only human, and as they say – to err is human!

What is required is some monitoring of customer service in the workplace to ensure standards are met in accordance with organisation policies and procedures.

Monitoring methods

The most important thing in monitoring service standard is the will to monitor them. You have to want to monitor them.

The most common problem is service standards are developed and communicated but not monitored. If service delivery standards are not monitored the result can be service standards quickly drop and this impacts adversely on repeat business, profit or levels of customer satisfaction.

The common monitoring methods are:

Workplace observation – watching what goes on at work, reading customer body language and measuring waiting times

Talking to customers – to get their feedback of service delivery

Talking to staff – to get their impressions, to identify obstacles to planned service delivery standards

Reading customer complaints and feedback

Analysing business statistics – a reduction in patronage can indicate a need for attention to be paid to customer service, and can also indicate needs in other areas such as price, product.

Areas to monitor and evaluate

Marketing activities are a recognised way of monitoring and evaluating many things and may include the use of customer surveys as well as evaluation of any promotions conducted by the venue such as advertising. This includes the use of billboards, direct mail, radio, TV, Internet and incentive promotions.




Specific areas that may be investigated include:

Reservations

In particular:

The reservation system, and how easy it is to use, how user friendly it is from the guests‟ point of view

Our telephone manner – considering information provided, courtesy, telephone manner, speed

Cancellation policy – how fair is it? Does this policy fall in-line with the image we may be spending thousands of dollars to create? Or is a mean-spirited cancellation policy undoing all the good work we‟re doing elsewhere? How does it compare to the cancellation policies of other similar venues?

Credit card acceptance – do we take enough different cards? Are the guests telling us we should be accepting others?

Accommodation availability (value and cost considerations) – do we provide what guests want? Or are we trying to „force‟ guests into sleeping configurations that suit us? Are our guests finding they have to use and pay for a suite, when they really only want a double?

Information on hotel shuttle and public transportation – are we suitably notifying our guests of services they need, or are we advertising a service and then making it difficult for guests to take advantage of it?

Registration

In particular:

Greetings (doorman, porters, bell staff, front desk personnel) – how are these greetings perceived or interpreted by guests? Are they genuine greetings? Is there a need for greetings to be made in a different language?

Assistance with luggage – is this being offered promptly? How do we do it? Can we do it better? Is it offered to all guests? Is it delivered in a timely fashion? Is it seen as a valued service?

Check-in procedure – is check-in being accomplished within a suitable length of time? Have we developed a quick and easy procedure for the guests? Is the guest‟s first contact with the venue a positive experience? How can the current experience be improved?

Room accommodation – are there sufficient numbers of appropriate rooms with the required facilities? Do the facilities meet guest requirements?

Room status and availability – do we have a system enabling front office staff to quickly and easily identify room status and room availability levels for any stated date? Is room status accurate?


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Information on hotel services – does reception have a comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date supply of brochures etc on venue services? Is there or should there be an appropriate concierge facility? Can the staff behind reception respond suitably to a series of guest questions about the products and services offered by the property?

Cleanliness and interior design of lobby, elevators, rooms – are the facilities in accordance with guest expectations, and in-line with the images we present in our adverts? Or are we creating false expectations? Is the area kept clean and looking inviting, attractive, fresh etc?

Operation of air conditioning, heating, television, radio, and plumbing in room – does it all work properly? Does the air conditioning, bar fridge and plumbing function quietly?

Amenities – are the amenities we offer appropriate for the guests we attract? Are there enough of them available? Are they suitably sign-posted?

Guest stays

In particular:

Food service department – are the menu offerings, hours of operation, prices, service levels acceptable to the guests and the expectations we have created? Are there sufficient staff with appropriate skills? Are the facilities open when the guests want them to be open?

Gift shop – does the lobby gift shop have an appropriate selection of stock for in-house guests? Are there sufficient souvenirs at different price points? Do the items in the shop represent value-for-money, or can the items rightly be seen as a rip-off and a disincentive to use the shop?

Lounge – are the prices charged, the entertainment provided, the opening hours, and the service levels acceptable to the patrons, or are we running this department to suit ourselves and not the customers?

Room service – are the menu offerings sufficient, are the prices reasonable, is the delivery time appropriate and is the pick-up of trays timely? Is room service available when guests want it?

Valet service – are the pick-ups and delivery times suitable for guest needs? Are the prices appropriate? Does the quality of the service provided meet guest needs?

Housekeeping services – does the existing system allow housekeeping to avoid rooms where guests do not want their room serviced? Is the current service level sufficient to meet guest expectations of room service? Is the replenishment of amenities appropriate and sufficient, and do housekeeping staff ensure the cleanliness of all public areas?

Complimentary services and products – do we provide articles seen by the guests as providing some genuine value, or are we giving away things no-one likes, no-one wants and no-one values? Is it a case we are being too mean with our complimentary items? Are the brand names used acceptable to our guests?




Security – is there 24-hour availability of security and is appropriate to identified needs? Are there sufficient fire safety devices in place? Have staff fire drills been conducted? Are the required emergency plans in place?

Front office – are they able to handle requests for information and other assistance such as wake up calls, explanation of the telephone system, entertainment system and internet connection? Are guest folios kept up-to-date, accurate and ready for guest check-outs? Can reception respond quickly to a request for an extension of stay?

Check–out

In particular:

Check-out time deadlines – are they reasonable and flexible? Can extensions be given to special requests without creating problems or giving an adverse impression to the guests? Should we introduce an express check-out facility?

Luggage – is assistance with luggage readily and cheerfully given? Do guests need assistance with their luggage? Are bags easily obtainable from luggage storage areas?

Speed of check-out – is the time spent waiting to be processed on departure appropriate? Are guests served in the order they arrived to check-out?

Guest folio – is the bill immediately available? Is the print-out an accurate representation of the actual charges incurred? Can reception staff resolve minor discrepancies quickly and easily without having to refer to management? Is the account clear and easy to understand?

Measure actual performance against standards

In all establishments, monitoring and measuring of customer service standards and levels must be done continuously.

You can‟t monitor service today but not tomorrow.

You can‟t monitor service between 10:00Am and noon but not from noon to 2:00PM.

The types of measurement that can be applied include:

Quantitative methods

The aim in this approach is to assemble objective facts and unambiguous measures to be used to measure service availability, waiting times or number of complaints. This evaluation method is statistically-based.

It includes quantifying things such as opening hours, waiting times, number of give-aways provided, how long it takes to be served - anything which can be quantified, or given a number is quantitative.

Details of this quantitative analysis should be recorded and used when the scheduled time to review plans and standards arrives (as stated in the plans).


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Qualitative methods

This is information that commonly answers the „Why?‟ questions.

Why do people want this or that?

Why do they prefer to order at this time and not that?

These questions uncover answers to the reasons behind people‟s actions, and help us to understand people‟s expectations and requirements.

Central to this method are:

Questioning skills

Active listening techniques

Observation skills

Analysing events and observations

Interpreting customers‟ verbal statements and non-verbal cues.

As demonstrated in this section there is a great deal of thought and preparation required to be able to identify, implement, communicate, monitor and evaluate customer service standards.

Whilst it can be a complex exercise it is important that is conducted.

2.2 Ensure team performance consistently meets

enterprise standards

Introduction

In the last section we explored the various steps associated with ensuring products and services meet the required standards we are striving to reach when providing quality customer service.

As managers we look at how individuals are able to perform in relation to the desired standards; however it is also important to ensure the team as a whole is operating in a successful manner.

Teams in a hospitality setting often refer to either people:

Within a department

Working together in the same shift

Working closely with another department – such as kitchen and front of house service staff.

Each team will comprise individuals with their own specific characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. As a manger it is important to ensure that staff are able to work together to achieve the collective objectives of the organisation. The primary objective being to ensure each customer has an enjoyable experience.

Each hospitality experience, such as serving a meal to a customer, involves many people conducting activities that are often interdependent to other people.




A team is only as strong as its weakest link. If one person does something at a poor standard or not at all, it affects the output of products and services, which often leaves the customer having a disappointing experience.

Therefore it is vital to ensure the team works as a coherent unit.

Characteristics of effective teams

In order to get teams to meet the desired standards, it is important to understand the characteristics of effective teams. As a manager it important to ensure they actively manage and nurture the development of these characteristics in their teams.

Teams are not automatic guarantees that productivity will be increased.

In fact, if they are structured incorrectly and have unspecific goals, the organisation can be disrupted rather than improved.

The primary characteristics related to effective teams are:

Clear goals

Relevant skills

Mutual trust

Unified commitment

Good communication

Negotiating skills

Appropriate leadership

Internal and external support

Recognition and reward.

Clear goals

High performance teams have both a clear understanding of the goal to be achieved and the idea that it is important.

The importance of such goals means that individuals prioritise team goals above their own. In a strong team, members are committed to the team‟s goals, know what they expect to accomplish and work together to achieve those goals.

Relevant skills

Effective team members have the relevant training, technical skills and abilities to achieve the desired goals and work well with others.

Interpersonal skills here are just as important as technical skills.

Mutual trust

Members must have mutual trust, acceptance and recognition of one another. Members must believe in the integrity and character of other team members.

Trust takes a long time to build and is easily destroyed, so managers must be careful to nurture and maintain relationships between team members.


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Organisations that work in a climate of openness, honesty and collaboration generally encourage a culture of trust.

Managers can build trust with teams or groups via communication, being supportive, being respectful, being predictable and demonstrating competence.

Unified commitment

Loyalty and dedication of team members involves doing anything that has to be done to ensure the team‟s success.

Members must be committed to the team‟s goals and expend energy in achieving them.

Good communication

Teams should be able to communicate clearly and concisely with one another both verbally and non-verbally.

Feedback from members and managers is essential in helping to correct misunderstandings.

Team members should be able to share ideas and feelings.

Negotiation skills

Job design, job description, rules and procedures all help to clarify employee roles.

Effective teams must be flexible and continually make adjustments to, or „fine tune‟, their progress.

This often requires negotiation skills because problems and relationships regularly change in teams, requiring members to confront and reconcile differences.

Appropriate leadership

Appropriate leaders set realistic and clear goals.

They demonstrate that change is possible and increase the self-confidence of team members by helping them realise their potential more fully.

The best team leaders tend to be coaches or facilitators as opposed to autocratic and controlling. They help to guide and support the team by empowering its members, but do not seek control.

This can be hard for some traditional managers who cannot see the benefits of shared leadership and cannot give up control.

In some cases, managers who cannot accept the new shape of organisations will have to be replaced or transferred.

Internal and external support

Internally, the team must be structured so that:

Members are properly trained

An understandable measurement system that employees can be evaluated against is implemented

Incentives are offered

A supportive human climate is fostered.

External management must provide the team with the resources appropriate to complete the task.




Recognition and reward

After the appropriate teams have been established, and have functioned for a period, it is critical that management recognise and reward their efforts.

This recognition and reward may be on an individual or team basis, and may acknowledge outcomes, effort, or simple participation.

The nature of the reward and recognition may include:

Informal acknowledgment – a quiet, yet genuine, physical or verbal pat on the back to say 'Thanks” and “Job well done'. The simple act of being acknowledged works wonders with everyone

Acknowledgment of an individual‟s good performance to the whole team – a more formal and high profile version of the above

Presentation of awards – some think that these have the capacity to be counter-productive in that those who are not rewarded are put off-side; however, those who do receive the accolade are very pleased. The decision as to who gets the award is thus extremely critical. Awards, by their nature, tend to mean there is one winner and many „losers‟

Written report to management – the idea of being „mentioned in dispatches‟ is worthy of consideration, especially if such mention is shared with the individual concerned. Many staff are pleased to know that those higher up the ladder are being made aware of their efforts, and this can serve to further motivate them as well as reward them

Incentive initiatives for volunteers – the company may elect to initiate some scheme whereby those who have volunteered for „extra duties‟ are entitled to an extra bonus of some sort from the company. This may be an extra discount, access to items normally reserved for others, a free meal, gift or some complimentary item.

The points about rewards and recognitions are:

They must have been genuinely earned and deserved – not just dished out for the sake of it

They must be of some substance from the receiver‟s viewpoint – that is, they must have some value in the eyes of the recipient

They need to be celebrated – even in some small way, such as a small presentation ceremony, mention in the staff newsletter, or being recorded in internal reports.

Also bear in mind that once rewards and recognitions have been established within the premises, those who believe they have earned the same, will expect it, and can have their noses put severely out of joint if they don‟t receive one.

This can result in a 'What‟s the point of trying? No-one really cares' attitude.


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Moreover, be alert to the additional potentially counter-productive side to awards. Some staff will „victimise‟ staff who have won awards because they are jealous of what they have achieved.

This is likely only to be petty ribbing, but it can take on malicious overtones, and it can genuinely upset some people: this may be an issue for you as a manager given that you are required under equal opportunity legislation to ensure that staff are not victimised or harassed at work.

In addition, some staff may sabotage others or engage in unacceptable activities – if, for instance, an award is given for highest sales, it is not unknown for staff to „steal‟ another staff member‟s customer, to falsify documents or to pressure people into buying.

As with so many other aspects of management, you simply have to give it a go, monitor what happens, and then decide whether to keep it, ditch it or modify the initiative.

Monitoring team performance

Now that we have an understanding of the characteristics of effective teams and strategies to develop teams, it is important that we are able to monitor performance.

Whilst we have explored a variety of ways to monitor performance of individuals what are some ways to monitor team performance?

The reasons for deficiencies in service may not be based on an individual‟s competency but on the interaction and reliance on others or other factors such as operational policies and procedures.

Some suitable methods to monitoring team performance include:

Observations – personal observations of management or supervisors

Meetings – whether formal or informal

Customer feedback – whether from customer comment cards or direct conversations

Staff feedback – in briefing sessions

Financial and operational reports – levels of sales, profit margins, return visits, waste reports, leave reports, accident reports, productivity reports and „complimentary reports‟ (indicating free items given away due to complaints)

Performance appraisals – formal reviews conducted with staff.

When monitoring team effectiveness and performance, the key is to find suitable solutions to service deficiencies in a timely manner.




2.3 Assist colleagues to meet and exceed

customer service standards by providing

appropriate professional development

Introduction

Professional development of staff is a primary requirement for all business development. As the direct provider of services to customers, customers must not only have the knowledge and skills to be able to do their job adequately, they must also have support and guidance from management.

Types of professional development

Professional development, whilst normally comprising formal training, in essence can be classified as any activity that enables customers to improve their service delivery. Many of these activities have been identified in the previous section however the list of activities that management can do is varied.

Types of professional development can include:

Qualifications and certified training programs provided by external educational or professional providers

Internal programs

Meetings

On the job learning

Buddy system

Research activities

Demonstrations

Discussions.

Normally professional development is performed when:

Customer service deficiencies exist which need to be addressed

New staff require training

New techniques to existing products or services are made

New products or services are introduced

Retraining is required.

Whilst professional development should take place for traditional reasons that are mentioned above, it should be an ongoing activity that involves greater support, and encouragement and coaching.


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Supporting team members

A manager or supervisor must provide active support to team members in helping them meet their given outcomes.

Support that can be given to workplace teams may entail:

Giving moral and verbal support when times are tough and the going gets tough – this may be when there‟s an unexpected rush, when other staff don‟t turn up for work, when there‟s a problem

Providing relevant training and coaching

Obtaining more physical resources to enable the job to be done better or quicker

Getting approval for more time (overtime payments, extra hours) for staff, when that is required

Advocating to management on behalf of the staff

Supporting staff when an unfounded or unfair allegation is made about them

Soliciting and listening to their feedback

Thanking them for hard work, effort and when they go the extra yard or two

Celebrating any successes they may have in terms of training, a letter of congratulations, promotion, some special mention from management or the board.

Encouraging team members

Most new teams will behave like workgroups. They will be task-oriented and relying on direction from a group leader.

With leadership and maturity the group can progress to become a work team.

In the last ten years there has been a lot of interest from organisations in the concept of higher level work teams. These have often been given names such as Self-Managed or Self-Directed Work Teams, Autonomous Work Teams and Empowered Teams.

One of the key issues that must be managed in the workplace is that of worker motivation, and structure plays an important part in the level of motivation that can be achieved. The development of the Effective Work Team is aimed partly at providing a better quality work experience for employees, and partly at improving worker output and quality.

While these teams may still need supervisors, they are usually for specific roles, such as a controller for a fire-fighting team, rather than for managing people.

Effective Work Teams integrate vertically to absorb the role and can determine their own work assignments, breaks, procedures, new members and will evaluate each other‟s performance and give feedback.

In an Effective Work Team, every member becomes the leader at the appropriate time, when that person is clearly the most skilled, knowledgeable or has the most use for the outcome or the right balance between members.




Once you have commenced the development of your work team, the Effective Work Team can be created. It requires the implementation of a number of key criteria and the commitment of those involved to follow them.

Before attempting to set up the Effective Work Team, managers must ensure that they have a chance to succeed. While all organisations desire the benefits of these team structures, not all of them will be happy with the dissemination of power, knowledge and authority to those in lower positions, even though these are the people who can provide the best results from having them.

If the resistance was obvious this would be problem enough. However, a common response is to appear unconcerned, even supportive, but then undermine the group by slowing down or even withholding important resources such as funds, information or cooperation.

Coaching

In order for staff to be able to provide a level of service which meets the organisation‟s standards, they must have the necessary knowledge and skills to do so.

Coaching of staff to help enhance the delivery of quality customer service is a much under-used tool in the effort to provide better levels of service.

Workplace coaching is an excellent tool to use because:

It is extremely cost-efficient

It relates specifically to individual workplace requirements

It targets individual staff need.

Whilst it may be preferable to use a fully-trained trainer to deliver the coaching, many valuable lessons can nonetheless be learned by simply using enthusiastic and dedicated staff members in this manner.

Basics of coaching

When considering using coaching it is best to:

Target coaching to actual, identified need for specific individuals – as opposed to coaching everyone even if they don‟t really need it

Obtain agreement form the staff member that coaching is needed and will benefit them

Prepare for the coaching session – develop a plan, arrange to necessary resources, organise a time and place for the coaching

Explain the coaching to be delivered

Focus on the person to be coached

Use the two primary delivery strategies of „explanation‟ and „demonstration‟

Follow the rhyme: “I do it normal, I do it slow. You do it with me, then off you go.”

Make sure underpinning skills and knowledge are covered


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Allow for appropriate practice

Follow up with the staff member as required to see if extra coaching or assistance is needed.

Ways to deliver coaching

Coaching in this context will be likely to include:

Role plays

Where the coach creates scenarios and then works through with staff how they would deal with them. It is important in role plays for the staff who are participating to treat the role playing seriously and refrain from making inane statements and acting outlandishly.

It is also useful to have someone act as an observer to watch the interactions and note the verbal and non-verbal language during the role play – this becomes the focus of the de-briefing at the end.

Discussion groups

These involve staff describing a situation. It could be a theoretical one, or one that actually happened to them, and talking through what they would, should or could do in such a situation.

Discussion should take the form of evaluating options by thinking through the likely ramifications of each option presented.

Discussions can also relate to actual customer service situations which have occurred and the discussion should look at what action was taken and whether it could have been handled better.

Case studies

This is a variation on the above and requires the coach to outline, describe and illustrate a scenario, and ask the participants what they would do.

The suggestions given are then evaluated with relative merits also discussed.

Mentoring

This can be a one-on-one informal training situation where, say, an experienced staff member works with a new employee and provides practical, actual, on-the-job guidance and training.

The experienced staff member leads the way and the newer one follows the example set – it is useful to have a de-briefing session after to clarify any points, and work through any problems that arose.

Training videos

There are lots of excellent customer service videos around, and most people will pick up something from watching any one of them.

It is best to use one relating to the standards the establishment has set, but this is not always possible. Remember, too, it is beneficial to watch any training tape more than once – you always seem to get something extra from it every time you view it.




A critical friend

This concept is not for everyone but most people seem able to cope with it, and most people seem to see it as a benefit.

The critical friend is someone within the organisation who will watch your performance and then give you accurate and honest feedback on how you went.

They are being, therefore, critical of you but in a friendly, supportive, and positive way. If you elect to use this option, make sure you choose someone you are very comfortable with and be prepared to be, perhaps, told a few home truths!


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Work Projects



Explain the types of standards you may develop for a hotel

Identify how you can give colleagues access to information on standards and plans

Identify ways to monitor customer service

Identify ways to measure actual performance against standards.


Identify the characteristics of effective teams

Explain how you can nurture and improve team performance

Explain how you can monitor team performance.


Identify types of professional development

Explain how you can support, encourage and coach team members.




Summary

Ensure delivery of quality products and services

Ensure products/services meet customers‟ needs and reflect enterprise standards:

Develop standards and plans to address key quality service issues

Communicating customer service standards and plans

Giving colleagues access to information on standards and plans

Monitor customer service according to organisation policies and procedures to ensure standards are met

Measure actual performance against standards.

Ensure team performance consistently meets enterprise standards:

Characteristics of effective teams

Monitoring team performance.

Assist colleagues to meet and exceed customer service standards by providing appropriate professional development:

Types of professional development

Supporting team members

Encouraging team members

Coaching.


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Element 3:

Evaluate customer service

3.1 Review customer satisfaction with service

delivery using appropriate methods that

produce verifiable data

Introduction

We have seen „customer-focus‟ is critical to any successful business.

Every three months or more frequently if time permits, it is important to review customer satisfaction with your service delivery. Where there is some „emergency‟ in relation to service such as frequent and animated complaints about service, reviews should be more regular.

This should be done, as far as possible, using verifiable data, rather than relying on subjective impressions and hearsay from other staff.

To obtain the information on which to base our customer-focus we need to:

Undertake market research – to actively seek out what customers want

Actively ask for feedback from customers who have experienced what it is our venue has to offer.

Asking customers for their feedback is a brilliant thing to do. It is relatively cheap to do and it enables input from actual customers and is immediate.

The critical thing about this feedback is it must be fed back to be incorporated into future plans and standards.

Objectives of collecting and reviewing customer feedback

Reviews of customer service strategies should seek to achieve the following objectives:

Identify the extent to which customers and others are satisfied (or not) with service delivery

Identify the departments or areas in which there is satisfaction (or not) with service delivery

Identify the precise areas within departments or areas where there is dissatisfaction. It is always easier to identify dissatisfaction more precisely than it is to identify areas of satisfaction (people tend to complain more than they tend to compliment)

Identify the precise nature of any dissatisfaction. It may be with product, services, facilities, timing, access or information


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Identify the staff involved in both superior and inferior levels of service

Identify if there is a certain time of the day/week when service levels are reduced or at their best

Discover what can be done to improve a less than optimum situation

Identify what needs to be done to maintain the present satisfactory level of service delivery.

It is especially important to look for trends – one-off complaints or dissatisfaction may not be indicative of anything whereas a series of complaints is likely to be more instructive.

The review should be as wide-ranging as possible, meaning it should involve:

Regular customers

New customers

Customers who are one-off customers

Corporate customers (where applicable)

Staff

Management.

The review also means you will need to actively solicit input.

Types of customer feedback

Important steps in monitoring and adjusting customer service are to seek feedback from customers on an on-going basis and to use this to improve establishment performance where applicable.

The information gathered may be:

Positive – customers give compliments about aspects of service or the performance of specific individuals. This feedback is the easiest to receive and allows you to identify what your organisation is doing correctly

Neutral – customers say they „enjoyed‟ their experience, which met their expectations, but do not provide any further comment

Negative – customers have a complaint regarding an aspect of their „experience‟. This is the hardest type of feedback to receive as it identifies deficiencies in the service provided and customers may be quite emotional when providing this. That said, negative feedback is the most important as it provides management and staff with the opportunity to apologise and seek remedies for improvement.




Methods of collecting customer feedback

There are a variety of methods management and staff can use to collect feedback from customers.

Regardless of the method used to collect information, it is vital:

The form is designed to gather important information about all aspects of service delivery

The format is easy to use for the customer

The form is presented to the customer when it is going to cause the less inconvenience

The customer is thanked for their feedback, whether in the form of a gift or other suitable reward.

There are several ways to seek feedback which will be explored.

Direct communication from customer to staff

This method is the most effective method to collect customer feedback about their experiences because:

It demonstrates to customers that staff value them and any feedback or suggestions they many have

It builds relationships between staff and customers

Verbal communication enables large amounts of feedback to be exchanged

Follow up questions can be asked for further information or to ensure they understand the customer comments

It is the easiest method for customers as it does not require them to write answers on forms

If the customer feedback is negative, it allows staff to apologise, understand the complaint, find a mutually agreeable solution for action can be taken.

The best time to undertake this method of collecting feedback is normally at the end of a „service activity‟ such as when a customer has finished a meal in the restaurant, checking out of a hotel or paying a bill.

In some accommodation venues the manager is present at peak check-out times to farewell guests, wish them well, thank them for their custom and actively solicit feedback about guest thoughts on their stay.

Collecting feedback does not always have to be conducted by management. Most organisations will utilise line staff to also perform this function as they have the greatest contact with customers throughout their „experience‟.

This requires front-line staff to inquire about the customer experience by being proactive in ascertaining how they enjoyed their meal or stay. The types of questions asked should use a variety of open and closed questions to gather information.

Traditionally many staff ask simple closed questions such as “Did you enjoy your stay or meal?” which gives general feedback of their experience with an organisation but does not identify which aspects their enjoyed the most or areas that can be improved.


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With greater use of carefully crafted open questions, more detailed information can be collected.

Where possible information collected should be done in a manner which appears informal and where the customer is at ease. By introducing questions in general conversation, the customer is more likely to give truthful answers as opposed to when they feel like they are „under the spotlight‟.

Observations

Whilst the best form of collecting information is from direct conversations with customers, valuable information can be also collected by watching or listening to customers.

Watching people and their body language can give very accurate information which they might not otherwise get through direct interaction.

Normally customers, like all people, like to avoid confrontational or uneasy situations and therefore will be less inclined to provide negative feedback using direct communication.

By observing body language and listening to comments that customers show or say to others, is a good way to get accurate information which they would feel uncomfortable sharing with management or staff.

One good example of effective use of observation is when chefs look at plates returning to the kitchen. Through careful observation, in a matter of seconds, they can gather information relating to:

Whether customers enjoyed their meal

Which actual food items they enjoyed

Portion control.

This approach should be used by all staff in all departments.

Guest comment cards

These are traditionally left in guest rooms, but there is no reason the same principle can‟t be used in just about any other area of the premises. Many restaurants can use this form in a manner that does not inconvenience the customer.

It is also acceptable to offer these cards to customers and ask them to complete them and return them.

These cards should be designed with a balance between customer ease of use and quantity and quality of information sought.

Online feedback

This is a good method to use after the customer has left the premises and has time to complete the form.

This can include a „Tell us what you think‟ facility or some other „Customer Comment or Feedback‟ option.

Where this is used it is important someone checks this on a regular basis and responds to the complaint or feedback etc: simply using an automatic response message is not enough.




Meetings

Whilst the information collected in this method, does not directly relate to customer feedback, this feedback is extremely vital to identifying strategies for operational improvement.

Most departments will have regular meetings, whether formally scheduled at a specific time each week or in the form of staff briefings and reviews for each shift. In addition managers will participate in meetings involving all departments within a hotel.

During these meetings, detailed feedback will be given to identify both positive and negative aspects of their performance and areas for improvement will be addressed.

Document work performance based on customer feedback

Once customer feedback is collected, it must be documented in a manner which can be used as the framework for customer service improvement strategies.

The memory is not the most reliable means of recalling events and results and businesses tend to rely more on formal records than memory.

It is important to identify ways in which work performance may be documented for future reference. This includes assisting in identifying further opportunities for workplace improvement.

To help identify future areas where customer service can be improved it is common for businesses to record their actual performance in two formats:

Electronic format – such as Management Information Systems (MIS) that function to record and quantify gains that have been made in service delivery

Paper-based formats – such as workplace documentation that serve to demonstrate the gains that have been made. The exact nature of these will depend on the focus of the customer service improvement initiative, but representative documents can include:

Feedback forms

Invoices and statements

Independent QA reports

Internal checklists

Labour reports.


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3.2 Compare systems, records and reporting

procedures in order to identify and report on

any changes in customer satisfaction

Introduction

Once information has been collected, it should be compared against benchmarks to determine if the changes are positive or negative. This comparison is normally a primary activity for managers on a daily basis and serves as the framework for many management meeting.

So what is current information compared against?

Comparing information

There are many sources which current customer satisfaction information can be compared and evaluated against. These include:

Budgets

Budgets can be plans about the short-term future of up to a year.

They can be expressed in money terms, or in terms of quantities of things such as goods in stock, number of seats, and number of customers to be served per day, number of desserts expected to be ordered.

The plans should help managers achieve their business objectives.

The objectives of businesses are about managing how well the investment and assets are being used, and about how well the sales effort contributes to the profitability of the business.

A budget therefore is a statement of management‟s planned outcomes for the business, expressed in dollars or quantities to achieve its objectives for a precise period of time.

Budgets are usually prepared for periods of a year or less. Most businesses divide their yearly budgets, at least into 12 or 13 periods – months or standard periods of four weeks.

Types of budgets include:

Sales budgets – to forecast sales revenue

Labour budgets – to forecast labour expenses

Material budgets – to forecast purchases of goods for sale or for use in preparing finished products

Inventory budget – planning quantities to be held in stock, and the amount of money invested in stock

Overhead budgets – concerns other estimated operating expenses (e.g. rent, rates, etc)

Capital Expenditure budgets – plans for long-term assets to be purchased, replaced, upgraded




Budgeted Financial Performance Statement – concerns estimated profit or loss. This brings together several of the above budgets, for sales, material, labour, overheads, inventory

Cash budgets – concerns the estimated cash inflow, cash outflow and cash position of a business

Budgeted Statement of Financial Position – concerns estimated values of assets, liabilities and owners equity at the end of a budget period.

Operational reports

There are various operational reports that can provide customer feedback, without having to actually communicate with customers. With greater use of technology in all hospitality businesses today, endless statistics are collected on a daily basis.

With information comes power. Hospitality businesses should strive to effectively use the information that is collected on a daily basis.

Information sources come from, but are not limited:

Sales reports – identifying items that were purchased and the quantity of each. This will help identify items that customers like or prefer over others

Occupancy reports – identifying how many customers stayed in the hotel. This can help identify demand patterns

Financial reports – this helps to identify the revenue and expenditure items relating to a department. It highlights the efficiency of operations

Complimentary reports – identifies how many items that a business has „given for free‟ or had to discount, often directly related to poor customer service.

Each organisation will have specific reports to suit their operations and the feedback they strive to collect.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’S)

These are detailed instruction of how tasks should be performed and the standard which must be achieved.

Job Descriptions

These are a detailed explanation of what each staff member should be doing in the workplace. It identifies responsibilities and tasks for completion.

Identify and report changes in customer satisfaction

Monitoring and adjusting customer service also involves identifying changes in customer service and developing change strategies to standards, systems and procedures to ensure continued service quality.

Whilst we still need to report positive changes in customer satisfaction, most managers are concerned with identifying and making changes to service problems identified in the customer feedback process.


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While venues strive to eliminate service problems they always seem to occur despite efforts to prevent them.

It mostly appears the best we can do is reduce their incidence.

Common service problems

The most serious problems found in service companies include:

Difficulties in contacting service staff - this is especially frustrating to customers when they can see the service staff, and all those staff seem to be doing is talking amongst themselves and ignoring the customers. This frustration extends to telephone contact when the phone just appears to ring and ring before anyone answers it

Lack of information about the products and services offered by the establishment – there is really no excuse for any front office or concierge staff not to know about the venue and what it can offer. There is only a slightly less excuse for other staff members not to know about the property either. Product knowledge is vital to high levels of customer service

Unclear or incomplete price information – patrons are easily and understandably annoyed when they are unable to obtain quick and accurate price-related information. They readily become suspicious and become easily convinced we are either trying to hide something from them, or trying to pull some sort of scam

Unclear or incomplete deals – the intention of offering deals, packages or specials is to entice guests and attract patronage. We do ourselves a dis-service when we offer deals pretending to be something they really aren‟t, or which are in some way imperfect or inadequate. Customers can often feel betrayed and conned when we make such offers, and this negative feeling is usually passed on to others and can be quite destructive in a business sense. If we are going to offer a deal the components of it must be clear and comprehensive -

never leave something out of a package customers would expect and then expect them to pay for that extra element

Handling of complaints – where complaints are still seen by the business as a threat rather than an opportunity there will always be the very real chance the complaint won‟t be handled properly, quickly, respectfully and thoroughly. Handling complaints effectively and professionally does not come naturally to people so the establishment must put in place some form of initial and ongoing training




The content and form of the bill - clear dining room charges or room charges (folios) lead to clearer understanding by customers and facilitate quicker payment. Not only must we be accurate in the formulation of our accounts, but we must also ensure all charges are adequately identified, whether by code or other means. In addition, accurate breakdown of accounts are increasingly becoming more important as the information they contain are used more and more as source statistics for market research use.

Possible solutions in how to resolve some of these customer service problems will be identified in following sections. The purpose of this section is to identify problems that require operational changes.

3.3 Evaluate and report on customer service

evaluation outcomes to designated groups or

individuals

Introduction

Once customer feedback has been collected and compared against organisational benchmarks and standards, a report detailing reasons for changes in customer service must be evaluated and reported.

Evaluating outcomes and recommending changes

The evaluations you undertake will form the basis of the changes that are identified as being necessary to maintain service standards.

When these have been identified and compiled there may be an internal requirement to report these needs for change to designated individuals and groups.

Identifying changes toward improved customer service

When identifying the changes needed to maintain service standards you should address the following points:

Make sure that the means (resources – human, physical or other) to achieve the change are identified and costed

List barriers or problems that have been identified in making the required changes

Nominate timelines for action

Attach responsibilities for action to nominated individuals

Describe the perfect service situation as completely as possible to help people fully understand and appreciate what the ideal service standard actually is. This may include setting times and parameters, prescribing what is to be done, describing responses to certain service situations, developing a sample „perfect‟ service scenario and video-taping it for reference purposes. Where you are unsure about what the perfect service standard is, ask. This may mean not accepting your personal orientation as the model despite your years in the industry, your training and your experience.


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Reporting findings

Once you have prepared your report it is important that it is given to the right people for feedback, agreement and implementation or action.

The groups and individuals to whom such a report may be forwarded could include:

Management

The Board

Certain subcommittees

The establishment‟s focus group

Trainers in the business

The external organisation that conducts your training – such as a Registered Training

Organisation

All staff members

Specific staff members who are identified by feedback – realising that you may also elect not to distribute such a report to those who are not named

Head office.

How might these changes be reported?

In some cases, there may be no requirement beyond a verbal mention to staff, while in other cases there may be a need for a more formal report detailing actual service instances, names of staff and customers involved, what was said or what was done.

In other cases, you may be required to make a presentation to management/head office that expands on the details contained in the report and respond to questions asked by those who attend.

Prepare conclusions and recommendations

Prepare conclusions and recommendations from verifiable evidence and provide

constructive advice on future directions of client service strategies

Where verifiable evidence exists in relation to service delivery you may be required to prepare and present conclusions and recommendations that will provide some constructive advice on the future directions of client service strategies.

In cases where such verifiable evidence exists, it is absolutely essential that any conclusions or suggestions are based on demonstrable fact and not on personal hunches, supposition or intuition.

Providing feedback

Tips on giving effective feedback which can be useful when making conclusions and giving recommendations include:

Be positive and constructive

Respect the feelings of the speaker/person you are providing advice to

Act on the fact that immediate feedback is more effective than delayed feedback

Restrict your feedback to only those things that can be changed.




Communicating conclusions and recommendations

At the conclusion of any review it is often necessary to communicate the results to designated groups and individuals, within appropriate timeframes. This normally is managers or supervisors of different departments.

The most commonly accepted appropriate timeframe commonly translates into as soon as possible. This can range from sending notification to people literally within minutes of knowing the outcome.

In these cases, the usually accepted means of communication are:

In person – face-to-face, verbal communication

By phone – in many instances, certain people (major stakeholders, management) will both appreciate and require notification of the results of some negotiations, immediately. This may involve you calling their mobile number, or even their home number to pass on the outcome

Via email – larger premises use their internal email as a standard communication tool. It is certainly quicker for you to type one message and send it, than to have to ring a dozen or so people and tell them.

In other cases, where the impact of the evaluation is not so critical, severe or important, it can be acceptable for notification to take place the next day.

In all cases, though, you should make it a goal to pass on all notification within 24 hours.

It is now normal procedure for departmental managers and staff to get together and find possible solutions to meet these customer service challenges.

This will be discussed in the next section.

3.4 Obtain agreement on appropriate course of

action to take to overcome problems and

adjust products and services in consultation

with designated individuals/groups

Introduction

Once the appropriate people have been given a report, in any format, identifying the need to make changes to the provision of service, a course of action must be put into place and agreed upon by all the people associated in providing the new proposed service changes. This will commonly involve line staff within the department.

Courses of action to overcome service problems

All staff in an organisation, regardless of position, should have a customer focus and strive for continual quality improvement.

As a collective they should decide and mutually agree on specific courses of action that can be implemented to improve customer service.


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The following actions are great examples of how to improve the delivery of quality customer service:

Give benefits to key customers – we must reward people for their on-going custom. This may be with some tangible „gift‟ or discount, or simply by the recognition we give them, and the enhanced services we provide them with. What form of loyalty scheme could be introduced into your venue? If you have a loyalty scheme, how is regarded by your customers? Do they see value in it or does the value lie in your eyes, not those of the customers?

Systematise customer complaints and learn from them – factor in the results of analysis of poor customer service so you will avoid repeating those mistakes. The key is to determine how to handle similar situations as and when they arrive

Train staff in customer care – conduct sessions to explain and illustrate the company policies and procedures in relation to quality customer service. Never assume staff will understand and be able to apply policies simply because they exist

Give staff the authority, discretion and resources to make quick decisions – they must act to handle dissatisfaction, or to reward faithful customers. Staff should act as advocates for the customers and always be seeking to improve the guests‟ position

Stimulate employees to be creative in developing customer care activities – reward any staff initiative in this area and try to generalise the use of any new initiatives by translating them to other appropriate areas

Allow staff room to make mistakes – no-one is perfect and anyone who tries something new is bound to make a few mistakes! Support the staff in their efforts rather than ridicule them

Invest in meetings and regular contacts with customers via newsletters or customer magazines – make the customers feel they are truly part of the decision-making process, and they have valuable input to make into the operation of the property

Make it easy for customers to complain – be proactive in soliciting complaints and encourage complaints as a way of identifying the things that need fixing in order for you to move to the next level.

Reaching agreement to changes in service

As a group, you must put a plan in place, based on some of the suggestions mentioned above, and reach a mutual agreement. Only with the consensus of all parties involved, can a sense of ownership take place and people will be more acceptable of the changes and the plan to implement them.




Communicating changes in service

Communicating new approaches to service delivery

Once all parties have reached agreement, any new approaches to customer service decided upon must be communicated to all those involved within appropriate timeframes.

Precisely what the timeframes are will vary depending on the nature and extent of the new approaches, but „as soon as possible‟ is a reasonable guide.

The communication of new service delivery approaches may occur in various ways.

The key to communicating these changes is the communication must be planned. The following indicate the extent of the work that needs to be done and you can see it is unlikely to be effective unless you prepare adequately for it.

In many ways these will mirror the ways in which service delivery requirements were initially communicated to new staff when they join the venue.

Your approach should follow these guidelines:

Hold a formal staff meeting to inform staff of the changes – if staff have been actively involved in the development process then the changes made should not come as anything new to them. Remember it is important not only to explain the changes but also explain why they were necessary

Give staff a hard copy of the new service approaches – give them everything that is applicable to their area such as:

Copies of plans

Copies of standards

Copies of policies

Copies of procedures

Explain the changes – tell staff how the „new‟ service delivery differs from the previous service delivery. Be specific and give real example of ‟what you used to do‟ and what you will do in the future

Give staff demonstrations of the new service delivery protocols – so they can see what is involved and visually tell the difference between the old and the new. This also gives them a clearer appreciation of what the revised service procedures are all about. Actions speak louder than words

Tell staff about the dates for introducing the new service procedures – traditionally there will be a lead time where new procedures will be phased in. Reassure staff they are not required to implement the changes „tomorrow‟

Inform staff of the training being provided to support them in implementing the new requirements – let them know when and where the training is happening, what it will involve, who will be leading it


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Encourage questions from staff about the changes – answer them fully and honestly

Make yourself available outside this meeting for staff to talk to if they have concerns regarding the changes

Post new checklists relating to the changes in appropriate parts of the venue

Include new policies, procedures etc in operational manuals, induction programs and in-house training

Schedule staff to attend sessions to obtain necessary training to assist with implementation of the changes

Introduce the changes and monitor their implementation - run through the new procedures at staff briefings and again at de-briefings

Provide feedback to staff as appropriate including additional training where necessary.

Continuous monitoring of customer service

This manual has explored the logical steps required in ensuring customer service provided matches the expectations of customers by collecting feedback, comparing against standards, reporting findings and devising a strategy for change and improvement that is agreed by all parties involved.

This activity is not a once off event. It must be a process that occurs on a regular basis. There are always additional changes that can be made to improve any aspect of customer service.

All staff regardless of position, must strive to ensuring the customer service provided is the best it can possibly be.

That is the true essence of maintaining quality customer service.




Work Projects


3.1 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to identify:



Methods of collecting customer feedback.


Benchmarks and standards customer feedback can be compared against

Methods to report changes in customer satisfaction.


Whom you report information to

How to reporting findings.


Possible courses of action to overcome service problems

Methods of communicating changes in service

Importance of continuous monitoring of customer service.


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Summary

Evaluate customer service

Review customer/guest satisfaction with service delivery using appropriate methods that produce verifiable data:



Methods of collecting customer feedback

Document work performance based on customer feedback.

Compare systems, records and reporting procedures in order to identify and report on any changes in customer satisfaction:

Comparing information

Identify and report changes in customer satisfaction.

Evaluate and report on customer service evaluation outcomes to designated groups or individuals:

Evaluating outcomes and recommending changes

Reporting findings

Prepare conclusions and recommendations.

Obtain agreement on appropriate course of action to take to overcome problems and adjust products/services in consultation with designated individuals/groups:

Courses of action to overcome service problems

Reaching agreement to changes in service

Communicating changes in service

Continuous monitoring of customer service.

Presentation of written work




1. Introduction

It is important for students to present carefully prepared written work. Written presentation in industry must be professional in appearance and accurate in content. If students develop good writing skills whilst studying, they are able to easily transfer those skills to the workplace.

2. Style

Students should write in a style that is simple and concise. Short sentences and paragraphs are easier to read and understand. It helps to write a plan and at least one draft of the written work so that the final product will be well organized. The points presented will then follow a logical sequence and be relevant. Students should frequently refer to the question asked, to keep „on track‟. Teachers recognize and are critical of work that does not answer the question, or is „padded‟ with irrelevant material. In summary, remember to:

Plan ahead

Be clear and concise

Answer the question

Proofread the final draft.

3. Presenting Written Work

Types of written work

Students may be asked to write:

Short and long reports

Essays

Records of interviews

Questionnaires

Business letters

Resumes.

Format

All written work should be presented on A4 paper, single-sided with a left-hand margin. If work is word-processed, one-and-a-half or double spacing should be used. Handwritten work must be legible and should also be well spaced to allow for ease of reading. New paragraphs should not be indented but should be separated by a space. Pages must be numbered. If headings are also to be numbered, students should use a logical and sequential system of numbering.


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Cover Sheet

All written work should be submitted with a cover sheet stapled to the front that contains:

The student‟s name and student number

The name of the class/unit

The due date of the work

The title of the work

The teacher‟s name

A signed declaration that the work does not involve plagiarism.

Keeping a Copy

Students must keep a copy of the written work in case it is lost. This rarely happens but it can be disastrous if a copy has not been kept.

Inclusive language

This means language that includes every section of the population. For instance, if a student were to write „A nurse is responsible for the patients in her care at all times‟ it would be implying that all nurses are female and would be excluding male nurses.

Examples of appropriate language are shown on the right:

Mankind Humankind

Barman/maid Bar attendant

Host/hostess Host

Waiter/waitress Waiter or waiting staff

Recommended reading



Recommended reading

Davidoff, Donald M; 1993 (1st edition); Contact: Customer Service In The Hospitality And

Tourism Industry; Prentice Hall

Ford, Robert; 1999 (1st edition); Managing the Guest Experience in Hospitality; Delmar

Cengage Learning

Ford, Robert C, Sturman, Michael C, Heaton, Cherrill P; 2011 (1st edition); Managing

Quality Service In Hospitality: How Organizations Achieve Excellence In The Guest Experience; Delmar Cengage Learning

O'Fallon, Michael J.; 2010 (5th edition); Hotel Management and Operations; Wiley

Lashley, Conrad, Morrison, Alison; 2001 (1st edition); In Search of Hospitality (Hospitality,

Leisure and Tourism); Butterworth-Heinemann

Martin, William B: 2001 (1st edition); Quality Service: What Every Hospitality Manager

Needs to Know; Prentice Hall

Noe, Francis P; 2010 (1st edition); Tourist Customer Service Satisfaction: An Encounter

Approach (Advances in Tourism); Routledge

Sturman, Michael C; 2011 (1st edition); The Cornell School of Hotel Administration on

Hospitality: Cutting Edge Thinking and Practice; Wiley

Walker, John R; 2008 (5th Edition); Introduction to Hospitality; Prentice Hall

Zeithaml, Valarie A; 2009 (1st edition); Delivering Quality Service; Free Press

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&ie=UTF8&field-author=Conrad%20Lashley

Recommended reading

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Trainee evaluation sheet





The following statements are about the competency you have just completed.

Please tick the appropriate box Agree Don’t

Know

Do Not

Agree

Does Not

Apply

There was too much in this competency to cover without rushing.

Most of the competency seemed relevant to me.

The competency was at the right level for me.

I got enough help from my trainer.

The amount of activities was sufficient.

The competency allowed me to use my own initiative.

My training was well-organized.

My trainer had time to answer my questions.

I understood how I was going to be assessed.

I was given enough time to practice.

My trainer feedback was useful.

Enough equipment was available and it worked well.

The activities were too hard for me.


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The best things about this unit were:

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

The worst things about this unit were:

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

The things you should change in this unit are:

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Documents

D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12 D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06 ...€¦ · D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12 D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06 Nominal Hours: 35 hours Element 1: Identify customer/guest