Manage Quality Customer Service - Essay Example

?Manage Quality Service - Identify and evaluate service Market research tool and Target market Before launching any product or service, market research has to be done, and in the case of Kingsley Hills Guest house of Ralph and Momo, the tool of questionnaire can be used. To assess and find out the customers’ needs, the market research tool of questionnaire in the form of self-addressed post can be really helpful. These questionnaires can consist of series of questions, which if aptly answered by a prospective customer, can provide in-depth and detailed data regarding customers’ expectation in the guest home including its ambience, food, other adventure related activities, etc. As all these prospective customers cannot be get hold by the marketing department at a single place, questionnaires has to be distributed to or featured in all the prospective places, where they will frequent. For example, as the Kingsley Hills as a whole was being developed and promoted by State Tourist authority, the questionnaires along with a pamphlet about the Guest house, can be placed at their various offices and outlets with their permission. It could also be placed in the offices of various travel or tour operators. In addition, when Tourism related fairs are conducted, Ralph and Momo can open up outlets there, and distribute these questionnaires among the visitors. In all these places, they can appoint a person to supply these forms to the customers, requesting them to fill and give in-person or can ask them to post. In addition, Ralph and Momo can open a website for this guest house, and also incorporate a questionnaire in them. Although, all the prospective customers may not respond, the responses of the ones who responded, should be collected and analyzed to assess the customers’ needs and could also help to figure out the target customer base. Customer Service Plan Executive Summary Kingsley Hills Guest House, owned and managed by Ralph and Momo, have opportunities to develop because of the features it is endowed with. The serene and comfortable guest houses with dining and spas can relax and rejuvenate the target customer base of professionals, businesspeople, their families, friends, etc. If these customer segments are treated effectively through various optimal facilities and importantly effective customer service, they will surely enjoy their stay, without any complaints. Even if complaints are raised by the customers, the personnel should handle them aptly. In addition, if the customer service personnel are monitored and motivated, they could provide good output. Introduction For organizations in any sector, customers are the Kings. Only if the target customer base is found out and enticed through effective marketing strategies, any organization can succeed, or even survive. Marketing strategies will not be successful and importantly it cannot be formulated aptly, without the marketing department conducting market research. Once the market research is done, and the target customer is cornered and importantly their expectations and needs are found out, marketing strategies can be initiated. In service industry, customers will have heightened expectations, and so naturally they will have high grievances as well. So, organizations have to fulfill all those expectations and solve those complaints with the aid of an optimal customer service plan. Customer service plan involves formulating guidelines on the needs and expectations of the customer as defined by the customer. Based on or even using that plan, organizations need to know what their customers want, what they expect, so the organization and in particular the customer service can provide that to them on a consistent basis. (Saleem, 2007). Target market and likely potential guests of Kingsley Hills The target market or the potential guests of Kingsley Hills are professionals, businesspeople, their families, friends, etc., who want to have a relaxed and rejuvenating vacation or picnic in the countryside. As stated in the case, the Kingsley Hills as a whole has been promoted by the State Tourist Authority as a travel destination, which can offer serenity, comfortable guest houses, fine dining experiences, galleries and gift stores and an increasing number of day spas. In addition, the guest rooms have private verandahs with a view of the surrounding bushland. All these features and facilities imply that the Kingsley Hills is a spot for relaxation and rejuvenation, and not as a place of adventure. That is, it does not have spots like Theme parks, or options for adventure sports, etc., so it is clear it is mainly targeted at businesspeople and professionals, who want to have a relaxed weekend after week of heavy work or who want to have an extended holiday after a hectic schedule. Needs of the guests As mentioned above, the target customer base will utilize the guest houses mainly for relaxation and rejuvenation, and so all their needs will be based on these two important necessity. That is, they might need every feature in the guest house reflecting those two necessities. Starting from the arrangement interiors of the guest house, its ambience, furniture arrangement, everything should enable them to relax. The customers could want even the restaurants to be arranged in a casual manner, without any formal features. The spas that are scattered through out the Kingsley Hills can aptly fulfill the two key necessities, if they are maintained in a good and optimal manner. Method used to identify guest needs As pointed out in the earlier Part A, the needs of the customers visiting the Kingsley Hills can be ascertained by following the research method of questionnaire in a self-addressed format. That is, as discussed above, questionnaires can be disturbed or placed in quite a number of optimal places, to which the prospective customers could frequent. The customers visiting all these places including the outlets of State Tourism authority, Tourism Fairs, Tour operators, can access these forms, and fill in with their details. They can hand it over to the person, who will be distributing these questionnaires, or can just post it to the mentioned address. In the case of online questionnaires, it can reach the intended management people very soon. Customer service strategy that could be implemented by Ralph and Momo The strategy of providing a questionnaire and asking the target customer base to provide feedbacks is an also a key part of a customer service strategy. Customers utilizing any product or services like the Guest houses can be enticed, if the management themselves take initiatives, before being approached by the client. As this questionnaire also had a pamphlet of the services offered by them, it could act as an effective customer service strategy. After the target customers are brought into the guest houses, another set of customer service strategy can be implemented. This strategy should mainly focus on fulfilling the two key necessities of relaxation and rejuvenation, by providing them with optimal ambience inside the rooms, clean and hygienic settings, food related services, spa facilities, etc. If all these things are incorporated as part of the customer service strategy, it can elevate the customers’ satisfaction levels. Budget plan for the implementation of a quality customer service system The above discussed customer service activities will entail sizable financial resources for Ralph and Momo. Firstly printing and distribution of the self-addressed questionnaires along with the pamphlet will need sizable budget allocations. As these two materials have to printed in high volumes, so to reach maximum prospective customer base, budgetary allocations has to be sizable. More than this, inside the guest houses, if the interiors are refurbished and improved with apt woodwork, glass work, electronic items, etc., along with furniture, it will lead to high budget allocations. Even the employment of personnel to handle questionnaire distribution and for the analysis of the collected data would make a cut in the budgets. Potential problems that could impact on the success of the guest house The success of the guest house could be negatively impacted, when the initial strove of customers express inadequacies regarding the facilities and importantly regarding the customers’ service. Customers will normally utilize new guest houses like Ralph and Momo’s one in Kingsley, based on the reviews or suggestions given by the earlier users, who could their friends, family, etc. In addition, they will utilize it, based on the reviews given by unknown earlier users in various media including websites, print, etc. If those reviews or comments are on negative lines, particularly in the initial stage itself, it will negatively affect the success of the Guest House. In addition, even if the other associated services like Spas and Restaurants are also not along expected lines and has visible deficiencies, it will cause problems for the existing customers in the guest house and also impeding the flow of new customers. Methods that Ralph and Momo could implement to promote their customer-service strategies to their various stakeholders The above discussed customer service strategies of eliciting customers’ response and giving them apt service will surely provide good results, irrespective of any stakeholders. That is, the key stakeholders who will impact the operations of the guest house are the customers and tour operators. Firstly, as being pointed out earlier, customers are the Kings of the this service sector, and they can aptly enticed through questionnaires and pamphlets, and by providing optimal service inside the guest house. Among the various mediums that can be used to promote, two can be used by Ralph and Momo and they are developing an effective official website and featuring advertisements in local newspapers. If the website features all the facilities available, and importantly the customers’ positive reviews about its features as well as the service of the staffs, it can promote the guest effectively. Resolving customer complaints A key part of customer service is resolving the complaints from the customer efficiently and quickly. In the case of guest houses, most of the customers could air their complaints to the staffs then and there. While other set of customers could go home, and air their complaints to the management, and importantly in public forums in the web or tourism related websites. Both these two sets of complaints have to be handled effectively by the customer service. Firstly, when the customer makes complaint against the services, while staying in the guest house, the relevant customer personnel should first listened to them patiently, without opposing them. However, when the customer is no mood to listen and is in a very aggressive state, the personnel can make him/her cut short their voicing of complaint with apt solutions. Either way, the personnel after listening to the complaints, should come up with solutions immediately, so the customer’s grievances is removed then and there. Then, to maximally preempt the customer from airing the complaints in the public, the customer service personnel, before the customer checks-out, could give them a questionnaire to fill or ask them in-person informally for their feedback. If the customer is willing to provide it, then also the personnel should listen to them and give them assurance that their grievances are taken into consideration, and it will be corrected immediately. This could make the customer avoid feeling averse towards the guest houses in future, thereby facilitating them to return back. Methods that should be used to monitor and report customer service performance The performance of the customer service is crucial for the success of any business particularly in the service industry like guest houses. All the above discussed customer services roles and tasks has to be preformed by the customer service personnel, so the customer has a relaxing and enjoyable stay in the guest house, without any complaints, so the can make return visits. This performance can be monitored by the HR department or the top management by studying the feedbacks given by the customers during their stay as well as after they check-out. As pointed out above, certain customers will give their feedback about the performance of customer service personnel then and there, and based on that feedback corrective measures or even action can be initiated against those personnel. Then, they could point out that in the feedback forms they will fill, when they leave the guest houses. These forms should be collected and submitted to the top management or HR department for steps. Process that promotes continuous improvement in customer service In addition to this customer centric monitoring, there should also be self-monitoring and evaluation, with the personnel being put through performance appraisal processes. By conducting performance appraisal at regular intervals, the employees have to be kept on their toes, so there is no slackening of their performance. Even certain negative issues are found during the appraisal; the management should provide apt options including training to solve those issues. Conclusion From the above analysis of Customer service perspective in the Kingsley Hills guest house of Ralph and Momo, it is clear that the guest house could cater to a specific customer segment, whose two key motivation to visit it is relaxation and rejuvenation. Because of that motivation, Ralph and Momo has to orient all its customer service plans including its interior ambience, food service, etc, etc. along those lines. If those plans are implemented and the customer service personnel are monitored, regarding whether they supported those plans, it can provide better services. Resource plan and the resources required to implement the Customer Service Plan From the above analysis, it is clear that the two main components or resources that need to be fulfilled as part of an optimal customer service plan, is the facilities and features inside the guest house, and then the customer service provided by the personnel. To optimize the facilities and features inside the guest house, key manpower resources and material resources is need. That is, the ambience, look, lighting, feel, etc., of the rooms can be elevated if a interior designer is brought in. It would be better if an interior designer who has previous work experience in hospitality industry particularly guest houses is selected. As the interior designers are experts in that, they can provide more ideas and themes, from which the best one can be selected. As they have previous work experience, they would have good knowledge about the facilities and the features, which the customers will normally like or dislike. Interior designers can also contribute good ideas while purchasing the furniture, and other technologies. Technological equipments could also add good ambience as well as purposes to the guest houses, which the customers will favor. If all these resources are sourced, the guest house can be made optimally enticing to the customers. On the same lines, if the customers are taken care through effective customer service, then also Ralph and Momo’s guest house can strike success. Being a new player in the Kingsley Hills, it needs a correct combination of experienced customer service personnel as well as fresher. That is, the top management or the HR department has to recruit personnel for the customer service by putting them through an effective recruitment process. Their communication skills, attitude and also presence of mind have to be tested before recruiting them. The experienced staffs are the key because they can take the lead and come up with all the organizational processes to be followed in discussion with the top management. As they have previous work experience in the same sector, they will maximally know about the intricacies of the customer service, and so their input is crucial. In addition, they can also train and prepare the fresher to handle the work processes. Once these two resources are sourced and applied aptly, it can provide Ralph and Momo good platform to initiate and carry out their operations. Induction of customer service team After the employees are recruited and apportioned to their respective jobs, the top management or the HR department should aptly initiate them into the work processes through an effective induction program. The successful implementation of a Customer Service plan in the Guest house requires the fullest commitment and performance from a trained, motivated team that have access to resources. They can be trained and motivated, if they are become fully aware of the work processes, or the services that will be offered to the customers. That is, the induction plan should describe the services offered by the guest house, the role of the customer service team, work practices to ensure quality customer service, complaint handling and resource usage. If the recruited employees are made aware of all these aspects, they can immediately start contributing their inputs. However, it may not be the case all the time, as certain employees could show underperformance in the initial period itself. So, once correct employees are recruited, they need to checked or appraised in regards to their performance, and if they lack something skill wise or knowledge wise, they need to be trained. For that, a training session for the customer service team at the Kingsley Hills Guest House has to be conducted by the experienced staffs or the superiors. During that training session, an overview of all the processes has to be provided to the personnel, followed by in-depth training in the processes, in which each of the employees has apprehension. As an extension of the induction program or even the training problem, employees can also be made to participate in coaching, mentoring and professional development opportunities. “Coaching and mentoring, whether on an executive level or for overall staff, are increasingly being recognized as important in employee development.” (impactfactory.com). When the employees with shortfalls are coached by an expert from outside or even in-house, they can equip their skills or knowledge. Then, if an experienced staff provides mentorship to a fresher, who is having difficulty, then also the fresher employee can learn a lot, and become more equipped. Thus, this induction program, which also extends to a training program, can make the recruited employees fully equipped to handle all the tasks by providing optimum performance. References “Coaching and Mentoring.” Impact Factory. Retrieved from: http://www.impactfactory.com/gate/coaching_mentoring_skills_training/freegate_1825-1104-1118.html Saleem, Hasan. (2007). How to Create a Customer Service Plan. Retrieved from: http://www.dirjournal.com/guides/how-to-create-a-customer-service-plan/ Read More