SITXCCS008

Develop and manage quality

customer service practices
WHS
• Fire exits
• Fire extinguishers
• First aid
• In a case of emergency, follow evacuation guide
and remain calm
• Taking breaks
Getting to know you
• Get to know the person seated next to you
• Find out 3 interesting things about the
person seated next to you
• Share what you know to the class
Develop quality customer service practices

1.1 Obtain information

on customer needs,
expectations and
satisfaction levels using
both formal and
informal research
Customer service and sales
The time and effort spent by businesses developing their customer
service approach can have positive implications on sales levels.

For those who are impressed with the treatment they have received,
they might be inclined to recommend your products and services to
others.
Analysis of competitive environment

You might decide to establish the following about competitors:

• What have they done to improve their service?
• What share of the market do they hold?
• Is there anything your competitors are doing that could be applied to
your organisation to improve customer satisfaction?
Keeping track of competitors

Actions to keep on track of competitors:

• Watch their social network activity
• Speak to your customers
• Visit your competitors directly
• Hire your competition.
 Customer service surveys
Examples of surveys that you could use include:
• Personal interviews - questioning takes place face-to-face
• Postal surveys – handing customers surveys to complete or sending
them directly to them
• Telephone interviews – speaking to customers over the phone
• Internet surveys – sending the customer an online survey to complete.
Customer focus groups

A focus group is a method of qualitative research whereby participants

are questioned about their perceptions, expectations, or needs
regarding a particular topic, product or service. Conducting a focus
group enables respondents to expand on each other’s answers,
potentially providing more detail than individual interviews.
Seeking feedback from service delivery
colleagues
Meetings could take place where feedback is passed on to employees
about how they could improve their customer service approach or
individuals could ask their colleagues for feedback when they feel it is
necessary.

Meetings can also help to identify customer complaints.

Customer needs and expectations
Common customer needs and expectations include:
• Friendliness
• Empathy
• Fairness
• Clear instructions and information
• Options and alternatives.
Activity 1A
Develop quality customer service practices

1.2 Provide
opportunities for
customers and staff to
give feedback on
products and services
Importance of gaining feedback

Feedback is important for the following reasons:

• It can enable you to improve on products or services
• It can help with the developing a product
• It allows you to measure customer satisfaction
• It enables you to improve experiences in the future, making it easier
to retain customers
• It can provide you with useful business data.
Gaining feedback from staff

Employees on the front line will have detailed knowledge about the
goods or services being provided by your organisation, and are likely to
have their own opinions about which goods and services are of good
quality and which are not.

A useful opportunity to discuss service and product quality among staff

members is at meetings.
Suggesting product improvements

Improving products can be based on:

• Customers involved in complaints or disputes
• Information provided by suppliers
• Advice and suggestions from staff, supervisors and managers.
Activity 1B
Develop quality customer service practices

1.3 Review changes in

internal and external
environments and
integrate findings into
planning for quality
service
Management changes and organisational
restructures
Changes can occur for the following reasons:
• If there is a vast growth in sales, new management structures may be
required with new divisions or departments
• If a service suddenly becomes very popular
• The merging or amalgamation of two firms
• The promotion or downgrading in role of individuals.
 Recruitment practices
You may consider the following when assessing potential employees:
• Does the person have a positive attitude?
• Can you identify empathy in the voice of the person?
• Have they maintained a job role in the past for a reasonable length of
time?
• Can the candidate demonstrate high attention to detail?
Trends in customer service preferences

It is vital to keep on top of customer preferences. This may be in

relation to both their expectations from a product or service or their
needs when communicating with employees.

Changes to preferences may include for example the type of feedback

that people expect to receive from queries or complaints.
Economic climate

Financial information that you may need to monitor could include:

• Budgets
• Ratio analysis
• Budget forecasts
• Cash flow statements
• Profit and loss statement
• Balance sheets
• Investment and liability reports.
Introduction of new technologies or
equipment
Consider the following before introducing new technologies:
• Is the new technology compatible with existing technologies?
• How will the workforce react to the changes?
• Will there be any difficulties caused in the changeover from old to
new technologies?
• What are the short term and long term financial implications of the
technologies?
Activity 1C
Develop quality customer service practices

1.4 Provide
opportunities for staff to
participate in
development of
customer service
practices
Meetings

You could organise meetings at regular intervals to both seek and

provide feedback to employees about customer service.

Any customer complaints in relation to the service provided could also

be brought forward.
Including staff members

Situations where staff members can be included in the development

of practices:
• The development of staff training
• Discussion about customer services in meetings
• Speaking individually to staff members about how to improve
customer services
• Asking for feedback when creating new policies and procedures.
Activity 1D
Develop quality customer service practices

1.5 Develop policies and

procedures for quality
service provision
Developing policies and procedures

Consider the following when developing policies and procedures:

• Current workplace policies and procedures
• Feedback from staff members
• Feedback from customers
• Policies and procedures implemented by competitors
• Regulatory requirements related to your industry.
Activity 1E
Manage delivery of quality service

2.1 Communicate
policies, procedures and
expectations to staff

2.2 Make policies readily

available to customers
and staff
Communicating to staff

The most significant stakeholder to inform the changes to is staff

members.
Methods of communicating to staff members include:
• Speaking to employees individually
• In group meetings or briefings
• Through e-mail
• In letters or notes.
Making policies available

When documenting policies, procedures and expectations, remember

the following:
• Make sure that they are understood by those using them
• Ensure that any writing, tables or diagrams are legible
• Confirm that there are no mistakes in the documents
• Encourage staff and customers to suggest any changes to the policies
and procedures in order to heighten customer satisfaction.
Activity 2A
Manage delivery of quality service

2.3 Monitor customer

service in the workplace
to ensure standards are
met
Reviewing written correspondence

Any forms of communication to customers that involve writing could

be reviewed. This might include letters, e-mails, social media
communication or live chat records.

The data should be assessed to establish if customer service is to the

required standard.
 Monitoring phone calls
Aspects of phone calls to monitor include:
• The greeting, which should be consistent across the organisation to
increase professionalism
• Providing an identification
• Clarifying what it is the customer wants
• Providing a competent response
• Detailing how the query or request will be responded to
• A polite closing of the call.
Hiring a ‘quality inspector’

Benefits of having a quality inspector include:

• They will have a detailed knowledge of customer service skills
• They can prevent unsatisfactory customer service going unnoticed
• It can alleviate the issue of employees not bringing forward issues
• Inspectors may notice common problems and could discuss them at
team meetings or organise appropriate training.
Looking at complaints
Assessing the numbers and types of complaints that your company has
received can act as a useful point of information for customer service
levels.

Be careful not to automatically view an increase in complaints as a sign

that customer service levels have dropped though.
Activity 2B
Manage delivery of quality service

2.4 Initiate staff training

to enhance customer
service
Meetings

You could organise meetings at regular intervals to both seek and

provide feedback to employees about customer service.

Any customer complaints in relation to the service provided could also

be brought forward.
Mentoring

Mentoring is a method that can be used within businesses to support

professional development. This usually takes place between two
individuals.

The ‘mentor’ is normally an experienced individual who has a lot of

knowledge about the industry, while the ‘mentee’ is less experienced
and requires support.
Internal training
Internal training involves staff members taking part in activities and
sessions in groups.

Practicing active listening involves the following:

• Clarification
• Paraphrasing
• Reflecting feelings
• Summarizing.
Activity 2C
Manage delivery of quality service

2.5 Take responsibility

for service outcomes
and dispute resolution

2.6 Act as a positive role

model for professional
standards expected of
service industry
personnel
Identifying responsibilities

Examples of responsibilities when resolving disputes:

• Passing information about complaints on to other members of staff
• Reporting complaints to senior management
• Actions for providing refunds
• Providing customers with alternate products or services when their
preferred choice is not available.
Setting a positive example

Acting as a positive role important because:

• It sets a standard for other works to follow
• Staff members often look to managers for inspiration
• It can help to build respect between staff lower down the hierarchy
and managers seeing as the managers are modelling the behaviour
they are asking of others
• Customers can often take the behaviour of a manager or senior
member of staff as a representation of the entire organisation.
Activity 2D
Monitor and adjust customer service

3.1 Seek ongoing

feedback from staff and
customers to improve
performance
Seeking information from staff

You could seek information on the following:

• The length of time it takes dealing with customers:
o during standard interaction
o after an inquiry is made
o following a complaint
o preparing customer environment
• Customer feedback they have received
• Job satisfaction.
Feedback from customers

You may want to find out the following:

• How would they rate different aspects of customer service?
• Do they feel that any complaints were handled appropriately?
• Were they satisfied with the response to any queries?
• Have they been informed about pricing and service guarantees?
Activity 3A
Monitor and adjust customer service

3.2 Assess effectiveness

of customer service
practices
Assessing effectiveness of practices

Effectiveness could be determined based on:

• Responses from staff
• Findings from quality supervisor
• Data from customer surveys
• Monitoring phone calls
• Reviewing written correspondence with customers
• Looking at sales figures
• Viewing customer complaints
• Benchmarking.
Activity 3B
Monitor and adjust customer service

3.3 Identify systemic

customer service
problems and adjust
policies and procedures
to improve service
quality
Systemic customer service problems

Systemic errors may involve:

• Faults with the website of company, such as:
o users not being able to log in
o difficulties with ordering and/or booking
o issues with customers entering data, such as their address
o problems with cancellations
• Items being delivered to the wrong address
• Loyalty programs not being updated.
Activity 3C
Monitor and adjust customer service

3.4 Develop, document

and communicate new
approaches to customer
service to staff involved
in service delivery
Developing new approaches

Based on all the feedback you have received in relation to customer

service delivery following the implementation of new or revised
policies and procedures, you may find it is necessary to develop new
approaches.
Communicating new approaches to staff

You should let staff know about the following:

• The details of new approaches
• Why there has been a need for alteration
• Data received from customer and staff feedback
• How any changes will impact on their role
• What training they will require to gain the skills needed to deliver
new approaches.
Activity 3D
Summative Assessments

Summative assessments consist of:

• Skills assessment
• Knowledge assessment
• Performance assessment.

Your assessor will provide you with further guidance on how and
where to complete these assessments.
 Summary and Feedback

• Did we meet our objectives?

• How did you find this session?
• Any questions?