Due to the fragile economy and the similarities of product offerings, providing quality customer service is more important than ever for maintaining and growing a company. Providing quality customer service has a much more defined meaning and is different from providing "exceptional" customer service. Exceptional customer service is usually fulfilling a customer's needs based on one particular instance that may or may not be repeated. Providing quality customer service means meeting the material as well as the emotional needs of a customer before, during and after the initial purchase or contact and having sufficient processes in place where the same level of service is provided consistently. In other words, it is adopting the quality mindset as more of the company culture and part of the normal business practice rather than the exception. Meeting the material need is usually the easiest and the area that most companies focus on. This usually consist of replacing a damaged or failed item or taking it back and providing a refund or providing free shipping or waiving a fee. While these gestures or policies are well intended and are sometimes necessary the only meet one area of the customer's needs. The emotional needs of the customer are often overlooked and the customer walks away less than satisfied or worse yet, they leave without any reason to return or ever do business with the company again because they feel they were not treated as valued customer. Meeting the emotion needs is where many companies fall short on meeting the customers' expectations. A lot of today's employee's have lost that commitment to the company and do not add the personal touch. In general, employees today fail to take ownership of the issue ... ... middle of paper ... ... will also help develop a knowledge base for information sharing and help expedite improvements in products and resolving customer issues. There are not many differences in the products that are offered today. The automobiles, heavy equipment and material handling products of this generation are all built to a multitude of regulations that strongly influence their designs. With all of the government standards and regulations such as but not limited to (Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, American Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and Society of Automotive Engineers) that are required for manufacturers to comply with there is a lot of similarity of product offerings. This means that it is even more important than ever before for a company to step up and make every effort to be the quality customer service leader.
High levels of customer satisfaction will not guarantee future sales, but are more likely to result in repeat future sales than indifferent or poor customer service. Moreover, satisfied customers are more likely to try out other products/services in the firm’s range, or recommend it to friends and family. Build on customer loyalty Customer loyalty is valued highly by most businesses and can be
According to Business Studies ‘’Customer service is one of the most important ingredients of the marketing mix for products and services. High quality customer service helps to create customer loyalty. Customers today are not only interested in the product they are being offered but all the additional elements of service that they receive from the greeting they receive when they enter a retail outlet, to the refund and help that they receive when they have a complaint about a faulty product that they have paid for’’ (Business Studies, n.d).
The manager of baggage claims was attending his presentation and provided him with some insight on why he received the bad service during baggage claim. The manager tells him that he was forced to schedule less workers to make budget for the end of the month, which is a problem that most managers face today. Sasser believes that because there is no research being conducted on how the company is effected economically when they lose their loyal customers or the customers who have the potential to be loyal then they tend to make customer care or improvements to customer care a lower priority. If managers start considering the breakeven point they have to reach before customers actually start being profitable then they would increase their measures to improve their customer care to keep customers loyal to their business longer. Good customer service can take the slack off of a bad product. In an article Tabitha Naylor says “you see, if you have good customer service, people naturally assume you have good products” (Naylor,
One company that exhibits extraordinary understanding of how to emotionally cater to its’ target market is Dutch Bros. Coffee. Dutch Bros. is a drive-through coffee shop that promotes ideas of enthusiasm, positivity, and prosperity in its’ company’s mission statement (Dutch Bros, n.d.). Dutch Bros. places a strong emphasis on personally connecting with the consumer through its’ employees and product. Not only does Dutch Bros. have an incredibly high customer satisfaction rate, but its’ customers consistently return because of the positive emotional experience they receive during their interaction with the company. Dutch Bros. Coffee depicts the success a company can have when it takes the time to carefully listen to and invest in its’
First, when shopping, a big factor that will impact a customer 's experience is the customer service. Whether it’s from a simple “hello”, or an employee going out
The key success to any business transaction is customer satisfaction. A customer always demands the best service and in return offers the company their loyalty. The key to this; great customer service. Smile at the customer, speak to them with a polite tone, and adjust your body language to make it friendly and approachable; all these are related to the concept of emotional labour. Emotional labour proposes that in order to ensure customer satisfaction is achieved, it is vital for “managers or employers to regulate or manage employee’s behaviour or emotional expressions to ensure service quality” (Chu 2002). The concept of emotional labour was first developed by Arlie Hochschild, who was an organizational sociologist. Hochschild stated that if an employee was employed in a service field, then it would be required from the employee to “to display specific sets of emotions (both verbal and non-verbal) with the aim of inducing particular feelings and responses among those for whom the service is being provided”(Hochschild 1983).
Zeithaml, V., Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. (1990). Delivering quality service: balancing customer perceptions and expectations. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster.
Customer service is valued as a competitive tool by many organisations. It gives you the ability to gain customer loyalty while meeting the customer’s expectations. Staff will have many skills and knowledge that will provide a competitive edge. Most organisations are known for the quality of their customer service. This means that they are known for good customer service or poor customer service. However, being known for good customer service will attract customers. It will also attract customers who are usually hard to reach.
Emotional Labor (EL) is defined “as managing emotions through surface or deep acting by following organizational display rules in return for a wage.” (Hochschild 1983). Task performance and strategy is increased through EL and it has impact on administration of service.
Our interactions with the customer, the promises made to the customer in these conversations, the customer's expectations generated in these conversations, and the actions we take that are consistent with those expectations combine to produce a declaration of satisfaction when we ask.
There are many skills and techniques to learn before a business can have excellent customer service. If you are not putting the customer first and putting all else aside, it will show and slowly you will lose business. Learning how to speak positively, exhibit inviting body language, and listen actively are just a few of the skills that need to be taught to all employees that deal with customers. By providing adequate training and using that knowledge to the best of your ability, you can have the best customer relationships and a loyal following that could open new doors for new customers or even new stores. Giving outstanding customer service is a requirement if you want to keep your business open and prospering.
Customer Service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. The perception of success of such connections is subject to workers "who can modify themselves to the identity of the visitor". Customer service concerns the need an association relegates to customer service in respect to segments, for example, item development and valuing. In this sense, an association that esteems good customer service may spend more cash in preparing representatives than the normal association or may proactively interview customers for feedback.
Consumers are concerned not only about a product breaking down but also about the time before service is restored, the timeliness with which service appointments are kept, the nature of dealings with service personnel, and the frequency with which service calls or repairs fail to correct outstanding problems. In those cases where problems are not immediately resolved and complaints are filed, a company’s complaint-handling procedures are also likely to affect customers’ ultimate evaluation of product and service quality.
When organization always provide high-quality products and good services, customer will create their satisfaction and increased customer loyalty.
The restaurant industry has become quite competitive in recent times. In an effort to cut costs restaurants are taking serious measures to improve their performance in relation to their competitors. Two of the most important steps that restaurants have undertaken in recent years are: