Creating a culture of Customer Care Essay

1. Good customer care is vital for the success of the centre as the businesses success revolves around the customers, without the customers there would be no business. The benefits for the business of good customer care are – * It gains a positive reputation (which means that people will spread through word of mouth that they received excellent customer service and will recommend the business to their friends and family) * Creates a client base ( Builds a relationship between the client and the business) * Repeat Business (Customers will be so pleased with the high quality of the service provided to them that they will return in the future and recommend the business to family and friends. The benefits to the staff are – * Incentives/bonuses ( for their hard work, commitment to the company and providing excellent customer service to customers) * Job security/ promotions/less pay offs and redundancies ( As the client base expands, the manager of the business may promote people due to their hard work or provide them with job security. The benefits for the customer are – * Satisfaction (The customer would be happy with the product or service provided by the business and feel like a valued customer, they would the return to the business and build a relationship with the business, therefore resulting in them feeling a certain loyalty to the business and purchasing from them often and recommending them to friends and family. * Aftercare ( If there are any problems with the product, the business can provide a solution such as an exchange, refund, advice and returns etc. 2. Internal customers are departments or co-workers within an organisation that may help or give information to other departments to help provide a product or service to an external customer. (E.g. human resources, funding, credit control, stakeholders, employees, shareholders) External customer is a person or business who is not directly linked to the business and is interested in the business and would like to purchase goods or services from the business. (E.g. joiner, builder, consumer, student) The connection between the internal customer and external customer is called the chain of service. The better you treat your internal customers, the better external service you will get. 3. The organisational structure and management best suited to supporting effective customer care is a shorter and flatter one as it allows an easy flow of communication (chain of command) there are less people to consult with and the chance of miscommunication if lower than in a tall structure. It will support effective customer care as the lower level employees can give direct feedback from the customers to management easily and complaints can be dealt with quickly and promptly, it will help the business improve and grow and the customers will gain satisfaction as there feedback will be heard. 4. Empowerment is giving the lower level employees the initiative and power to make decisions on their own without consulting a manager or higher ranking employee within boundaries. It gives the employee a sense of power and save the employees troubling superiors and pulling them from their important duties. It can increase profit within the business and give employees more responsibility. Empowerment helps achieve good customer service as it gives the employees the power to make decisions a high ranked employee would, it gives the employee confidence and authority. It prevents the customer standing around while the employee consults with a manager about a decision that’s to be made and it gives the customer faith in the employee as the employee doesn’t have to consult a manager. Total quality management is an approach that seeks improvement of quality and performance which will exceed or match the customers expectations. The flatter the organisational structure the more empower that employees will receive therefore giving them a higher level of responsibility and decision making, which relieves the managers of the tasks of making less important decisions. 5. The key factors that will contribute to excellent customer service within the visitor centre are – * Staff (staff that have the knowledge to assist and treat customers, have attended regular training courses, are friendly and willing to help) * Feedback forms ( for customers to complete so that the business can see how the improve their customer service so they can strive to do better) * Events/Fun days ( to encourage new clients/visitors) * Customer Aftercare (exchanges, returns and refunds) * Leaflets (alerting visitors of different events that will be taking places) * Following up telephone calls/ emails * Product knowledge * Advice on purchases The strategies that I would suggest for dealing with complaints would be – Let a trained member of staff knowledgeable(empathetic, compassionate and sympathetic) that deals with complaints to deal with the customer. * Log complaint * Apologize for the inconvenience * Propose a solution * Offer compensation Face to face * Let a trained member of staff knowledgeable(empathetic, compassionate and sympathetic) that deals with complaints to deal with the customer. * Take customer into a private room ( to provide them with privacy and confidentiality) * Log the complaint * Apologize for the inconvenience * Propose a solution * Offer compensation Customer Aftercare is the care that the customer receives after they make a purchase (good or service) with a company. Customer care includes returns, refunds, exchange and warranty. Customer Aftercare contributes to improving the levels of customer satisfaction because if the customer is unsatisfied about a product or service that has been provided to them, they can them receive a refund, exchange the goods or exchange it for another good. They will be satisfied with the aftercare they have received and return to the business in the future as they had a good experience. Customer aftercare is vital as it is a part of customer service; it’s the company’s way of showing commitment to their customer service. Examples of customer aftercare are follow up phone calls, text messages or online surveys, this is vital to the business as they can gather feedback on customer service, products, alert customers on upcoming events, sales, special offers and measure customer satisfaction. Customers then feel like their opinion matters and feel valued.