2.1 & 2.2 - Customer Care Service

Question 1

What are the five main features of good customer care?

Answer 1

• Putting the customer first
• Communicating with the customer effectively
• Ensuring that the staff are knowledgeable about products and services
• Providing a good after-sales service
• Dealing with complaints effectively

Question 2

What should be covered by the complaints procedure?

Answer 2

• All complaints should be taken seriously, logged and given a reference number
• Staff who deal with complaints should be trained appropriately
• All complaints should be acknowledged in some way and some indication of the next steps should be outlined
• Clear timelines should be given to customers and an indication of how long they should expect to wait for a response
• The results of the complaint should be communicated to the customer as soon as possible

Question 3

What are the benefits of good and consequences of poor customer care?

Answer 3

Good customer care

• high staff morale and motivation, which increases productivity
• low staff turnover as staff will want to stay in an organisation where there are not many customer complaints - this also makes is easier to recruit new staff
• Increase in sales/profit/revenue for the organisation
• satisfied customers will also recommend the organisation to others
• Good reputation
• Competitive edge in the market place
• Increased market shares

Bad Customer Care

• demotivated staff and low staff morale, resulting in poor working relationships, low productivity and ultimately high staff turnover
• Dissatisfied customers who will not return and will not recommend to others therefore the business will fail to attract new customers
• Loss of competitive edge
• Decrease in market shares
• Difficult to rebuild reputation
• Downfall of the organisation due to bad publicity

Question 4

Describe methods a company could use to gather information about customer satisfaction

Answer 4

• Mystery shoppers: someone who is employed to act as a customer and report back on the service they receive
• Satisfaction surveys: A way of collecting information directly from customers. Come in the form of questionnaires, telephone surveys, interviews and online surveys
• Customer focus groups: A face-to-face meeting with a group of customers to allow them to provide first-hand feedback to an organisation on goods and service
• Loyalty cards: Used to reward customers for their loyalty to an organisation by giving them points that can be exchanged for rewards
• Market research: The process of collecting information and feedback about what customers think about the organisation and improvements that can be made. Market research can either be primary (first-hand) or secondary (second-hand, already exists).

Question 5

What is a service level agreement and what does it include?

Answer 5

An agreement between the organisation and the customer that describes what the organisation promises to do and what the customer can expect. It can allow an organisation to see what their standards are and if they do not meet them the reason why they failed. Can be used for both internal and external customers.

Includes the following aspects:

• How the organisation will deliver on promises
• What will happen if the organisation fails to deliver on its promises
• The responsibilities of both the organisation and the customer
• Any hidden or extra costs

Question 6

What are the benefits of good and consequences of poor customer care?

Answer 6

Good customer care

• high staff morale and motivation, which increases productivity
• low staff turnover as staff will want to stay in an organisation where there are not many customer complaints - this also makes is easier to recruit new staff
• Increase in sales/profit/revenue for the organisation
• satisfied customers will also recommend the organisation to others
• Good reputation
• Competitive edge in the market place
• Increased market shares

Bad Customer Care

• demotivated staff and low staff morale, resulting in poor working relationships, low productivity and ultimately high staff turnover
• Dissatisfied customers who will not return and will not recommend to others therefore the business will fail to attract new customers
• Loss of competitive edge
• Decrease in market shares
• Difficult to rebuild reputation
• Downfall of the organisation due to bad publicity
• Increase in the number of complaints the organisation has to deal with

Question 7

Benefits of dealing with customer care face-to-face

Answer 7

• Opportunity is given for immediate feedback to questions or queries to be provided
• If there is anything that is unclear then it can be clarified straightaway
• Gives the opportunity for interaction between the customer and the employee
• Allows the employee to clarify any problems the customer has through a demonstration
• Face-to-face is most appropriate when dealing with matters of a confidential or sensitive nature
• Allows the body language of the client/customer to be read which can gage how best to deal with the situation (helps to diffuse difficult situations)
• Provides the organisation with the opportunity to make the customer feel valued and build a good relationship between the two. This in turn will develop customer loyalty