Customer Service

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Created for Colin Pukeiti

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Contents Executive Summary: 1.1 Reasons for using customer service policies. Current Customer Service policy of Café Fusion: 1.2 Evaluation of CSP and how this affects staff training. 2.1 Communication Methods for CS. 2.2 Customer perception and the influence of Customer service provision. Conclusion: Recommendations: Bibliography

Executive Summary:

1 Reasons for using customer service policies.

Customer service is the provision of service to customers throughout the course of each customer interaction with the organisation. Customer service is used to promote and improve the image of an organisation to the customer, and is an important factor is determining the initial and long term perception of organisation or product.
A policy is created in order to allow all employees to understand and articulate goals and intentions that an organisation or product has to the customer, also known as a “Mission Statement”, it embodies the “Soul” of the company. It should be the opener for any new business as it is used to expand and to create the culture of a brand, an opening statement allows further elaboration towards a deeper spreading of ideas and pathways.
The Coffee club’s vision is ‘To be a global leader in retail food, coffee and franchising’, using this statement as the starting point, they elaborate further down by telling us, the customer, how they can achieve this with 3 simple yet effective steps below. (The Coffee Club)
As a simple customer reading this, a bar of expectation has been set, when going to The Coffee Club, one must expect good food, great service and excellent coffee. If those standards have been met or have been exceeded, a positive impression will have been established, creating a relationship between the customer and the brand, which in turn will have increased the chance of further interaction between the two parties.
If consumers feel that the promised standards are considerably lower than advertised, the feeling will be in the opposite direction and can slander and devalue company image, ‘a typical business will only hear from four percent of its dissatisfied customers’ ‘A typical dissatisfied customer will tell 8 or 10 about his or her problem’ (The Entrepreneur’s Guidebook Series). “If you can do only one thing for your customer, it would be “listen & understand my needs”. This was the top request for all those surveyed by some margin.” (Kiwihost LTD). A policy based on this principle will create more satisfied customers than your competitors while generating customer loyalty, increasing the value and worth of your brand, increased reputation and best of all, following the policy will generate word-of-mouth advertisement, which will save you advertisement fees and increase overall profits.

As said in (51 Developing a Customer Service Plan, The Entrepreneur 's Guidebook Series) a list of customer service maxims that businesses should use to help and inspire the creation of their own CSP, use the policies that seem to capture the essence of what the business will become, also good for using company slogan and mission statement.
Customers...
Are human beings like us and need to be treated like friends and guests.
Are kings and we are their servants
Are our employers and we are the employees.
Are people first, business second.
Are the most important people we serve.
Become the best source of advertising and marketing when satisfied.
Bring us their needs; it is our job to fulfil them to the best of our ability.
Customers deserve what is best for them even if its not necessarily what is best for us.

If our business follows these maxims or philosophies, we will increase revenue, income, customer base, reputation, customer loyalty and it will become a very successful business that everyone welcomes into their lives.

2 Evaluation of CSP and how this affects staff training.

There are many ways of evaluating customer service policies, the most common one is to distribute customer response cards and surveys at the point of sale. We can also send out questionnaires on a quarterly basis, if we have an online database online surveys can also be used. Using mystery shoppers to observe the service first-hand is also another method. And lastly resolving any customer complaints quickly and efficiently to their satisfaction.
The easiest and most common evaluation method is a customer response card, having it given out at the point of sale ensures the answers will be fresh in the customers minds and also ensure they are quick and easy to answer questions as not to take up time or cause irritation. For example “how was the service”, is an easy to answer question and will not take up a customer’s precious time.
Sending out questionnaires on a timed basis is also another good way to gather valuable feedback. Questionnaires are best used to assess products and service satisfaction, and also a good way to ask a large body of clients what changes a store could make to its stock or inventory.
Mystery shoppers are a great way to observe and evaluate the service of an establishment and the effectiveness of its policies from a customer point of view. Mystery shoppers are hired by the employer of the business and are personally unknown to the staff; it is used as an unbiased source of evaluation of performance standards, such as attentiveness, politeness, problem-solving and the ability to deal with conflicts.
From all these sources of evaluation management can source the root of problems or work on areas that require improvement. With those results, management can adjust the level of staff that is hired appropriately and increase standards overall.
The feedback also allows businesses to update and improve on further staff training, managers can assess how aware staff are of the importance of relationships with the customers. Ongoing training allows staff to be experts in their areas allowing for efficient and high quality work produced.
Incentives also help out with improvement of overall atmosphere, bonuses and vouchers will create opportunities for employees to create a competitive atmosphere where they are fighting over the offering of high quality service and allows an overflowing of eagerness to the customers and creates a welcoming feeling.

(rough diagram of the cycle of evaluation)

2.1 Communication Methods for CS.

As defined, it is “the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.” (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Communication is the most important skill that every business should focus on. ‘ a survey of Christchurch businesses found that communication was most often rated as the most useful skill’ (Sutton, 2003). There are many different ways of communicate to customers now and as the world evolves there will be an increased demand of exceptional service in any field.
There are five forms of communication. Firstly intrapersonal communication is when you talk with or within yourself, for example when you are doing a presentation and need to psych yourself. Secondly interpersonal communication is when you communicate with others, for example the opening sentence. Then we have group communication in which a speaker is communicating with a group of people, for example a lecture of a professor. Also there is public communication where you interact with huge audiences of people, and lastly mass communication with the use of media to inform, entertain and to persuade.
Most of the communication within Cafe Fusion is non-verbal, “seeing is believing” (an American idiom). It is what you do not say but show to the customer that has the most impact. From when the customer walks into the business area, to when he/she leaves everything inside provides the customer signals to their brain, making perceptions and assumptions.
As you walk into cafe fusion, the information that I personally received is that it is a laid back and basic business, the “vibe” it exudes is neutral. To run a successful business one must create a positive “vibe” or environment so the customer can feel comfortable and at home. It can be done by having clean walls, clean tables, tidy area, a warm colour scheme, a smile and straight posture, a simple and friendly greeting.

2.2 Customer perception and the influence of Customer service provision.
‘Your perception of something is the way that you think about it or the impression you have of it’ (Collins Cobuild Learners Dictionary)
A successful perception of such interactions will be dependent on employees "who can adjust themselves to the personality of the guest," according to Micah Solomon in (Buchanan, 2011), an employee who moulds him/herself to the customer will be successful in creating revenue, as the customer will have a positive perception.
“Hi, welcome to Cafe Fusion, how may I help you today.” This simple sentence is invaluable when creating customer perception, as it is the first major contact with the brand. "If I read you a long list of spices—cinnamon, marjoram, turmeric, etc.—you would remember the ones at the beginning and at the end," said by Solomon, that’s how customers remember their service. The opening should be a warm friendly greeting and we must have the customers at hello.
Grabbing their attention and then using the momentum to provide them with outstanding service when they are selecting or making their purchases is also very important. The way in which the employees uses their body language also affects the perceptions like slouching, or messy dress code also will affect the perception, as this links back to the CSP, we must ensure that all employees are uniform in appearance.
After we have provided them with a good service and they have received their beverages and food, we must have them at goodbye. A good way is to make sure the exchange of money or signing of the card is not the last interaction with the customer, as said above, what customers will remember is the beginning and the end, so therefore as employees we must end with a simple sentence on the line of, “We look forward to seeing you again.” This allows the experience of the customers to be complete and a complete service, start to finish, is given to the customer.
Every good perception leads to customer loyalty and customers will enlighten others with their experience and customer base will continue to expand, saving costs from the free advertising.
Major Coffee chains do not require much advertisement as i have noted, all it needs is its customer loyalty created by its culture and service.

A simple chart of value for money to service comparison, of customers surveyed from (http://www.canstarblue.co.nz)

Conclusion:

Recommendations: 1 Have a full time barista/short order cook that can be the head staff trainer to help out in busy times as service is slow at around lunch times 2 A new name to symbolize a new opening and new style, fUsion a capital U symbolizing that it is about “U” the customer 3 Create some seasonal drinks, for example cold frappes or iced coffees as not serving those are removing alot of the target crowd 4 Loyalty cards are an excellent way for getting customers to return, as it feels like they are getting good value 5 A cafe happy hour, where all drinks are cheaper 6 Flyers to all the apartments promoting a 1st drink free of charge 7 Making a large sign on the ground floor indication that cafe fusion is upstairs and opened 8 Facebook page, 9 A collaboration with food courts where if they buy a meal at the food court, they can receive a cheap coffee up in cafe fusion 10 Deliveries for nearby apartments 11 Have all general meet ups by staff/students to be set at cafe fusion 12 Weekend buffet barbeque with sausages, coffees, baked goods, small sandwiches 13 More cold snacks as they are easier to prep than hot foods 14 Clean up all the outside poles, and repaint them, as they look drab and shabby 15 Uniform tables and chairs 16 A better stereo system and a good selection of music 17 Special days once a week, maybe butler uniforms, maid uniforms, cosplay dress ups creating a different environment

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Bibliography
51 Developing a Customer Service Plan, The Entrepreneur 's Guidebook Series. (n.d.). Retrieved march 29, 2013, from The Small Town Business Network: http://www.smbtn.com/books/gb51.pdf
Buchanan, L. (2011). A Customer Service Makeover. Inc. Magazine , 1-3. hamlett, C. (n.d.). how to evaluate customer service. Retrieved march 29, 2013, from ehow.com: http://www.ehow.com/how_5602538_evaluate-customer-service.html
Oxford University Press. (2013). Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
Sutton, C. (2003). Effective Business Communication in New Zealand. In S. O. Phil Chase, Effective Business Communication in New Zealand (pp. 1-13). Auckland: Pearson Education New Zealand.
The Coffee Club. (n.d.). Missions and Core Values. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from The Coffee Club: http://www.thecoffeeclub.co.nz/mission_core_values

Bibliography: 51 Developing a Customer Service Plan, The Entrepreneur 's Guidebook Series. (n.d.). Retrieved march 29, 2013, from The Small Town Business Network: http://www.smbtn.com/books/gb51.pdf Buchanan, L. (2011). A Customer Service Makeover. Inc. Magazine , 1-3. hamlett, C. (n.d.). how to evaluate customer service. Retrieved march 29, 2013, from ehow.com: http://www.ehow.com/how_5602538_evaluate-customer-service.html Oxford University Press. (2013). Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Sutton, C. (2003). Effective Business Communication in New Zealand. In S. O. Phil Chase, Effective Business Communication in New Zealand (pp. 1-13). Auckland: Pearson Education New Zealand. The Coffee Club. (n.d.). Missions and Core Values. Retrieved March 29, 2013, from The Coffee Club: http://www.thecoffeeclub.co.nz/mission_core_values