Customer ServiceExcellence

Week 12

Katherine Mutter BA, DMS, MCIM, MSc,

PGCE, Chartered Marketer

Strategic Levels of Decision Making

Corporate strategyBusiness or

competitive strategyMarketing strategy

Business portfolio

Acquisitions/mergers

Extent of diversity

Degree of control

of subsidiaries

Corporate growth /

shareholder return

Corporate governance

Competitive strategy

Sustainable competitive

advantage

Competition or

co-operation

Managing volatility

Building competences

and assets

Operations strategy

Business orientation

Innovation

Protect and maintain

Market penetration

Market development

Product development

and portfolio strategy

Diversification

Brand/positioning

strategy

Communication strategy

Channel strategy

Service strategy

Delivering sources

of value

Tesco’s Mission

“Create value for customers, to earn their lifetime

loyalty”

Focus on customer

Deliver to its “every little helps” promise

Reward (loyalty) card

Home shopping

New format stores

Brand experience

Business strategy and brand strategy are almost

inseparable

“The

customer

is always right”

Principles of Customer Retention

80% of satisfied customers will consider defecting

True loyalty has to be earned not bought

Perception is reality

Sustaining customer loyalty over time requires:

- continuous understanding of what your customers

expect and value

- measuring this constantly

- responding and delivering to these expectations

Cost

How much does it cost you to service your customer?

Is it worth more?

Are staff empowered to make decisions with

regard to service recovery even if it costs money?

What is the cost to you of losing a customer?

How much does it cost to gain one?

Organisation Aspects of Service

Quality

Customer

Orientation

Organisation

Culture

Structure

Staff

Standards

Style

Strategy

Systems

Training

Recruitment

Retention

Empowerment

Employee satisfactionSenior Management

Mission VisionInternal

Marketing Communication

Service Marketing

“Service marketing is a total organisational

approach that makes quality of service, as

perceived by the customer, the number one

driving force for the operations of the

business.”

Moments of truth

At Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) it is estimated that each year staff come into contact, for an average of 15 seconds, with 10 million customers around 5 times. As their President reflects:“Thus, SAS is created in the minds of our

customers 50 million times a year, 15 seconds at a time. They are the

moments when we must prove to our customers that SAS is the best

alternative.”

Designing the Customer Experience

Customer Experience Blueprint

Map

the customer

experience

Identify

customer

expectations

and priorities

Surface

implementation

issues

Create

final

BCE

blueprint

Observation

• Touch point

mapping

Customer focus

groups

• Expectations

• Priorities

Employee focus

groups

• Identify issues

and constraints

Executive

Approval

• Plan and

implement

The customer journey

Identifies key processes at the customer interface

Understanding of these processes can enable improvements to be made to ensure positive experiences

Helps clarify customer needs and preferences Information is gathered and stored – feeds

into:◦ Development of processes

◦ Staff training◦ Product/service development

Customer care programmes

Identifies customers

Establishes needs

Identifies what they want in terms of service

Sets standards

Monitors service regularly against standards

Takes action to improve

“We are manic about quality. Every sandwich is made

on-site, in the branch, that very day it is to be sold – not

in some factory a 100 miles away. That can mean 1500

to 2000 sandwiches – and the preparation of those

fillings – being produced in a branch to a rigorous

standard – for example, „is there butter right up to the

edges of the bread?‟ --- but, and this is the key, by

people who care as I do about the customers experience

of that sandwich.”

Julian Metcalfe – Chief Executive

Pret a Manger

Measuring the Branded Customer Experience

Inputs Outputs

People

Product / Service

Process

Employee

satisfaction

Differentiation

Process

efficiency

• Customer

satisfaction

• Customer

advocacy

• Sales

• Share of

wallet

• Repeat

purchase

• Referrals

• Revenue

growth

• Market

share

• Profitably

• Shareholder

value

Customer

experience

Customer

behaviour

Customer

growth goals

Measuring Service QualityParasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml 1990

SERVQUAL

Five service

quality

dimensions

• Tangibles

• Reliability

• Responsiveness

• Assurance

• Empathy

Customer

expectations

of excellent

firms in the

specific

service sector

Customer

perceptions

of the

organisation

being

evaluated

Measurement

Other Service Quality Measures

Customer satisfaction surveys

Mystery shopping

Complaints records

Focus groups / interviews

Employee surveys

Process performance measures

Specific issues

Volunteers – important stakeholder group Newsletter example

“People from higher income households are more likely to volunteer” (www.statistics.gov.uk)

“Volunteers are the key to successful fundraising” ( Institute of Fundraising January 2009)

“People change their chosen charity as they go through the steps in their own family life cycle” (Amnesty International 2008)

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Objectives

Objectives not „profit‟ based

Performance to objectives more difficult to measure

May be „ to improve quality of life‟

Or „to involve local people in decisions that affect them‟

Or „to tackle inequality, discrimination and disadvantage‟

Or „to raise $xxx funds to restore the building‟ or „ to conduct further research into cancer treatments‟

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Your stakeholders?

Volunteers

Donors

Recipients

Government

Businesses

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