Providing Quality Service

Vanita Johnson
MICHAEL BRIZEK
HTM 150
March 28, 2012

Describe how the industry involves the guest in order to provide quality service.
The retail industry involves the guest to provide quality during the planning process. They have to think about the when, what, who and how. When do you to start your delivery system as the guest arrives and while the quest is waiting, during the experience and after the experience. What does the customer expect out of the experience, when it is realized and how much of it will they remember. Who are the customers you target, the actual customers you do encounter and the past, current and potential future customers. A satisfied customer stays with a company longer,
Companies reduce the cost of customer service by using telephone voice response systems, outsourcing call centers to cheaper locations, and self-servicing on the internet. However, companies risk alienating customers through providing an impersonal service.
Some internet banking companies are bucking the trend by charging customers to contact them. In exchange, customers receive better interest rates due to reduced overheads and are satisfied with that.
3. Understand your customers’ needs and meet them
How can you meet your customers’ needs, if you don’t know them? To understand your customer’s needs, just listen to the “voice of the customer” and take action accordingly.
Customer listening can be done in many ways, for example feedback forms, mystery shopping, and satisfaction surveys. Some companies involve senior employees in customer listening to ensure decisions benefit the customer as much as the company.
4. Good process and product design is important
Good quality customer service is only one factor in meeting customer needs. Well designed products and processes will meet customers’ needs more often. Quality movements, such as Six Sigma, consider the “cost of quality” resulting from broken processes or products. Is it better to service the customer well than to eradicate the reason for them to contact you in the first instance?
5. Customer service must be consistent
Customers expect