Maintain quality customer/guest service
D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12
D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06
Trainee Manual
Maintain quality
customer/guest service
D1.HCS.CL6.03 D2.TRM.CL9.12
D1.HML.CL10.07 D1.HRM.CL9.06
Trainee Manual
Project Base
William Angliss Institute of TAFE
555 La Trobe Street
Melbourne 3000 Victoria
Telephone:
(03) 9606 2111
Facsimile:
(03) 9670 1330
Acknowledgements
Project Director:
Chief Writer:
Subject Writer:
Project Manager:
Editor:
DTP/Production:
Wayne Crosbie
Alan Hickman
Nick Hyland
Alan Maguire
Jim Irwin
Daniel Chee, Mai Vu, Jirayu Thangcharoensamut
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967. The Member
States of the Association are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.
The ASEAN Secretariat is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
General Information on ASEAN appears online at the ASEAN Website: www.asean.org.
All text is produced by William Angliss Institute of TAFE for the ASEAN Project on “Toolbox
Development for Priority Tourism Labour Division”.
This publication is supported by Australian Aid through the ASEAN-Australia Development
Cooperation Program Phase II (AADCP II).
Copyright: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 2012.
All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
Every effort has been made to ensure that this publication is free from errors or omissions. However,
you should conduct your own enquiries and seek professional advice before relying on any fact,
statement or matter contained in this book. ASEAN Secretariat and William Angliss Institute of TAFE
are not responsible for any injury, loss or damage as a result of material included or omitted from this
course. Information in this module is current at the time of publication. Time of publication is indicated
in the date stamp at the bottom of each page.
Some images appearing in this resource have been purchased from various stock photography
suppliers and other third party copyright owners and as such are non-transferable and non-exclusive.
Additional images have been sourced from Flickr and are used under:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
http://www.sxc.hu/
File name: TM_Maintain_quality_customer_service_310812.docx
Table of contents
Introduction to trainee manual........................................................................................... 1
Unit descriptor................................................................................................................... 3
Assessment matrix ........................................................................................................... 5
Glossary ........................................................................................................................... 7
Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements ............................................................. 9
Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services ........................................... 29
Element 3: Evaluate customer service ............................................................................ 51
Presentation of written work ............................................................................................ 67
Recommended reading................................................................................................... 69
Trainee evaluation sheet................................................................................................. 71
© ASEAN 2012
Trainee Manual
Maintain quality customer/guest service
© ASEAN 2012
Trainee Manual
Maintain quality customer/guest service
Introduction to trainee manual
Introduction to trainee manual
To the Trainee
Congratulations on joining this course. This Trainee Manual is one part of a „toolbox‟
which is a resource provided to trainees, trainers and assessors to help you become
competent in various areas of your work.
The „toolbox‟ consists of three elements:
A Trainee Manual for you to read and study at home or in class
A Trainer Guide with Power Point slides to help your Trainer explain the content of the
training material and provide class activities to help with practice
An Assessment Manual which provides your Assessor with oral and written questions
and other assessment tasks to establish whether or not you have achieved
competency.
The first thing you may notice is that this training program and the information you find in
the Trainee Manual seems different to the textbooks you have used previously. This is
because the method of instruction and examination is different. The method used is called
Competency based training (CBT) and Competency based assessment (CBA). CBT and
CBA is the training and assessment system chosen by ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations) to train people to work in the tourism and hospitality industry
throughout all the ASEAN member states.
What is the CBT and CBA system and why has it been adopted by ASEAN?
CBT is a way of training that concentrates on what a worker can do or is required to do at
work. The aim is of the training is to enable trainees to perform tasks and duties at a
standard expected by employers. CBT seeks to develop the skills, knowledge and
attitudes (or recognise the ones the trainee already possesses) to achieve the required
competency standard. ASEAN has adopted the CBT/CBA training system as it is able to
produce the type of worker that industry is looking for and this therefore increases
trainees chances of obtaining employment.
CBA involves collecting evidence and making a judgement of the extent to which a worker
can perform his/her duties at the required competency standard. Where a trainee can
already demonstrate a degree of competency, either due to prior training or work
experience, a process of „Recognition of Prior Learning‟ (RPL) is available to trainees to
recognise this. Please speak to your trainer about RPL if you think this applies to you.
What is a competency standard?
Competency standards are descriptions of the skills and knowledge required to perform a
task or activity at the level of a required standard.
242 competency standards for the tourism and hospitality industries throughout the
ASEAN region have been developed to cover all the knowledge, skills and attitudes
required to work in the following occupational areas:
Housekeeping
Food Production
Food and Beverage Service
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Introduction to trainee manual
Front Office
Travel Agencies
Tour Operations.
All of these competency standards are available for you to look at. In fact you will find a
summary of each one at the beginning of each Trainee Manual under the heading „Unit
Descriptor‟. The unit descriptor describes the content of the unit you will be studying in the
Trainee Manual and provides a table of contents which are divided up into „Elements‟ and
„Performance Criteria”. An element is a description of one aspect of what has to be
achieved in the workplace. The „Performance Criteria‟ below each element details the
level of performance that needs to be demonstrated to be declared competent.
There are other components of the competency standard:
Unit Title: statement about what is to be done in the workplace
Unit Number: unique number identifying the particular competency
Nominal hours: number of classroom or practical hours usually needed to complete
the competency. We call them „nominal‟ hours because they can vary e.g. sometimes
it will take an individual less time to complete a unit of competency because he/she
has prior knowledge or work experience in that area.
The final heading you will see before you start reading the Trainee Manual is the
„Assessment Matrix‟. Competency based assessment requires trainees to be assessed in
at least 2 – 3 different ways, one of which must be practical. This section outlines three
ways assessment can be carried out and includes work projects, written questions and
oral questions. The matrix is designed to show you which performance criteria will be
assessed and how they will be assessed. Your trainer and/or assessor may also use
other assessment methods including „Observation Checklist‟ and „Third Party Statement‟.
An observation checklist is a way of recording how you perform at work and a third party
statement is a statement by a supervisor or employer about the degree of competence
they believe you have achieved. This can be based on observing your workplace
performance, inspecting your work or gaining feedback from fellow workers.
Your trainer and/or assessor may use other methods to assess you such as:
Journals
Oral presentations
Role plays
Log books
Group projects
Practical demonstrations.
Remember your trainer is there to help you succeed and become competent. Please feel
free to ask him or her for more explanation of what you have just read and of what is
expected from you and best wishes for your future studies and future career in tourism
and hospitality.
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Unit descriptor
Unit descriptor
Maintain quality customer/guest service
This unit deals with the skills and knowledge required to Maintain quality customer/guest
service in a range of settings within the hotel and travel industries workplace context.
Unit Code:
D1.HCS.CL6.03
D1.HML.CL10.07
D2.TRM.CL9.12
D1.HRM.CL9.06
Nominal Hours:
35 hours
Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Performance Criteria
1.1 Research and assess needs of customers and or guests
1.2 Conduct data analysis to identify deficiencies in service delivery
1.3 Identify options to improve service levels
Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services
Performance Criteria
2.1 Ensure products and services meet customers‟ needs and reflect enterprise
standards
2.2 Ensure team performance consistently meets enterprise standards
2.3 Assist colleagues to meet and exceed customer service standards by providing
appropriate professional development
Element 3: Evaluate customer service
Performance Criteria
3.1 Review customer satisfaction with service delivery using appropriate methods that
produce verifiable data
3.2 Compare systems, records and reporting procedures in order to identify and report
on any changes in customer satisfaction
3.3 Evaluate and report on customer service evaluation outcomes to designated groups
or individuals
3.4 Obtain agreement on appropriate course of action to take to overcome problems and
adjust products and services in consultation with designated individuals/groups
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Unit descriptor
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Assessment matrix
Assessment matrix
Showing mapping of Performance Criteria against Work Projects, Written
Questions and Oral Questions
Work
Projects
Written
Questions
Oral
Questions
Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
1.1
Research and assess needs of customers
and/or guests
1.1
1,2
1
1.2
Conduct data analysis to identify deficiencies in
service delivery
1.2
3,4
2
1.3
Identify options to improve service levels
1.3
5,6
3
Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products/services
2.1
Ensure products/services meet customers‟
needs and reflect enterprise standards
2.1
7,8
4
2.2
Ensure team performance consistently meets
enterprise standards
2.2
9,10
5
2.3
Assist colleagues to meet and exceed
customer service standards by providing
appropriate professional development
2.3
11,12
6
Element 3: Insert element
3.1
Review customer/guest satisfaction with
service delivery using appropriate methods
that produce verifiable data
3.1
13,14
7
3.2
Compare systems, records and reporting
procedures in order to identify and report on
any changes in customer satisfaction
3.2
15,16
8
Evaluate and report on customer service evaluation
3.3
outcomes to designated groups or individuals
3.3
17,18
9
3.4
3.4
19,20
10
Obtain agreement on appropriate course of
action to take to overcome problems and
adjust products/services in consultation with
designated individuals/groups
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Assessment matrix
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Glossary
Glossary
Term
Explanation
Analysis
This process as a method of studying the nature of something or
of determining its essential features and their relations:
Benchmark
A standard of excellence, achievement, against which similar
things must be measured or judged:
Colleague
A fellow worker or member of a staff, department, profession, etc
Customer
A person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer;
patron; a person one has to deal with
Data
A single piece of information, as a fact, statistic, or code; an item
of data
Deficiency
The state of being deficient; lack; incompleteness; insufficiency
Enterprise
Number of individuals assembled or associated together; group of
people
Environment
The social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or a
population
Feedback
A reaction or response to a particular process or activity:
evaluative information derived from such a reaction or response
Offering
The output of products and services provided to a customer
Performance
The execution or accomplishment of work, acts or feats
Quality
Producing or providing products or services of high quality or merit
Report
An account or statement describing in detail an event, situation, or
the like, usually as the result of observation, inquiry
Reporting
To relate, as what has been learned by observation or
investigation
Research
Diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in
order to discover or revise facts, theories or applications
Satisfaction
An act of satisfying, fulfilment, gratification. contentment
Service
The providing or a provider of accommodation and activities
required by the public
Standard
Something considered by an authority or by general consent as a
basis of comparison; an approved level of performance
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Glossary
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Element 1:
Identify customer/guest requirements
1.1 Research and assess needs of customers and
or guests
Introduction
The hospitality industry is always associated with customer service. Many people see
hospitality organizations, whether hotels or resorts, as a place to relax and take a break
from their normal everyday stresses.
As we know, there are a wide variety of customers who
frequent a hospitality organization, for many reasons.
They may be customers utilising:
Accommodation –leisure, business or resident
Food and Beverage –restaurants, bars, functions,
room service, banquets
Leisure facilities – pools, spa, sauna and gymnasium.
Regardless of the reason for their visit it is important that they receive quality service.
Quality service is being able to use a combination of products and services, as a
combined offering, that at a minimum, meets the expectations of the consumer.
Quality customer service is not just associated with 5 star hotels, it is a fundamental
aspect of all hospitality businesses, whether budget or luxury. Simply customer service is
important to any business in any industry. It is about ensuring customers leave your
premises pleased with the experience they received.
Role of marketing
Before we can tailor our products and services to provide an offering that the guest wants,
we first need to find out what the guest actually wants.
Many businesses make the mistake of providing an offering they THINK the guest wants,
but what is offered doesn‟t meet their needs.
Therefore research of what the customer wants is an essential activity. This is the
essence of marketing.
The marketing perspective on a business says everything we
do must be customer-focused.
To identify exactly what this focus needs to be we have to
obtain information on customer needs and wants by
undertaking some basic market research.
This section begins by trying to define what a customer is and looks at some appropriate
and effective research techniques which can be used to determine their needs and wants.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
The customer
So what is the definition of a customer?
A customer can be seen as:
A person on the receiving end of what the business offers
Someone who is willing to pay a fair price for a quality product
and wants to be neither over-charged nor under-served
The reason the company is in business
Someone who has certain needs and wants them filled and who, if we cannot fill them,
will go to a competitor who will.
The quality of service is realised by the customer and is interpreted and perceived by him
or her. As mentioned, his means that quality of service is not defined by those who deliver
it.
The point from the above is there is really not one „thing‟ called a customer. Customers
are all individuals and come with individual needs and
expectations.
As each hospitality organisation caters to a range of types of
customers, known as target market segments, the challenge
lies in being able to provide an offering to meet their individual
needs.
We have to recognize each type of customer and treat them as
individuals.
We must actually act in a manner that acknowledges, without them the business ceases
to function, and we have no jobs.
The old saying „it‟s the customers who pay your wages, not the boss‟ is true. It has been
so often used, it risks becoming ignored but if you have ever worked in an establishment
where trade has been going down, staff hours have been reduced and others are being
laid off, you‟ll know what it truly means.
Unfortunately, all too many premises and staff members only realise how true this saying
is when it‟s too late when customers are voting with their feet and spending their money
somewhere else.
It is a very sobering exercise to see how many other hotels, clubs, restaurants and bistros
there are for the customer to choose from.
Most other places offer a similar product so it is often the service, the standard, level and
how that service is delivered, that differentiates one place from another.
The Customer is …
You may have seen what follows on posters and postcards around
the place. Sometimes it‟s hung up in staff rooms and sometimes it
graces the walls of the manager‟s office.
It is a pretty good description of who the customer is and sends us a
fairly clear message about how we should treat them:
“The customer is not dependent on us, we are dependent on
them
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
The customer is not an interruption to our work, they are the sole reason for it
The customer does us a favour by walking in or phoning up, we don‟t do them a
favour by serving them
The customer is part of our business, not outside it
The customer is not a statistic. The customer is a flesh and blood human being with
feelings and emotions
The customer is not someone to argue with or match wits with
The customer brings us their wants and needs and it is
our job to satisfy them
The customer is deserving of the most courteous and
respectful attention we can give them
The customer is the lifeblood of our business, because
without them there is no business
This is what a customer is”.
Customer needs, wishes and expectations
Customer service revolves around us meeting or exceeding customer needs, wishes and
expectations. It seems appropriate, then, to identify what these
mean.
Needs
These underlie wishes and expectations and are the things
customers are unable to do without. They may be in a foreign town
and simply cannot do without a bed for the night, a meal or
beverage.
Wishes
These refer to the way in which our customer would prefer to satisfy a specific need, but
they may not have the resources to meet these wishes. They may wish to stay in the
luxury suite, dine at an internationally renowned, 5-star, fine dining restaurant and drink
expensive, but they haven‟t got the money to pay for it so they settle for something else.
Expectations
These spring from the customers‟ needs and wishes but are also influenced by:
The company‟s image or reputation in the market
The customer‟s previous perceptions and their experience with the company
The company‟s advertising.
Customers know they can‟t afford the luxury mentioned above, but as a result of our
advertising and their previous experiences with us, they know they will get a clean and
satisfactory room, wholesome food at value-for-money prices and a good range of drinks
at fair prices to pick from, all delivered with great service - so they elect to stay and dine
with us.
Our big problems start when what the customer actually experiences is at odds with their
expectations.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
How to identify customer needs, wishes and expectations
To gain a real understanding of the customer’s needs,
wishes and expectations, we should:
Involve the customers in developing new services
Use market research tools such as questionnaires, taste testing and
observation to identify their likes and dislikes, needs and wants,
expectations and experiences.
Organise and conduct a series of focus groups
Establish a regular meeting between the establishment and
specifically chosen customers. The customers should represent a
cross-section of your clientele and each focus group meeting should have a well-defined
focus point. The person chairing the focus group guides discussion, debate, opinion,
feedback about the topic and records the input from the focus group members. This
information becomes the basis for management-staff discussion and eventual policy
modification, or creation. Focus groups are an excellent way of bringing „customer focus‟
to your service standards and service delivery.
Actively listen to the customers
Prompt the customers to communicate with you, follow-up on
non-verbal cues when they talk to you as body language often
indicates a hidden desire to say something. Encourage them to
expand and clarify problems and criticism.
Make decisions and act on the basis of the customer’s motives, needs and
expectations
We must operate in a way that focuses on what the customer wants rather than on
what is easier for us, simpler for our „in house‟ systems or in accord with „what
we‟ve done in the past‟. We absolutely must be customer-focussed as opposed to
being self-focussed.
Wear customer spectacles and see with the customer’s eyes
We have to strive to find out what our establishment and our service looks like from the
customers‟ point of view. We can become too obsessed on what the service looks like
from the delivery viewpoint, when really the customer sees it from a „receival‟ viewpoint.
We need to identify how our service looks from the other side. We can often think the
service is great when the customer thinks it is appalling.
Actively look for customer feedback
We need to implement not only written response sheets
and questionnaires, but also encourage staff to be
proactive in soliciting verbal feedback from customers in a
face-to-face setting such as at check-out, after they have
finished their meal and via personal follow-ups with hosts
and clients after functions.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Ask customers what elements or factors of service are of particular importance to
them
Determine what they value and do not value. Sometimes, what we think is important isn‟t.
This reinforces we must be customer-focussed. We do not always know what the
customer wants because their needs and preferences are always changing. If we don‟t
change with them we risk losing patronage and market share. As the saying goes
“customers are the school books from which we learn”.
Analyse the market trends
We need to tap into any information generated by industry
bodies to help to identify what is happening industry-wide or
elsewhere within the industry, be that on a national or
internationally basis. All peak bodies undertake some form of
research and it is essential to read what the research finds.
Analyse the competitors
Check out the opposition. This can include becoming a customer there and getting firsthand knowledge about what they are doing, what they have to offer, their prices and their
service levels, from making the booking right through to departure. Get hold of their
advertising and analyse it. What image are they projecting? What offers are they making?
How do we compare?
Staff feedback
Staff must be actively encouraged to provide input to the
development of quality customer service, too.
After all it is staff who are delivering the service and they who are
best placed to understand what the needs and wants of customers
may be.
Not including staff in this research process is a very dangerous thing
to do. Not only do you risk missing out on vital information they know
or have obtained from customers but you also send a message to
staff their input, opinion is not valued or valid.
Excluding staff at this stage also makes it a lot more difficult to build commitment to any
service delivery changes or initiatives which need to be implemented.
Involving staff in this research process could include:
Encouraging staff to feedback all relevant comments from customers
Past feedback is a great way to understand the needs and wants of customers.
Most people won‟t normally make a formal complaint, whether in writing or verbally to
management, but will often make deliberate and pointed comments in front of staff. These
must be reported back as they are central to improving service delivery. These comments
are market research „gold‟. You should recognise excellent examples of feedback.
Not shooting the messenger
If staff are to be encouraged to relay feedback negative criticism from customers, it is very
important not to criticise them simply for delivering the bad news. Obtaining their feedback
must not embrace allocating blame or guilt.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Setting agenda items for staff meetings which include ‘customer
service’
Every staff meeting should have a standing agenda item for „quality
research and feedback‟ in relation to service delivery so staff become
familiar with the process and used to doing it.
Developing appropriate documentation
The establishment should have documents for staff to complete in
writing if they don‟t feel comfortable with delivering verbal feedback.
Only once the needs and wants of the customer, either as individuals or grouped in target
market segments, have been identified, it lays a sound foundation to:
Collect research data to see if what we are currently providing meets the expectation
of customers
Prepare and implement a strategy to meet these needs and wants.
1.2 Conduct data analysis to identify deficiencies
in service delivery
Introduction
Now that we have identified the needs and wants of customers, it is
vital to gain a detailed, complete and accurate understanding of our
current operations and whether they are suitable to meet the needs
of the customer.
Research into all aspects of the operation is important in ensuring
the offering to the customer is appropriate in meeting their needs.
By conducting research it is easier to identify any problem areas
where a product or service is not to standard and to highlight
deficiencies in service delivery.
By identifying both the strong and weak areas of performance, appropriate changes can
be made to help improve the customer experience.
Types of research
As mentioned, marketing is all about research. As identified
research should be designed to identify:
What the customer wants – needs, wants and expectations
What we are currently offering to the customer – products
and services
What we can improve.
Research can be defined as a search for knowledge conducted on an informal and formal
basis.
This knowledge should be used as the basis for customer-focused action.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Informal research
Informal research is casual in nature and may include:
Discussing information with colleague
Seeking customer feedback by asking questions
Personal observation of customers and service delivery and then
self-reflection on what you have seen
Discussing information with a wider network of contacts
Discussing information with the public in public places
Articles seen on TV or reading the newspaper, magazines or books.
Formal research
Formal research is more structured and deliberate in nature and involves:
Reading printed material from your property – food menus, beverage lists,
compendiums, advertising and promotional material
Enrolling in a specific course related to the area you want to find out about
Reading product and service information brochures
Surfing the Internet for information about a specific topic
Visiting the library – reading books and viewing tapes about a specific topic
Developing, distributing and analysing questionnaires –
this is fundamental market research
Attending conferences and seminars – to seek information
and to network with others
Attending product launches
Attending Industry Associations functions.
Management will generally be supportive of attempts to find out information about
customers, so contact them and explain any proposed research you plan to undertake.
Management may even pay for your course or allocate you some time to do the research.
If nothing else, it shows you are interested! Also, they may be able to up-date you on
recent research they have done or are currently doing.
One example of (semi-) formal research is the „questionnaire‟ situated in the
accommodation rooms, which seeks feedback from customers about the service we
provide.
Unfortunately any research activity is useless unless we act on
it. It has been said „Customer comments are the school books
from which we learn‟ so knowledge needs to be converted into
action.
Customers have told you they don‟t like XYZ … so why are you
still doing it?
It is truly amazing some properties will literally spend thousands
of dollars on advertising, and consultants when the way of
improving their service, sales and profit are right under their eyes in the form of customer
feedback.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Conducting research
When conducting research it is usual to follow the steps below:
Specify at the outset the information that needs to be gathered
to address the issue you have identified as being a problem –
the issue may be falling patron numbers in the restaurant, lack
of booking in the rooms
Design and trial the data collection method to be used – see
below
Collect the data - do the research and compile the information
Analyse the results – what does the data tell you? What do customers want? What do
they dislike?
Communicate findings, implications and recommendations to appropriate persons or
departments – this includes staff and management
Develop policies and procedures to align with identified customer need and
preferences –and promote these to staff to ensure the identified service requirements
of customers are met.
Primary and secondary data
Research can be categorised into two main types: primary data and secondary data.
Primary data
Primary data is fresh, new, original information you discover, uncover, find or bring to
light.
Primary data collection methods include:
In-house observation – watching people, watching what goes on
(perhaps taking notes)
Conducting interviews – with customers, staff, suppliers to find
out why they do what they do, what they prefer, what they like or
dislike about the venue
Applying questionnaires – to customers as they leave the venue,
after they have made a purchase, or as they visit the property.
The questionnaires can seek answers to a range of topics
including customer service delivery standards
Conducting surveys – such as using focus groups top provide feedback to the venue
about customer service.
Primary data is very useful as it is not only structured to finding out data that is specific to
your organization, it allows you to gain a firsthand understanding and explanation of
results.
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Secondary data
Secondary data is information which already exists
somewhere in the world. It could be within the organisation, or
research conducted by another organization, but which you
bring together to use to help shed light on the topic central to
the research.
Secondary data collection techniques include:
Reading newspapers, books, magazines, trade journals and the media
Researching library catalogues and other sources
Subscribing to on-line computer information systems
Analysing trading figures, occupancy and booking statistics, costs, profit and any other
relevant internal information.
Secondary data is a great tool to use when you are limited on time, require broader
industry information and that which you could not collect yourself.
It provides sound evidence which is helpful in seeking to improve service.
Quantitative and qualitative data
Research data can further be separated into quantitative data
(known as „hard data‟) and qualitative data (known as „soft data‟).
Quantitative data
Quantitative data is statistical in nature.
It deals with „quantifying‟ things such as:
The number of times a person visits the premises
The amount of money they spend
The number of minutes they are kept waiting for service
Their satisfaction rating in % terms with our service.
Qualitative data
Qualitative data is important in a service industry such as
hospitality because it answers the „Why?‟ questions such
as:
Why do they eat with us and not the opposition across
the road?
Why do they prefer healthy food?
Why have they stopped coming to the nightclub?
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Changes in the business environment
Development of successful customer service is an on-going exercise,
and involves monitoring of the internal and external environments, and
the integration of findings into future planning.
It is vital to understand what can cause changes in our operational
environment and describes several factors currently seen as having
the potential to impact on customer service delivery.
The business environment consists of two parts- the internal
environment and the external environment.
Internal environment
The internal environment is the environment within the business.
It can include the level of staff available, the policies and procedures of
the organisation, the skill and knowledge levels of staff, the opening
hours of the business, the facilities available within the venue. In
theory, a property has control over these internal factors because it is
in a position to influence them.
Any aspects of the internal environment causing deficiencies in service can be identified,
altered and controlled a lot easier than impacts caused by the external environment.
Possible causes of deficiencies from within the internal environment
could include, but not limited to:
Substandard products – products may be outdated, inferior or in
need of replacement or renovation
Equipment - faulty equipment or new equipment which staff are
not familiar with
Marketing – the wrong message is being delivered to customers
giving them unrealistic expectations
Staffing – staffing levels may not be appropriate (under or over staffing), wrong mix of
staff (experienced and new staff)
Recruitment – people with insufficient knowledge, skills and attitudes have been
employed
Training – staff are unaware of what to do resulting in inconsistency
Management – lack of controls, standards, guidance and support
Financial support – limited availability to funds required to provide
necessary products and services
Changes in management style - changes in management may entail
a variation in orientation to service or the setting of some directions
in relation to service. What was acceptable under the previous
management may not be acceptable to the new management. This doesn‟t mean that
was done before was wrong, it just means the new approach is different.
Note too, changes in management often herald changes in client focus, and the
creation of new and different target markets which, by their nature, often demand a
change to service standards, techniques and styles
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Organisational re-structures – the trend is to reduce middle
level management and with that comes new responsibilities
for all concerned. As the organisation re-structures, whether
for efficiency reasons or as a result of declining profit, new
roles for all staff in relation to customer service will emerge.
Staff and managers will have their responsibilities enlarged,
or their focus altered. To state the obvious, the industry is
very much a dynamic one.
External environment
The external environment refers to the area outside the
business over which the venue has little or no control.
It can relate to changes in technology, changes in legislation,
state of the economy, political situations, and competition in the
marketplace.
Service deficiencies caused by external factors may be harder
to control, however steps should be made to understand them
and make changes whether the organisation has some control.
External environment impacts include:
Changes in the competitive environment
As competitors introduce new services and facilities, the nature
of our industry is we are often forced to respond and match
their offerings or introduce something else in opposition to it.
The key here is we have to know what the competitors are
doing. We have to monitor their advertising, visit their premises
and talk to our suppliers about what the opposition is doing. We
then have to take some action to exploit an opportunity or
mitigate any potential negative impacts – whichever way we go, we have to realise
„knowledge is power‟ only if we act on it. Knowledge on its own is next
to useless.
Economic climate
Monitoring the media and discussion with our finance facility will help
identify the state of the economy. There is no doubt the state of the
economy is extremely influential on trade and we have to be prepared
to respond to the emerging economic climate. At times we can offer
indulgent, extravagant, high-roller packages, whilst in other times we
need to focus on low cost, value-for-money deals.
Trends in customer preferences
Whether we lead the pack or follow the opposition (or a combination of the two), we must
respond to customer preferences.
Advent of E-business
More and more people are using the „Net to access information and make bookings. We
need to tap into this emerging but already substantial market and establish a web site
(making sure it is someone‟s responsibility to keep it up-dated weekly which illustrates our
property and describes our services, facilities etc.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
We also need to exploit the opportunities this medium presents for reservations and
various other activities such as retail sales (internet sales), take-away sales, and a forum
for questions and feedback as well as a platform for information dissemination.
Markets
Markets are complex and rapidly changing with new and more complex customer
demands, products and services.
Internationalisation is increasing and international competition
is intensifying in many markets.
To ensure the right quality, companies must be better at
understanding their environment and building-up the
competence and ability to change before, or at the same time,
as the outside world changes.
The luxury of lagging behind (global) changes has evaporated.
International customers expect the same standards here as they receive in any developed
country overseas.
Environmental issues
The demand for quality in the outer environment will place greater demands on how
companies conduct their business, which sources of energy they use, and how they
design their products.
More establishments will seek to portray publicly their environmentally
friendly image.
This may mean they subscribe to organisations such as ECO-Buy or
Green Globe.
Most organisations appreciate there are cost savings to made from
„going green‟, as well as marketing potential and the obvious effect of
reducing the impact of the business on the planet.
Most businesses today will seek to demonstrate they align with triple
bottom-line principles, taking into account not only the financial goals
of the organisation but also social and environmental responsibilities too.
Technological development
Technological development has played a key role in the structural changes in the service
sector.
Boundaries between transportation, communication, travelservice and hospitality industries are disappearing as airlines
(and others) begin to provide direct reservations, tours,
conferences, car and accommodation arrangements, in-flight
telephone service, and electronic retailing package delivery
services in competition-and-coalition with thousands of other
service units.
Many customers are looking for seamless service – a one-stop shop for all their holiday or
travel needs, and technology is providing the means for this to be done.
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Technology has also impacted on operational service delivery via computerised
reservations systems, online reservations, hand-held ordering systems in restaurants, bar
code scanning and the growing trend for customers to do their own checkout and
payment after selecting goods.
Reviewing the research
Doing research is admirable. In many cases it is an absolute necessity, however you must
check and question it so as to identify whether or not you can use it as the basis for future
action.
You must be able to answer „yes‟ to all the following:
Is it valid?
Is it reliable?
Is it relevant?
Is it accurate?
Does it make a useful contribution?
Is it clear and unambiguous?
Is it sufficient in volume to be useful?
Does it represent the views of our target markets?
By collecting the correct types of information, in the correct manner, it helps you to have a
clear understanding of how service can be improved.
Recommendations on how to improve service are identified in the next section.
1.3 Identify options to improve service levels
Introduction
This section continues the natural progression of improving service offerings. In the last
section we identified causes of service deficiencies. Staff and management must address
these and seek to find options to improve service levels.
Firstly we must look at how we can involve staff in the planning process and how
investing in staff is a worthwhile exercise.
Following are some recommended options, directly addressing causes of service
deficiencies identified in the last section, which management could explore to improve
service standards.
These are just a few suggestions. Each individual property will have their own unique
characteristics which will influence the use of suitable options.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Involving staff in customer service planning
Involving colleagues in customer service planning is important as it helps staff to
understand what is required of them, as well as providing them with an opportunity to
make input to areas that will ultimately greatly impact on them.
Their participation at this stage also increases the likelihood they will „own‟ the changes,
and thus strive to better implement any actions agreed to.
From our perspective „customer service‟ may be provided in various modes including:
Face-to-face
Online
By telephone
Email
Written communication.
Getting the staff involved
Activities providing opportunities for staff participation in the planning process include:
The formation of quality improvement groups or „quality
circles‟ – made up of people from different departments so
ideas, problems and issues can be integrated across the
establishment
Establishment of group training sessions so group
members can learn about each others‟ work, cross-fertilise
ideas and strengthen the concept of a team approach to
customer service delivery
Introducing a variety of methods and systems to spread the quality message
throughout the organisation by means of internal marketing – the key here being to
make quality service delivery constant and on-going, rather than a sporadic, hit and
miss affair
We have to keep the message in front of everyone‟s eyes – staff need to be
constantly reminded of the quality program we have developed and this can be
achieved through posters, checklists, notes in pay envelopes, use of intranet, badges.
From a management perspective, it is important to accept
and act on input from staff, where appropriate. Where staff
contributions are not incorporated into planning, it is a good
idea to explain why they were not. This lets staff know their
input was at least considered even though it may not have
been acted on.
There is no point talking about staff participation and then
ignoring any subsequent input they make.
If staff input is not acknowledged, or acted on, it will cease.
In addition, there is also the potential staff may then see themselves as being ignored and
treated as second class by management. This can lead to all sorts of adverse staffmanagement relations.
As they say, management can‟t just „talk the talk‟. They‟ve got to „walk the walk‟ too.
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Investing in staff
Greater efforts must be made to develop the competence of the
staff.
Company growth now comes as much from the employee
development as from expansion with more employees and this
applies as much to customer contact staff as to other professional
and managerial staff.
Businesses must be prepared to invest time and money in staff and recognise them as
key assets for the organisation.
Service improvement options
Operational focus
Options include:
Create a competitive advantage over competition by either doing
something different, more superior or cheaper
New or revised products
New services
New menus
Renovations
New equipment with staff fully trained in their operations
New marketing strategies to new target market segments
New advertising campaigns with suitable attractive packages
New branding to give the organisation a new and fresh approach
Correct staffing level and mixes
Recruitment – people with necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes
Structured training programs
Management – lack of controls, standards, guidance and support
Financial support – limited availability to funds required to provide
necessary products and services
Changes in management style - changes in management may entail
a variation in orientation to service or the setting of some directions in
relation to service. What was acceptable under the previous
management may not be acceptable to the new management. This
doesn‟t mean that was done before was wrong, it just means the new
approach is different.
Note too, changes in management often herald changes in client focus, and the
creation of new and different target markets which, by their nature, often demand a
change to service standards, techniques and styles
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Organisational re-structures – the trend is to reduce middle level management and
with that comes new responsibilities for all concerned. As the organisation restructures, whether for efficiency reasons or as a result of declining profit, new roles
for all staff in relation to customer service will emerge. Staff and managers will have
their responsibilities enlarged, or their focus altered. To state the obvious, the industry
is very much a dynamic one
Greater use of e-business – in all aspects of business
Greater use of technology – to be incorporated to collect
valuable information, improve communications or streamline
operations
Environmental awareness.
Staff focus
Ensuring staff play an active role in improving service standards, is a key objective for
management. Staff are their eyes and ears and are able to communicate important
information about the customer.
Approaches to the staff may include:
Creating and implanting the business concept in the entire organisation, which helps
to determine the direction the company will take in the future
Involving staff in planning and implementing quality
improvement
Building a spirit of working together towards goals
Creating instruments and channels to disseminate the
company‟s philosophy, goals and values throughout the
organisation
Promoting a climate of open communication and feedback
Encouraging and recognising innovation and teamwork
Recognising the right of every employee to understand the requirements of their
assignment, and to be heard when offering suggestion for improvement.
Customer focus
Approaches to the customers may include:
Making the customer a „member‟ of the organisation – or a
guest of the organisation – as opposed to a „customer‟
Rewarding faithful customers – with special deals, discounts,
verbal acknowledgment and thanks. Loyalty schemes can
underpin this approach
Communicating with customers to promote goodwill, trust and
satisfaction – for example, your menus and in-rooms
description of facilities must be honest and not raise
expectations which the product/facility cannot fulfil
Identifying customer‟s unstated needs – be reading body language, monitoring what
they are doing and predicting need monitoring
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Ensuring customers‟ needs and (reasonable) requests are met – this addresses the
idea of „exceeding expectations‟ as opposed to just „meeting‟ expectations
Providing friendly and courtesy assistance – without having to be asked.
As mentioned, each business is different and will have different
solutions to improve their service offering that is consistent with their
organisational mission statement and objectives.
Regardless of the type of organisation, solutions will only work if the
customer believes them to be:
Meeting their needs, wants and expectations
Is of good value
Is better than that provided by the competition.
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Element 1: Identify customer/guest requirements
Work Projects
It is a requirement of this Unit you complete Work Projects as advised by your Trainer.
You must submit documentation, suitable evidence or other relevant proof of completion
of the project to your Trainer by the agreed date.
1.1 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to:
Explain the difference between customer‟s needs, wants and expectations
Identify customer‟s needs, wants and expectations.
1.2 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to:
Identify types of research you can use to identify deficiencies in customer service
Identify types of data you can use to identify deficiencies in customer service
Explain the impact both the internal and external environment has on a
business‟s ability to provide quality customer service.
1.3 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to:
Identify ways you can involve staff in customer service planning
Identify service improvement options based on:
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
Operations

Staff

Customers.
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Summary
Identify customer/guest requirements
Research and assess needs of customers and or guests:
Role of marketing
The customer
Customer needs, wishes and expectations
How to identify customer needs, wishes and expectations
Staff feedback.
Conduct data analysis to identify deficiencies in service delivery:
Types of research
Conducting research
Primary and secondary data
Quantitative and qualitative data
Changes in the business environment
Internal environment
External environment
Reviewing the research.
Identify options to improve service levels:
Involving staff in customer service planning
Investing in staff
Service improvement options.
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Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services
Element 2:
Ensure delivery of quality products
and services
2.1 Ensure products and services meet
customers’ needs and reflect enterprise
standards
Introduction
Once the different options to improve customer service have been identified, the next
logical steps are to:
a) Develop standards and plans for suitable options selected to
improve customer service
b) Communicate these standards to all staff so they are understand
what they need to do
c) Provide information to colleagues regarding customer service
standards
d) Monitor customer service according to organisation policies and
procedures to ensure standards are met
e) Measure actual performance against standards
Develop standards and plans to address key quality service
issues
The time spent actively considering your establishment‟s
orientation to quality service issues should result in a set of
standards and plans, which may or may not, be included in
policies and procedures.
The important thing is they are developed, and they are in
writing so everyone can be sure about them, understand what
they mean, and know what is expected.
Management needs to consider:
Different areas for which standards and plans may be created
Development process for plans and standards
Identifying several approaches towards quality management for staff and customers.
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Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services
The development process
Developing quality customer service standards should incorporate the following
considerations:
Establish a „customer service‟ team of interested,
experienced and dedicated staff – these will be your
reference group and form the basis of the planning stage
Look at what other venues are providing in terms of service
– try to describe their service in writing wherever possible
Identify the areas in the venue about which you believe
there needs to be a customer service standard and a plan
Determine the standards to apply to the identified areas with reference to:

Your image, reputation and advertising

Value-for-money for the customer

What the opposition is doing

Identified customer expectations
Incorporate the standards into a formal plan – this plan
should identify:

Dates for implementation

Dates for review
Resources available to support the introduction of the standards – such as time,
money, training
Responsibilities related to the initiative – for training, explanations to staff, monitoring
and reviewing
Key Performance Indicators to be used to evaluate service delivery at the designated
review dates.
These plans must next be shared with staff, explaining what is required and advising them
of training etc to support the initiative.
Take time to address any anxiety staff may have about the new requirements – anything
new in the workplace tends to create anxiety and an effective manager takes the time to
reassure staff, highlight the need for change and explain the benefits of it.
Possible areas for service standards and plans
The precise nature of the standards and plans will vary between
venues, and may even vary between departments within the
same venue. For example, the service standard in the public bar
may be different to the service standard in the cocktail bar.
Likewise the topics covered will vary. In essence, most things
occurring in a service industry like hospitality can have a service standard attached to
them.
Most operators tend to rely on generic customer service training to provide the basics and
then depend on the common sense and service ethic of staff to deliver on their
expectations.
In some cases this is effective, and in others it is not.
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Topics where you can expect service standards to apply
include the following:
Response times
The usual example is “We will answer the telephone before it rings
X times”. This is all well and good (and commendable too), but we
must go further and address other service points such as:
“We will return a phone call to someone who has contacted us within X minutes or
hours”
“We will have all room service food delivered to the room within X minutes”
“Every guest in the restaurant will be greeted and presented with a menu or have a
drink order taken within X minutes of entering the restaurant”.
Service guarantees
This involves developing a statement about your service level
and what you will do for the customer if such service is not
provided.
Your statements in the „response times‟ area can provide a
starting point for your service guarantee statements. Examples
include things like:
“If it‟s not there in 15 minutes, it‟s free”
“If we don‟t check you in within 2 minutes, it‟s 20% off the bill”.
What opportunities present themselves in your venue for you to include in your service
guarantee? When you develop such a guarantee it is usual to actively promote it so
customers understand your commitment to them.
Pricing guarantees
Deals and packages are part and parcel of our industry, but there
has to be a limit to them. The quickest way to go out of business is
to constantly try to complete solely on the basis of price.
You have to be able to offer a price that reflects a fair profit, so the
value adding may have to come from extra service, or some other „bonus‟ or perceived
bonus in the eyes of the customer. This could be a late check out or valet parking.
However, pricing guarantees may mean staff must offer the lowest available price to
callers rather than starting at the top and working down. It may mean if the guest‟s bill
shows a charge in excess of an advertised rate, a certain procedure applies – the charge
may be removed, double the difference between the charged rate and the advertised rate
may be deducted from the bill.
Product quality
A statement may be developed about certain products and
services. The customer receives a stated, pre-determined response
such as a discount, gift, extra service, extra product, free XYZ if the
product fails to comply or live up to the promise.
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Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services
Document presentation standards
Policies may be prepared that specify document requirements for letters, menus, forms,
invitations, reports, etc. These may apply to format, type size, font, English or American
spelling and layout.
They may dictate salutations, signatures required, and letter closures, and they may
specify copies required and filing requirements. In other instances these issues may
relate to the presentation of menus to ensure customers are only ever presented with
neat, clean and presentable menus.
Or it may apply to in-room reading material to ensure that
magazines and stationery are always of top quality.
Personal presentation standards
This is simply a list of requirements, separated into male and
female sections stating the required:
Dress
Personal presentation – including statements relating to
perfume, make-up, facial hair etc
Hygiene standards required of all staff by the establishment.
Complaint management
Any complaint really is an opportunity to rectify a problem, or make a long-lasting
customer, providing they are dealt with quickly, properly and fully.
The standards should specify the steps to be taken for a range
of complaints. There are several predictable complaints we are
likely to get and it may be possible to foresee the majority of
them.
The standards should spell out the discretionary power that
staff have to fix a complaint to the benefit of the customer.
Whilst acknowledging we do not want to be exploited on the issue of complaints it is worth
bearing in mind that no-one ever won an argument with a customer, and for every
customer who actually does complain, there are probably another ten with grounds to, but
who haven‟t.
Simply stated, customers like to have their complaint treated seriously, acted on quickly
and be apologised to.
Communicating customer service standards and plans
After developing approaches to enhance customer service quality it is critical to share
these with staff.
Having developed the required customer service standards for your establishment, they
need to be communicated to those who need to know them.
Whilst most of the communication of standards will come from departmental managers
and supervisors, staff can also communicate amongst themselves to ensure everyone
understands exactly what is required and the procedures to follow to ensure the
standards are met.
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Communicating customer service standards can come in many
different ways including:
Orientation programs
Formal meetings
Staff briefings at the start and end of shifts
Training sessions
Observation and mentoring
Informal communication during a shift.
Giving colleagues access to information on standards and plans
This aspect of the management of the delivery of quality service requires staff members
have ready and easy access to the standards on service and service delivery, we have
developed.
In some cases the establishment may have decided to also make these protocols public
and make them available to customers too.
Common methods of enabling such access include:
Mention of service standards at job interview
This should be standard operating procedure at all interviews where people are being
interviewed for a customer contact position, that the organisation‟s customer service
standards are mentioned, described and explained.
Attention should be paid to highlighting the centrality of this aspect of the job to
applicants, leaving them under no illusion about our orientation to service.
Documentation of service standards
All the protocols agreed to must be „reduced to writing‟. This means
they have to be entrenched in the establishment‟s operations by being
enshrined as part of the organisation‟s policies and procedures and
operations manual.
Induction and orientation
All successful applicants must be given copies of all relevant customer
service expectations, standards and protocols as part of their induction
into the organisation.
This will involve supplying each new staff member with a copy of our customer service
policies, procedures and practices (as appropriate).
The person responsible for conducting the orientation must allocate sufficient time to this
aspect of the induction to enable full explanations, illustrations and demonstrations of
identified service levels and practices. In effect, this will underline the customer service
principles stated and outlined at the interview.
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Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services
Office computer system
Most establishments will have a networked computer system
(intranet), and it is usual to find the full range of Policies and
Procedures on this under some shared drive arrangement, so
all staff may access all information freely whenever required.
Printed copies in staff areas
Some properties also have a collection of policies and procedures in common staff areas.
This may be a staff room or in each of the Department Manager‟s offices.
Monitor customer service according to organisation policies and
procedures to ensure standards are met
Simply because standards have been developed, reduced to writing, explained to staff
and ratified by management, doesn‟t mean they will always be implemented.
After all, people are only human, and as they say – to err is
human!
What is required is some monitoring of customer service in
the workplace to ensure standards are met in accordance
with organisation policies and procedures.
Monitoring methods
The most important thing in monitoring service standard is the will to monitor them. You
have to want to monitor them.
The most common problem is service standards are developed and communicated but
not monitored. If service delivery standards are not monitored the result can be service
standards quickly drop and this impacts adversely on repeat business, profit or levels of
customer satisfaction.
The common monitoring methods are:
Workplace observation – watching what goes on at work, reading customer body
language and measuring waiting times
Talking to customers – to get their feedback of service delivery
Talking to staff – to get their impressions, to identify
obstacles to planned service delivery standards
Reading customer complaints and feedback
Analysing business statistics – a reduction in
patronage can indicate a need for attention to be paid
to customer service, and can also indicate needs in
other areas such as price, product.
Areas to monitor and evaluate
Marketing activities are a recognised way of monitoring and evaluating many things and
may include the use of customer surveys as well as evaluation of any promotions
conducted by the venue such as advertising. This includes the use of billboards, direct
mail, radio, TV, Internet and incentive promotions.
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Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services
Specific areas that may be investigated include:
Reservations
In particular:
The reservation system, and how easy it is to use, how
user friendly it is from the guests‟ point of view
Our telephone manner – considering information provided, courtesy, telephone
manner, speed
Cancellation policy – how fair is it? Does this policy fall in-line with the image we may
be spending thousands of dollars to create? Or is a mean-spirited cancellation policy
undoing all the good work we‟re doing elsewhere? How does it compare to the
cancellation policies of other similar venues?
Credit card acceptance – do we take enough different cards? Are the guests telling us
we should be accepting others?
Accommodation availability (value and cost
considerations) – do we provide what guests want? Or
are we trying to „force‟ guests into sleeping
configurations that suit us? Are our guests finding they
have to use and pay for a suite, when they really only
want a double?
Information on hotel shuttle and public transportation –
are we suitably notifying our guests of services they need, or are we advertising a
service and then making it difficult for guests to take advantage of it?
Registration
In particular:
Greetings (doorman, porters, bell staff, front desk personnel) –
how are these greetings perceived or interpreted by guests?
Are they genuine greetings? Is there a need for greetings to be
made in a different language?
Assistance with luggage – is this being offered promptly? How
do we do it? Can we do it better? Is it offered to all guests? Is it delivered in a timely
fashion? Is it seen as a valued service?
Check-in procedure – is check-in being accomplished within a suitable length of time?
Have we developed a quick and easy procedure for the guests? Is the guest‟s first
contact with the venue a positive experience? How can the current experience be
improved?
Room accommodation – are there sufficient numbers of
appropriate rooms with the required facilities? Do the
facilities meet guest requirements?
Room status and availability – do we have a system
enabling front office staff to quickly and easily identify
room status and room availability levels for any stated
date? Is room status accurate?
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Element 2: Ensure delivery of quality products and services
Information on hotel services – does reception have a
comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date supply of brochures etc on
venue services? Is there or should there be an appropriate
concierge facility? Can the staff behind reception respond suitably
to a series of guest questions about the products and services
offered by the property?
Cleanliness and interior design of lobby, elevators, rooms – are the
facilities in accordance with guest expectations, and in-line with the
images we present in our adverts? Or are we creating false
expectations? Is the area kept clean and looking inviting, attractive, fresh etc?
Operation of air conditioning, heating, television, radio, and plumbing in room – does it
all work properly? Does the air conditioning, bar fridge and plumbing function quietly?
Amenities – are the amenities we offer appropriate for the guests we attract? Are
there enough of them available? Are they suitably sign-posted?
Guest stays
In particular:
Food service department – are the menu offerings, hours of
operation, prices, service levels acceptable to the guests
and the expectations we have created? Are there sufficient
staff with appropriate skills? Are the facilities open when the
guests want them to be open?
Gift shop – does the lobby gift shop have an appropriate
selection of stock for in-house guests? Are there sufficient souvenirs at different price
points? Do the items in the shop represent value-for-money, or can the items rightly
be seen as a rip-off and a disincentive to use the shop?
Lounge – are the prices charged, the entertainment provided, the opening hours, and
the service levels acceptable to the patrons, or are we running this department to suit
ourselves and not the customers?
Room service – are the menu offerings sufficient, are the prices
reasonable, is the delivery time appropriate and is the pick-up of
trays timely? Is room service available when guests want it?
Valet service – are the pick-ups and delivery times suitable for
guest needs? Are the prices appropriate? Does the quality of the
service provided meet guest needs?
Housekeeping services – does the existing system allow
housekeeping to avoid rooms where guests do not want their room
serviced? Is the current service level sufficient to meet guest
expectations of room service? Is the replenishment of amenities
appropriate and sufficient, and do housekeeping staff ensure the
cleanliness of all public areas?
Complimentary services and products – do we provide articles
seen by the guests as providing some genuine value, or are we
giving away things no-one likes, no-one wants and no-one values?
Is it a case we are being too mean with our complimentary items?
Are the brand names used acceptable to our guests?
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Security – is there 24-hour availability of security and is appropriate to identified
needs? Are there sufficient fire safety devices in place? Have staff fire drills been
conducted? Are the required emergency plans in place?
Front office – are they able to handle requests for information and other assistance
such as wake up calls, explanation of the telephone system, entertainment system
and internet connection? Are guest folios kept up-to-date, accurate and ready for
guest check-outs? Can reception respond quickly to a request for an extension of
stay?
Check–out
In particular:
Check-out time deadlines – are they reasonable and flexible?
Can extensions be given to special requests without creating
problems or giving an adverse impression to the guests? Should
we introduce an express check-out facility?
Luggage – is assistance with luggage readily and cheerfully
given? Do guests need assistance with their luggage? Are bags
easily obtainable from luggage storage areas?
Speed of check-out – is the time spent waiting to be processed on departure
appropriate? Are guests served in the order they arrived to check-out?
Guest folio – is the bill immediately available? Is the print-out an accurate
representation of the actual charges incurred? Can reception staff resolve minor
discrepancies quickly and easily without having to refer to management? Is the
account clear and easy to understand?
Measure actual performance against standards
In all establishments, monitoring and measuring of customer service standards and levels
must be done continuously.
You can‟t monitor service today but not tomorrow.
You can‟t monitor service between 10:00Am and noon but not from noon to 2:00PM.
The types of measurement that can be applied include:
Quantitative methods
The aim in this approach is to assemble objective facts and
unambiguous measures to be used to measure service availability,
waiting times or number of complaints. This evaluation method is
statistically-based.
It includes quantifying things such as opening hours, waiting times,
number of give-aways provided, how long it takes to be served - anything which can be
quantified, or given a number is quantitative.
Details of this quantitative analysis should be recorded and used when the scheduled
time to review plans and standards arrives (as stated in the plans).
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Qualitative methods
This is information that commonly answers the „Why?‟ questions.
Why do people want this or that?
Why do they prefer to order at this time and not that?
These questions uncover answers to the reasons behind people‟s actions, and help us to
understand people‟s expectations and requirements.
Central to this method are:
Questioning skills
Active listening techniques
Observation skills
Analysing events and observations
Interpreting customers‟ verbal statements and non-verbal cues.
As demonstrated in this section there is a great deal of thought and preparation required
to be able to identify, implement, communicate, monitor and evaluate customer service
standards.
Whilst it can be a complex exercise it is important that is conducted.
2.2 Ensure team performance consistently meets
enterprise standards
Introduction
In the last section we explored the various steps associated
with ensuring products and services meet the required
standards we are striving to reach when providing quality
customer service.
As managers we look at how individuals are able to perform
in relation to the desired standards; however it is also
important to ensure the team as a whole is operating in a
successful manner.
Teams in a hospitality setting often refer to either people:
Within a department
Working together in the same shift
Working closely with another department – such as kitchen and front of house service
staff.
Each team will comprise individuals with their own specific characteristics, strengths and
weaknesses. As a manger it is important to ensure that staff are able to work together to
achieve the collective objectives of the organisation. The primary objective being to
ensure each customer has an enjoyable experience.
Each hospitality experience, such as serving a meal to a customer, involves many people
conducting activities that are often interdependent to other people.
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A team is only as strong as its weakest link. If one person does something at a poor
standard or not at all, it affects the output of products and services, which often leaves the
customer having a disappointing experience.
Therefore it is vital to ensure the team works as a coherent unit.
Characteristics of effective teams
In order to get teams to meet the desired standards, it is important to understand the
characteristics of effective teams. As a manager it important to ensure they actively
manage and nurture the development of these characteristics in their teams.
Teams are not automatic guarantees that productivity will be increased.
In fact, if they are structured incorrectly and have unspecific goals, the organisation can
be disrupted rather than improved.
The primary characteristics related to effective teams are:
Clear goals
Relevant skills
Mutual trust
Unified commitment
Good communication
Negotiating skills
Appropriate leadership
Internal and external support
Recognition and reward.
Clear goals
High performance teams have both a clear understanding of the goal to be achieved and
the idea that it is important.
The importance of such goals means that individuals prioritise team goals above their
own. In a strong team, members are committed to the team‟s goals, know what they
expect to accomplish and work together to achieve those goals.
Relevant skills
Effective team members have the relevant training, technical
skills and abilities to achieve the desired goals and work well
with others.
Interpersonal skills here are just as important as technical
skills.
Mutual trust
Members must have mutual trust, acceptance and recognition of one another. Members
must believe in the integrity and character of other team members.
Trust takes a long time to build and is easily destroyed, so managers must be careful to
nurture and maintain relationships between team members.
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Organisations that work in a climate of openness, honesty and collaboration generally
encourage a culture of trust.
Managers can build trust with teams or groups via communication, being
supportive, being respectful, being predictable and demonstrating
competence.
Unified commitment
Loyalty and dedication of team members involves doing anything that
has to be done to ensure the team‟s success.
Members must be committed to the team‟s goals and expend energy in achieving them.
Good communication
Teams should be able to communicate clearly and concisely
with one another both verbally and non-verbally.
Feedback from members and managers is essential in helping
to correct misunderstandings.
Team members should be able to share ideas and feelings.
Negotiation skills
Job design, job description, rules and procedures all help to clarify employee roles.
Effective teams must be flexible and continually make adjustments to, or „fine tune‟, their
progress.
This often requires negotiation skills because problems and relationships regularly
change in teams, requiring members to confront and reconcile differences.
Appropriate leadership
Appropriate leaders set realistic and clear goals.
They demonstrate that change is possible and increase the self-confidence of team
members by helping them realise their potential more fully.
The best team leaders tend to be coaches or facilitators as opposed to autocratic and
controlling. They help to guide and support the team by empowering its members, but do
not seek control.
This can be hard for some traditional managers who cannot see the benefits of shared
leadership and cannot give up control.
In some cases, managers who cannot accept the new shape of
organisations will have to be replaced or transferred.
Internal and external support
Internally, the team must be structured so that:
Members are properly trained
An understandable measurement system that employees can
be evaluated against is implemented
Incentives are offered
A supportive human climate is fostered.
External management must provide the team with the resources appropriate to complete
the task.
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Recognition and reward
After the appropriate teams have been established, and have
functioned for a period, it is critical that management
recognise and reward their efforts.
This recognition and reward may be on an individual or team
basis, and may acknowledge outcomes, effort, or simple
participation.
The nature of the reward and recognition may include:
Informal acknowledgment – a quiet, yet genuine, physical or verbal pat on the back to
say 'Thanks” and “Job well done'. The simple act of being acknowledged works
wonders with everyone
Acknowledgment of an individual‟s good performance to the whole team – a more
formal and high profile version of the above
Presentation of awards – some think that these have the capacity to be counterproductive in that those who are not rewarded are put off-side; however, those who do
receive the accolade are very pleased.
The decision as to who gets the award is thus extremely critical. Awards, by their
nature, tend to mean there is one winner and many „losers‟
Written report to management – the idea of being „mentioned in dispatches‟ is worthy
of consideration, especially if such mention is shared with the individual concerned.
Many staff are pleased to know that those higher up the
ladder are being made aware of their efforts, and this can
serve to further motivate them as well as reward them
Incentive initiatives for volunteers – the company may
elect to initiate some scheme whereby those who have
volunteered for „extra duties‟ are entitled to an extra
bonus of some sort from the company.
This may be an extra discount, access to items normally reserved for others, a free
meal, gift or some complimentary item.
The points about rewards and recognitions are:
They must have been genuinely earned and deserved – not just dished out for the
sake of it
They must be of some substance from the receiver‟s viewpoint – that is, they must
have some value in the eyes of the recipient
They need to be celebrated – even in some small way, such as a small presentation
ceremony, mention in the staff newsletter, or being recorded in internal reports.
Also bear in mind that once rewards and recognitions have been established within the
premises, those who believe they have earned the same, will expect it, and can have their
noses put severely out of joint if they don‟t receive one.
This can result in a 'What‟s the point of trying? No-one really cares' attitude.
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Moreover, be alert to the additional potentially counter-productive side to awards. Some
staff will „victimise‟ staff who have won awards because they are jealous of what they
have achieved.
This is likely only to be petty ribbing, but it can take on malicious overtones, and it can
genuinely upset some people: this may be an issue for you as a manager given that you
are required under equal opportunity legislation to ensure that staff are not victimised or
harassed at work.
In addition, some staff may sabotage others or engage in unacceptable activities – if, for
instance, an award is given for highest sales, it is not unknown for staff to „steal‟ another
staff member‟s customer, to falsify documents or to pressure people into buying.
As with so many other aspects of management, you simply have to give it a go, monitor
what happens, and then decide whether to keep it, ditch it or modify the initiative.
Monitoring team performance
Now that we have an understanding of the characteristics of effective teams and
strategies to develop teams, it is important that we are able to monitor performance.
Whilst we have explored a variety of ways to monitor performance of individuals what are
some ways to monitor team performance?
The reasons for deficiencies in service may not be based on an individual‟s competency
but on the interaction and reliance on others or other factors such as operational policies
and procedures.
Some suitable methods to monitoring team performance include:
Observations – personal observations of management or
supervisors
Meetings – whether formal or informal
Customer feedback – whether from customer comment cards or
direct conversations
Staff feedback – in briefing sessions
Financial and operational reports – levels of sales, profit
margins, return visits, waste reports, leave reports, accident
reports, productivity reports and „complimentary reports‟
(indicating free items given away due to complaints)
Performance appraisals – formal reviews conducted with staff.
When monitoring team effectiveness and performance, the key is to find suitable solutions
to service deficiencies in a timely manner.
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2.3 Assist colleagues to meet and exceed
customer service standards by providing
appropriate professional development
Introduction
Professional development of staff is a primary requirement for all business development.
As the direct provider of services to customers, customers must not only have the
knowledge and skills to be able to do their job adequately, they must also have support
and guidance from management.
Types of professional development
Professional development, whilst normally comprising formal training, in essence can be
classified as any activity that enables customers to improve their service delivery. Many of
these activities have been identified in the previous section however the list of activities
that management can do is varied.
Types of professional development can include:
Qualifications and certified training programs provided by external
educational or professional providers
Internal programs
Meetings
On the job learning
Buddy system
Research activities
Demonstrations
Discussions.
Normally professional development is performed when:
Customer service deficiencies exist which need to be
addressed
New staff require training
New techniques to existing products or services are made
New products or services are introduced
Retraining is required.
Whilst professional development should take place for traditional reasons that are
mentioned above, it should be an ongoing activity that involves greater support, and
encouragement and coaching.
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Supporting team members
A manager or supervisor must provide active support to
team members in helping them meet their given
outcomes.
Support that can be given to workplace teams may
entail:
Giving moral and verbal support when times are
tough and the going gets tough – this may be when there‟s an unexpected rush, when
other staff don‟t turn up for work, when there‟s a problem
Providing relevant training and coaching
Obtaining more physical resources to enable the job to be done better or quicker
Getting approval for more time (overtime payments, extra hours) for staff, when that is
required
Advocating to management on behalf of the staff
Supporting staff when an unfounded or unfair allegation is made about them
Soliciting and listening to their feedback
Thanking them for hard work, effort and when they go the extra yard or two
Celebrating any successes they may have in terms of training, a letter of
congratulations, promotion, some special mention from management or the board.
Encouraging team members
Most new teams will behave like workgroups. They will
be task-oriented and relying on direction from a group
leader.
With leadership and maturity the group can progress to
become a work team.
In the last ten years there has been a lot of interest from organisations in the concept of
higher level work teams. These have often been given names such as Self-Managed or
Self-Directed Work Teams, Autonomous Work Teams and Empowered Teams.
One of the key issues that must be managed in the workplace is that of worker motivation,
and structure plays an important part in the level of motivation that can be achieved. The
development of the Effective Work Team is aimed partly at providing a better quality work
experience for employees, and partly at improving worker output and quality.
While these teams may still need supervisors, they are usually for specific roles, such as
a controller for a fire-fighting team, rather than for managing people.
Effective Work Teams integrate vertically to absorb the role and can determine their own
work assignments, breaks, procedures, new members and will evaluate each other‟s
performance and give feedback.
In an Effective Work Team, every member becomes the leader at the appropriate time,
when that person is clearly the most skilled, knowledgeable or has the most use for the
outcome or the right balance between members.
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Once you have commenced the development of your work
team, the Effective Work Team can be created. It requires
the implementation of a number of key criteria and the
commitment of those involved to follow them.
Before attempting to set up the Effective Work Team,
managers must ensure that they have a chance to succeed.
While all organisations desire the benefits of these team
structures, not all of them will be happy with the dissemination of power, knowledge and
authority to those in lower positions, even though these are the people who can provide
the best results from having them.
If the resistance was obvious this would be problem enough. However, a common
response is to appear unconcerned, even supportive, but then undermine the group by
slowing down or even withholding important resources such as funds, information or
cooperation.
Coaching
In order for staff to be able to provide a level of service which
meets the organisation‟s standards, they must have the
necessary knowledge and skills to do so.
Coaching of staff to help enhance the delivery of quality
customer service is a much under-used tool in the effort to provide better levels of service.
Workplace coaching is an excellent tool to use because:
It is extremely cost-efficient
It relates specifically to individual workplace requirements
It targets individual staff need.
Whilst it may be preferable to use a fully-trained trainer to deliver the coaching, many
valuable lessons can nonetheless be learned by simply using enthusiastic and dedicated
staff members in this manner.
Basics of coaching
When considering using coaching it is best to:
Target coaching to actual, identified need for specific individuals – as opposed to
coaching everyone even if they don‟t really need it
Obtain agreement form the staff member that coaching is needed and will benefit
them
Prepare for the coaching session – develop a plan, arrange to necessary resources,
organise a time and place for the coaching
Explain the coaching to be delivered
Focus on the person to be coached
Use the two primary delivery strategies of „explanation‟ and „demonstration‟
Follow the rhyme: “I do it normal, I do it slow. You do it with me, then off you go.”
Make sure underpinning skills and knowledge are covered
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Allow for appropriate practice
Follow up with the staff member as required to see if extra coaching or assistance is
needed.
Ways to deliver coaching
Coaching in this context will be likely to include:
Role plays
Where the coach creates scenarios and then works through with staff how they would
deal with them. It is important in role plays for the staff who are participating to treat the
role playing seriously and refrain from making inane statements and acting outlandishly.
It is also useful to have someone act as an observer to watch the interactions and note
the verbal and non-verbal language during the role play – this becomes the focus of the
de-briefing at the end.
Discussion groups
These involve staff describing a situation. It could be a theoretical
one, or one that actually happened to them, and talking through what
they would, should or could do in such a situation.
Discussion should take the form of evaluating options by thinking
through the likely ramifications of each option presented.
Discussions can also relate to actual customer service situations
which have occurred and the discussion should look at what action
was taken and whether it could have been handled better.
Case studies
This is a variation on the above and requires the coach to outline, describe and illustrate a
scenario, and ask the participants what they would do.
The suggestions given are then evaluated with relative merits also discussed.
Mentoring
This can be a one-on-one informal training situation where, say, an
experienced staff member works with a new employee and provides
practical, actual, on-the-job guidance and training.
The experienced staff member leads the way and the newer one follows
the example set – it is useful to have a de-briefing session after to
clarify any points, and work through any problems that arose.
Training videos
There are lots of excellent customer service videos around, and most people will pick up
something from watching any one of them.
It is best to use one relating to the standards the establishment has set, but this is not
always possible. Remember, too, it is beneficial to watch any training tape more than
once – you always seem to get something extra from it every time you view it.
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A critical friend
This concept is not for everyone but most people seem able to
cope with it, and most people seem to see it as a benefit.
The critical friend is someone within the organisation who will
watch your performance and then give you accurate and honest
feedback on how you went.
They are being, therefore, critical of you but in a friendly,
supportive, and positive way. If you elect to use this option, make
sure you choose someone you are very comfortable with and be
prepared to be, perhaps, told a few home truths!
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Work Projects
It is a requirement of this Unit you complete Work Projects as advised by your Trainer.
You must submit documentation, suitable evidence or other relevant proof of completion
of the project to your Trainer by the agreed date.
2.1 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to:
Explain the types of standards you may develop for a hotel
Identify how you can give colleagues access to information on standards and
plans
Identify ways to monitor customer service
Identify ways to measure actual performance against standards.
2.2 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to:
Identify the characteristics of effective teams
Explain how you can nurture and improve team performance
Explain how you can monitor team performance.
2.3 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to:
Identify types of professional development
Explain how you can support, encourage and coach team members.
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Summary
Ensure delivery of quality products and services
Ensure products/services meet customers‟ needs and reflect enterprise standards:
Develop standards and plans to address key quality service issues
Communicating customer service standards and plans
Giving colleagues access to information on standards and plans
Monitor customer service according to organisation policies and procedures to ensure
standards are met
Measure actual performance against standards.
Ensure team performance consistently meets enterprise standards:
Characteristics of effective teams
Monitoring team performance.
Assist colleagues to meet and exceed customer service standards by providing appropriate
professional development:
Types of professional development
Supporting team members
Encouraging team members
Coaching.
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Element 3:
Evaluate customer service
3.1 Review customer satisfaction with service
delivery using appropriate methods that
produce verifiable data
Introduction
We have seen „customer-focus‟ is critical to any successful business.
Every three months or more frequently if time permits, it is important to
review customer satisfaction with your service delivery. Where there is
some „emergency‟ in relation to service such as frequent and
animated complaints about service, reviews should be more regular.
This should be done, as far as possible, using verifiable data, rather
than relying on subjective impressions and hearsay from other staff.
To obtain the information on which to base our customer-focus we
need to:
Undertake market research – to actively seek out what customers want
Actively ask for feedback from customers who have experienced what it is our venue
has to offer.
Asking customers for their feedback is a brilliant thing to do. It is relatively cheap to do
and it enables input from actual customers and is immediate.
The critical thing about this feedback is it must be fed back to be incorporated into future
plans and standards.
Objectives of collecting and reviewing customer feedback
Reviews of customer service strategies should seek to achieve the following objectives:
Identify the extent to which customers and others are satisfied (or not) with service
delivery
Identify the departments or areas in which there is
satisfaction (or not) with service delivery
Identify the precise areas within departments or areas
where there is dissatisfaction. It is always easier to
identify dissatisfaction more precisely than it is to identify
areas of satisfaction (people tend to complain more than
they tend to compliment)
Identify the precise nature of any dissatisfaction. It may be with product, services,
facilities, timing, access or information
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Identify the staff involved in both superior and inferior
levels of service
Identify if there is a certain time of the day/week when
service levels are reduced or at their best
Discover what can be done to improve a less than
optimum situation
Identify what needs to be done to maintain the present satisfactory level of service
delivery.
It is especially important to look for trends – one-off complaints or dissatisfaction may not
be indicative of anything whereas a series of complaints is likely to be more instructive.
The review should be as wide-ranging as possible, meaning it should involve:
Regular customers
New customers
Customers who are one-off customers
Corporate customers (where applicable)
Staff
Management.
The review also means you will need to actively solicit input.
Types of customer feedback
Important steps in monitoring and adjusting customer service are to seek feedback from
customers on an on-going basis and to use this to improve establishment performance
where applicable.
The information gathered may be:
Positive – customers give compliments about aspects of
service or the performance of specific individuals. This
feedback is the easiest to receive and allows you to
identify what your organisation is doing correctly
Neutral – customers say they „enjoyed‟ their experience,
which met their expectations, but do not provide any
further comment
Negative – customers have a complaint regarding an aspect of their „experience‟.
This is the hardest type of feedback to receive as it identifies deficiencies in the
service provided and customers may be quite emotional when providing this. That
said, negative feedback is the most important as it provides management and staff
with the opportunity to apologise and seek remedies for improvement.
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Methods of collecting customer feedback
There are a variety of methods management and staff can use to
collect feedback from customers.
Regardless of the method used to collect information, it is vital:
The form is designed to gather important information about all
aspects of service delivery
The format is easy to use for the customer
The form is presented to the customer when it is going to cause the less
inconvenience
The customer is thanked for their feedback, whether in the form of a gift or other
suitable reward.
There are several ways to seek feedback which will be explored.
Direct communication from customer to staff
This method is the most effective method to collect customer feedback about their
experiences because:
It demonstrates to customers that staff value them and any feedback or suggestions
they many have
It builds relationships between staff and customers
Verbal communication enables large amounts of feedback to be
exchanged
Follow up questions can be asked for further information or to
ensure they understand the customer comments
It is the easiest method for customers as it does not require
them to write answers on forms
If the customer feedback is negative, it allows staff to apologise, understand the
complaint, find a mutually agreeable solution for action can be taken.
The best time to undertake this method of collecting feedback is normally at the end of a
„service activity‟ such as when a customer has finished a meal in the restaurant, checking
out of a hotel or paying a bill.
In some accommodation venues the manager is present at peak
check-out times to farewell guests, wish them well, thank them for their
custom and actively solicit feedback about guest thoughts on their stay.
Collecting feedback does not always have to be conducted by
management. Most organisations will utilise line staff to also perform
this function as they have the greatest contact with customers
throughout their „experience‟.
This requires front-line staff to inquire about the customer experience
by being proactive in ascertaining how they enjoyed their meal or stay. The types of
questions asked should use a variety of open and closed questions to gather information.
Traditionally many staff ask simple closed questions such as “Did you enjoy your stay or
meal?” which gives general feedback of their experience with an organisation but does
not identify which aspects their enjoyed the most or areas that can be improved.
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With greater use of carefully crafted open questions, more detailed information can be
collected.
Where possible information collected should be done in a manner which appears informal
and where the customer is at ease. By introducing questions in general conversation, the
customer is more likely to give truthful answers as opposed to when they feel like they are
„under the spotlight‟.
Observations
Whilst the best form of collecting information is from direct
conversations with customers, valuable information can be also
collected by watching or listening to customers.
Watching people and their body language can give very accurate
information which they might not otherwise get through direct
interaction.
Normally customers, like all people, like to avoid confrontational or
uneasy situations and therefore will be less inclined to provide
negative feedback using direct communication.
By observing body language and listening to comments that customers show or say to
others, is a good way to get accurate information which they would feel uncomfortable
sharing with management or staff.
One good example of effective use of observation is when chefs look at plates returning
to the kitchen. Through careful observation, in a matter of seconds, they can gather
information relating to:
Whether customers enjoyed their meal
Which actual food items they enjoyed
Portion control.
This approach should be used by all staff in all departments.
Guest comment cards
These are traditionally left in guest rooms, but there is no reason the same principle can‟t
be used in just about any other area of the premises. Many restaurants can use this form
in a manner that does not inconvenience the customer.
It is also acceptable to offer these cards to customers and ask them to complete them and
return them.
These cards should be designed with a balance between customer ease of use and
quantity and quality of information sought.
Online feedback
This is a good method to use after the customer has left the premises
and has time to complete the form.
This can include a „Tell us what you think‟ facility or some other
„Customer Comment or Feedback‟ option.
Where this is used it is important someone checks this on a regular
basis and responds to the complaint or feedback etc: simply using an
automatic response message is not enough.
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Meetings
Whilst the information collected in this method, does not
directly relate to customer feedback, this feedback is
extremely vital to identifying strategies for operational
improvement.
Most departments will have regular meetings, whether
formally scheduled at a specific time each week or in the form of staff briefings and
reviews for each shift. In addition managers will participate in meetings involving all
departments within a hotel.
During these meetings, detailed feedback will be given to identify both positive and
negative aspects of their performance and areas for improvement will be addressed.
Document work performance based on customer feedback
Once customer feedback is collected, it must be documented in a manner which can be
used as the framework for customer service improvement strategies.
The memory is not the most reliable means of recalling events and results and
businesses tend to rely more on formal records than memory.
It is important to identify ways in which work performance may be documented for future
reference. This includes assisting in identifying further opportunities for workplace
improvement.
To help identify future areas where customer service can be improved it is common for
businesses to record their actual performance in two formats:
Electronic format – such as Management Information Systems (MIS) that function to
record and quantify gains that have been made in service delivery
Paper-based formats – such as workplace documentation that serve to demonstrate
the gains that have been made. The exact nature of these will depend on the focus of
the customer service improvement initiative, but representative documents can
include:

Feedback forms

Invoices and statements

Independent QA reports

Internal checklists

Labour reports.
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3.2 Compare systems, records and reporting
procedures in order to identify and report on
any changes in customer satisfaction
Introduction
Once information has been collected, it should be compared against benchmarks to
determine if the changes are positive or negative. This comparison is normally a primary
activity for managers on a daily basis and serves as the framework for many management
meeting.
So what is current information compared against?
Comparing information
There are many sources which current customer satisfaction
information can be compared and evaluated against. These
include:
Budgets
Budgets can be plans about the short-term future of up to a year.
They can be expressed in money terms, or in terms of quantities of
things such as goods in stock, number of seats, and number of
customers to be served per day, number of desserts expected to
be ordered.
The plans should help managers achieve their business objectives.
The objectives of businesses are about managing how well the investment and assets are
being used, and about how well the sales effort contributes to the profitability of the
business.
A budget therefore is a statement of management‟s planned outcomes for the business,
expressed in dollars or quantities to achieve its objectives for a precise period of time.
Budgets are usually prepared for periods of a year or less. Most businesses divide their
yearly budgets, at least into 12 or 13 periods – months or
standard periods of four weeks.
Types of budgets include:
Sales budgets – to forecast sales revenue
Labour budgets – to forecast labour expenses
Material budgets – to forecast purchases of goods for sale or
for use in preparing finished products
Inventory budget – planning quantities to be held in stock,
and the amount of money invested in stock
Overhead budgets – concerns other estimated operating
expenses (e.g. rent, rates, etc)
Capital Expenditure budgets – plans for long-term assets to be purchased, replaced,
upgraded
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Budgeted Financial Performance Statement – concerns
estimated profit or loss. This brings together several of
the above budgets, for sales, material, labour, overheads,
inventory
Cash budgets – concerns the estimated cash inflow, cash
outflow and cash position of a business
Budgeted Statement of Financial Position – concerns
estimated values of assets, liabilities and owners equity at the end of a budget period.
Operational reports
There are various operational reports that can provide customer feedback, without having
to actually communicate with customers. With greater use of technology in all hospitality
businesses today, endless statistics are collected on a daily basis.
With information comes power. Hospitality businesses should strive to effectively use the
information that is collected on a daily basis.
Information sources come from, but are not limited:
Sales reports – identifying items that were purchased and the quantity of each. This
will help identify items that customers like or prefer over
others
Occupancy reports – identifying how many customers
stayed in the hotel. This can help identify demand
patterns
Financial reports – this helps to identify the revenue and
expenditure items relating to a department. It highlights
the efficiency of operations
Complimentary reports – identifies how many items that a business has „given for free‟
or had to discount, often directly related to poor customer service.
Each organisation will have specific reports to suit their operations and the feedback they
strive to collect.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’S)
These are detailed instruction of how tasks should be performed and the standard which
must be achieved.
Job Descriptions
These are a detailed explanation of what each staff member should be doing in the
workplace. It identifies responsibilities and tasks for completion.
Identify and report changes in customer satisfaction
Monitoring and adjusting customer service also involves identifying changes in customer
service and developing change strategies to standards, systems and procedures to
ensure continued service quality.
Whilst we still need to report positive changes in customer satisfaction, most managers
are concerned with identifying and making changes to service problems identified in the
customer feedback process.
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While venues strive to eliminate service problems they always seem
to occur despite efforts to prevent them.
It mostly appears the best we can do is reduce their incidence.
Common service problems
The most serious problems found in service companies include:
Difficulties in contacting service staff - this is especially frustrating
to customers when they can see the service staff, and all those
staff seem to be doing is talking amongst themselves and
ignoring the customers.
This frustration extends to telephone contact when the phone just appears to ring and
ring before anyone answers it
Lack of information about the products and services offered by the establishment –
there is really no excuse for any front office or concierge staff not to know about the
venue and what it can offer.
There is only a slightly less excuse for other staff members not to know about the
property either. Product knowledge is vital to high levels of customer service
Unclear or incomplete price information – patrons are easily and understandably
annoyed when they are unable to obtain quick and accurate price-related information.
They readily become suspicious and become easily convinced we are either trying to
hide something from them, or trying to pull some sort of scam
Unclear or incomplete deals – the intention of offering deals,
packages or specials is to entice guests and attract patronage.
We do ourselves a dis-service when we offer deals pretending
to be something they really aren‟t, or which are in some way
imperfect or inadequate.
Customers can often feel betrayed and conned when we make
such offers, and this negative feeling is usually passed on to others and can be quite
destructive in a business sense.
If we are going to offer a deal the components of it must be clear and comprehensive never leave something out of a package customers would expect and then expect
them to pay for that extra element
Handling of complaints – where complaints are still seen by the business as a threat
rather than an opportunity there will always be the very real chance the complaint
won‟t be handled properly, quickly, respectfully and thoroughly.
Handling complaints effectively and professionally does not come naturally to people
so the establishment must put in place some form of initial and ongoing training
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The content and form of the bill - clear dining room charges or room
charges (folios) lead to clearer understanding by customers and
facilitate quicker payment.
Not only must we be accurate in the formulation of our accounts,
but we must also ensure all charges are adequately identified,
whether by code or other means.
In addition, accurate breakdown of accounts are increasingly
becoming more important as the information they contain are used more and more as
source statistics for market research use.
Possible solutions in how to resolve some of these customer service problems will be
identified in following sections. The purpose of this section is to identify problems that
require operational changes.
3.3 Evaluate and report on customer service
evaluation outcomes to designated groups or
individuals
Introduction
Once customer feedback has been collected and compared against
organisational benchmarks and standards, a report detailing reasons
for changes in customer service must be evaluated and reported.
Evaluating outcomes and recommending changes
The evaluations you undertake will form the basis of the changes that are identified as
being necessary to maintain service standards.
When these have been identified and compiled there may be an internal requirement to
report these needs for change to designated individuals and groups.
Identifying changes toward improved customer service
When identifying the changes needed to maintain service standards you should address
the following points:
Make sure that the means (resources – human, physical or other) to achieve the
change are identified and costed
List barriers or problems that have been identified in making the required changes
Nominate timelines for action
Attach responsibilities for action to nominated individuals
Describe the perfect service situation as completely as possible to help people fully
understand and appreciate what the ideal service standard actually is. This may
include setting times and parameters, prescribing what is to be done, describing
responses to certain service situations, developing a sample „perfect‟ service scenario
and video-taping it for reference purposes.
Where you are unsure about what the perfect service standard is, ask.
This may mean not accepting your personal orientation as the model despite your
years in the industry, your training and your experience.
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Reporting findings
Once you have prepared your report it is important that it is given to the right people for
feedback, agreement and implementation or action.
The groups and individuals to whom such a report may be forwarded could include:
Management
The Board
Certain subcommittees
The establishment‟s focus group
Trainers in the business
The external organisation that conducts your training – such as
a Registered Training
Organisation
All staff members
Specific staff members who are identified by feedback – realising that you may also
elect not to distribute such a report to those who are not named
Head office.
How might these changes be reported?
In some cases, there may be no requirement beyond a verbal mention to staff, while in
other cases there may be a need for a more formal report detailing actual service
instances, names of staff and customers involved, what was said or what was done.
In other cases, you may be required to make a presentation to management/head office
that expands on the details contained in the report and respond to questions asked by
those who attend.
Prepare conclusions and recommendations
Prepare conclusions and recommendations from verifiable evidence and provide
constructive advice on future directions of client service strategies
Where verifiable evidence exists in relation to service delivery you may be required to
prepare and present conclusions and recommendations that will provide some
constructive advice on the future directions of client service strategies.
In cases where such verifiable evidence exists, it is absolutely essential that any
conclusions or suggestions are based on demonstrable fact and not on personal hunches,
supposition or intuition.
Providing feedback
Tips on giving effective feedback which can be useful when making conclusions and
giving recommendations include:
Be positive and constructive
Respect the feelings of the speaker/person you are providing advice to
Act on the fact that immediate feedback is more effective than delayed feedback
Restrict your feedback to only those things that can be changed.
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Communicating conclusions and recommendations
At the conclusion of any review it is often necessary to communicate the results to
designated groups and individuals, within appropriate timeframes. This normally is
managers or supervisors of different departments.
The most commonly accepted appropriate timeframe commonly translates into as soon
as possible. This can range from sending notification to people literally within minutes of
knowing the outcome.
In these cases, the usually accepted means of communication are:
In person – face-to-face, verbal communication
By phone – in many instances, certain people (major
stakeholders, management) will both appreciate and require
notification of the results of some negotiations, immediately.
This may involve you calling their mobile number, or even their
home number to pass on the outcome
Via email – larger premises use their internal email as a
standard communication tool. It is certainly quicker for you to
type one message and send it, than to have to ring a dozen or so people and tell
them.
In other cases, where the impact of the evaluation is not so critical, severe or important, it
can be acceptable for notification to take place the next day.
In all cases, though, you should make it a goal to pass on all notification within 24 hours.
It is now normal procedure for departmental managers and staff to get together and find
possible solutions to meet these customer service challenges.
This will be discussed in the next section.
3.4 Obtain agreement on appropriate course of
action to take to overcome problems and
adjust products and services in consultation
with designated individuals/groups
Introduction
Once the appropriate people have been given a report, in any format, identifying the need
to make changes to the provision of service, a course of action must be put into place and
agreed upon by all the people associated in providing the new proposed service changes.
This will commonly involve line staff within the department.
Courses of action to overcome service problems
All staff in an organisation, regardless of position, should have a customer focus and
strive for continual quality improvement.
As a collective they should decide and mutually agree on specific courses of action that
can be implemented to improve customer service.
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The following actions are great examples of how to improve the
delivery of quality customer service:
Give benefits to key customers – we must reward people for
their on-going custom. This may be with some tangible „gift‟ or
discount, or simply by the recognition we give them, and the
enhanced services we provide them with.
What form of loyalty scheme could be introduced into your venue?
If you have a loyalty scheme, how is regarded by your customers? Do they see value
in it or does the value lie in your eyes, not those of the customers?
Systematise customer complaints and learn from them – factor in the results of
analysis of poor customer service so you will avoid repeating those mistakes.
The key is to determine how to handle similar situations as and
when they arrive
Train staff in customer care – conduct sessions to explain and
illustrate the company policies and procedures in relation to
quality customer service.
Never assume staff will understand and be able to apply policies
simply because they exist
Give staff the authority, discretion and resources to make quick decisions – they must
act to handle dissatisfaction, or to reward faithful customers. Staff should act as
advocates for the customers and always be seeking to improve the guests‟ position
Stimulate employees to be creative in developing customer care activities – reward
any staff initiative in this area and try to generalise the use of any new initiatives by
translating them to other appropriate areas
Allow staff room to make mistakes – no-one is perfect and
anyone who tries something new is bound to make a few
mistakes! Support the staff in their efforts rather than
ridicule them
Invest in meetings and regular contacts with customers
via newsletters or customer magazines – make the
customers feel they are truly part of the decision-making
process, and they have valuable input to make into the operation of the property
Make it easy for customers to complain – be proactive in soliciting complaints and
encourage complaints as a way of identifying the things that need fixing in order for
you to move to the next level.
Reaching agreement to changes in service
As a group, you must put a plan in place, based on some of the suggestions mentioned
above, and reach a mutual agreement. Only with the consensus of all parties involved,
can a sense of ownership take place and people will be more acceptable of the changes
and the plan to implement them.
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Communicating changes in service
Communicating new approaches to service delivery
Once all parties have reached agreement, any new approaches to
customer service decided upon must be communicated to all
those involved within appropriate timeframes.
Precisely what the timeframes are will vary depending on the
nature and extent of the new approaches, but „as soon as
possible‟ is a reasonable guide.
The communication of new service delivery approaches may
occur in various ways.
The key to communicating these changes is the communication must be planned. The
following indicate the extent of the work that needs to be done and you can see it is
unlikely to be effective unless you prepare adequately for it.
In many ways these will mirror the ways in which service delivery requirements were
initially communicated to new staff when they join the venue.
Your approach should follow these guidelines:
Hold a formal staff meeting to inform staff of the changes
– if staff have been actively involved in the development
process then the changes made should not come as
anything new to them.
Remember it is important not only to explain the changes
but also explain why they were necessary
Give staff a hard copy of the new service approaches – give them everything that is
applicable to their area such as:

Copies of plans

Copies of standards

Copies of policies

Copies of procedures

Explain the changes – tell staff how the „new‟ service
delivery differs from the previous service delivery. Be specific and give real
example of ‟what you used to do‟ and what you will do in the future
Give staff demonstrations of the new service delivery protocols – so they can see
what is involved and visually tell the difference between the old and the new.
This also gives them a clearer appreciation of what the revised service procedures are
all about. Actions speak louder than words
Tell staff about the dates for introducing the new service procedures – traditionally
there will be a lead time where new procedures will be phased in.
Reassure staff they are not required to implement the changes „tomorrow‟
Inform staff of the training being provided to support them in implementing the new
requirements – let them know when and where the training is happening, what it will
involve, who will be leading it
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Encourage questions from staff about the changes – answer them
fully and honestly
Make yourself available outside this meeting for staff to talk to if
they have concerns regarding the changes
Post new checklists relating to the changes in appropriate parts of
the venue
Include new policies, procedures etc in operational manuals,
induction programs and in-house training
Schedule staff to attend sessions to obtain necessary training to
assist with implementation of the changes
Introduce the changes and monitor their implementation - run through the new
procedures at staff briefings and again at de-briefings
Provide feedback to staff as appropriate including additional training where necessary.
Continuous monitoring of customer service
This manual has explored the logical steps required in ensuring
customer service provided matches the expectations of customers
by collecting feedback, comparing against standards, reporting
findings and devising a strategy for change and improvement that
is agreed by all parties involved.
This activity is not a once off event. It must be a process that
occurs on a regular basis. There are always additional changes
that can be made to improve any aspect of customer service.
All staff regardless of position, must strive to ensuring the customer service provided is
the best it can possibly be.
That is the true essence of maintaining quality customer service.
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Work Projects
It is a requirement of this Unit you complete Work Projects as advised by your Trainer.
You must submit documentation, suitable evidence or other relevant proof of completion
of the project to your Trainer by the agreed date.
3.1 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to identify:
Objectives of collecting and reviewing customer feedback
Types of customer feedback
Methods of collecting customer feedback.
3.2 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to identify:
Benchmarks and standards customer feedback can be compared against
Methods to report changes in customer satisfaction.
3.3 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to identify:
Whom you report information to
How to reporting findings.
3.4 To fulfil the requirements of this Work Project you are asked to research to identify:
Possible courses of action to overcome service problems
Methods of communicating changes in service
Importance of continuous monitoring of customer service.
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Element 3: Evaluate customer service
Summary
Evaluate customer service
Review customer/guest satisfaction with service delivery using appropriate methods that produce
verifiable data:
Objectives of collecting and reviewing customer feedback
Types of customer feedback
Methods of collecting customer feedback
Document work performance based on customer feedback.
Compare systems, records and reporting procedures in order to identify and report on any changes
in customer satisfaction:
Comparing information
Identify and report changes in customer satisfaction.
Evaluate and report on customer service evaluation outcomes to designated groups or individuals:
Evaluating outcomes and recommending changes
Reporting findings
Prepare conclusions and recommendations.
Obtain agreement on appropriate course of action to take to overcome problems and adjust
products/services in consultation with designated individuals/groups:
Courses of action to overcome service problems
Reaching agreement to changes in service
Communicating changes in service
Continuous monitoring of customer service.
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Presentation of written work
Presentation of written work
1. Introduction
It is important for students to present carefully prepared written work. Written presentation
in industry must be professional in appearance and accurate in content. If students
develop good writing skills whilst studying, they are able to easily transfer those skills to
the workplace.
2. Style
Students should write in a style that is simple and concise. Short
sentences and paragraphs are easier to read and understand. It helps to
write a plan and at least one draft of the written work so that the final
product will be well organized. The points presented will then follow a
logical sequence and be relevant. Students should frequently refer to the
question asked, to keep „on track‟. Teachers recognize and are critical of
work that does not answer the question, or is „padded‟ with irrelevant
material. In summary, remember to:
Plan ahead
Be clear and concise
Answer the question
Proofread the final draft.
3. Presenting Written Work
Types of written work
Students may be asked to write:
Short and long reports
Essays
Records of interviews
Questionnaires
Business letters
Resumes.
Format
All written work should be presented on A4 paper, single-sided with a left-hand margin. If
work is word-processed, one-and-a-half or double spacing should be used. Handwritten
work must be legible and should also be well spaced to allow for ease of reading. New
paragraphs should not be indented but should be separated by a space. Pages must be
numbered. If headings are also to be numbered, students should use a logical and
sequential system of numbering.
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Presentation of written work
Cover Sheet
All written work should be submitted with a cover sheet stapled to the front that contains:
The student‟s name and student number
The name of the class/unit
The due date of the work
The title of the work
The teacher‟s name
A signed declaration that the work does not involve plagiarism.
Keeping a Copy
Students must keep a copy of the written work in case it is lost. This rarely happens but it
can be disastrous if a copy has not been kept.
Inclusive language
This means language that includes every section of the population. For instance, if a
student were to write „A nurse is responsible for the patients in her care at all times‟ it
would be implying that all nurses are female and would be excluding male nurses.
Examples of appropriate language are shown on the right:
Mankind
Humankind
Barman/maid
Bar attendant
Host/hostess
Host
Waiter/waitress
Waiter or waiting staff
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Recommended reading
Recommended reading
Davidoff, Donald M; 1993 (1st edition); Contact: Customer Service In The Hospitality And
Tourism Industry; Prentice Hall
Ford, Robert; 1999 (1st edition); Managing the Guest Experience in Hospitality; Delmar
Cengage Learning
st
Ford, Robert C, Sturman, Michael C, Heaton, Cherrill P; 2011 (1 edition); Managing
Quality Service In Hospitality: How Organizations Achieve Excellence In The Guest
Experience; Delmar Cengage Learning
O'Fallon, Michael J.; 2010 (5th edition); Hotel Management and Operations; Wiley
Lashley, Conrad, Morrison, Alison; 2001 (1st edition); In Search of Hospitality (Hospitality,
Leisure and Tourism); Butterworth-Heinemann
Martin, William B: 2001 (1st edition); Quality Service: What Every Hospitality Manager
Needs to Know; Prentice Hall
st
Noe, Francis P; 2010 (1 edition); Tourist Customer Service Satisfaction: An Encounter
Approach (Advances in Tourism); Routledge
Sturman, Michael C; 2011 (1st edition); The Cornell School of Hotel Administration on
Hospitality: Cutting Edge Thinking and Practice; Wiley
Walker, John R; 2008 (5th Edition); Introduction to Hospitality; Prentice Hall
Zeithaml, Valarie A; 2009 (1st edition); Delivering Quality Service; Free Press
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Recommended reading
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Trainee evaluation sheet
Trainee evaluation sheet
Maintain quality customer/guest service
The following statements are about the competency you have just completed.
Please tick the appropriate box
Agree
Don’t
Know
Do Not
Agree
Does Not
Apply
There was too much in this competency
to cover without rushing.
Most of the competency seemed relevant
to me.
The competency was at the right level for
me.
I got enough help from my trainer.
The amount of activities was sufficient.
The competency allowed me to use my
own initiative.
My training was well-organized.
My trainer had time to answer my
questions.
I understood how I was going to be
assessed.
I was given enough time to practice.
My trainer feedback was useful.
Enough equipment was available and it
worked well.
The activities were too hard for me.
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Trainee evaluation sheet
The best things about this unit were:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
The worst things about this unit were:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
The things you should change in this unit are:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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