When thinking about services we jump to think of the service being done rather than how the service is being done. Customer satisfaction relies on how the product is being delivered. That being said, management must give proper training to their employees in order to provide a service.
According to an article from the Mckinsey Quarterly “The human factor in service design”https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Operations/The_human_factor_in_service_design_2922# customer satisfaction is the balance of trade offs between the costs of services and the customer experience. Attaining both can be difficult to manage. It is interesting to think because there can be great services, however is the delivery is no on point then this reduces the customer satisfaction and this “good” service has lowered its standards when it could have potentially been great for the company.
What I found interesting from the article was that it stated that when companies brain storm for new products they forget the psychological aspects of what satisfies us humans. For example, a study was done for a rent-a-car company in terms of trying to find a new product selection for each customer. The results said that regular costumers were much more intimidated when it came to being in larger crowds compared to premium customers. As a result, the company value segmented its regular customers and implemented that they were willing to accept cars with higher mileage with lower rental rates. The reality is that new customers are the make or break deal. Services offer customer interaction so a good chance is that how an employee does his or her job for the customer will reflect if they are willing to continue the service or not.
This goes back to the first activity in class that we did, Paper Puppet. There were many ethical issues that were being acted out. Overall, in the end there was a lack of communication between the employees and the employer. What the employer should have done was restructure and establish teams with cross-functional membership to review key services periodically. This stresses the importance production goals but making sure that employees are getting treated fairly and factors of company culture,, training, etc all come into play.
I personally believe that successful companies provide effective communication and have great team building strategies. I feel that in order to successfully better the company, each employee should find ways to better themselves as well as work together to strive for great customer satisfaction. Not only will this improve the company internally, but with a better mindset it improves production and can help in releasing new products or services frequently and successfully.
What do you think are the key factors in successful team production?
I used to work for Best Buy several years ago and the “zoning” structure in the stores really placed an emphasis on customer interaction and product knowledge. After I left they went to the “headset” model, like Target uses, which stresses reactive employee communication. Some effects of this shift with Best Buy are their shares are dropping, stores are closing, but the most important effect is every time I go to their stores I never get helped by anyone, gotta play hide and seek for help. I’m sure there are more reasons for Best Buy’s fall, but I do agree with placing a premium on customer interaction, especially on new customers.
I completely agree with you, in order to be totally successful all around not only does the product have to be good, but also the customer service too. In my own experience, if I receive bad service from somewhere I will not go back. In the end it all reflects on how management is leading their team and if the manager is properly trained to lead. I worked at Starbucks as a supervisor for over 4years and was a trainer. While working there we always made sure to give the best experience to all customers, their motto is “Just say yes!” In order to do that we had to be sure to train each employee how to treat each customer with exceptional service. Starbucks also emphasizes on their mission, values, and goals which helps put into perspective what the company as a whole should look and be like. Starbucks definitely sets up their partners for success with all the time and resources they spend on training, and that is why they have become so successful over the years!