Customer Service

I am writing to offer you some advice on how customer service in BA can be improved. Your Chief Executive, Mr Willie Walsh, suggested I write to you because he was impressed with my suggestions about monitoring and evaluating customer service. The four areas I will focus on are:

1. Improvements to quality

2. Reliability

3. Improvements to the organisation

4. Improvements to employees

There are many ways in which you can improve the quality of your service in BA. Firstly I believe the introduction of extra staff training will highly benefit your company and in turn help improve your customer service. For instance all staff should be trained to deal with difficult customers; this can be very disruptive to the clientele and furthermore create a negative image for BA. If all staff is trained in this area it will mean that procedures can run smoothly and disruptive customers can be dealt with effectively. As well as this staff should be trained in helping people with special needs such as elderly, disabled, or young children. It is important that they are treated the same as regular customers and treated with due care and attention. This will attract attention to your company as people will know that your company is customer focused and has high levels of customer service for all types of people.

Moreover you could introduce policies such as the introduction of new rules that will set higher expectations from your staff. This can include approaching as many customers as possible and asking them if they need any assistance in areas such as check-in. This will improve customer service levels as you can ensure that everyone is following the rules that have been set and in turn you can add more rules and regulations that will ensure that all staff is doing the same thing throughout your business. To each individual team you can set monthly targets, this will allow you to monitor the section and then create more objectives you plan for them to reach. This will benefit customers because each group of people will have objectives that they need to achieve and will be monitored throughout their progress to ensure the highest quality customer service is provided.

As I suggested in a letter to your chief executive Mr Willie Walsh, the use of mystery shoppers and surveys will highly benefit your company in terms of customer service. These two methods will identify areas where there are problems and will allow you to put in the correct measures so this can be improved. For example if a mystery shopper identified that the staff were unfriendly, this will mean you can put in place training and/or aims and objectives and allow you to fix this issue. This will make your customer service more reliable because it will mean that it is aimed at certain aspects that have been pointed out as being under par.

However it is also necessary for management to focus on customer service. This will help keep staff happy as they know that the management care about the service provided to customers and will in turn encourage them to adopt the same style. As well as this it can also improve levels of customer loyalty, this is because customers will feel that they are being treated very well and the staff are ensuring that the customer’s needs are met to the highest standard. This will not only boost the amount of return customers but also give BA the reputation of being customer focused. This will also attract customers that usually use other airlines increasing the popularity of your business and in turn the reputation of BA will grow. This will lead to increased sales as there will be a high volume of customers and consequently this will create increased profits.

Finally I believe it is imperative that you train and develop your staff as this will allow you to gain the most from them. It will improve the levels of customer service they provide, and mean that they are more confident with their job roles. Secondly they will be motivated to work hard and self evaluate their performance. If each and every member of staff does this it will improve the whole of BA’s performance and make it become a more successful company.

For instance if a member of staff has been trained in customer service, they will be confident when communicating with the customer and providing information (such as ticket information, baggage information), when they are positively rewarded by the customer (through language and expression) they will feel motivated to work even harder and will become critical of their own work and make sure it is to the best quality, and if not then try to improve it.

This will mean that staff will constantly try to achieve the best that they can and provide excellent service. In comparison, a member of staff who has not been trained in customer service will be unsure about the way they should talk to the customer and will therefore feel unconfident with the work they are being asked to do. This will lead to them not being motivated to work hard which will make the quality of their work even worse. All in all this will mean that BA is being represented badly through its staff.

Case Study unit 354 Monitor and Solve Customer Service Problems Business problems can come In all shape and sizes as they can be very different from one another they require many different approaches to resolve them. Some may even cause wider- spreading problems which disrupt the whole business. But they will all require some aspect of decision making and a variety of approaches can be used solve problems. The result of a business problem can have a positive or negative effect on the business. Our business is built around routine daily, weekly, monthly or yearly Jobs.

When business problems upset a routine, especially In our line of work they have cost Implications some of which can be serious. Every business tries to avoid this. The cause of a business problem can be varied and many. Two main factors of business problems can come from ‘Uncontrolled Change’ and ‘Controlled Change’. Uncontrolled Change- is a problem that is caused but outside the control of the business. The business takes a reactive role in Identify what the business problem Is and how best It can be resolved.

These changes could come through changes In Government Impacting on policy; legislation; environment; social upheaval; technology etc. Controlled Changes- this occurs as a result of a business re-evaluation of an existing strategy or plan of work. These changes can come from within the business itself. E. G. The effects of changes to other parts of a business that are looking at ways of becoming leaner, or from outside the organization, e. G. Deciding to launch a new product ahead of schedule when it hears that a competitor is about to launch the same product.

Each of these changes will upset the established routine for the work plan. An evaluation will have to take place once the robber is determined, this is to establish the effect of this change and see how much of a problem it may cause the business, and this is so the business can resolve the problem accordingly. This is because it’s important to resolve the problem as soon as possible to avoid further impact on the business/organization. A business problem will tend to maximize waste.

One of the alms of business Is to minimize waste through effective routine work. Approach the business problem with confidence and a desire to spend time and effort Into find the appropriate solution to the problem. I find that brainstorming or writing the business problem down, forces me to think about all the issues that need resolving as well as the possible impact the resolution may have on other areas of the business or even my own workload. I feel this method helps promote a free flow of ideas and makes it easier and possibly quicker to resolve.

A relaxed environment Is crucial when resolving business Issues, however In our business environment this Isn’t always accessible and can mean the problem doesn’t get resolved quick enough. Analyzing the situation carefully before greening to a solution is extremely important, as immediate solutions can be obvious or knee-jerking solution may be highly inappropriate. Solutions can be expensive and time-consuming, so it would be prudent to make sure they are going to work and are most appropriate solutions to carry out. Housing Benefit for a wide range of accommodation.

One of the biggest forms of rental properties in our area are those rented through Housing Associations. Housing Associations increase the rent every April to meet economic inflation, this can be a very busy period for us as customer informs us of their changes and we eve hundreds of claims that must be updated before our end of year annual billing, which is normally mid-March. To assist us with the massive increase in work load around this time we contacted each Housing Association we deal with in our area and asked them to produce us with one excel spreadsheet detailing all the rent increases, including service charges.

This was so one officer could then work through the whole spreadsheet. We found before we implemented this procedure some customers would inform us of changes, other would inform us late or in some cases we never received information of any rent increase. We found we couldn’t keep an accurate record of the claims we had updated and those that still needed to be updated. By using the spreadsheets we then had a permanent record of the claims we had updated.

Each Housing Association was given a specialist designated officer, during this transition to deal with them as their personal liaison officer; this meant if there were any problems someone was accountable to resolve the issues and ensure the Housing association and customers’ needs were being met. This earned trust and a good reputation from both the Housing associations and the customers. Swan Housing Association Rent Increase 2013 Spreadsheet At first the new procedure seemed to be working effectively, customers responded positively as they could see we were trying to improve the services we provided.

In August 2013, I was approached on reception by a customer who I will refer to in this case study as Mrs. S. During our first encounter everything seemed very normally Mrs. S was informing me her Daughter had moved in and she was aware this may affect her benefit. As Mrs. S herself had recently started work she was extremely concerned that changing her benefit would cause her to have rent arrears or receive her benefit ate. At the time I took all the information and to ensure Mrs. S fully understood the financial changes she was about to face, I amended her claim and explained her new entitlement while she was here on reception.

We try as much as possible to assess changes while the customer is here on their first visit, this is because it reduces footfall in reception or follow up calls or enquiries because the customer doesn’t understand. At this point I thought this was the end of this matter. I had dealt with the first enquiry and Mrs. S had left reception happy and confident she understood. I let I had delivered good customer service. Several weeks later Mrs. S returned to reception asking for me personally, she stated that she felt the calculation I had done maybe wrong as she had since received a letter from her Housing Association stating she was in arrears.

This is something as benefit officers we face a lot, customer often think we have made mistakes if they don’t feel we are paying enough benefit, it’s important not to take this personally and look into their enquiry and if there has During this next meeting with Mrs. S we went through all her claim checking every ululation and payment. This was important to do as it wasn’t Just me that had updated this claim in the past; many other officers had done calculations on the claim.

I couldn’t find an issue with payments and in fact couldn’t determine where the arrears had come from. From our system we had been meeting the full rent until her daughter moved in, she was aware after her daughter moved in she wasn’t getting her full rent and would need to make a top up, which she had done. By the information we had on our system the customer shouldn’t have been in any arrears. As she was very concerned I offered to email her Housing Association directly and inform them we felt we were paying full rent and they may want to check the records they have.

I never received any reply from them and proceed to try and call the Housing Association, which didn’t bring me any success as I kept leaving messages and no one would return my call. On the 1st September Mrs. S returned to reception again this time very distressed, she had been sent an eviction letter from a rent collection officer at her Housing Association, who for this case study will be named Miss T. As Miss T had supplied a direct contact telephone and email address on the eviction notice I contacted her immediately while Mrs. S was still with me in reception.

Miss T was out of the office at this time, which was very frustrating as no one else from her office would deal with my enquiry or give me any information, I couldn’t resolve the issue then and there and was relying on Miss T returning my attempts to contact her and this meant Mrs. S would have to leave reception with her enquiry still not being dealt with. Unlike Mrs. S first visit I could see she was leaving the office unhappy and still very distressed and concerned. I felt I had not delivered the best customer service that we normally stride for as an organization but this was no fault of my own.

Finally on the 3rd September I received an email from Miss T stating she would be away from the office until the 9th September and didn’t have time to deal with my enquiries before she went away. I found it extremely unprofessional how she couldn’t give me a call and explain this as now Mrs. S was growing progressively more unhappy and frustrated. She was very stressed and worried as the eviction twice still loomed. She explained how she was beginning to feel that neither us nor her Housing Association were willing to help, passing the buck between each organization.

I felt our organization reputation was being damaged by another company who didn’t follow the high levels of customer service and satisfaction that we aim to provide. To ensure I preserved Mrs. S trust in me and the Council as an organization I took it upon myself to ensure I kept her completely update, every time I had a reply from Miss T I made sure I called Mrs. S straight away to inform her. I Egan to earn her trust as she could see our organization was doing as much as humanly possible to help her.

By the beginning of October both Myself and Mrs. S had now made several failed attempts to contact Miss T and the issue was still unresolved. For us as a Council and Business this was completely unacceptable. Mrs. S came into reception to inform me they had sent her a new rent increase, which was normal for this time of year for that particular Housing Association. It was on the 2nd October that I contacted Miss T to inform her I wasn’t happy to accept the new rent increase as we still had outstanding issues. Miss T again was unavailable so I equally experienced who could resolve the issue then and there.

I insisted I wasn’t happy to keep calling and Mrs. T Just ignore my calls or messages. I was very assertive in what I wanted and needed and highlighted the distress they were causing our customer. The lady I spoke to during this occasion confirmed that ‘Swan’ the Housing Association Mrs. S was with had actually sent us incorrect information on the annual spreadsheet. They had given us a higher amount of rent, when checking this lady actually confirmed there were no rent arrears and the eviction notice had also been an error on their part.

I had to amend the rental amount we used in the calculation back for about two year, which caused a large overpayment on the claim, this added to the stress and worry Mrs. S was already under and this was not due to any fault of her own. On this understanding I contacted her Housing Association in writing informing them that we as a courteous gesture to Mrs. S, we had written off all the overpayment and now adjusted her claim correctly. In this letter I did highlight all the customer service issues I had received with their company, when trying to solve an issue in a hope that will review their working practices.

I immediately informed my Line Manger of the mistake the Housing Association had made, as we then needed to check every claim that they had given us rental amounts for, to ensure that they were in fact correct. By doing this we highlighted several claims that needed further investigation, and were in fact incorrect. We have now informed the Housing Association of the importance in making sure the information they send us is correct and the possibly implications on their customers if they provide us with incorrect information.

After the experience Mrs. S did thank me for all the effort I had put in trying to resolve her problems. She now trusts me completely and if she ever has to inform us of anything she now request for me personally. We are again now facing that time of year again, April when all the rent increase come. We are already forwarding thinking and planning to avoid any further disruption to our customers. To do this we have to ensure that our planning and the practices we put in place can not only deal with the increase in work load and manage any issues we have along the way.

In today’s world, we are Just about everything is more convenient and accessible due to advances of technology across almost all sectors. Technology seems more efficient and advantageous in our daily living and processing things gets more easier and improves our works and do more productive in developing of our lives. Technological advances create higher profit, fast access to information, increases communication and speed up work that gives impact to everyone and for general purpose.

Information technology has it big impact in our country in many aspects such as government, education especially in business. Technology allows lessening the burden of works in companies or businesses; it eliminates error and comes with paperless. Technology also increases the business productivity of our country. And simply continue to change the business status and economic with the help of technology. A business such as salon or parlor is one of the industries that engaged to technology that helps many people to beautify and deals with cosmetic treatment for men and women.

The advances of technology affects a lot the economic of the Philippines and helps much in the production of the country’s businesses, tourism and government. Having a billing system is important for keeping track of bills and payments to and from customers. Computerized billing exists to handle billing matters. Regularly using of services or programs can help you keep billing records and information up- to-date. Dilating Hair and Body Salon is a salon that is established to provide a good quality of service that is related to skin health, facial aesthetic, foot care, aromatherapy, and many other services to people.

Having a salon that serves those kinds of services must also generate a good quality of billing to their customers. Dilating Hair and Body Salon use a manual billing system and do not have any computer related system. They do not have an organized file of bills and took much time for them to compute the total sales per day. They also took much time billing their customers. To help the said organization in their problems, a computer based billing system is proposed to make an organized file of bills and computed total sales lily, weekly or monthly.

It will help them to make their service much efficient to their customers. II. Background of the Study Dilating Hair and Body Salon were originally come from Buenaventura. Idealist’s first business name was “Dalai” from the mother of owner of the said business. And it was Just a general merchandise and a year passed they decided to have a facial clinic in the town of Boca and as the business run smoothly in the market they expand and upgrade until Dilating Hair and Body Salon were established on August 8, 2007 at San Miguel Boca, Martinique.

Dilating Hair and Salon started to offer services to their customers such as regular treatment, massage, facial care, hair cuts, hair rebinding, hair relax and high end treatment. The services of Dilating Hair and Salon are affordable for their customers that make their business successful and trust them for what the services they are offering to them. As they offer the services to their regular customers that keep from visiting their salon they give discounts for their trust and for making them beautiful and serving them with quality that satisfies their customer.

Regular customers are discounted ranges 1 to 10%. Dilating Hair and Body Salon become one of the successful businesses in the province but use a manual billing system. This organization aims to have a good quality of service for their customer. Their objective is to serve their customer that will satisfy them and to make their customer happy. In the manual system of billing in the said organization the customer will ask or inquire to counter’s desk for the service and ask how much each of service cost. The customer will only pay after the service.

They are not giving invoices to their customers unless the customer asks for a receipt. However the organization does not have records of the customer bills and consume much time to compute the sales. They are literally using pens and papers for recording their bills and other reports that leads to inaccurate records of files. They are calculating it manually using a calculator that also leads to miscommunication. They keep their records and transactions manually that causes them to take much time and miscommunication. They have to check and compute if miscommunication happens.

It affects them a lot especially when compiling the records and transactions of the total sales and bills. They are checking and computing it manually until miscommunication and error recordings are correct. Ill. Objectives of the Study General Objective: The general objective of the proposed project is to make a computerized billing system for Dilating Hair and Body Salon and to make a system that is user friendly for the organization. And to lessen the work about billings and have an organized files and reports. Specific Objectives:

The following are the specific objectives of the study that will determine the deliverables. To present an accurate computation on the bill charged to the customers. To manage and secure the records on the database. To facilitate a faster transactions in billing the customers. To produce a print out on sales daily, weekly and monthly. To provide a convenient billing process. To develop a system that will help to make easier, faster and accurate billing process and to provide quality of service in terms of billing. To make the customers worry- free for their bills. IV. Scope and Limitation

The proposed system will have a customer’s interface which primary purpose is to show the customer’s bills to pay or the price of the service the customer want to by entering the code of the product by the cashier. The management’s interface will have the log in which will provide the security of the billing system. Its primary purpose is to allow the management to manage their services/prices and for the daily and weekly/monthly and reports in the database of the system. The cashier will have an interface that consists of prices and services and responsible for billing the customers.

The customer with discount will have another interface which will contain the client’s ID which will provide by the management and the customers primary information. The proposed system can update, delete, edit, record and add the product/service and prices. And print reports and invoices. The proposed system will generate daily sales report, billing report and monthly customer report. However it will Just only cover the billing of the customers and the generating reports for sales and billing report of customers. It will delimit in billing using credit cards because it s not reliable to pay through credit cards.

The proposed system will also limit only to customer-billing transaction. The inventory is not included in the proposed system because it will only focus in billing the customer and making total sales report. Ooh V. Significance of the Study This study and the proposed project will benefited the people engaged in this project. Management: The management of the organization will be benefited because they will have an accurate files and less manpower. It will give them also a productive result and time saving process.

Cashier or the Counter’s Personnel: It will benefit them a lot because it will make to lessen the work. It will provide an accurate and reliable of records and make works easier and faster in billing the customers. Customers: They will be benefit by giving accurate price and bills and worry-free. Proponent: The proponent will be benefited by enhancing and improving the information systems skills in analyzing and designing a program of the system. Future Developers: They will benefit them by giving chance to make the system for more improvements and add more features or functions.

Face to Face Summer Erxleben MAR2305 December 17, 2011 Brandi Summers Face to Face The manner in which I handled this customer service call was unprofessional and handled very poorly. I did not answer the phone within three rings or use the proper greeting that the company requires. There were many things I could have done different in this situation. First and foremost I should have done my job and handled her situation right away. However, that was not the case. Since I did not, there were other ways I could have smoothed things over with Aretha and rectified the situation.

I should have answered the phone according to the company’s guidelines of answering before three rings and using the standard greeting. I should have not discussed any personal issues that I was having with her or used those as an excuse as to why I did not return her phone call. I should have gone straight to apologizing for my mistake and resolving the issue. I feel as if Aretha was justified in how she treated me. She was frustrated and expressed it to me. I made her angrier over the situation by trying to excuse my actions instead of trying to find a resolution.

Personal issues and priorities can sometimes effect customer service because employees can let the mood over them flow into the work environment. An employee could possibly treat a customer with anger or indifference because of these issues. They can also be distracted from performing their required tasks. It is important to separate your home life from your work life. There are times an employee will need to put on a smile and positive attitude even when faced with such issues.

The Customer Services Manager has been working part-time (just two days a week), since the arrival of her baby. When she is working, she is responsible for checking that the administration of the department is up to date, holiday and sick records are up-to-date. The General Manager will normally assist her in any overflowing work. She is the person who will deal with quotations or tenders, which will normally come in the form of excel spreadsheets. She will edit the sheets, filling in any relevant data, such as distributor information.

A customer care advisor will then print out the sheets, categorizing them by distributor. They will then be faxed out together, asking for the current price and discount. When this information arrives back, Claire keys the information into the spreadsheet, or arranges for someone else to do it if she is not going to be in. The tender or quotation is then finalised by Nick Boisseau (Managing Director), who has the final say as to how much discount should be offered to the customer. Debbie Karmos – American and Asian Advisor Debbie deals primarily with the Far East, Japan, Hong Kong and America.

She has two advisors who she may pass work onto. Japan provides the company with its highest area of turnover, closely followed by America, so this is a very busy team of people who have a vital role in ensuring good customer care is correctly fulfilled. Gary Cumberbeach and Louise Wheeler – Educational and European Advisors These two people are responsible for dealing with a large section of the world and the large majority of educational institutions that provide custom to Delta. Delta has spent much time and investment trying to break into the sector for educational institutions.

There are many that specialise in teaching English, – should Delta become a regular supplier, it could become a growth industry. Jaqci Parker and Lisa Wheeler – Portuguese Advisors Delta has an agent in Portugal that is also responsible for overseeing the conduct of business with Portuguese customers. Warehouse Manager The Warehouse manager is responsible for ensuring that the export warehouse works efficiently. If the warehouse receives a delivery, the Warehouse Manager will check the goods received with the corresponding purchase order form. He will then record the delivery on the company’s database.

He is ultimately responsible for overseeing the safe storage and dispatching of goods offered by the company. When a customer care advisor records an order, an invoice will be forwarded to the Warehouse Manager who will ensure that the order is packed and dispatched accordingly. He is ultimately responsible for delegating responsibility, and making sure that appropriate methods of practice are in place and followed by general warehouse staff. Although he does not deal with customers directly, his role is vital in ensuring customers are fully satisfied.

He must ensure that goods received by customers are not damaged or defected in any way, and is also responsible for making sure an order is processed and dispatched as quickly as possible. Any cost savings made by the company in its export warehouse maybe passed onto the customer. General warehouse staff General warehouse staff must fulfil the responsibilities delegated by the Warehouse Manager. Their roles can vary on a day-to-day basis, but they are also responsible for ensuring the export warehouse works efficiently.

General warehouse staff are responsible for storing deliveries received, once they have been checked by the Warehouse Manager. They are responsible for picking orders that have been placed by customers and packing the orders accordingly. There is also a certain amount of documentation that will need to be completed by staff, when packing each order that is placed. Once again, general warehouse staff do not deal directly with customers, but have an important role in ensuring customer satisfaction.

Their responsibility to the customer is much the same as the Warehouse Manager, who must ensure appropriate practice is followed throughout the export warehouse. As far as what is expected of staff knowledge goes, the main requirement is that staff learn where to source books from, and they learn how to find books when they are given very little detail of what is required. So, rather than a specific knowledge of books, it is more a case of knowledge of how/where to find particular books that is more important.

Those staff that deal with customers directly are expected to demonstrate a positive, helpful approach. They must investigate issues raised and take appropriate action when necessary, whilst providing sound advice in a polite manner. Warehouse staff are expected to communicate with suppliers and ensure there is a satisfactory flow of goods, which can be handled and dispatched to customers. (b) Lance Owen Lance Owen – Managing Director The overall Managing Director of Lance Owen is chiefly responsible for the overall management of the company, which is a subsidiary of Vauxhall Motors.

He is ultimately responsible for setting standards in customer care and devising appropriate customer care policies in line with Vauxhall requirements. He must establish strategies that must be put into practice in order to deal with his particular customers. Store Managers Store Managers can be found at all Lance Owen stores. They oversee the service and parts department and the company’s showrooms. All other staff in any store will always be answerable to the Store Manager, who must makes sure that all customer care practices and policies are followed by everyone.

They will be broadly responsible for the way a particular store conducts business, and their responsibilities will often vary to the changing environment in which a particular store operates. It is the Store Managers job to delegate responsibility for a variety of tasks and must ensure that other inferior managers perform their tasks appropriately. Sales Manager The Sales Manager will be responsible for making sure that sales assistants meet sales targets. A major factor in achieving a high level of sales would be to ensure that customers are fully satisfied with the goods and services that the company has on offer.

He or she will also make sure that staff working in the sales department are trained and operate to the highest possible standard, in both sales and customer care. This is vital in building up a relationship of trust between client and retailer. Sales Assistants Sales assistants will have individual sales targets imposed upon them and will therefore have a responsibility to transmit Lance Owens customer care image and packages in an attempt to persuade the customer to make the buying decision. They are expected to have an extensive knowledge of the goods and services offered by the company.

They must also provide informal advice, in a friendly manner. Presentation Manager Each Lance Owen showroom is allocated a ‘Presentation Manager’, who is ultimately responsible for presentation to the customer. He or she is obliged to check the store for cleanliness at least three times a day. They must ensure that showroom products are presented in the best possible fashion and that the overall shopping experience is a pleasant one. The Presentation Manager has an important role in perpetuating the company image. Customers should be enticed by the way the showroom is presented.

Service and Parts Team A Service and Parts Team can be found at all Lance Owen stores. They are responsible for making sure that services and parts are made easily available to those customers who wish to purchase them. Members of the team would include general assistants, mechanics, and car-washers, all of which play an important role in ensuring customer service is to a high standard. They ensure that servicing, repairs and parts are provided to a high standard, with minimum inconvenience to the customer. Customer Care Team The Customer Care Team can be found at all Lance Owen stores.

They are actively involved in contacting new and existing customers, to find out if they have received the products which they have signed up for at the service they would expect. They will also aim to inform customers of goods and services that may appeal, and offer any support and advice that may be required. Effectively, they are responsible for monitoring and assessing the quality of customer service on offer. Members of the customer care team will aim to deal with a range of customer enquiries although those enquiries directly related to sales should be diverted to the appropriate department where more specialist advice is available.

At all levels, in all departments of the company, clerical staff can be found. These people are often the first contact with prospective or existing clientele and must therefore take a primary role in customer satisfaction by dealing with relevant queries appropriately. Senior managers must be pertinent and influential in staff development. C3, How effectively are customers needs catered for by each organisation? (a) Delta International Book Wholesalers Ltd. There are a variety of ways that Delta maintains fluent communication with its customers. Essentially customers may communicate by telephone, e-mail and fax.

These are all effective methods of long distance communication, and efficiently maintain fluent correspondence between the company and its customers. Delta staff do not deal with customers face-to-face on a day-to-day basis. However, this is effective because its customers are located all around the world and will undoubtedly appreciate using methods of long distance communication, as opposed to relying upon a walk-in service, which would not satisfy customers’ needs. Delta has an Internet website that allows potential customers to learn more about the organisation and the products which it provides.

It illustrates the company’s willingness to provide general information about itself and enhance public awareness about the goods and services, which it aims to provide. Developing an Internet website provides an effective medium for communicating with potential customers and allows Delta to perpetuate a brand image and deliver a selling message to potential customers. The Internet website is also used for a number of other reasons. It is used to allow customers to check the status of their orders and see what books have been dispatched and what books are still on order.

This is another way the company aims to provide customers with an increasingly efficient service, as customers will always know what to expect. If any books are out of print, or under reprint, Delta always issue a report on their website and always contact those customers that are directly affected personally by telephone, e-mail, or fax. This again illustrates their commitment to exceeding customer expectations and providing an efficient service. This reduces the chance of complaints by customers, who will feel that Delta makes a genuine effort to satisfy their needs.

Delta supply general information about books for which customers do not have complete information. They can supply lists of books in a particular area from which potential customers can place their orders. Strategies such as these will help Delta to develop a competitive edge over competition, as they are not only concerned about providing services which provide immediate revenue to the company, but they are demonstrating a willingness to provide relevant services to the customer, which may help to increase customer satisfaction. They are demonstrating a willingness to exceed customer expectations.

A large part of its business is to supply quotations. Tender are usually sent to Delta on a spreadsheet, who check the current price, availability, and discount available from the publisher. This may be described as part of the ‘augmented product’ customers receive when purchasing goods and services from Delta. Customers do not pay for this service, yet it helps the company to increase satisfaction amongst customers and to increase its sales, as it provides a service, which nearly all customers require before initiating a purchase.

Delta offers small discounts to those who order a lot of a particular book, or to customers who agree to those who agree to pay off their invoices early. This demonstrates willingness to reward customers that bring good business. It is likely that customers will appreciate receiving discounts and rewards. This could be particularly instrumental in increasing chances of repeat business and customer loyalty. Delta has an allocated Spanish Desk that has been set up in order to deal with Spanish customers.

This is a very effective way of satisfying the needs of Spanish customers. It will significantly reduce the chance of existing customers taking their business to Spanish based book wholesalers. Although the majority of Delta customers do not actually go inside the store itself, Delta has recently built a small car parking facility for both customers and staff. This is partly in response to a growing number of large customers, who wish to inspect the premises, before initiating any business.

Delta is providing customers with the services they require; ensuring any experience potential customers associate with the organisation is a positive one. Staff should be updated with information regarding the goods and services Delta aims to provide. They are also monitored and assessed on their ability to provide objective impartial advice on a day-to-day basis. Ensuring that staff are capable of fulfilling their roles adequately, providing relevant information regarding the goods and services customers may wish to purchase.

Why did Nationwide need an enterprise wide data Warehouse? Nationwide insurance company is one of the largest financial service company, with $23 billion in revenue and more than $1 60 billion in statutory assets. So in this large business nationwide insurance company experienced a various data issues, like data in-consistence, data reputation, dissimilar data processing, his will shows on business decisions and strategy on market.

To resolving the issues Nationwide insurance started using Enterprise data warehouse technology from Attracted, it is a single data warehouse. It would provide best practices to make strategic and tactical business decisions. Data Warehouse is less expensive, stored in single place from different various systems also it will be helpful during critical analysis stage using clean and standardized data and provide solutions in short time instead of spending analysis, gathering he data, cleaning and stored in multiple places. . How did integrated data drive the business values? National wide has developed a customer knowledge store (CSS); it is a customer centric database. The integrated data improve the market and better communication with customers, significantly improved on the customer satisfaction. Sing integrated financial data can improve the customer priorities and resolve the issues in given time like clarify the queries, suggestions, current market situation and etc.

In the current market customer satisfaction is very important at any given time using this integrated data business can achieve the goals. 3. What forms of analytics are employed at National wide? In National wide various types of business analytics are used, the data warehouse supports the descriptive analysis for all the business operations. In Predictive analysis the customer Knowledge Store to identify the kinds of customer interactions that are important for customers at different points.

In he Prescriptive analytics the financial performance management approached single data and technology architecture with a common set of systems standardizing the process Of financial data. 4. With integrated data available in an enterprise data warehouse, what other applications could National wide potentially develop? The case described customer relationships and financial reporting. Other areas of development pricing of products, regulatory compliance, hiring, risk management, and the location of facilities.

Here is my description of different customers of Tesco, their expectations and what customer service is within Tesco. Customer service is the assistance Tesco grant their customers. Customer service is how well Tesco satisfy their customers. All individual customers of Tesco have different needs and expectations; they like to be provided with different services so that they feel more at ease when shopping. Our core purpose Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty. Our success depends on people. The people who shop with us and the people who work with us.

If our customers like what we offer, they are more likely to come back and shop with us again. If the Tesco team find what we do rewarding, they are more likely to go that extra mile to help our customers. This is expressed as two key values: No-one tries harder for customers, and * Treat people as we like to be treated. We regularly ask our customers and our staff what we can do to make shopping with us and working with us that little bit better. This is our Every Little Helps strategy: In Tesco’s core purpose statement they say that “Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty”.

I believe that this shows Tesco care about their customers to a great extent. The statement tells us that “No-one tries harder for customers, and treat people as we like to be treated”. I feel that this shows that Tesco understand the importance of customer service and that they have to have an above good quality standard of customer service in order to keep customers coming back so that Tesco can keep making healthy profits. I feel that Tesco try to make shopping experiences easy and pleasurable for their customers.

They use an ‘every little helps’ strategy, which is regularly advertised on the television to not only draw new customers in but to keep their current customers. Tesco have questionnaires in store so that their customers can give Tesco feedback so Tesco can target week sections of their customer service and find new methods to improve these week sections. Some of the questions on the questionnaire are; did you find what you were looking for? Were you offered hep at the tills? Were you asked if you have a club card? Did you have to queue up? If so, for how long?

Were you greeted with a smile, hello and a goodbye? Did staff check your eggs? Did staff make eye contact? All these different questions help Tesco to target week sections and improve upon the current standard of their customer service. I feel that if Tesco did not offer the opportunity for customers to have their say then the Tesco customer service would not be of a very high standard! I feel that by Tesco offering this they will make their customer service of a high quality and are more likely to keep their current customers and attract new ones by word-of-mouth conversations.

[Obtained from the teachmebusiness. co. uk website] Here is one of the Tesco’s customer feedback forms. I think that it is good because customers don’t have to spend a lot of time filling it in but Tesco can generate a great deal of data from this small questionnaire meaning that they will have a sufficient amount of data to improve. For example, if Tesco saw a trend of feedback forms with “there are never any trolleys” Tesco can investigate this throughout there stores and make the necessary improvements so that there are always trolleys for customers to use.

Tesco have two different types of customers. They are; internal and external. Tesco have to fully understand each and every expectation of all individual customers. Tesco customer’s expectations are: * Value for money on all products; it is important Tesco do this in order to keep their customers and attract new ones because they have lower prices than rival stores. Tesco show customers that they are cheaper than competitive stores with their price tags. They often have things like; Tesco price then Asda and Morrison’s price underneath.

I think that this helps Tesco to become a bigger threat and higher competition to other leading supermarkets. * A good returns policy; customers of Tesco expect to be able to return goods at a later date if they product is faulty or damaged. Customers may also expect repairs on products that Tesco offer such as televisions and other electronics. The Tesco returns policy is 28 days. I think that this is a reasonable amount of time because most people can return good within a month of a purchase. With electronics Tesco give a free one year warranty and the customer can choose weather to buy extra.

I think that this is fair because one year is a generous warranty for free and most faults will happen within the first year.  Good ordering systems; Tesco use tracking systems on there internet site so that customers can follow their item and see when it will be arriving, its current status and even if it has been dispatched. This allows customers to contact Tesco if it comes to there attention that their item has not been dispatched within the specified time. I think that this is a good system because customers will feel at ease knowing where there products is and are more likely to order again.

Dealing quickly with any customer enquires; Tesco need to reply promptly to customer complaints about poor service and products. The customers will expect contact information so that they can contact head offices for complaints. Tesco provide this contact information on receipts, on their internet site and in stores. You can also go to the customer service desk in the Tesco store. The employees will expect a good rate of pay; they will expect to be paid more than minimum wage and possibly a better salary than other leading supermarkets pay their employees.

They will also expect to be treated with respect, the employees practically run Tesco so it is in Tesco’s best interests to give their employees the respect they deserve. The employees will also expect the chance to get promoted and move up the ranks in the organisation so that they will get better jobs and salaries. The suppliers will expect their products to be well advertised and promoted in the store. They will also expect Tesco to do bulk buying and pay with appropriate payments. For Tesco to have a good customer service It means that they have to keep customers happy.

Tesco will offer many things to do this including; low prices, quality good, well advertised products, easy to get hold of contact information, quick and easy customer complaints and friendly staff. All these things add up to a good customer service and help Tesco to be competitive. Terry Leahy who is the chief executive of Tesco quoted, “Good customer service helps Tesco to compete successfully with other supermarkets”. I agree with this statement because if Tesco did not offer a good customer service they would struggle to get customers to return and find new ones.