Developing Customer Service Excellence in a Service Business

Learning Outcomes Tested in this Assignment

Learning Outcomes Tested in this Assignment:

1. Knowledge of customer expectations within a particular service business sector.
2. Knowledge of training/development required to deliver customer service excellence
3. Develop strong influencing and negotiating skills in order to develop strong professional relationships (KS2)
4. Evaluate and carry out reflective practice using case studies to develop customer-focused thinking (KS8, KS9)  

Would students please note that achievement of the learning outcomes for this assessment is demonstrated against the assessment criteria shown below (which are not necessarily weighted equally).  All marks/grades remain indicative until they have been considered and confirmed by the Assessment Board

Define customer expectations for chosen service sector organisation including the 2 extremes of expectations

Detail a development and training strategy that will ensure that customer service excellence is delivered by customer service  personnel, defining how the outcomes will be measured at organisational level.

Describe how the outcomes of the training will be measured at organisational level

Referencing with the correct use of the Harvard system

Quality of presentation. Clear structure, evidence of team work in research, production and presenting. 

Outstanding work of exceptional merit which is original in content or approach allowing a novel perspective, going beyond what is available in the literature.

Work which is clearly articulated and well substantiated, based on extensive reading, and demonstrates an authoritative grasp of the concepts, methodology and content appropriate to the subject and to the assessed task. There is clear evidence of originality and insight and an ability to sustain an argument, to think analytically and/or critically and to synthesise material effectively.

Work which demonstrates a very good level of understanding of the concepts, methodology and content appropriate to the subject and which draws on a wide range of properly referenced sources. There is clear evidence of critical judgement in selecting, ordering and analysing content. The work demonstrates some ability to synthesise material and to construct responses which reveal insight and may offer some occasional originality.

Work derived from a solid basis of reading and which demonstrates a grasp of relevant material and key concepts and an ability to structure and organise arguments. The performance may be rather routine but the work will be accurate, clearly written and include some critical analysis and a modest degree of original insight. There will be no serious omissions or irrelevancies.

Competent and suitably organised work which demonstrates a reasonable level of understanding with minimal analysis and interpretation. It covers the basic subject matter adequately but is too descriptive and insufficiently analytical. There may be some misunderstanding of key concepts and limitations in the ability to select relevant material so that the work may be flawed by some omissions and irrelevancies. There will be some evidence of appropriate reading but it may be too narrowly focused.

Work lacks evidence of knowledge relevant to the topic and/or significantly misuses terminology. There is either no evidence of literature being consulted or irrelevant to the assignment set. Inaccurate or inappropriate choice of theory. Unsubstantiated/invalid conclusions based on anecdote and generalisation only, or no conclusions at all. Lacks critical thought, analysis and reference to theory.

Insufficient level of understanding and knowledge base unacceptably weak. No evidence of logical structure and poorly presented. Referencing is unsystematic or absent.

Customer expectations are beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards, or reference points against which performance is judged, and against which customer experience is measured.

Levels of expectations can vary widely dependent upon the reference point the customer holds.  How important the expectations held, will be the eventual assessment of the service provided.

Customer expectations vary from business sector to business sector, also service expectations vary across providers within a business sector.  Service itself will vary across employees from the same provider, and even with the same service employee.

Nordstrom believes that employee experience determines the customer experience.
(The Nordstrom Way to Customer Experience Excellence: Creating a Values-driven Service Culture) Robert Spector, Breanne O. Reeves 2017.

There is no doubt that employees are critical to customer service excellence, as they are the service, they are the organisation in the customer's eyes, they are the brand and they are the organization’s differential. 

Your task is to work as a group of no more than 4 to deliver a 20 minute presentation of no more than 15 slides as follows:

Agree a service sector business as the focus of your research and presentation.

Research and describe what the customer service expectations are for that sector.

Produce a training and development plan for new members of staff responsible for customer service for the organisation (be they back office or front-line) that will ensure that they deliver customer service excellence continually and consistently aligned to your customers' expectations,  'delighting the customer' and in line with the organisation's culture and strategy.   You should detail the what (is the training e.g. communication), the why (it is needed) and how (will it be delivered e.g. workshops).

Explain how outcomes of the training and development will be measured at organisational level.

Allocation of marks will be awarded for evidence of combined group effort

Marks will be a combination of a group mark for the overall presentation work and individual marks for the accompanying 1,500 word write up/ reflection.