Reference no: EM132967889

Assessment Task - Manage organisational customer service

Establish customer service requirements and ensure the delivery of quality products and services

Innovative Widget is a business that is planning to make customer service a core competency of their organisation and wants to improve their current customer service delivery.

You are a customer service manager. It is currently December, and over the last few months, you have been receiving feedback from customers that customer service is just 'not what it used to be'. The board of Innovative Widgets has been made aware of the decrease in customer service quality and wants to know what you're going to do to fix the problem.

You will develop a customer service plan for the simulated business Innovative Widgets.
You will then use scenario information (provided) to address customer service issues through:
• monitoring customer service team performance to identify causes of customer service shortfalls
• addressing a complex customer complaint
• coaching an underperforming customer service employee in a role-play.
To complete this task, please refer to:
• Appendix 1 - Innovative Widgets Scenario
• Appendix 2 - Innovative Customer service delivery
• Appendix 3 - Innovative Widgets Complaints policy and procedures.

This task comprises of the following assessment methods:
o Product-based
o Direct observation of Role-Play
o Case Study
o Other (specify)

It has been designed to evaluate your ability to/competency in:

• Consult with customers to identify customer service requirements
• Integrate customer feedback into organisation's business plan
• Identify and procure resources required to address customer service requirements
• Deliver product and service according to customer specifications within organisation's business plan
• Monitor team performance and assess against the organisation's quality and delivery standards
• Support colleagues to overcome difficulties in meeting customer service standards
• Develop and use strategies for monitoring progress against product and service targets and standards
• Develop and use strategies for obtaining customer feedback on the provision of product and service
• Adapt delivery of customer product and service in consultation with relevant individuals and groups
• Manage records, reports and recommendations within the organisation's systems and processes

You are required to address the following:
• Task 2.1 Plan to meet internal and external customer requirements
o Participate in a focus group to determine customer service needs and requirements for Innovative Widgets
o Develop a customer service charter and plan
o Develop 2 policy and procedures relevant to customer service
o Peer-Review your work to ensure it meets standards
• Task 2.2 Ensure delivery of quality products and services
o Develop a report to the board on customer service performance in the company
o Develop an email to address a customer's complaint
o Performance manage and coach a colleague who is under-performing in the customer service team

Task 2.1 Plan to meet internal and external customer requirements

a) Attend the focus group session in week 2 of class

In week 2 of class, attend a meeting (focus group) in a simulated work environment where:
• Some students will play the role of Innovative Widget's customers invited to attend a focus group on customer service
• Some students will play the role of customer service personnel working at Innovative Widgets
• The trainer and assessor will play the role of the CEO of Innovative Widgets
Together:
• Brainstorm and agree on five customer service standards for Innovative Widgets
• Determine and agree on how long it will take Innovative Widgets to achieve those standards
• Considering that the budget to develop and implement the customer service plan is $ 85,000, discuss and decide if the budget is adequate to implement the plan.
• Brainstorm ideas to develop a customer service charter and plan to include:
o A vision and mission statement for customer service
o A list of internal and external customers types
o An outline of customer needs (by customer type)
o An outline of product standards
o An outline of training needs for the customer service team
o A budget for the plan to consider technology, training, staffing needs and equipment needed to implement the plan
o A brand-new customer support policy and procedures
o A brand-new record keeping policy and procedures

If you are absent from class, you are responsible for making alternative arrangements with the trainer and assessor to perform the Role-Play.
The trainer and assessor will validate your active participation in the session and provide feedback on the Marking Sheet.

Standards, Budget and Timelines

Record the agreed five customer service standards, the agreed timelines to implement the customer service plan and the agreed budget in the table below.

b) Take notes about the focus group session and select three ideas that you find most effective to develop a quality customer service plan according to the agreed standards, timelines and budget.
List the ideas you liked the most and develop a short reflection on your selection (justifications). (50-100 words)

c) Develop a customer service charter and plan for innovative widgets. Include two high-level policy and procedures as instructed.

Task 2.2 Ensure delivery of quality products and services

Review current customer service performance at Innovative Widgets.
a) Report on current customer service performance to the board of Innovative Widges.
• Review the information about Innovative Widgets that you gathered in Assessment Task 2.1.
• Read the scenario provided in Appendix 1 of this task.
• Review the customer service call data in Appendix 2 and analyse the data to identify possible causes of customer service shortfalls.
• Write a brief email report (Template 5)to the board of Innovative Widgets to:
o summarise customer service team performance
o identify possible causes of customer service shortfalls (2-3)
o identify options to address the problem/s. (2-3)

The email text should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.
(50-100 words)

b) Address the complaint from Yore Mine Co.
Read the scenario in Appendix 2 and address the complaint from Yore Mine Co.
Follow the customer complaints policy and procedures provided in Appendix 3 of this task to draft an email (Template 5) to Yore Mine Co. to clear up the misunderstanding and address their concerns.
Ensure that your support of the customer provided is consistent with principles of customer service set out in the Innovative Widgets business plan and the customer service plan you develop in Assessment Task 2.1.
The email text should be in grammatically correct English, written in an appropriate (polite, business-like) style.

c) Performance manage and coach Mary.
Read about Mary's performance in Appendix 2.
Schedule a time with the trainer and assessor in week 4 of the term and meet with Mary (played by a classmate).

Assessment Task - Manage organisational customer service

Monitoring and support strategies

This taks builds on Task 2 where policies and procedures are also provided.

You are a customer service manager working for Innovative Widgets.

The board at Innovative Widgets is pleased with the work you have performed to address some of the customer service problems in the organisation. Mary is performing better in her role and feeling more confident. Yore Mine continues to purchase their widgets from Innovative Widgets.

At this stage, the board would like you to take some steps to improve the organisation-wide delivery of customer service. They would like some specific targets developed to measure the performance of the customer service team. They would also like to monitor customer satisfaction levels and then recommend any changes required to improve the delivery of customer service at Innovative Widgets.

This task comprises of the following assessment methods:
o Product-based
o Direct observation of Role-Play
o Case Study
o Other (specify)

It has been designed to evaluate your ability to/competency in:

• Identify and procure resources required to address customer service requirements
• Monitor team performance and assess against the organisation's quality and delivery standards
• Develop and use strategies for monitoring progress against product and service targets and standards
• Develop and use strategies for obtaining customer feedback on the provision of product and service
• Adapt delivery of customer product and service in consultation with relevant individuals and groups
• Manage records, reports and recommendations within the organisation's systems and processes

You are required to address the following:
• Task 3.1 Monitoring strategies:
Develop and use strategies to:
» Monitor progress in achieving product and/or service targets and standards
» Obtain customer feedback to improve the provision of products and services
» Develop, procure and use resources effectively to provide quality products and service to customers
• Task 3.2 Decision making on customer service improvement:
o Address a scenario and make decisions to overcome problems and adapt customer services, products, and service delivery in consultation with pertinent stakeholders.

Although the assessment requires group collaboration to simulate a work environment, the assessment submission is individual, and it will be marked as such.

• Consult with a group of students who will play the role of pertinent stakeholders in the organisation to determine remedial actions to address customer service-related issues.

Task 3.1 Monitoring strategies

Develop and implement strategies to:

• Monitor progress in achieving product and/or service targets and standards
• Obtain customer feedback to improve the provision of products and services
• Use resources to provide quality products and service to customers

a) Monitor progress in achieving product and/or service targets and standards

1. Develop a strategy to monitor progress in achieving product and/or service targets (Template 1).
2. Provide a practical example of how to use the monitoring strategy for each described scenario below to monitor progress in achieving product and/or service targets and standards:
b) Obtain customer feedback to improve the provision of products and services

Develop a questionnaire to obtain customer feedback to improve the provision of products and services at Innovative Widgets.

The questionnaire must be developed as follows:
• 6 questions (using four or more of the question types listed below)
o 1 open question
o 1 multiple choice question (3 choices)
o 1 leading question
o 1 importance question
o 1 dichotomous question
o 1 rating question
o 1 buying propensity question

• Cover 3 or more of the following topic areas:
o Customer satisfaction
o Propensity to buy Innovative Widgets Products
o Quality of customer service
o Delivery (speed)
o Repeat orders
o Recommend Innovative Widgets to colleagues/friends

c) Procure resources to provide quality products and service to customers

1. Develop a strategy to provide professional development in customer service practices for the customer service team. The strategy must address:

• Latest customer service techniques
• Use of CRM
• Conflict management/Handling of complaints
• Team building
• Work-life balance
And
• Costing
• Timelines to implement the strategy
(80-120 words)
(Example: formal and informal training, mentoring, team building activities, flexible work arrangements etc.)

2. Develop a plan to procure the resources needed to implement the strategy.
Include information on features and pricing of a new CRM that could be implemented at Innovative Widgets.

3. Provide a practical example of using resources effectively to provide quality products and services to customers for each scenario below.

Task 3.2 Decision making on customer service improvement

Meet with a group of classmates. The classmates will play the roles of pertinent stakeholders in the organisation:
• Manufacturing manager
• Warehouse manager
• Sales manager
• HR manager
1. Discuss the scenarios below and, in consultation with the stakeholders, make decisions to overcome problems and adapt customer services, products, and service delivery.
2. Write the meeting minutes of the consultation as evidence of your meeting (Template 2).

Scenario A
A competitor has just entered the Australian market, selling the same product with an aggressive discount strategy (10% discount for each product). How can you compete against such an aggressive campaign? How can you adapt your customer service, products and service delivery to:
• Compete on quality of customer service
• Keep your customer base
• Reinforce the message that you are a reliable and quality supplier
• Increase the speed of delivery (now it is three days guaranteed)
• Cut the operational cost by 10% to match the price of the competitor if needed
Consult with the stakeholders and record 3 key decisions that you can make today to address the scenario.

Scenario B
3 new team members have joined the customer service team. They need appropriate induction and training. Consult with the stakeholders and record 3 decisions that you can make today to properly induct and train the new team members to perform according to the standards required.

Scenario C
Innovative Widget has just launched a new product (Product Alpha) with a target to achieve one million dollars in sales in 6 months since launch by advertising to existing customers only.

Product alpha is a widget developed using 3D printing technology to customers' specifications (see the picture on the left as an example).
Consult with the stakeholders and create a tagline for the product.

Attachment:- Manage organisational customer service.rar