Reference no: EM132765748

SITXCCS007 Enhance Customer Service Experiences Assignment - Western Sydney College, Australia

Topic - Quality Customer Service

Assessment Task 1: Written questions

You must correctly answer all questions in this task to show that you understand the knowledge required of this topic.

QUESTION 1 - a) List five principles of enhanced customer service experiences.

b) What are five principles of positive communication?

c) What are five benefits to a business of enhanced customer service experiences and positive communication?

QUESTION 2 - What are three techniques that can be used throughout the service experience to anticipate and determine customer preferences, needs and expectations?

QUESTION 3 - What are three ways customer feedback can enhance the service delivery provided by business?

QUESTION 4 - Provide an example for each scenario of how the following extras and add-ons may be offered to customers:

Additional destinations
Additional tours or cruises
Cocktails and liqueurs to enhance the dining experience
Coordination services at events and conferences
Entrance to events, festivals and entertainment scheduled during customer stay at destination
Entrance to major attractions at destination
Extra food items
Flight fuel emissions offset fee
Local guiding services
Optional meals and dining experiences
Prepayment of baggage charges
Prepayment of in-flight meals
Pre-travel seat selection
Private car transfers in lieu of regular transportation options
Special offers or packages
Specialised styling for events
Storage for luggage after check-out
Travel insurance
Upgraded accommodation and flights
Wine or boutique beers to match meals ordered

QUESTION 5 - a) What are three signs that there may be conflict between work colleagues?

b) In terms of conflict theory, briefly describe the following stages:

Latent stage

Perceived stage

Felt stage

Manifest stage

Aftermath stage.

QUESTION 6 - a) In relation to conflict theory, what are three levels of conflict that can exist within an organisation?

b) What may be contributing factors to conflict in a workplace? Describe three factors.

QUESTION 7 - In relation to conflict theory, what are three possible results of conflict that can exist within an organisation?

QUESTION 8 - Briefly describe the following conflict resolution techniques:

Assertiveness

Negotiation

Using appropriate communication.

QUESTION 9 - When may the following persons need to be involved in conflict situations?

Counsellors

Internal security staff

Mediators

Other staff members

Police

Senior staff.

QUESTION 10 - a) What are possible causes of conflict in the tourism, travel, hospitality and event industries and their typical causes? Discuss three.

b) What are three possible causes of conflict between staff in these industries?

QUESTION 11 - If a customer makes a cancellation, what are three requirements that will apply for a cancellation fee to be legally binding?

QUESTION 12 - If a business provides information to a customer about an impending price rise in an attempt to induce them to buy a product or service, what criteria must this information comply with in order to be legal under the Australian Consumer Law?

QUESTION 13 - What is the only condition under the Australian Consumer Law where a customer is entitled to ask for a replacement or refund for a product they have received?

QUESTION 14 - Under the Australian Consumer Law what three things must the supplier of a service guarantee?

QUESTION 15 - List five guarantees that a business gives when supplying goods or services according to Australian Consumer Law.

Assessment Task 2: Project

For this task you are required to complete a template to demonstrate the knowledge required for this topic in relation to the hospitality industry and your workplace.

INSTRUCTIONS - This task requires you to answer questions related to where you work, have worked or have a work placement in a hospitality service environment, by filling in the template provided. Some questions are general industry related questions and some will be specific to your workplace. Copy this template into another Microsoft Word (or similar) document and adjust the rows as necessary. Ensure you complete all parts of the template.

You may need to find out additional information from your supervisor, colleagues or from the staff intranet. Ensure you have access to customer service policies and procedures and codes of practice that are industry relevant from your workplace in order to answer specific questions. You will not be asked to include copies of these policies and procedures, however you will need to reference them in your answers.

Policies, procedures and codes of practice need to include:

Customer service standards

Designated response times

Presentation standards

Customer surveys and feedback collection

Recording and reporting customer feedback.

1. What main products and/or services does the industry in which this business operates provide?

2. What are some of the professional service standards and protocols that are followed by the personnel in this industry? Print a copy of the service standards of your particular business and attach with this assessment task. Discuss how service standards are generally made available to customers in this industry.

3. Discuss the attitudes and attributes that are expected of employees in this industry.

4. Discuss some of the different customer service needs and expectations you have come across.

5. What customer loyalty programs are used in this industry? Describe how these loyalty programs work.

6. Discuss how customer databases are used in this industry and some of their essential features.

7. Discuss the designated response times for providing service and resolving complaints at your workplace.

8. Discuss the complaints handling procedure making reference to the customer complaints policy.

9. Where are the customer service policies and procedures kept; and how does management ensure that staff are up-to-date in their knowledge of the policies and procedures?

10. What promotional services are offered at your workplace?

11. Discuss the procedures for dealing with the following:

a) Incorrect pricing or quotes

b) Delays or errors in providing products or services

c) Misunderstanding of customer requests

d) Escalated complaints or disputes

e) Other team members or suppliers not providing special requests

f) Misunderstandings or communication barriers

g) Unmet expectations of, or problems or faults with a service or product.

12. Discuss the methods of performing the following and provide an example for each.

a) Negotiating with suppliers on behalf of customers to get reduced rates or extra services for them.

b) Providing a service free of charge.

c) Providing a service at a reduced rate.

d) Providing discount vouchers to attend at a future time.

e) Providing an inexpensive add-on product.

f) Providing a small gift to a customer.

g) Providing special attention during the service period.

h) Providing special customer service delivery on next attendance.

13. How are financial constraints of the organisation and the profitability of the sale taken into consideration when making the decision to provide customers with free or discounted services? Provide an example of making a decision about the profitability of providing a service free of charge or at a reduced rate and include calculations in your answers.

14. Choose a cultural group you have had dealings with before and answer the following questions.

a) What is the cultural group you have chosen and why?

b) Discuss the customary greetings, farewells and conversation of this cultural group.

c) Discuss the body language and body gestures associated with this cultural group.

d) Discuss the formality (or informality) of language associated with this cultural group.

e) Discuss the clothing sometimes worn by this cultural group.

f) What may be some special or additional requests this cultural group may have?

15. What are the roles and responsibilities of the following positions in providing quality customer service?

a) Management

b) Supervisors

c) Operational personnel

16. List three sources where you can find information on current service trends and changes that affect the service industry.

17. Discuss how following internal and external environmental changes may effect quality customer service planning:

a) Changes in the competitive environment

b) Economic climate

c) Introduction of new technologies or equipment

d) Management changes and organisational restructures

e) Recruitment practices

f) Trends in customer service preferences

18. What are three reasons a business may choose to join industry schemes and/or align with industry codes of conduct?

19. Discuss the following methods of formal and informal customer research and feedback:

a) Analysis of the competitive environment and industry trends in customer service

b) Customer service surveys with structured questions

c) Customer focus groups

d) Feedback from service delivery colleagues over the course of each business day

e) Questioning customers informally

f) Observing customers

g) Regular staff meetings that involve service discussions

h) Staff surveys

i) Internal customer surveys (colleagues/other departments etc)

j) Improvements suggested by customers involved in complaints or disputes

k) Improvements suggested by suppliers

l) Improvements suggested by staff, supervisors and managers

20. A business needs to constantly assess its effectiveness in customer service practices. Explain how the following can be done:

a) Examine the overall business performance

b) Monitoring the effectiveness of staff in meeting customer service standards

c) Monitoring the effectiveness of policies and procedures in explaining practices

21. How does your workplace review the numbers and natures of:

a) Complaints

b) Disputes

c) Customer responses

22. Making reference to your workplace's policies and procedures, briefly discuss the following:

a) Presentation standards for the customer environment and for the customer service personnel

b) Pricing and service guarantees

c) Product quality

d) Refunds and cancellations

e) Customer service training

f) Technical training (systems and technology)

Assessment Task 3: Simulated Workplace observations

For this task you are required to complete a template to demonstrate the knowledge required for this topic in relation to the hospitality industry and your workplace.

INSTRUCTIONS - Your assessor will arrange a suitable time to visit you in your workplace to observe you interacting with customers, and then afterwards will ask you some verbal questions and demonstrate customer complaint procedures.

During the workplace visit, your assessor will be looking to see that you can:

Identify customer requirements for two different internal and two different external customer requirements

Anticipate, determine and confirm customer preferences, needs and expectations by using effective communication, active listening and questioning techniques.

Advise customers of products and services that meet their needs.

Promptly provide products and services to customers within designated timeframes.

Provide a professional yet personalised service to customers to encourage repeat business.

Use software to access and analyse customer information.

Offer your customers extras and add-ons, tailor made and/or additional services based on their customer profile.

Check actioning of any special requests made before customer delivery.

Liaise with your team members and suppliers to provide services.

Share information about customers with team members.

Maintain customer profiles to enhance service delivery.

Implement and monitor your workplace's customer service practices as outlined in their policies and procedures.

Act as a positive role model for professional service standards expected.

Seek formal and informal feedback from staff and customers to improve performance of self and business.

Assessment Task 4: Case study

This project has two parts:

Part A requires you to do some research and develop customer service policies and procedures for three different areas of business that meets industry standards.

Part B requires you to monitor and adjust policies and procedures to ensure quality customer service delivery.

INSTRUCTIONS - You are working as the Manager of Champion's Sports Bar which forms part of the Marino Complex and you have noticed that customer service standards have been slipping lately in a number of different areas. After reviewing the current policies and procedures on customer service, you have decided that some additional policies and associated procedures need to be developed. But first, you are going to conduct some research and obtain some information from customers and staff about the levels of service being provided.

1. Develop a customer satisfaction survey for the following areas of customer service at Champion's Sports Bar with at least five questions in total using a four point rating scale of very satisfied, satisfied, dissatisfied and very dissatisfied:

How staff answer the telephone and provide information to customers.

How quickly patrons of the bar are served and how long it takes for them to receive their food and drinks.

The friendliness of the staff and how warmly they are welcomed.

The variety of food and drinks on offer.

Print a copy of this survey and submit it to your assessor. Submit additional information to your assessor about how you will distribute this survey, to whom, by when and how many you are going to distribute. Think about how you will encourage the customers to fill out the survey.

2. You now need to discuss with your second in charge how they feel the standards of customer service are being met. Your assessor will play the role of your second in charge and provide you with some information. Conduct a brief informal meeting to gather some information.

The customer satisfaction surveys have come back with the following results:

Overall, customers are all very satisfied with the variety of food and drinks being offered at the bar.

70% of customers rated the way the staff answer the telephone only as satisfied and 30% as dissatisfied. Comments revealed from the customers who said they were dissatisfied that staff often seemed in a rush and tried to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

65% of customers rated the friendliness and the welcome of the staff as very satisfied, 25% rated it as satisfied and 10% rated it as very dissatisfied. The comments from the customer who was very dissatisfied revealed that some staff provided their customers with a bowl of complimentary nuts when they arrived and the staff member serving them did not.

Overall, customers were very satisfied with the length of time it took to serve them and the wait time on their food orders.

Business results indicate that overall the business is performing well but slightly below targets for the last quarter.

Although the bar does not have its own website as it is included on the main one for Marino Enterprises, you have just set up a social media page so you can begin advertising all of the special offers, promotions and trivia nights the bar holds.

The policies and procedures that you and senior management have decided to update/develop are as follows:

Customer service: Communication policy

Customer service: Social media policy

Customer service: Welcome procedure

Customer service: Telephone procedure

Customer service: Responding to negative social media comments procedure.

3. Conduct some research into policy development and into current industry trends in customer service and changes that may or has affected service delivery. Focus some of your research on how social media is at the forefront of keeping customers informed about new products and services, and how customers use social media to either provide a positive or negative review of businesses and how this can affect a business's reputation. You will use this research in the following two points.

4. Have a meeting with your team (this will be three of your classmates with your assessor observing) and inform them of the new policies and procedures that you will be developing. Briefly discuss the information you have researched, an analysis of the results of the customer satisfaction surveys, as well as the need for new policies and procedures. Allow opportunity for your team to provide input about customer service practices and ask questions. Take notes to assist you in the development of your policies and procedures.

Your assessor will be looking to see that you:

Demonstrate open communication

Use active listening skills

Serve as a positive role model for your team.

5. Develop the following two policies and three procedures:

Customer service: Communication policy

Customer service: Social media policy

Customer service: Welcome procedure

Customer service: Telephone procedure

Customer service: Responding to social media comments procedure.

You may use a suitable template of your choice to develop them but they must be in line with the Marino Style Guide. Policy review should be set at 12 months and procedures set at 6 months.

Each policy must include:

Purpose

Scope

Objectives

Responsibilities (of Champion's Sports Bar as an employer; and employees)

Consultation and communication of the policy

Effective date

Review date

Each procedure must include:

Purpose

? Scope

Activities/responsibilities

Effective date

Review date.

6. Communicate the new policies and procedures to all staff by sending a group staff email advising them of the new policies and procedures, the expectations of staff regarding them, and where they will be located. Alert staff that these need to be made available to customers on request. Attach them to the email and send this to your assessor.

Assessment Task 5: Role plays

For this task you are required to complete seven role plays to demonstrate your communication, complaints resolution and conflict management techniques.

INSTRUCTIONS - This project requires you to work four simulated service periods and engage in seven role plays during which you will encounter a range of situations you will need to deal with. You will need to refer to the policies and procedures you developed in Assessment Task 4, as well as the additional policies and procedures mentioned above. Additional background information has been provided for you where necessary.

Your assessor will nominate class members to play the roles of the persons involved in the role plays, or may play some of the roles themselves; and will record their observations of you.

During the role plays, your assessor will be looking to see that you can:

Act professionally and take responsibility for resolving complaints and conflict.

Assess the impact of complaints and act swiftly and tactfully so as to prevent further escalation.

Proactively compensate for service difficulty in line with your level of responsibility set out in the policies and procedures (situations which apply to external customers).

Use effective communication to establish nature, cause and details of complaints/conflict.

Determine options to resolve complaints and decide on appropriate action.

Turn customer complaints into opportunities to demonstrate high quality customer service.

Complete required reports and/or registers.

For this task you are to play the role of the Manager at Champion's Sports Bar who is responsible for monitoring customer service practices during these shifts.

Service period one:

Role play 1 - Wrong order

While managing the shift this service period you notice that one of your staff, Susan, is looking very red faced and flustered at one of her tables and a man sitting at the table does not look impressed. You discreetly motion for her with a hand signal to come over.

Begin the role play here.

Role play 2 - Negative post

You are working the same service period about an hour later and another employee, Bryan who is one of the supervisors, calls you over with an alarmed look on his face.

Begin the role play here by asking Bryan what the matter is.

Service period two:

Role play 3 - Roster dispute

One of your employees named Chris tells you that he was rostered to work this Saturday night but he swapped with Melissa two weeks ago as he has an important family gathering to attend to. He has already filled in for Melissa's Friday night shift last week and the roster was updated when the request was made and approved. Chris however tells you that Melissa has told him this morning that she can no longer fill his shift for him and he is very upset. It is now Thursday evening.

This is an extract from the employee's handbook:

"All employees are required to give at least five days' notice of not being able to work their rostered shift so it can be assigned to another employee, unless the employee is affected by an emergency situation in which case the employee is required to notify their manager as soon as is reasonably possible. Failure to notify the manager within a reasonable timeframe without a valid reason or not turning up for a shift may result in disciplinary action."

Begin the role play here: You have called Melissa and Chris into your office for a meeting.

Role play 4 - Incorrect bill

While you are busy chatting to a table of customers Melissa motions to you that she needs to speak with you.

Begin the role play here.

Service period three:

Role play 5 - Friday night blues

One of the kitchen staff, Muhammed, always leaves early on a Friday. He follows the Islam faith and can never work a Friday afternoon or evening shift as he has told you privately before that he goes to the mosque to pray. You agreed to this arrangement when you employed him but he does not speak much to the other employees and he is a very private person. You overhear Vivian, another kitchen staff member, complaining that she is tired of always getting the Friday afternoon and evening shifts and it's not fair that Muhammed never works them. You then overhear her complaining to the bar staff about it an hour or so later. The other staff member said that she think his religion requires that he attend prayers at a certain time. Vivian says "why can't he just pray anytime like other religions." You have called Vivian in to your office to handle the situation before it escalates.

Begin the role play here with you and Vivian having a meeting in your office.

Role play 6 - Boys' night out

It is 10pm and you and two of your team members are tending the bar tonight. The kitchen has just closed and the bar is at about 50% occupancy. A rowdy group of young men stagger into the bar announcing in very slurred voices that it is Will's 21st birthday today and order a round of shots. You can clearly see that most of them are intoxicated.

You tell your team that you will handle this one, and in a very friendly but firm tone tell the group that you are sorry you won't be able to serve them tonight due to responsible service of alcohol legislation and the kitchen has just closed.

One of the group members turns nasty and calls you a rude name and spits on the floor. You politely ask them to leave and suggest they call it a night. The majority of the men say "Okay, okay we are leaving now", but two of the group refuse to leave and swear at you again. The other customers in the bar have all stopped their conversations and are looking on.

Service period four:

Role play 7 - Knock out

It is a quiet lunchtime shift and there are not many people in the bar. There are only a few staff on as the busy period will only be later in the evening. You are tending the bar yourself.

Written reflections - to be answered after the role plays and submitted to your assessor in a Microsoft Word document (or similar).

Identify and evaluate the impact of each scenario on the business's reputation and legal liability.

How would you follow up with the customers from role plays 1, 2 and 4 to ensure their satisfaction with the resolution of their complaint?

Assessment Task 6: Evaluation

This project has two parts:

For Part A you are required to send an evaluation report to management.

For Part B you are required to update policies and procedures as outlined in Part A's report and initiate training arrangements for employees.

INSTRUCTIONS - Please note, you will use your documentation and information from the previous assessment task for this task.

PART A - Marino management has asked that you complete a report on how the customer service practices, policies and procedures are working, and have asked you to review the numbers of complaints and conflicts in the past three months. They would like you to arrange any training required by staff members, and update policies and procedures if necessary. When your report is complete, send it to your assessor as if they were John Marino.

Background information - Post-follow up customer feedback indicated that the customers from role plays 1, 2 and 4 were happy with the final outcomes and the way the situations were handled.

Other feedback gathered indicates that 80% of customers are very satisfied with customer service and there were no other complaints made during the period.

You have identified that the staff need training in how to manage conflict more effectively with each other and you would also like to provide them with training on how to deal with aggressive customers after the incident that happened earlier this month.

Your report needs to include the following:

An evaluation of the complaints register and summaries of outcomes.

An evaluation of the two incidents that occurred during the period (from Assessment Task 6: role plays 6 and 7) and a summary of how they were handled and any improvements that could be made to procedures and practices involving conflict resolution and management.

Any customer service issues you have noticed or feedback you received from customers and how this can be addressed.

Possible causes of conflict between employees and how this can be managed.

Training that you believe will be beneficial and arrangements you would like to put in place including sources of internal and external assistance that could be used.

At least three suggestions to update policies and procedures. At least two of these suggestions should be updates to the policies and procedures that you developed in Assessment Task 4; and the third one can be to the policies and procedures provided to you as part of this assessment - or your own that you developed in Assessment Task 4.

PART B - Your report has been read by management and they have approved your training arrangements and suggestions for policy and procedure updates.

Update the policies and procedures as outlined in your report from Part A.

Compose an email that will be sent to all staff communicating the changes and attach the updated policies and procedures. Advise them of the details of the training arrangements including benefits of receiving the training.

Attachment:- Enhance Customer Service Experiences Assignment File.rar