FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

SERVICE EXCELLENCE

Lecturer : Donny Yudono, Bc.PHN,S.Sos, MM

Name: Priscila Nathalia

ID No.: 09.61.005
Temasek International School
Bandung
2010
What is service excellence?
Service excellence could be defined as many things in many major
activities or businesses.

According to Mike Jacoutot:

Service excellence is an understanding that each guest is a ‘moment of

truth’, and it is our responsibility to make the best opinion for the guest
about our services.

According to the ACA Group (www.theacagroup.com):

Service excellence is the ability of an organisation to constantly and

consistently exceed the customer’s expectations of their needs and
wants.

According to Christine Churchill:

Service excellence is when an organisation have the high standards of

management, training and commitment to excellence within the
organisations, which has an evident in daily activity and future
initiatives.

7 steps to Customer Service Excellence:

1. Staff engagement and involvement in striving for continuous service
improvement

If customer service standards are to be integrated into the business

with any hope of buy-in from staff then they must be engaged in the
process of development. It is advised that the employees should be
incorporated in the development process as early as possible.

2. Analysis and recognition of service ‘gaps’

The standard PZB gap analysis model is still valid for most
commercial organisations.

Gap 1: The difference between customer expectations and

management perceptions of customer expectations.

Gap 2: The difference between management perceptions of

customer expectations and service quality specifications.
 Gap 3: The difference between customer service quality
specifications and the customer service actually delivered.

Gap 4: The difference between customer service delivery and what

is communicated about the customer service to customers.

Gap 5: The difference between customers’ expectations of the

service and their perceptions of the customer service performance.

3. Developmentand transparency of customer service ‘Standards’ or

‘Promises’ to customers

Class-leading businesses first decide on their approach, whether to

develop internal ‘Cutomer Service Standards’ for the attention of an
internal audience, or to consider an externally promoted series of
‘Promises to Customers’. The new, or updated, standards or
promises can then be market tested with internal and external
stakeholders. From time to time, clients ask us to help with an
associated task-to help design and implement ‘Values’ for their
business culture. These are in inevitable linked into the customer
service standards or promise to customers that the clients aspires
towards and are best developed in harmony with across sections of
employee representative, through staff consultation and customer
research activities.

4. Consistency across the business

The challenges for many businesses is the inconsistecies of

customer service delivery that occur within an organisation. Too
often customer service quality can fluctuate between outlets branch
or office, and this can create real challenges in maintening
reputation for excellence. By rolling out a high impact customer
service training program supported by explicit customer service
standards, and business coaching through performance
measurement and observational activities (such as mystery
shopping), staff members get to understand the expectations of
 customers and senior managers. If employees are unaware or
unsure of what is expected of them, delivering to uncount
expectations can be challenging.

5. Sustainability after the initial ‘buzz’

New drives for quality including the introduction of new customer

service standards are subjected to what be refer to as ‘Parachute
Training’. When organisations’ implement change, sometimes
employees perceived the new project as ‘the latest initiative’. The
training is delivered by facilitators consultants who ‘parachute in’,
deliver the training and then leave. Most leading age corporations
have found that this has short term benefit that lost momentum
after a period of compliance. It is important to maintain the
momentum with effective performance measurement programmes.
We have to create a sustainable resource for your company,
through the transfer of training technology and the development of
new courses.

6. Regular monitoring and accurate measurement of performance

Where data is collected as part of a regular performance

measurement program, trend analysis becomes possible. This
means that specific areas of customer service excellence can be
celebrated by the teams responsibl. Where pockets of under-
performance are highlighted individuals can be coached and
redirected towards the standards of customer service expected by
the business. From time to time clients discovered during data
evaluation that a process or procedure is hampering service
performance-this provides a great opportumity to improve your
service to cutomers.

7. New management/supervisory capabilities to coach staff towards

service excellence
 It is dicovered that even the most prestigious brands are populated
by managers who have opportunities to improve on their coaching
prowess. So,me cultures that evolve locally, regionally, or even
organisationally, then towards criticism and judgement.

What are the points that should be considered in

planning excellent service program?

FEATURES
According to Better Business Bureau, “customer acquisition is an
investment, but profitability is built on customer retention.” In order to
retain customers, businesses focus on providing excellet customer service
to keep customers happy.

STRATEGIES
To provide excellent customer service, companies must make sure
representatives are easily accessible for customers to speak to when they
have problems or questions. These representatives must have the ability
to either solve the problem or answer the question, or direct the customer
to someone who can.

BENEFITS
Great businesses focus on providing excellent customer service because it
is the best way to keep customers coming back. This leads to more
business and bigger profits.

EXPERT INSIGHT
Any businesses have to be built on trust. Advertise honestly, tell the truth,
be transparent, honor promises, be responsive, safeguard privacy and
embody integrity as part of providing service excellence.
ALWAYS RIGHT
Remember this famous phrase: “The customer is always right.” This
phrase is credited to Harry Gordon Selfridge Sr., an American
businessman who founded a British department store called Selfridges
before losing his fortune during the Great Depression.

What do the staff have to do in mastering excellent

service?

In the business world, good customer service often is not enough

anymore.

Customers and clients are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the

merely adequate. For them, extraordinary service is the rule, not the
exception. Anything better, and they’re happy to vote with their feet and
their wallets.

That makes extraordinary service is necessary, not just desirable. And

that, in exchange, mandates a strategy to help ensure that your business
matches to the service standard on a daily basis.

Here are seven ideas and tips to help your business establish and
maintain an ongoing climate of service excellence.

1. Define what extraordinary really means. It’s an easy term to toss

about, but knowing what exceptional service entails is essential in
establishing the procedures and the mindset with which to achieve it. So,
what extraordinary actually means — is it lower price? Keeping
appointments on time or making certain telephone services reply that
always say “please” and “thank you”? By knowing precisely what is
merely good enough — and what takes your business beyond that — you
get a firm handle on what you need to do to hit that goal on a consistent
basis. For example: A waste removal company has a good way of handling
cutomers. ‘1-800-Got-Junk’ means calling a customer to let them know
that the van they’re expecting is going to arrive on time.”We pledge to
arrive on time, in a clean shiny truck, with two friendly uniformed drivers
— but so can any other company. What makes us unique is our truck crew
will call the customer 15 minutes ahead of time, and let them know we’re
on time,” says Christopher Bennett of the Vancouver, B.C., from a junk
removal service. “This has a huge impact on the customer. Calling ahead
sets exceptional expectations — even if we’re running late, the customer
appreciates the call in advance.”

2. Ask if you’re not sure. Many companies may find it understandably

difficult to genuinely pinpoint what extraordinary service really entails. So,
do some legwork. Conduct focus groups with customers to see what they
really value (and don’t lead the group to answer the way you want).
Identify topics that are frequent targets of dissatisfaction. Often, you may
find extraordinary translates to a holistic grouping of issues, not just one
product or service. “Sometimes, being extraordinary means offering
someone with a truly exceptional experience,” says Dr. Noelle Nelson,
author of “The Power of Appreciation in Business.” “The quality of
something may be good, but it’s the overall experience that will really
define customer loyalty.”

3. Allow your people to be extraordinary. One of the biggest

challenges of providing a consistent top-drawer performance is by shifting
conditions — what’s appropriate for one customer may not work with
another. For instance, one customer may be so dissatisfied that a partial
refund may be required. On the other hand, other customers who are a bit
less comment may be happy with a problem solved without any sort of
refund. So, allowing employees to have a reasonable freedom of choice to
read a situation and react accordingly is very good. To example:
Southwest Airlines gives its telephone customer service reps the authority
to OK refunds if a caller claims they didn’t get the airfare they wanted.
(The reps charge their own credit cards, and then later get reimbursed.)
The Ritz Carlton Hotels also do this. Each employee is given a daily budget
to create a WOW Experience or for Service Recovery.

4. Share information. If you run a retail business, business

management tools can be valuable in tracking critical data, such as what
items and services are selling particularly well. If you have any data, don’t
keep it a secret. Sharing the information with your employees lets them
know what’s hitting on all cylinders. It also helps them promote these
products or services to customers. “Sharing information with others is a
really positive step,” says Nelson. In other words, don’t keep critical
customer information close to the vest. That holds true with businesses
other than retail.

Every company has the critical issue of Intellectual Knowledge and how it
is shared across the organization or lost as people leave and take that
valuable information with them. You have to create and implement a
succession program so that valuable information is not lost, and there is
someone ready to step in immediately as openings occur.

5. Share the commitment. Nothing else can prove better about the
successful of an extraordinary service commitment than management for
whom the concept is kept. Step by step as we are reaching the
commitment just as much as you hope your people will. Make sure you
reward top performance. Invest more time and expense in any sort of
training that may help employees to carry out and maintain high
performance standards. Don’t forget yourself and others in the front
office. “Make sure that training takes in everyone, not just sales,
marketing and other front line employees,” says Karen Leland, author of
“Customer Service for Dummies.” “Training and Re-Training is an
important part of creating a lifelong culture for service excellence since it
helps build an understanding of the concept of service. And that means a
top-down commitment. Leadership should set the tone for the entire
effort.”
A common misconception is that people usually think that satisfaction is
the same as commitment. It is important to measure employees’
commitment and engagement by measuring their satisfaction.

6. Don’t expect magic overnight. Another potential hurdle to

extraordinary service is the expectation that is like flicking a light switch
— on it goes, and everything’s allright. The truth is exceptional service
takes time to take hold in an organization, particularly one with an array
of people and departments. Give it enough time and then do review
performance every four to six months. “It’s essential to stay the course so
you can improve service ratings,” says Elaine Berke, a Westport, Mass.,
consultant.

7. Expect challenges and set backs and react accordingly. The road
to top notch service is not without its bumps. Don’t pretend they’re not
there. Rather, make them a part of the journey by acknowledging a slip up
and, in so doing, recommitting to extraordinary performance. For
example, if a customer receives the wrong item, don’t stop at making sure
they get the right one. Let the customer know that you’re sorry for the
mistake and build their confidence that it won’t happen again. “Build
customer loyalty, not just satisfaction,” says Berke. “When you apologize
for problems and really listen, you build a relationship.