Customer Service of Emerge Events Company - Business Plan Example

Service Plan Contents Contents Introduction: 2 Stakeholders in the Operational Plan: 2 Research 3 Goals and Objectives: 4 Service Plan: 5 Flow Chart - Customer Service Plan: 5 Resources required: 6 Consultation and communication strategies: 6 Procedures: 6 Implementation: 7 Monitoring: 7 Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) 7 Monitoring 8 Procedures and Systems of Monitoring: 8 Conclusion: 9 References: 9 Introduction: Emerge Events works in the field of event management. It has got a young and dynamic team of professionals. Satisfying the clients is always at the top of the priority list. The company has an owner at the top who is also the CEO. There are 9 other employees, who are divided in equal groups of three. The groups are; 'Sponsorship team', 'Operations team' and 'Hospitality team'. This energetic and talented team has been bestowed with the task of managing the forthcoming event called 'Bright Light, New fashion', where emerging designers would showcase their talent. The event will take place on 5th June 2009, at TAFE Sydney Institute, Ultimo. The night would commence with a cocktail party and live entertainment. More than 150 guests will be invited, amongst those will be guests connected with the fashion industry. The event is a unique opportunity for the young designers as well as for the sponsors to connect with the fashion industry and its insiders. Organisational Structure of the Business Stakeholders in the Operational Plan: Owner/CEO (Internal): He is at the helm of affairs monitoring the three teams & some part time employees. Employee Teams (Internal): Sponsorship team: Will handle sponsorship issues, from getting in touch with them to signing them on. Operations team: Will coordinate with the designers, auditorium management, guests and other technical factors regarding the event. Hospitality team: Will make sure everyone turns up for the event. Will look after their needs and will be joined by the other two teams in taking care of all guest, on the day of the event. Designer (External): There designs will be showcased in the fashion show. Sponsor (Eternal): Show will garner considerable revenue out these deals. Guests (External): Around 150 in number. Research The first part of the customer service plan is to research the needs and expectations of the internal and external customers. Internal Customers: Owner/CEO: He wants the event to be a success from all aspects and also wants maximum sponsorship deals. Employee Teams (Internal): Sponsorship team: They want to sign maximum fruitful sponsorship deals. Operations team: They want proper coordination between the designers, models, technical staff, auditorium authority, etc. Hospitality team: There motto is to take care of designers, models, guests, sponsors and to look after them in an coordinated manner along with the other two teams. Temporary staff: They might be present if need be, to help in any activity, the teams tell them to perform. External Customers: Designer: They want their designs to be showcased in the best possible manner; they would demand the best infrastructural support for the show. Sponsors: They would want high return from the sponsorship amount they have spent and would demand the broadest mileage for their Brand. Guests: Would want to be taken care of with respect and proper concern. Current innovations: Customer service can play a key role in any industry in today's day and age, especially when differentiation in product offering has almost become commoditised. It is only out of the box 'customer service' that can add value to your business. In the context of event management customer service garners an extra connotation of importance, as event management deals with people and their expectations of a superior event experience from the company. Innovative customer service starts from proper planning about all the resources and also predicting the moot points along with possible areas of failure and taking care of them beforehand along with having contingency supporting plans with adequate resources. Communication with the customer and logical assumption of the key necessities in terms of resources are key to its success. When all these come together in perfect synchronization, customers are satisfied and there are possibilities of retaining them or gaining more business opportunities arise. (Mcclendon B., December 2000) Goals and Objectives: Vision /Mission Statement: To strive to be an equal opportunity organization where there is harmony between work and the employees and they successfully deliver on their professional fronts. Goals and Objectives (of this plan): This plan's objective is to deliver a successful fashion show as per the client's recommendations through proper coordination of all verticals and resources. SMART Objectives: Specific: Deliver a successful fashion show for the new designers, sign sponsorship deals with sponsors, to invite 150 guests and ensure their attendance. To completely prepared on all front before 2nd June i.e. 2 days before the actual event on 5th June 2009. Measurable: To account for at least 65% of the cost from the sponsorship deals, remaining coming from the designers. Achievable: Yes because these upcoming designers will be tomorrow's stars and the sponsors would have a great opportunity to associate with them at a brand level right now, at a much lower price than in future. Overview of the new customer service plan: To delegate respective jobs to the sponsorship, operations and hospitality teams. To have a communication channel between them through which they would tally their decisions with each other. The plan is to complete preparations, at least 2 days before the actual event. Customer Service Plan: Flow Chart - Customer Service Plan: Resources required: Designers and their creations. Models (generally chosen by designers). Sponsors (for financial support). Choreographers (chosen by designers). Decorator and lighting (provided by auditorium authorities). Employee (Teams) Communication channel. Customer's feedback channel. Redressal system. Consultation and communication strategies: Meeting: Meeting with customers and between the teams. Team meeting should be arranged every Sunday. Written feedback of the customer: So that later on there cannot be false claims by any party. Real time communication; through phone should be carried on wherever need be. Procedures: The flowchart gives an overall framework to be followed in terms of the customer service plan. This plan takes care of the three vertical teams and what each of them has been assigned to perform. The plan starts with the operations team pitching in front of the prospective sponsors and then depending on the reply (positive or negative) the next step follows. When the reply is positive deal is signed and the hospitality team takes over and sends the respective invitations. In the mean time the operations team communicates with designers, technical staff, etc. During the whole process a communication channel is open between the teams and on Sunday a review and redressal meeting takes place under the purview of the CEO/owner. Implementation: Though the plan is the first step, yet implementation is the key. The plan has to be implemented step by step, to ensure that the members are sticking to the procedures agreed upon. Any obstacles faced or any rebuttal demanded could always be discussed in the Sunday meeting with the CEO and also throughout the working week through an open communication channel. Monitoring: The owner/CEO would do the job of monitoring whether the assigned jobs are moving on smoothly. He would look into employee performance in context of particular job given to him and also whether he is an efficient and dependable team member or not. From time to time all employees will be given questionnaires to gauge their thought process on different issues regarding the job. Also job done would be compared with pre set objectives to check any possible digression. Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) For Sponsorship team: They should make prior appointment with prospective sponsors over the phone. Should carry with them sponsorship detail, to be presented in printed format. Not to pester them, rather offer them other options. Finally even if they do not agree, be courteous, so that one can approach them during other opportunities. For Operational team: Coordinate properly between the external and internal resources and within stipulated time. Look after the infrastructural support on all fronts. For Hospitality team: Send printed invitation cards to guests and other invitees. Keep proper record of any correspondence between any of the parties. Take good care of all the invitees on the day of the event and send them thank you letters once the event is over. In terms of service: Be courteous while interacting. Be prompt in reply. Be punctual. Don't forget to thank them. Monitoring Procedures and Systems of Monitoring: The CEO shall have an open communication channel between him and all the team members, so that they feel free to talk to him whenever the need be. During the Sunday meeting each team member will have to produce a collated information manual on the past week's work. Those collated Information will be updated on the Computer in MS Excel. Amount received from sponsorship and other related receivables will be calculated to understand the project's monetary position. At any step actions are seen to be digressing from set objectives, solutions will be found through brain storming sessions. Conclusion: The event management company will have to focus on all the different functional verticals and their individual goals and objectives if it wants to be successful in managing the fashion show. All the plans and procedures will have to be monitored so that the work being done is in accordance with the preset objectives. All the resources should be looked into and points of failure should also be predicted from before, so that extra precautions could be taken. If all these are taken care of properly, then the event will be a grand success and would also provide opportunity for future business growth. References: Mcclendon B., December 2000, Taking Customer Service To The Next Level, Magazine Article, Public Management, Vol.82, Issue: 12. Read More