The Service Encounter Journal - Assignment Example

REPORT: THE SERVICE ENCOUNTER JOURNAL ANALYSIS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Executive Summary..................................................................................2 2. Introduction..............................................................................................3 3. Discussion of Report................................................................................4 3.1 Service Encounter 1...........................................................................4 3.2 Service Encounter 2...........................................................................6 3.3 Service Encounter 3...........................................................................9 3.4 Service Encounter 4..........................................................................11 3.5 Service Encounter 5..........................................................................12 4. Service Encounter Analysis....................................................................14 5. Conclusion..............................................................................................14 6. References..............................................................................................16 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Customers should be the key focus of an organization and thus; an organization should ensure that it treats its customers with care and concern. The way in which an organization treats its customers will majorly depend on the quality of front line staffs employed by the organization. When the front line staffs are well trained on how to treat customers, the provision of services in the organization will also improve. Customers need to be listened to and treat with patience. The way in which a customer is handled in a firm will determine the extent of his or her satisfaction with the services provided by the firm. Therefore; the foremost aim of this report is to analyse the extent of customer satisfaction in different service encounters. INTRODUCTION During my stay in Sydney i interacted with different kind of services providers and thus, as a consumer i learnt to different a satisfactory service and unsatisfactory service. Therefore, i had different service encounters with different service providers in the area. While other front line staffs are inexperienced and poorly trained, others have been well educated and trained and educated on efficient treatment of customers. Some staffs know how to handle customers demands in the right way such that; a customer will be even convinced to visit the organization some other time. Service encounter is also determined by how courteous the front line staffs are. This is because; while other front line staffs may be well trained on how to handle customers, they may not be courteous. Thus, they may also leave customers unsatisfied. Other concepts and theories that can improve the rating of services encounters in an organization include; training front line staff on patient with customers and ensuring that the staff are neat and presentable. Diversification of services in the organization also serves to ensure that customers do not leave the organization with unsatisfied needs. DISCUSSION OF REPORT Service Encounter 1: Name of the Service Provider: Bécasse Restaurant Type of Service: Restaurant Date: January 2013 Time: 8.00p.m How did the encounter take place? The service encounter took place at Bécasse Restaurant during evening hours in Sydney, Australia. It was in person since; I encountered the service personnel of the restaurant directly. Thus, in the encounter I communicated directly with the waiter in the restaurant. What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? It was a warm evening in January and thus with the heat, I decided to drop by a restaurant to get some food to eat and a glass of cold juice. Visiting the restaurant was also triggered by the fact that I had just been transferred to work in Sydney by my employers. Thus being new around the area, I was not well acquainted with the restaurants. Therefore, I decided to enter the first restaurant that I came across. And so, the first restaurant being Bécasse, I decided to have my meal there. The restaurant appeared classy and well furnished and thus, my expectations were that the services would be similar. The place was also clean and thus, it raised my expectations about the food too. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? 5 What exactly made you feel that way? I would say that i had been delighted with the service encounter at Bécasse Restaurant. This is because; being a new customer in the area, I was well treated and the staffs made sure that I was comfortable in their restaurant. I noticed that the front line staffs were greeting all their customers with so much respect and care while welcoming them to the restaurant. The staffs that served me communicated clearly and were patient enough to wait for me to decide the food I was going to eat. In addition, the services were also prompt and quick. This made me be delighted with Bécasse’s services since; no customer would be left to sit for long before food is served to him or her. I can also attest to the fact that my expectations in the restaurant were met. This is because; the treatment from the staffs was fair and equal to all the customers who were visiting the restaurant that evening. This is contrary to other restaurants where, some individuals are usually treated differently from others due to their financial status. What can the firm do to increase the level of satisfaction? To increase the level of satisfaction of customers, the restaurant can ensure that there is some background music to entertain customers while they are having their food. Other improvements that can be made in this service system include; diversification of the foods in order to ensure variety (Hoffman & Bateson, 2003). This is because; sometimes the service may appear to be slow yet, it might be the customer taking long to decide the meal to take from the available choices. On the other hand, a customer may be taking a long time to choose the meal to take because; the choices may have become monotonous to him or her and thus; he or she may be looking for new and different meal to take. Therefore; diversification of the meals will also lead improvement of service provision in the restaurant. How likely is it that you will go back to this services provider? 5 Service Encounter 2: Name of Service Provider: Reserve Bank of Australia Type of Service: Bank Date: January 2013 Time: 11.00am How did the encounter take place? The encounter took place both on telephone and in person. This is because; I had first called the bank hoping to solve my issue via the phone, but I was asked to visit their premises and explain my problem in person. Therefore, it is then that I faced a second encounter in person. What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? It was during a certain week in the month of January that i realized i had forgotten my ATM pin number. Since i did not think this would be an issue requiring me to visit the bank, i decided to just call the bank and request a new pin number from the administrators. In addition, i thought that this would save me the bus fare of travelling up to Sydney where the bank is located. Therefore, my expectations were that the bank would understand my reasons of choosing to call instead of visiting in person. I also expected that getting a new pin would not take me a lot of time or require long procedures since; although it was my first time to transact with the bank, i was already one of their members. When the customer service personnel asked me to just visit the bank and explain my situation in person, my expectations were that i would not spend a lot of time in the bank since; it was a week day and i had other errands to run. In addition, i expected that the personnel would not rush to judge me as careless and irresponsible. Instead, i expected that they would listen to my explanation and help me out. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? 1 What exactly made you feel that way? I would rate the service encounter at Reserve Bank of Australia as being terrible because judging from an overall point of view; the services were very unsatisfactory. To begin with, the customer care personnel that talked to me on the telephone were very rude, impatient and arrogant. The lady did not even bother to listen to my story when she picked the phone. Instead, all she said was that such matters could not be solved over the phone and thus, i had to go and explain the issue to the bank’s management in person. I explained that i was staying at a place far from Sydney and could not afford to pay the fare since i was having financial constraints. However, despite all the explanations, the lady could not understand. Instead, what she did was to hang up the phone; a treatment which i thought was very unethical. On visiting the bank’s premises the next day i had a service encounter in person. Being my first time to visit the bank, i did not know my way around the place. Yet, none of the front line staffs bothered to ask me whom i wanted to see or which department I was visiting. Thus, i had to ask the security man at the entrance, who was kind enough to direct me. In addition, the waiting bay was filled with customers waiting to be served standing everywhere since there was no one to organize them. Being around noon time, the front line staffs were going for lunch, leaving all customers stranded in the place. On the other hand, when i reached the department dealing with ATM pin numbers, there was a lot of miscommunication, lack of understanding, and sluggish way of handling things. I had to inform the personnel that i was in a hurry for them to help me out. What could the firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made in this service system? To increase my level of satisfaction, first the customer care lady who picked my phone call should have had the courtesy to listen to my explanations before shunning me off. Secondly, the bank should train its front line staffs to be patient with the customers and treat them with care and concern. The personnel should also be taught how to serve customers fast in order to avoid the long queues in the bank. In addition, the bank could also embrace high quality technology to help in serving the customers (Kasper, Helsdingen & Gabbott, 2006). This is because; use of manual methods only is very time consuming. The personnel should also be trained on how to communicate with customers clearly, to avoid misunderstandings. How likely is it that you will go back to this services provider? 1 Service Encounter 3: Name of Firm: Australia Travel Agency Type of Service Provider: Travel Agency Date: February 13th 2013 Time: 3.00p.m How did the encounter take place? The encounter took place through telephone when I called the travel agency. What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? The month of February had arrived, and so had the Valentine’s Day. Therefore, on the 13th of February, i decided to call the Australian Travel Agency to enquire about the available vacation packages in order to travel the next day. My expectations were that despite the fact the there would be a lot of people travelling on the Valentine’s Day; i would also still get a space with the agency. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? 3 What exactly made you feel that way? I was not very delighted with the service provision of the Australian Travel Agency, but also, i would not rate the services as terrible. This is because; when i called the agent, at least the customer care service picked the phone, greeted me, and then asked how she may help me. I explained my issue to her but the communication was very poor and i could not understand what she was saying very clearly although, it seemed that she was hearing me clearly. Thus, i concluded that it was her phone that had a problem, which she confirmed later to be the case. Therefore, due to miscommunication, the lady just informed me that all the travel spaces were booked. She then hung up the phone. However, later on she called and apologized for the spoilt phone. What could the firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made in this service system? The firm should ensure to check on the technology that is used by the front line staff (McColl-Kennedy & Bennett, 2003). This is because; in as much as the staff might be effective, the technology they are using might fail them if it is ineffective. Inefficiency in the communication tools used might also be caused by backwardness in the technology used. This is because; the firm may have failed to adopt the latest technology thus, leading poor communication with its clients. The agency should also train its staffs on how to find alternative means of communication when one means fails to work. How likely is it that you will go back to this services provider? 3 Service Encounter 4: Name of the firm: Bp Australia Type of Service: Petrol Station Date: March 2013 Time: 2.00p.m How did the encounter take place? The service encounter took place in person at a BP petrol station in Australia. What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? While driving from work one afternoon, i realized that my car was out of gas. Therefore, i decided to stop by the nearest petrol station to refill my tank. Being around Sydney, the nearest BP station was BP Connect Regent Street and so, i stopped at the station. Since it was my first time at the station, my expectations were that i would at least find a front line staff to direct me on how obtain services around the station. In addition, I also expected that the service would be quick since i was an afternoon and thus, i did not expect that the station would be congested. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? 2 What exactly made you feel that way? The reason as to why I was not delighted with the services at this BP branch station was because; the services were very slow. At that time of the day there was a long at the station and yet, the service was still very slow. Although it was already 2p.m, the front line staffs had not yet returned from their lunch break. Therefore, those who were new like me were just stranded in the place, trying to find their way out by following what those who seemed to know the place were doing. Therefore, the service was very unsatisfactory since; there was no one to direct me, and still the personnel delivering the services were very slow. What could the firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made in this service system? The station can improve its services by training the front line staffs on punctuality and dedication at work. For instance on that day, if the staffs had been dedicated to their work, they would not have overstayed at lunch and left the customers to be stranded at the station. Other improvements that need to be made in this service system include employment of more service personnel in order to reduce the rate of services at the station. This will also serve to reduce the vehicle congestion at the station (Palmer, 2005). How likely is it that you will go back to this services provider? 2 Service Encounter 5: Name of the Firm: Capgemini Type of Service: Consultancy Services Date: March 2013 Time: 9.00a.m How did the encounter take place? The encounter was in person since; I had visited the consultancy premises in Sydney. What specific circumstances led up to this encounter? Having started a small business enterprise in Sydney, I needed some piece of advice concerning outsourcing or purchasing of technology. Therefore, I decided to try the services offered by Capgemini firm since it was located around the area, and had advertised itself as being processional and efficient. On visiting the firm, my expectations were that I would find front line staff who would offer me assistance around the firm since; it was my first time in the place. How would you rate your level of satisfaction with the encounter? 4 What exactly made you feel that way? At the firm, the service encounter was not very excellent. This is because; although the front line staffs were very involving and active, they were not well trained to handle the customers at a closer range. The front line staffs handled a group of customers together at once and thus, this left most of us unsatisfied with the services. Most of the customers wanted to be handled and listened to independently. The customers wanted a close interaction with the staff in order to be able to ask questions and be directed much better. Therefore, I was not delighted with the services since; I felt that the staffs were not very skilled and solution focused like I expected. They tended to leave some questions unanswered while handling the customers as a group. What could the firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction? What improvements need to be made in this service system? To improve my level of satisfaction, the firm should train its front line staff on how to handle customers at a personal level (Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler, 2013). This way, customers will not leave the firm with unrequited questions. In addition, the staff should also be taught how to handle customers independently instead of handling them as a group. Other improvements that can be made in the firm include installation of the latest technology to enhance communication around the organization and employment of more front line staffs. How likely is it that you will go back to this services provider? 4 SERVICE ENCOUNTER ANALYSIS A critical analysis of all the five services encounters described above shows that good treatment of the customer is very critical to the organization. Each time a customer is treated poorly by any of the organization’s personnel; it reduces the extent of satisfaction. Customers claim to be unsatisfied when they are not listened to, given ample time to explain themselves, or when they are left unattended to in a new place. CONCLUSION In conclusion, it is clear that the extent of a customer’s satisfaction is mainly determined by the treatment by the frontline staff. From the service encounters, we can also conclude that the staff in the organization should be well trained and instilled with the right skills of treating customers who visit the organization for their first time. It is also evident that, customers’ satisfaction in an organization determines the possibility of returning to seek services from the same organization. When the customers are very satisfied and pleased with the organization, the probability that they return to the organization is very high. This will of course improve the overall image of the organization since; it will be keeping its old customers. REFERENCES Hoffman, K. D., & Bateson, J. E. (2003). Princípios de marketing de serviços: [conceitos, estratégias e casos]. São Paulo: Pioneira Thompson Learning. Kasper, H., Helsdingen, P., & Gabbott, M. (2006). Services marketing management: A strategic perspective. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. McColl-Kennedy, J. R., & Bennett, R. (2003). Services marketing: A managerial approach. Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons. Palmer, A. (2005). Principles of services marketing. London: McGraw-Hill. Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., & Gremler, D. D. (2013). Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Read More