BSBCUS403

Assessment task 1

Procedure

• Review the assessment 1 scenario information and simulated business

documentation, including the policies and procedures for Melbourne Car World, in
the additional information.

• Analyse the data and develop at least two (2) recommendations to improve
customer service to discuss with your Sales and Customer Service General Manager
(the assessor).

Two recommendations to improve customer service to discuss with the Sales and
Customer Service General Manager could be :

1. Improve your customer interactions

If your staff has the necessary skill set, that’s a good start. But they still need to relate to
your customers. Here are some tips for making sure customer service is both thorough and
well received:

Ask reps to try to identify a common ground–like shared interests–with the people they
help. Practice active listening so your customers feel heard. Admit your mistakes, even if you
discover them before your customers do. Follow-up after a problem is solved.

2. Strengthen your customer service skills

First, it’s important to make sure that your customer service team has the right skills for
your managing customers’ needs. No amount of CRM software can compensate for
shortcomings in this area. But what skills should you be looking for in a customer service
rep? These could include: Empathy, patience and consistency. Adaptability. Clear
communication. Work ethic. Knowledge.
 • Arrange to meet with your assessor to discuss your recommendations. Gain approval
for your recommended changes or enhancement/clarification of organizational
standards as embodied in:

• policies

• procedures, etc.

A policy is a course of action or guidelines to be followed whereas a procedure is the ‘nitty

gritty’ of the policy, outlining what has to be done to implement the policy.
Recommendations made above are dissuced in more detail below as further explanation for
each point is provided according to the policies and procedures of the company,

1. Strengthen your customer service skills

Empathy, patience and consistency. Some customers will be irate. Others will be full of
questions. And others will just be chatty. You must know how to handle all of them and
provide the same level of service every time.

Adaptability. Every customer is different, and some may even seem to change week-to-
week. You should be able to handle surprises, sense the customer’s mood and adapt
accordingly. This also includes a willingness to learn– providing good customer service is a
continuous learning process.

Clear communication. Ensure you convey to customers exactly what you mean. You don’t
want your customer to think he’s getting 50% off when he’s actually getting 50% more
product. Use authentically positive language, stay cheerful no matter what and never end a
conversation without confirming the customer is satisfied.

Work ethic. Customers appreciate a rep who will see their problem through to its
resolution. At the same time, you must have good time management skills and not spend
too much time handling one customer while others are waiting. Stay focused on your goals
to achieve the right balance.

Knowledge. Ultimately your customers rely on you for their knowledge of your product.
Stay informed enough to respond to most inquiries and know where to turn if the questions
become too detailed or technical for you to answer. But don’t be afraid to say “I don’t
know” either. Customers will appreciate the honesty and your efforts to find the right
answer.

Thick skin. The customer’s always right… right? The ability to swallow one’s pride and
accept blame or negative feedback is crucial. Whether your team works directly with
customers or looking for feedback on social media, they’ve got to keep the customer’s
happiness in mind.

Not sure if your reps have the right customer service skills? Survey or interview your
customers to understand whether your service team is showing each of these traits.
Running a customer feedback survey through your CRM program, at the point of sale, or
when you send customers an invoice is a great way to see where your team’s skills do and
don’t measure up.

2. Improve your customer interactions

Ask reps to try to identify a common ground–like shared interests–with the people they
help. Having this point of understanding makes conflict easier to overcome by humanizing
the relationship, and it endears customers to your rep (and ultimately your company).

Practice active listening so your customers feel heard. Clarify and rephrase what the
customers say to ensure you understand them. Empathize with and reflect their feelings by
saying things like, “That must have upset you” or “I can see why you feel slighted.”

Admit your mistakes, even if you discover them before your customers do. This builds
trust and restores confidence. It also allows you to control the situation, re-focus the
customer’s attention and resolve the issue.

Follow-up after a problem is solved. Make sure the issue stays fixed and that your
customers were satisfied with the service. Sending an email, or even a feedback survey is an
excellent way to let the customer know you’re still on their side.

All the recommendations above fulfills the purpose of Melbourne Car World customer
consultation policy and procedures of ensuring the management of customer contact and
that it is carried out consistently, fairly and transparently and in accordance with
organizational requirements.
 • Write a one- to two-page report to document your recommendations for
organization-wide changes or enhancements to policies, service delivery procedures,
practices, standards:

• use formal language

• provide support for your recommendations: include reference to existing

customer service system, customer service models, standards.

Written documentation is essential for effective and consistent communication within

organizations, and the provision of clear, written policies and procedures that reflect current
practice and community expectations assists in accountability. Further, written policies and
procedures provide tangible evidence of intended practices that are consistent with the
organization’s values, and should be regularly reviewed, evaluated and updated.

However, having reviewed a great many policy documents, sometimes is found to be far
from the case in many organizations. For example, there may be no standard templates for
policy documents (i.e. policies, procedures, guidelines, etc.) and the documents will have no
review dates or are overdue for review. If this is the case, a ‘policy framework policy’ or
‘policy on policies’ can help. Even in organizations where there is a central repository of up-
to-date policy documents (e.g. intranet or policy manual), a policy framework policy can
guide the development of policies and procedures to ensure those documents are
consistent and user friendly.

Roles and responsibilities should be set out as they are essential to an effective policy
framework. This includes:

• the need for clear authority for the formulation of policy documents (i.e.,
delegations of authority);

• guidance concerning the responsibilities of policy owners and how policy is

formulated, approved and disseminated;

• the selection of a policy system manager for the management of organizational

policy documents and for setting standards as to the development, content and
review of those documents.
Policy is important to the efficient and effective operation of the organization. It is a tool
enabling Individuals to get on with their jobs without the need to discuss issues each time
they arise; Participants from different parts of the organization to work towards a common
goal; Consistency and predictability throughout the organization; Compliance with legal and
other requirements; and Quality assurance and improvement.

Service delivery procedures should be maintained: running a successful service company

should be synonymous with delivering excelling service. If not, then why consider running a
service business at all? Designing the service delivery procedure should focus on what
creates value to the core organizations and how to engage frontline employees to deliver
the ultimate customer experience. Which includes the following:

• Service Culture is built on elements of leadership principles, norms, work habits and
vision, mission and values. Culture is the set of overriding principles according to
which management controls, maintains and develops the social process that
manifests itself as delivery of service and gives value to customers. Once a superior
service delivery system and a realistic service concept have been established, there is
no other component so fundamental to the long-term success of a service
organization as its culture.

• Employee Engagement includes employee attitude activities, purpose driven

leadership and HR processes. Even the best designed processes and systems will only
be effective if carried out by people with higher engagement. Engagement is the
moderator between the design and the execution of the service excellence model.

• Service Quality includes strategies, processes and performance management

systems. The strategy and process design is fundamental to the design of the overall
service management model. Helping the client fulfil their mission and supporting
them in the pursuit of their organizational purpose, must be the foundation of any
service provider partnership.

• Customer Experience includes elements of customer intelligence, account

management and continuous improvements. Perception is king and constantly
evaluating how how both customer and end-user perceive service delivery is
important for continuous collaboration. Successful service delivery works on the
 basis that the customer is a part of the creation and delivery of the service and then
designs processes built on that philosophy – this is called co-creation.

Best Practices should be followed, as they make having a solid foundation much easier.
Running and scaling a business will always be challenging. But having a solid foundation of
smoothly operating practices underlying your company can make it much easier. Following
practices are recomemnded:

• Setting Team Expectations and accountability has become one of the most
impactful things to my business. Twice a month we bring all managers and
executives together for a big meeting to discuss each department and their
accomplishments and challenges. It is also a time for other departments to give
feedback to management. At the end of these meetings, everyone leaves with
follow-up tasks.

• Having a Clear Process that every team member understands is extremely

important. When a task needs to be completed, there is a clear funnel and order of
operations that must be followed. This improves efficiency and reduces the chance
of fumbling information and having things slip through the cracks.

• Soliciting Feedback From Your Team.To build a solid set of processes for your
business a lot has to align. But the bigger you scale, the more you’ll likely need to
delegate. So how does a business owner stay efficient when the day to day may be
further away from the core operations? It’s important to gather feedback from your
team often to make sure you’re addressing inefficiencies and constantly improving
as you grow

• Keeping Everything Transparent Cross-checks, social collaboration tools and

breaking down silos are all ways to ensure that each operation is optimal for unique
business needs. Across levels and departments, operations should be
communicated, tested and approved

Business performance should be improved using business sandards Standards give you the
knowledge you need to fine-tune your organization so it performs at its best, day in, day
out – at every level. The results are tangible growth and increased profits.
 • Track mistakes. If you are going to commit to quality, first you must define exactly
what quality is. For manufacturers, this process involves statistical quality control,
the process of setting a product's specifications and then sampling a small number of
units from the production line to see how closely they measure up to those specs.
Standards are set and, if too much deviation occurs (or if quality appears to be
trending in the wrong direction), the manufacturing process is altered. Tracking
quality is admittedly more difficult in a service business, and efforts by groups such
as the International Organization for Standardization (known as ISO) to create
meaningful benchmarks beyond manufacturing have had mixed results.

• Invest in training. An old saw of the quality movement is that any business with a
quality control department is doomed to poor performance, for it has demonstrated
to every other employee that quality is not his or her chief concern. Instead, quality
experts recommend that businesses train workers at all levels to look for ways to
improve quality and to ameliorate problems.

• Organize quality circles. Your staff members may roll their eyes at the introduction
of such a dated technique, but organizing employees into quality circles can be an
effective way to identify and address problems. Simply put, quality circles are groups
of employees who are encouraged to assess processes and recommend
improvements, all with the goal of promoting quality, efficiency, and productivity.

• Develop a plan to ensure successful implementation of recommendations within the

organisation. Include:

Implementation is the process of executing a plan or policy so that a concept becomes a

reality. To implement a plan properly, managers should communicate clear goals and
expectations, and supply employees with the resources needed to help the company
achieve its goals.
 • Scheduled activities with dates up to end of second quarter.

Task Person responsible Jan Fe March Apri Ma June

b l y

Finalize Suppliers Quality control x

coordinator

Obtain and manage working Finance manager x

capital

Track accounts payable and Accountant   x

accounts receivable

Hire and train personnel HR manager x

Address employee issues HR manager x

and complaints

Administer employee HR manager x

benefits

Monitor and improve Operation manager x

workflow

Create a marketing budget Marketing manager x

Manage company branding Marketing manager x

• Short rationale for each activity (Why is it included? How will it achieve the
objective of successful implementation of changes and performance to
standard?).

Finalize Suppliers: Occasionally, a lot of time is consumed just because the suppliers have
not been finalized. Sometimes there is a confusion that weather the quality of the product
that supliers are providing is appropriate. To avoid such reasons quality control manager
should approve the supply and finalize it in the beginning of the financial year.
Obtain and manage working capital: Money is the fuel that keeps the business running. It
needs to be understood and it should be known how it's flowing in and out of the company.
For such reasons his should be done by the finance manager.

Track accounts payable and accounts receivable: The business must keep records of its day-
to-day financial workings. This information provides the foundation you draw on to manage
your company's finances.

Hire and train personnel: The process of hiring new employees can be very challenging but
is very essential. It should be made sure that the right employee is hired for the he righ task
and it is HR manager's responsibility o make sure of that.

Address employee issues and complaints: Employees are important company assets.
Having employees creates a list of human resources responsibilities and making sure the
employees are happy is very essential for the business. Thus, their issues and complaints
should be prioritized by the HR manager.

Administer employee benefits: Because employees are the backbone of a company their
benifits should be prioritised and it should be made sure that they are satisfied.

Monitor and improve workflow: Because the business produces and distributes a physical
product, it need to oversee the process of creating that product from start to finish. The
process should be monitored by operation manager.

Create a marketing budget: Business marketing tasks are geared toward creating demand
for the product and managing the image that the company projects. Thus marketing
manager should create the marketing budget and save it for the records.

Manage company branding: Company's brand is very essential and working on managing it
is marketing. Better the marketing of the brand, more the revenue. Along with other things
marketing manager should consider branding one of the essentials.

• Revision of existing policies, procedures and standards.

Melbourne Car World costumer Service policy includes managing Customer complaints,
making sure that the telephone courtesy is being followed and considering dress code
which should be appropriate.
On the other hand the procedure and standards of the company includes serving costumers
where hey are felt welcome and listened to, where here issues are solved and their desires
are full filled. It also includes managing customer complaints where no argument is done but
apologizing is recommended for any fault. The standards also include containing and
proecing the personal information of the clients.

• Responsibilities (consider organizational chart, external training consultants).

Responsibilities of a managers is to:

• carry out bi-annual formal performance review discussions

• monitor individual performance throughout the year, recording key events,

observations of importance which relate to the performance, both positive and
negative

• refer to the performance management guidelines when carrying out tasks related to
performance management.

• use the performance management documentation to record formal and informal

performance reviews

• provide employees with the opportunity to participate and contribute to their

professional and personal development

• provide employees with access to training and development, as reflected in the

individual’s development plan

• provide employees with coaching and development throughout the review period

• provide employees with an opportunity to communicate their career development

goals

• ensure employees complete their responsibilities in accordance with the performance

management policy and process
 • Performance management activities.

Performance management includes activities to ensure that goals are consistently being met
in an effective and efficient manner. Performance management can focus on performance
of the organization, a department, processes to build a product or service, employees, etc

It should include:

1) A clear understanding of job expectations

2) Regular feedback about performance

3) Advice and steps for improving performance

4) Rewards for good performance

• Supply chain management activities.

its core activities as retail, manufacturing, sourcing, procurement, distribution, returns,

resale, demand management, and forecasting. However HR, Finance, Engineering,
Marketing, Sales, Operations, and other core groups are now enabling Supply Chain to
provide a competitive advantage, especially in competitive markets.

Here are listed key activities of a supply chain:

1.Customer Relationship Management
2.Supplier Relationship Management
3.Customer Service Management
4.Demand Management
5.The Order Fulfillment
6.Manufacturing Flow Management
7.Product Development and Commercialization
8.Returns Management.
 • Product and service monitoring activities, including research and continuous
improvement.

Monitoring is important to gain an understanding of the way that customers are behaving,
and to identify operational efficiency improvements that you can make. Without measuring
key aspects of your recycling services, you cannot effectively manage or continuously
improve them. Data from the sheets van be used to estimate how much of each material is
being collected per business and overall. You can also use the information to decide
whether to make process changes, such as changes to collection routes, to improve
efficiency.

• Ensure your plan is coordinated with and conforms to the organisation’s

existing customer service system and operational plan.

It would be fair to say that many a good strategic plan failed to be implemented successfully
due to the lack of resources - typically a lack of money, people or both. In operational
planning it is therefore very important to be realistic and to understand that resources are
limited. Managers need to carefully plan the use of funds, the acquisition of facilities and
equipment and the development of people within the organisation to achieve goals.

Factors that should be considered to make sure that he plan is coordinaed with and
conforms to the organisation’s existing customer service system and operational plan
include:

1) Funding

2) Organisation structure

3) Physical resources

4) Planning important dates

 • Ensure your plan is designed to ensure successful delivery of customer service
to approved and agreed standards.

Increasing competition (whether for-profit or nonprofit) is forcing businesses to pay much

more attention to satisfying customers, including by providing strong customer service. It
may help the reader to notice the role of customer service in the overall context of product
or service development and management. The areas that sould be considered to ensure the
plan is designed to ensure successful delivery of customer service to approved and agreed
standards include:

1) Plan to meet internal and external customer requirements

2) Ensure delivery of quality products and services

3) Monitor, adjust and review customer service

about the work.