Customer Service

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Study unit 7

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Developing service employees

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 Responsibilities of service employees

• All organisations have some part of their

offering that revolves around service

• Sometimes it is only the employees and their

skills at delivering service consistently that
differentiate one business from its competitors

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 Types of service employee

• Customer contact employees

– are responsible for the front-line activities aka
onstage or visible actions
– interact with the customer
– they represent the business to the customer and
are important in influencing how the customer
evaluates the quality of the service

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 Types of service employee

• Support employees
– (also known as back-end employees) are rarely
seen by customers or interact with them,
– ensures the internal production process
delivers the product to customers up to
technical expectations and

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 The responsibilities of customer contact
employees
• Customer contact employees:
– personify the organisation/brand
– represent the organisation’s brand
– perform the role of marketers
– help transfer information
– boundary spanners

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 Sources of conflict

Source of conflict Explanation

Conflict between Conflict occurs between the service employee’s two

the organisation ‘Employees’ – the organisation and the client
and customer

Conflict between Some situations are conflicting for service employees because
the person and Their responsibilities are not in line with their own personal
the role beliefs, values, or personality

Inter-client Conflict occurs when the service employee must deliver

conflict Service to a range of customers with different expectations

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 Assist service employees with handling
conflict situations
• Train employees to be emotionally prepared

• Physical environment and space should be

comfortable and contribute to creating a
positive working experience

• A channel for them to refer the customer to a

manager or supervisor

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 Selecting suitable service employees

• Responsiveness
– employee should show a personal willingness to
help and be prompt in handling customer
requirements

• Reliability
– be able to use their discretion to determine the
best way to recover the service experience

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 Selecting suitable service employees

• Assurance
– be able to communicate credibility and gain the
customer’s confidence that they can deliver the
service as promised

• Empathy
– be able to listen well and adapt to be able to
deliver service to individual customers

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 How to select the right service employee

Guideline Explanation
Interviews Listen to and observe the candidate’s responses
Employee accolades If they have won any customer service-related awards
and awards
Simulate possible A service situation where the interviewer pretends to be
service situations a customer with a complaint and the candidate pretends to
be the service employee who has to try and solve the
customer’s problem
Complete personality Ask the candidate to complete a personality test and a
and psychometric tests psychometric test so that the interviewer can do a proper
analysis of the candidate’s personality traits and skills levels
Job shadowing Candidate is employed, it is a good idea for them to be
exposed to real-life situations in the workplace for a day or
two with potential colleagues

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 Training service employees

Aspect Details of area

Organisational • Functioning and purpose of the organisation.
aspects • Mission, vision, values, strategy and culture of the organisation
Human and • Way service employee communicates and interacts with
interpersonal customers and fellow colleagues
skills • Behavior, actions and speech needs to be in line with the
organisation’s philosophy
Technical skills • Having a good understanding of processes, policies and
organisational regulations
• Need to be skilled at making sales, marketing products and
representing the organisation well as a brand ambassador

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 Training service employees

Aspect Details of area

Knowledge about • Be well acquainted with the marketing strategy of the

the organisation’s organisation and the positioning of the product/ service in the
products and marketplace
services • Having an awareness of competitors and substitute products
Service system • Come to grips with the organisation’s service system and
skills process will be able to deliver better service at a higher quality
• Being able to align the service process with the customer’s
individual needs will produce a high value on the part of the
customer
Teamwork skills • Be able to function effectively in a team
• Environment must be able to work with colleagues who have
different skills, personalities, strengths and weaknesses

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 Service employee skills

– Order taker is the actual front-line between the

organisation and the customer.

– Advice giver advise customers about a certain

problem and possibly offer a solution.

– Image maker Customers could judge the

organisation on tangible cues such as how the
employee is dressed, their appearance and
actions.

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 Service employee skills

– Service deliverer the last point of contact with the

customer is made by the service deliverer.

– Complaint handler a relevant skill for all service

employees.

– Therapist the customer wants to be supported

and be given relevant advice.

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 Service employee skills

– Trainer the service employee must be able to deal

with customers who may not be competent or
have difficulty meeting their own service role.

– Coach many customers need confidence building

to ensure they get a good customer experience.

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 Empowering service employees

Empowerment relates to increasing service

employee performance by encouraging
participation and in decision-making

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 Benefits and drawbacks of empowering
employees in the workplace
Benefits of empowering employees
More focused and confident, speedier
responses to customers and solve
problems quicker
Employees tend to feel
Better about the job and this reflects in
Their attitude towards customers
Empowered employees are proactive and
attentive to making the service process
even better and more effective
Empowered employees are contentious,
loyal and committed to the organisation
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Drawbacks of empowering employees
Pay them more and avoid losing them to
other organisations that are head hunting
Employees tend to customise the service
process for individual customers, which
could add time to the service delivery and
impact on consistency
Have an effect on service turnaround
times, which could cause delays for
customers
Customised services could cause
inconsistencies to occur in the service
delivery
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Levels of service employee empowerment

• Level 1 – Suggestion involvement

– allows service employees to make
recommendations to management about the
operations and to customers about products and
services
• Level 2 - Job involvement
– allows empowered employees to have more
freedom in terms of examining their role within the
organisation and receiving more extensive
feedback from managers and supervisors

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Levels of service employee empowerment

• Level 3 - High involvement

– empowered employees to be able to manage
themselves, take responsibility and assume
accountability for the work assigned to them

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Factors affecting the correct empowerment
level
• The organisation’s business and
competitive strategy
– Service employee empowerment is the right
strategy for products and services which are highly
differentiated

• The degree of involvement with customers

– Places emphasis on relationship building with
clients

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Factors affecting the correct empowerment
level
• The rapid advancement of technology
– service employees need to be more empowered
and equipped to deal with change.

• Human resources
– teamwork is an essential ingredient is having
success

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 Rewarding service employees

• Criteria that can be used to determine the

effectiveness of the particular award:
– Availability –available and substantial.
– Flexibility –to be given to anyone at any time.
– Reversibility – if given to the wrong people for the
wrong reasons, they should not be life-long.
– Contingent – should be directly tied to desired
performance criteria.

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 Rewarding service employees

• Criteria that can be used to determine the

effectiveness of the particular award:
– Visibility – visible and be understood by all
employees.
– Timeliness – should be given immediately
following desired behaviours.
– Durability – the motivating effect of the reward
should last for a long time.

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 Types of rewards

Monetary rewards
• wages, salaries, commissions, profit sharing
and performances bonuses

Non-monetary rewards
• an invitation to an awards evening, a vacation
or time off from work

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