Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Customer Service in Hospitality
Customer Service in Hospitality
National Competency
SITXCCS007 Enhance customer service experiences
SITXCCS008 Develop and manage quality customer service
practices
Unit summary
• This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and
knowledge required to provide professional and personalised
customer service experiences. It requires the ability to
determine and meet customer preferences, develop customer
relationships, respond to difficult service situations, and take
responsibility for resolving complaints.
• This unit also describes the performance outcomes, skills and
knowledge required to develop, monitor and adjust customer
service practices. It requires the ability to consult with
colleagues and customers, develop policies and procedures
for quality service provision, and manage the delivery of
customer service.
Objectives
▪ Provide a quality service experience.
▪ Proactively respond to difficult service situations.
▪ Resolve customer complaints.
▪ Develop customer relationships.
▪ Develop quality customer service practices
▪ Manage delivery of quality service.
▪ Monitor and adjust customer service.
Section 1 Enhance Customer
Service Experiences
Provide a quality service
experience
1.3 Anticipate
customer
preferences, needs
and expectations
throughout the
service experience
Anticipating preferences, needs
and expectations
Consider:
▪ Compatible/related products
▪ Upgraded products
▪ Deals/offers
▪ Budget.
Provide a quality service
experience
2.4 Proactively
compensate for
service difficulty in
line with own level of
responsibility and
organisational policy
Options for compensation may
include:
➢ Reduced rates
➢ Providing some or all services free of charge
or at a reduced rate
➢ Discount vouchers for future services
➢ Inexpensive add-on products
➢ Small gifts
➢ Special attention
➢ Special customer service
delivery on future occasion.
Limits of compensation
There will be limits to what can be compensated
to a dissatisfied customer based on the value of
the transaction, the severity of the error,
organisational policy and procedure and the
responsibility level of the member of staff
handling the issue.
Proactively respond to difficult
service situations
3.3 Take
responsibility for
resolving complaints
in a professional
manner and using
communication
techniques to assist
in their management
Resolving complaints
Complaints may be resolved by:
▪ Determining the nature, cause and details of
a complaint
▪ Offering compensation in accordance with
organisational policy and procedure and own
level of responsibility
▪ Initiating escalation
procedure for complaints
that cannot be resolved
personally.
Communication techniques
▪ Active listening, i.e., eye contact, attentive
body language, reflecting, summarising, etc.
▪ Apologetic tone
▪ Calmness and patience
▪ Acknowledge the customer and the issue
▪ Maintaining a helpful and
understanding attitude
▪ Describe what you are going to do
to fix the problem and confirm that
the customer agrees with this resolution.
Resolve customer complaints
3.4 Determine
options to resolve
complaints and
promptly analyse
and decide on
optimal solutions,
taking organisational
constraints into
account
Determine options
Options for resolving complaints
include:
▪ Offering refunds or replacements for
damaged or malfunctioning goods
▪ Finding alternative options for service
issues or underperformance
▪ Offering compensation in situations
where goods/services cannot be fixed
▪ Escalating complaints to more senior
personnel where they cannot be
resolved by on-the-ground staff
members.
Considering organisational
constraints
This may require that you take into account:
▪ Value of the customer’s purchase(s) and the
cost of possible options for resolving their
complaint
▪ Whether a customer is a repeat customer
▪ The attitude of the customer
▪ Validity of the customer’s complaint
▪ Impact on the customer
▪ Impact on the company’s reputation if the
complaint is escalated or advertised.
Resolve customer complaints
4.2 Maintain
customer profiles to
enhance service
delivery
Customer profiles
▪ Customer name
▪ Contact details and preferences
▪ Age/birthday
▪ Location
▪ Gender
▪ Online behaviour
▪ Purchase channels
▪ Order history and order information
▪ Product preferences/interest
▪ Household/lifestyle
▪ Likes and dislikes.
Maintaining customer profiles
Information may be added or updated on a
customer profile when:
▪ A customer places an order for the
first time
▪ A customer places a new order
▪ A customer subscribes to a service
▪ A customer has had a discussion
regarding their goods/services with
a staff member that requires
further action or review.
Develop customer relationships
4.3 Provide
personalised service
to customers in a
professional manner
that builds repeat
business
Personalised service
▪ Avoiding ‘scripted’ conversations
▪ Remembering details about
customers
▪ Acknowledging customers
▪ Engaging with customers
▪ Listening to a customer’s needs
▪ Responding to a customer’s tone of voice or
body language
▪ Approachable and sincere body language
▪ Flexibility.
Develop customer relationships
5.1 Obtain
information on
customer needs,
expectations and
satisfaction levels
using both formal
and informal
research
Customer service and sales
The time and effort spent by businesses
developing their customer service approach can
have positive implications on sales levels.
5.2 Provide
opportunities for
customers and staff
to give feedback on
products and
services
Importance of gaining feedback
Feedback is important for the following reasons:
▪ It can enable you to improve on products or
services
▪ It can help with the developing a product
▪ It allows you to measure customer satisfaction
▪ It enables you to improve experiences in the
future, making it easier to retain customers
▪ It can provide you with useful business data.
Gaining feedback from staff
Employees on the front line will have detailed
knowledge about the goods or services being
provided by your organisation, and are likely to
have their own opinions about which goods and
services are of good quality and which are not.
5.4 Provide
opportunities for staff
to participate in
development of
customer service
practices
Meetings
You could organise meetings at regular intervals
to both seek and provide feedback to
employees about customer service.
6.1 Communicate
policies, procedures
and expectations to
staff
6.2 Make policies
readily available to
customers and staff
Communicating to staff
The most significant stakeholder to inform the
changes to is staff members.
Methods of communicating to staff members
include:
▪ Speaking to employees individually
▪ In group meetings or briefings
▪ Through e-mail
▪ In letters or notes.
Making policies available
When documenting policies, procedures and
expectations, remember the following:
▪ Make sure that they are understood by those
using them
▪ Ensure that any writing, tables or diagrams are
legible
▪ Confirm that there are no mistakes in the
documents
▪ Encourage staff and customers to suggest any
changes to the policies and procedures in order to
heighten customer satisfaction.
Manage delivery of quality
service
7.2 Assess
effectiveness of
customer service
practices
Assessing effectiveness of
practices
Effectiveness could be determined based on:
▪ Responses from staff
▪ Findings from quality supervisor
▪ Data from customer surveys
▪ Monitoring phone calls
▪ Reviewing written correspondence with
customers
▪ Looking at sales figures
▪ Viewing customer complaints
▪ Benchmarking.
Monitor and adjust customer
service
7.4 Develop,
document and
communicate new
approaches to
customer service to
staff involved in
service delivery
Developing new approaches
Based on all the feedback you have received in
relation to customer service delivery following
the implementation of new or revised policies
and procedures, you may find it is necessary to
develop new approaches.
Communicating new
approaches to staff
You should let staff know about the following:
▪ The details of new approaches
▪ Why there has been a need for alteration
▪ Data received from customer and staff
feedback
▪ How any changes will impact on their role
▪ What training they will require to gain the skills
needed to deliver new approaches.
Summary and Feedback
▪ Did we meet our objectives?
▪ How did you find this session?
▪ Any questions?