Understanding Effective

Customer Service
Powerpoint for Learning Plan #1
Do You Have What It Takes?
 People in your organization think you have
what it takes to provide outstanding
customer service. (They wouldn’t have hired
you, if they didn’t think so.)

 Now is the time to prove them correct.

Effective Customer Service
 Exceeds customer expectations.
 Maintains consistency over long run.

Loyal Customers for Life

Customer Value Equation
 Product quality
 Service quality
 People quality
 Image quality
 Selling price
 Overall cost
Practicing ECS (Effective Customer
Service)
 Eage to solve customer problems
 Take a long term view of relationships
 Accept responsibility
 Provide unexpected benefits
 Value time of customers
 Make customers feel welcome
 Stand behind products/services
 Expect, model, monitor, evaluate and reward

ECS
Cost of Loss of Customer
 Main loss
 Loss of future business
 Ripple effect (retell issue to 8 to 10 others)
 Replacing lost customer
Leadership Important Component
 Leadership – ability to
empower others (and
oneself) to meet goals
and objectives
successfully.
Service Leadership

Culture that empowers the organization to

◦ strategize its promises
◦ design its processes
◦ engage its people in a proactive quest for
competitive advantage
Components of Service

 Intentions
 Interactions
 Impacts
Why is Service Leadership Important?

“Organizations that used to be scared to

death of the uncertainty of change are
now faced with the daunting uncertainty
of the dangers associated with staying
the same.”
(Cameron & Quinn, 1999)
Service Leadership is Important
Because...

- changes must be implemented for

- the service promise to be formulated
- the service design process to be
effective
- the full utilization of human resources
Assumptions

1. Organizations can achieve competitive

advantage through a collective leadership
mindset

2. The process assures competitive advantage

through speed, accuracy and adaptability

3. The people assure competitive advantage

through proactive adaptability by employing
innovation, flexibility, and motivation to move
the organization forward
Figure 1.1
A Multi-disciplinary Approach to Service

SERVICE
LEADERSHIP

PROMISE
Strategic
Management

PROCESS
Service
Management
Human
Resource
Recourse
Management

PEOPLE
The Theoretical Framework

The leadership mind set of

organizational members is powerful.

The leadership mind set can be a driving

force for sustainable competitive
advantage.
Cultural Strategy

A service leadership culture is a strategy to

◦ select and design service processes with

active participation of customers and
employees
◦ build on collective leadership efforts to
benefit from the organization’s human
resources
Figure 1.2
Service Leadership Culture

PROMISE Competitive
PROVIDERS
advantage
+ PROCESS
+ =

Efficiency
Profitability
Mission Optimal level of
Goals engagement
Values to ensure
customer
satisfaction
The Implementation of Service
Leadership Culture

. . . can create harmony between

customers, employees, and
organizational structure.
The Power of People

 An organization must invest in the “best of

the best.”

 The power is activated through

Employee selection
Continuous learning and training
Cultivation of employees’ sense of
responsibility
Employee engagement in the act of leadership
The Power of People

 An organization must invest in the “best of

the best.”

 The power is activated through

Employee selection
Continuous learning and training
Cultivation of employees’ sense of
responsibility
Employee engagement in the act of leadership
Differentiation
Make the organization’s services
strategically unique by

emphasizing features that create the best results

and that are hard for competitors to copy.
Competitive Edge
 Success depends on a strong service-
oriented corporate culture with superior
goals.
Purpose of Leadership
 Challenge others

 Set standards

 Persuade others to help the organization

fulfill its vision and purpose
Customer Satisfaction
 Depends not only on the quality of the
service

 Also depends on fit between the customer’s

needs and expectations
Standardize or Customize?
 Must match the needs of the customer and
organizational strategy

 Should enhance efficiency and cost savings

where possible

 Must maximize customer satisfaction

Dimensions of Strategic Decisions
 Environment

 Strategic approaches

 Characteristics of the service itself

Approaches in Stable Environments

 Noncompetitive markets
 Stable needs of customers

 More static process design approaches

 More standardization possible
Approaches in Unstable
Environments
 Highly competitive markets
 Changing needs of customers

 Require dynamic approaches to service

delivery:
- more innovation
- more customization
Figure 1.3
Three-Dimensional Service Strategy and Design

Balanced view

customized
dynamic
S
E
R Y
E G
V
R AT
I
C ST
E

static
standardized
ENVIRONMENT
stable unstable
Tailor-made Strategy

The design of the processes helps the

organization
 Tailor its promise to customers’ needs
 Deliver the services with optimal efficiency
Figure 1.4
Service Leadership Action Chain

Strategy as Attitudes & Competitive

culture action advantage Faster
Cheaper
Better

Optimal level of customer

Loyalty satisfaction for a given situation
Importance of Service
 The pillar on which post-industrial societies
are firmly based

 A powerful vehicle of economic growth in

Western societies
 Key Concepts

 Service leadership

 Service leadership mind set

 Proactive service adaptation