Quality_Service

Quality Service is an imperative part of any successful organisation. It consists of prompt, friendly and professional service that meets customer expectations so they will want to deal with a company again and recommend the business to potential customers. These customers may be internal or external to the company’s employment board. Internal customers are work colleagues who may require services in order for them to carry out their jobs and external customers are people from outside the business who are either making enquiries or purchasing goods and services. A customer will become loyal to a company if they are satisfied with the quality of service they receive. These characteristics include employees who are polite, attentive to customers needs and employees who are able to build a positive rapport with clients. This means that they are able to build a relationship and communicate with people in order to make them long term customers. Employees who have good knowledge of the organisations products, know the correct person to pass an enquiry to and follow through with these to meet the expectation of the companies assumed knowledge and standards for customer service in relation to policies and procedures. This will ensure that customers are satisfied and receive quality service from an organisation. Having goods and services that are reliable and reasonably priced is also an important aspect of quality service as it ensures that a fair and ethical service is being projected to customers. Having complaints dealt with promptly and with understanding guarantees that customers are treated with respect, without prejudice and allows them to feel that they are being assisted and that the service they are receiving is of a high quality. If a customer is pleased with the service of an organisation, they have the ability to contribute to certain aspects which benefit the company. The most obvious of these benefits is promoting good will and increasing the established reputation of the business, enhancing its value. This in turn, promotes the companies credibility by building a reputation of being an honest and trustworthy business. The promotion from satisfied customers often has the ability to differentiate a business from others and therefore create customer loyalty, building long term relationships. This relationship will prove to be valuable, especially through bad economic times and improve productivity and the capacity to increase production with little or no increase in costs, improving profitability. In other words, a business’s success is dependent on the quality of the service given by employees as satisfied customers will become long term, loyal clients and will promote organisations through word of mouth, ensuring growth and therefore profit. In order for customers to promote the business, it is crucial for employees to have good customer service skills in order to make them feel like they are a valued client and that both the customer and the company are gaining from negotiations made. Some of these skills include sincerity to be genuine and honest, confidence, enthusiasm, efficiency, empathy and interest in other people, showing concerns for there needs. For these attributes to surface so that the employee can understand the clients needs, they must participate in active listening in order to fully grasp the message being conveyed and asked meaningful questions making use of correct questioning techniques to clarify the meaning. It is also important that body language is not conveying something different to what they are saying as this can often cause conflict between employees and customers through misunderstanding the messages conveyed. If employees listen to the customers and encourage feedback in order to ascertain what they consider is important about the products supplied or the way service is delivered, improvements can be made resulting in the organisation gaining a competitive advantage over other firms as customers will be satisfied. When customers approach an organisation, they already have a standard of expectation in regards to the customer service they presume they will be exposed to. Individualised attention and interest in the customers needs is a must so that they feel the service they are getting is superior to that of other poor quality service organisations. Customers also expect that the experienced employee they are talking to has an appropriate business like presentation, is polite and courteous as well as efficient and consistent in ensuring that everything promised to the customer is done adequately. Product knowledge is also expected by the customer as well as the organisation so that the customer can be knowledgeable and retrieve all the necessary information about the service or product. It also promotes a positive and professional business reputation. Quality is extremely important in ensuring sufficient customer service as clients pay money and in turn expect a standard of merit for the money they pay. If customers expectations are met and good customer service skills are demonstrated then there is an obvious link between this and the business’s success. All goals are carefully designed to meet and satisfy the needs of customers as it is the foundation for a growing and profitable business. While great marketing acquires new customers, great customer service ensures that customers keep coming back as people tend to do business with people they like and trust and are therefore more likely to be loyal and continue to buy and purchase from those who provide them with quality service. This enables an organisation to further increase its prospectus due to word of mouth. It is also a known fact that a typical dissatisfied customer will tell an average of 7 to 10 people about their problem and a company’s bad service and this can be a serious financial loss for a business. Quality service can also provide the basis for a company’s reputation and can differentiate them from surrounding competition. Regular and sustained interaction with a customer ensures that the customer feels connected with the business. For instance, a small pub owner who chats with his customers and knows them by name builds a relationship with them. Further, when he makes sure that their regular bartender makes their drinks and the food is fresh and hot, he is providing customer service. The customers have a good experience and feel that the establishment treated them well by meeting there expectations. A company’s ability to identify opportunities to enhance the quality of service and products and take action to improve the service where possible shows initiative and dedication to producing quality goods and services. This ensures that they can relate to a wide variety of ever changing values and expectations within society, promoting their business. Additionally, a satisfied customer would be more likely to participate in activities that help to generate customer preference data. This data goes back to the marketing function in assisting the organization to better target and attract its potential customers. Overall, Quality Service is a crucial part of any organisation and benefits the company in relation to making profits and creating a positive reputation.