Assignment No: 4

Name: Hasan Naveed

ERP: 07855
Date of submission: 23rd April, 2015
Signature:

Dear Mr. Wah

Greetings!
Hope this note finds you well. I am delighted to have the opportunity to work at NG. The global
brand recognition of NG is high and I understand the need to maintain the same standards in the
Pakistan market. I am aware of the recent issues the company and the customers have faced and
my role in upgrading the current customer service and bring it to a world class customer service
operation level.
Sir, I would be explaining you my plans and strategies for the Pakistan market. There are five
basic steps to follow in ensuring a world class customer service operation. They are:

Step 1 : Understand your customers

Step 2 : Set quality service standards
Step 3 : Build a winning team
Step 4 : Checkup regularly
Step 5 : Provide proactive problem solving

A diagram would help you understand the concept better:

Now let me apply each of these to our company.

2

Step 1: Understand our customers

To begin with, we need to completely understand the nature of our service we are providing. Our
team and staff members have to be aligned to the company mission and the nature of the service
has to be thoroughly understood.
This is followed by an understanding of our customers which is the key to giving them good
service. To give good customer care we must deliver what we promise. Great customer care
includes getting to know our customers so well that we anticipate their needs. We need to be
attentive to them whenever we are in contact with them. We increase customer loyalty and bring
in new business through positive word-of-mouth recommendation. Our past service record at NG
has not been something we can be proud of which has tarnished customer perception about us
and this is why it is extremely important for us to start off from scratch and from the basics.
Once we set the basics right, we can easily move through the whole process.
To answer the above questions, we need to figure out four fundamental points:
Service niche: Refrigerator Customer Service
Target customers: niche market of high income, discerning, modern customers buy our brand
and any issues they face would be served by us
Characteristics of NG Customer Service Center:
NG
People and Things
High Tech
Personal Interaction
Time Involvement
Location
Complexity
Number served per transaction
Training
Supervision

Customer Service Center

More People
Hi
Hi
Short
Ours
Hi
Many
Much
Much

Customers Analysis: Our customers are high income earners, discerning and modern customers.
Analysis is to be done on the following basis:
3

Demographics
Age
Gender
Education level
Income
Family
Location

Analysis
25+
Male and Female
Bachelors, Masters or more
High
Married
DHA (all Phases) and Clifton

Psychographics Analysis
Psychographics
Social habits
Preferences
Expectations
Attitude
Beliefs
Values

Analysis
Outgoing and social
Want good quality products
Products should do justice to price
Discerning
Imported refrigerators are of better quality
Modern

Our brand strength:

Better, modern designs

Wider range of features and performance characteristics
Exciting colors
Energy efficient
Large sizes

Service Silhouette
Our customers perceive imported fridges to be of better quality. However, the services offered by
the imported products make it less appealing to them. NGs product is expected to be of good
quality since it is being imported. The customers would be willing to pay more price for
imported refrigerators. Its determinants are:

The Purpose of the service: To provide after sales service to all NG customers

The Degree of necessity: High the only NG service center in Karachi

The Magnitude of importance: High customers are very discerning

View of Results: How quickly we are able to serve the customers

Relative Costs (Perceived Value vs. Cost concepts): Time vs money constraints

Perceived Risks: Inability to serve the customers timely

4

There are other ways to understand our customers better. One is to put yourself in their shoes and
try and look at your business from their point of view. The second way is to collect and analyse
data in order to shed light on their buying behaviour. The third way is simply to ask them what
they think. Based on the research, the following figures represent the loss of sale due to poor
services:
-

45% of consumers will abandon an online transaction if their questions or concerns are
not addressed quickly. (Forrester)
33% of consumers would recommend a brand that provides a quick but ineffective
response.
17% of consumers would recommend a brand that provides a slow but effective solution.
(Nielsen-McKinsey)
53% of customers who ask a brand a question on Twitter expect a response within one
hour, and that number skyrockets to 72% if its a complaint. (Lithium Technologies)
Source: https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2013/08/customer-service-stats.html

Step 2: Set Quality Service Standards High

The following figure explains how quality service standards could be set high:
Service Silhouettes (Service Image)

Clear, Concise, Observable and Realistic Service Standards

Quality Customer Service

Total Team Effort

We will begin with transforming the Service Silhouettes into a well-focused, sharp service image
by setting clear, concise, observable and realistic service standards across our service standard.
This will help all our staff to be able to better understand the process and easier for them to be
able to solve customer issues quickly. This will also help us to define what we want your service
image to be. This is basically where Quality Customer service begins and requires a total team
effort.
5

The reason why I want to establish a target and communicate expectations loud and clear are
because it leaves no room for excuses and every one knows exactly what is expected of him/her.
It develops a sense of purpose, a direction and, focus efforts. Our dimension of service center
would be known as personal dimension. The reason for this is that the nature of our service
defines this; it further determines the priority of the following service standards:
The Personal Dimension

Appearance: proper dressing and neat look of employees

Attitude of employees: friendly tone of voice and should understand customers problems
Attentiveness: should be at its peak at all times
Tact: at top level
Guidance: highest level
Gracious Problem Solving: top most priority

Important process flow NG service center will follow before setting Quality standards:

All NG employees
and customers to
be involved

Any deviations from

NG's standards will
be unacceptable

New standards to
be introduced and
implemented in
consulatation with
employees &
customers

Zero defects and

zero customer
inconvenience
policy

High commitment
from NG's top
management in
developing and
implementing
standards

All quality
standards to be
aligned with
company goals

Quality standards to
be written and
communicated
explicitly

All NG's standards

to be customer
focused

Standards would be
No. 1 in priority

Step 3: Building a winning customer service team

Team is extremely important. A good team creates a huge difference in the results and processes
of different companies. How would we go about making a winning team for our quality service
level? We would follow the following steps:
Step I: Design Quality Customer Service Jobs

Step II: Write Job Specifications in Quality Customer Service Terms

Step III: Screen job applicants for quality customer service abilities

Step IV: Train for Quality Customer Service Skills

Step V: Practice Quality Leadership skills

Step VI: Encourage a supportive organizational climate

Step 1: When designing the service center jobs, we would be taking into account the following
points:

Purpose of the service center

Duties to be assigned to each NG employee at the center
Methods to be followed for the center
Standards to be maintained at all times
Relations to be made and maintained

Step 2: Job specifications

The following are the job specifications that we will be looking into for choosing the team for
the service center:

Knowledge needed to repair the refrigerators

Skills needed to repair all parts of refrigerators
Behavioral attributes needed to handle customers and deal with their issues
Skills/ Behavior standards required for the job

Step 3: What to ask when screening candidates for the job at service center:

Asking open ended questions at the time of interview

Listen and then ask next question
Stimulate value judgment
Probe choice points

Step 4: Training for the employees

We would want to ask for your approval for excess funds because we need to train people at the
service center and training takes time and money. Once I have a full trained team, I will be able
to work better and increase customer satisfaction.
Step 5: Practice Quality Leadership skills
The way customer-service employees are treated by organizational leaders greatly impacts how
customers are treated by the entire organization. The bottom line: Leadership skills have a great
impact on how the customer service team treats the customers.
Step 6: Encourage a supportive organizational climate by doing all of the following:
We will follow the following model in creating a supportive organizational culture at NG service
center to have a motivated team:

Effective
reward
system
Respect
for
employe
es

economi
c wellbeing of
employe
es

Career
path

Positive
working
condition
s

Effective implementation of the above plans would help NG achieve great service. Based on the
leadership pyramid, I would like you to see how the service levels would reach the desired level.
For any good service center, the employees are the main differentiating factor:

Stage 4: Checkup regularly

Sir, our work does not stop here. We need to regularly check and assess our processes. The most
effective way to maintain and check our service image is to develop a system to monitor the
performance of the customer service team. You might be wondering how we would be doing
that. I would be applying just three basic points to ensure regular check-ups. They are:
1. NGs customer service audit system
2. A customer feedback system
3. An employee feedback system

NGs customer service audit system

9

I will be applying a Managing by Walking Around" concept to audit the customer service at
NGs. I, being the manager of the customer service center would be present where the action is
and will be present to monitor it all times. The customer handling aspect and customer dealing
would be monitored by me at all times. My main aim to do this would not be to catch people
doing the wrong thing and penalize them, but to see which employee is following the right
processes and my job would be to go and appreciate them. Further, a rating scale would be
developed and I will be able to rate all the KPIs accordingly. The audit rating criteria is still in
process and I will be able to finish it in the coming week. However, I would show you a picture
of how it would look like:

A customer feedback system

10

Sir, there are two main reasons why the consumers complain. We call them roadblocks to an
effective customer service. These are:

RoadBlocks
to effective
customer
service

Customers do not
believe it will make a
difference

Customers do not have

access to the people who
could make a
difference in the service
organization

Sir, the above two roadblocks were experienced with Mr. Safwan. He was willing to pay
whatever the cost was to pay for the refrigerator repair as he believed there was no use of arguing
with the sales outlet. Similarly the second roadblock was experienced when Mr. Safwan was
unable to find access to the relevant people in the country to complain about the service. Mr.
Safwan eventually got frustrated and contacted you. Hence, lack of awareness and no direct
access made Mr. Safwan frustrated and a bad word of mouth must have been created. I am pretty
sure that Mr. Safwan would never share a good experience about our company to other people.
Sir, we dont want terrorists customers in our business model. Such customers are detrimental
to our business. This is is only one instance that we were lucky enough to know. There would be
several other cases that go unregistered. Hence we really need to cater to these roadblocks. I will
do the following to overcome these roadblocks:
Demonstrate by actions that customer feedback is being taken seriously. Every customer
will be contacted and asked if their problems have been resolved, how they rate our
service, what can be improve on
We would create database of all our customers and all their suggestions would be
documented. After working on their suggestions, we would call them back and inform
them that we have worked on the suggestions provided
This would make them feel heard and happy
Will make it easy for customers to share information with the people who could make a
difference we would provide them with all relevant numbers
All employees have to pick up the telephone at 3 phone ring bells at most
An employee feedback system
11

An employee feedback system would record employee job performance and would share
that information with the employee. It will focus on:
Customer-service behavior
Understanding how employees act, what they say: observable, and measurable
results along with behavior that is being evaluated. It has be job related and reflect
the quality customer service standards
Sharing of information
A mutual give and take of ideas
Sharing of information:
All information about employee productivity and performance is readily and
openly shared with the employees.
A mutual give and take of ideas:
A Two-Way exchange of ideas and perception between the customer-service
employee and myself
Step 5: Provide Proactive Problem Solving
The last step will be to provide you with an action plan to be able to provide you with a problem
solving proactive solution:

Create a supportive climate at NG for solving

customer-service problems
Use the customer service teams to identify customer
service problem areas in all processes across NG

Make the customer service team a resource for

improving service at NG
Turn customer problems and constraints into
opportunities for strengthening ties with the
customer
12

Actio
n
Plan
4
Actio
n
plan
3
Actio
n
Plan
2
Actio
n
Plan
1

Action plan I: Create a supportive climate for solving customer-service problems

In attempt to improve the customer-service, I will face resistance to change primarily because of
the following challenges that emerge because of:
Differing perceptions of employees and managers
Previous behavior expectations based on past performances at NG
Interests under attack at NG
Resistance to change damages the health and care of supportive team atmosphere for customerservice problem solving. I will allow all my customer service team members to join in the
diagnostic efforts leading to agreement of what the basic problems are, involve my service team
in suggesting what changes are needed to be made to improve the customer service and share as
much customer feedback with them as possible. All consequent changes will be made gradually
and not all at once so that there is time given to employees to adjust to new standards. All of my
workforce will be trained so that they remain flexible as much as possible. I will recognize that
valid objections may emerge from team members and be responsive to all objections and provide
relevant feedback and information as I implement my improvement strategies.
Action plan II: Use the customer service teams to identify customer service problem areas
Pin-Point Specific problem areas by using the Customer-Service Assessment Scale. A CSAS
identifies certain strengths and weaknesses within the operations of a service. Two prototypes are
below to give you a fair idea of what the scale would look like. The final scale will be shared
with you in the coming week.

13

Customer Service

Strong

Agre

Neutr

Disag

Strong

ly

al

ree

ly

Agree

Disagr
ee

Exhibit flexibility when

responding to varying customer

requests?
Exhibit knowledge of all available
products and services?
Provide Helpful suggestions to
customers?
Use Tactful words and comments
with customers?

Benefits:
1. The customer care center will not only help in measuring the performance of BB cream
but it will also help in measuring performance of hair color and hair care products.
2. The retailers will be able to give their direct feedback or complaint regarding product,
customer and sales force.
3. The sales force will be able to give direct feedback or complaint regarding product or
distributor.
4. The customer care center can direct contact customer, sales force and retailer in order to
get regular feedback.

14

Action plan III: Make the customer service team a resource for improving service
After pin-pointing the strength and weaknesses within service operation by using the CSAS
above, the customer-service team should be involved to decide what could be done to strengthen
the areas of weakness. The following steps would be taken by the team at NG:
Team Problem-Solving Option # 1: The Nominal Group Process
Team Problem-Solving Option # 2: Brainstorming

Team Problem-Solving Option # 1: The Nominal Group Process

Pick target problem

List possible solutions

Record ideas

Vote, Discuss Final vote

Team Problem-Solving Option # 2: Brainstorming

Pick the target problem

Form sub-groups
Review the rules of brainstorming
Commence brainstorming
Discussion
Choosing a solution

Action plan IV: Turn customer problems and constraints into opportunities for
strengthening ties with the customer

Encourage and welcome customer complaints

Increase customer access to be able to work towards stronger ties with the customer
A conscientious, planned strategy to strengthen ties with customers
Views customer complaints as opportunities rather than problems
No complacency or satisfaction with the status quo
A proactive response to customer-service complaints

15

Final Step: Explore, Agree, Deliver, Assure

To build a reputation for a Quality Customer Service, we have to go beyond the momentary oneshot deal. At NG, we have to cultivate expertise in providing transaction satisfaction, creating
reliable relationships and building powerful partnerships in future. All these styles of interaction
are circular in nature and characterized by completed Service Cycles. Each service cycle is a
series of interconnected conversations: explore, agree, deliver and assure.

Explor
e

Assur
e

Agree

Delive
r

This cycle will be followed on a constant basis. A detail of all the cycle is as follows:
Explore
Understand the concerns and needs of NGs customers, colleagues and prospects with people
skilled at crating rapport, comfort and dialog with others. They must know how to interview and
ask questions without being pushy. NGs staff should be able to educate prospective customers
about your products and services without appearing hard sell and eagerly seek and create new
possibilities with out of the box brainstorming
Agree
NG service center is going to be flexible, user-friendly and easy to do business with and
accommodate teams, timelines and conditions. Main aim is to make everything convenient for
customers with agreements clearly documented in language that is easy to understand.

16

Problem

Action

Person

Tim

Expected

Responsible

Outcome

line

s
Customer

Focus Group/Research/

Research Team /

Feedback

Questionnaire survey

Service Center

12
wee

Team

ks

Customer
s
Expectatio
ns
Gap
analysis

Customer

Develop Quality

Mahin Hassan

16

Customer

Quality

Standards/Best methods/

Brand Activation

wee

Standards

Guides/Assessment

Manager South

ks

Standards

Customer

Service

Scale/Audit system/
Feedback system
Recruitmen

Job

Mahin Hassan

Descriptions/Hiring/Perfor

Brand Activation

wee

mance standards

Manager South

ks

Service
Team

/Rewards system/Training
material
Training to

Training Material/system

Trainer

10

Customer

wee

Service

ks

Center

Audit Team

On-

Regular

(Internal)

goin

monitorin

12

Customer

wee

Acquisitio

ks

n to

employees
Monitoring

CRM
techniques

Audits

Apply CRM techniques

Internal team

17

Customer
Loyalty
Service

Manage complaints

recovery
programs

Training

personnel

wee

Improve

ks

customer
managem
ent

Mr. Wah, please let me know when I can meet you in person. Please feel free to discuss anything
with me or any part of the report you did not understand. I would be extremely grateful if you
could meet me in the coming week and we could discuss and agree on the timelines of each
action plan discussed so that our team and I are on the same page. Looking forward for a positive
response from your end.
Thank you.

Regards,
Hasan Naveed
Service Center Head
NG Electronics
0333-225-2288

18