This is the third part of the series on 3Ps of service. The previous articles looked at People and the other on Processes. The people that a business employs to execute its mandate as well as the processes in place have an impact on the service delivery. However, beneath all that are the guiding principles on all aspects of the business; from the way people in the business behave, to the steps followed in executing the duties. All these are contained in the policies of the company. Hence, our third P is for policies. In other words the guidelines on how ‘things are done’’. This includes both written and unwritten elements. Large businesses will almost always have written guidelines in line with their service charters. Small and medium sized businesses will have a mix of both written and unwritten guidelines. The unwritten part is mostly as a result of influence from the business owner (or founder) as well as senior management.
The other day I received a call from a courier company to confirm my address and also a convenient time to deliver a parcel. Immediately after the salutations, I realized the agent was reading a script and was so determined to complete it and probably fill in a delivery request form. The conversation went on like this:
Agent: Good morning sir, I am calling from ABC Courier Company in regards to the delivery of your parcel. Can I confirm your location and convenient time for delivery? (Without a pause)) Being end of the week, we can only deliver it next week.
Me: Okay. I am just … (She cuts short)
Agent: Yes, where are you located? Can I confirm your location and convenient time? We can deliver anytime from morning to evening.
She was so determined to fill in the details. She repeated ‘location and convenient time’ several times. Initially, she did not listen to what I was telling her – that I am just a block away from her centre and since it’s open till midnight, I will pass by evening and pick it.
Developing a suitable customer service policy is an interactive process between the management, the executing staff and more important from the customers. There are no templates for developing customer service policies – every business should develop and define its own policies. That is the only way to develop a unique service. Such policies define from how the front office staff picks that first call all to the way accounts department issues invoices. Polices for a new or small business are usually developed by the founder / owner. However, even as the business develops to a large organization, policies on service delivery should always have an impact from the top.
To develop effective policies, here are a few guidelines to check:
- Input from the service agents: In most cases, the service agents are only supposed to execute and deliver the service as expected by the company or senior managers. However, it’s also important for a business to check with the agents:
a. Is the current service delivery mechanism working well?
b. What can the company do better to improve the delivery?Another key input from agents includes senior managers sitting with the agents as they execute the delivery. For instance, they can sit at the call centre and see how the agents handle calls, what can be done to improve the scripts. If at a banking hall, interact with front office / meeters and greeters to see how they interact with customers, control the queues. Such input will help in developing policies on service delivery that are effective for the employees to execute.
For instance, a customer highlighted in a social media forum how he visited two banks. In the first one, he checked with a security at the entrance, who just pointed to the direction of the queue. In the second bank, he met the security and with a smile, greeted him. He then wittily told him to ‘join the traffic’. I would not be surprised in the first case; the policy on security is one of ‘no interaction with the customers – just security’.
- Customers: Feedback from customers plays a big role in developing or fine tuning policies. Ultimately any policies developed by a business have an impact on the individual. Businesses invest in customer feedback mechanism. It is important to consider that feedback in enhancing service delivery.
- Market forces: Many are the businesses that are stuck to the old due to service delivery policies that are not up to date with the market dynamics. For instance, a number of businesses are still not up to date with mobile platform, which has gained traction in most markets in Africa. There is an uptake of social media platforms, however, instead of using such media to interact with customers, a number of companies use social media as a marketing platform only. What they miss out is that by interacting through social media, they miss out the opportunity to show case their service delivery to other users on such media.
- Cost effectiveness: Policies that a company develops should be effective not only in execution but also on cost. As highlighted in the bank case above, effective service delivery should run across touch points. Likewise, cost associated with delivery also runs across key touch points. Hence, apportioning the associated costs is important to ensure effectiveness. For instance, with the increase in social media, companies are hiring specialists in such platforms. Should this be an additional cost or a replacement of head count within the company?
Hence, going back to the case of the courier company above, I would take the three Ps would include:
- People – the Agent: She made the call but could have been more attentive.
- Process – before any delivery, call the customer to confirm location and time. Then deliver on the agreed time. However, there was also a provision that a customer can pick from the service centre.
- Policies – the agent should read the script as provided by the company.
For details, contact:
pauline@episodesresearch.com
www.episodesresearch.com
