Nature Of Job And Tasks Undertaken

The customer service personnel should be in a position to acknowledge their clients and pay attention well to whatever they say and put into practice active listening. They should also give a chance to the customers to respond to the services the company offers perhaps through the enterprise’s website. For any company to prosper, good customer relation is paramount in building a loyal

Customer service is the most important aspect of any business. Without an adequate relationship with its consumer base, a company is at an enormous disadvantage.

Customer service plays a vital role in the running of this organisation. As they have many competitors they try extremely hard to stand out above the rest with their customer service approach. They use the slogan ‘Every little helps’ to

Customer Service takes an important stand in any business and it is essentially what my role revolves around. The first thing I do every morning is to turn on my computer and log into ‘Agent’ (the software we use to keep track of the time me and my colleagues spend on call and the type of enquiry it is), this way I can ensure that no Customer Advice calls will be lost as I will be readily available to answer any calls that come through.

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation. Good customer service is

Two different customer service models that most retail and online retail organisations use are the cheap prices and convenience model and the personalized in-depth model. The cheap price model is controlled by management and ensures policies and procedures are in place that can be easily measured and constantly measured. This is the one that we at Flanagan’s use more than the other model. However, the other models the personalized and in depth model is used predominately by our other section of the organisation. This is the hotel and leisure and building maintenance side of the business. This is face to face and allows our agents/advisors to be more personal with them. Good use of

The same customer service skills that are needed when dealing with customers face to face are needed when dealing with customers on the telephone (Lucas, 2015). Arthur W. Page, the first vice

Listening to complaints and explaining the options in a clear and concise way when dealing with customer enquiries.

Consistent, high-quality customer service is essential to the sustainability of the company; something that is only possible to deliver through engaged, motivated and properly-trained employees. Certainly stakeholders agree, as labour relations and employee engagement rank highly among the issues they consider of greatest materiality.

Customer Satisfaction John Lewis recruits only those people who know how to work with integrity, determination while abiding by the principles laid down, which helps John Lewis to provide customers with a different and homely shopping experience in their stores. The prices, quality and value of the goods is different from the other stores in the surroundings which helps in attracting more and more customers to their stores thus building a strong customer base and bond and even a brand image and goodwill for itself

Examples of these groups in the grocery store is customer service, grocery, pharmacy, deli, bakery, meat, and produce. Each of these departments have a manager and an assistant. Along with managers most of these departments have one if not two team leaders, varying in title and description. All of these positions, through the proper channels reports to the store manager. Publix is one of the rare places that the focus on customer service is so high that there is power given to even below management associates. I interviewed Vanessa Cox, Customer Service Staff for almost 12 years, at store number 475 in Hernando, FL. Vanessa and I spoke about her views on management and the affect that it has on her. Customer service staff is also a type of management. This is a front office position that takes care of what was known as the common area prior to 2005 and is now known as customer service. Vanessa spoke about the unbelievable pressure applied to staff to provide premier customer service. Publix has a guarantee that should a customer not be satisfied with their purchase Publix will gladly refund the item in its entirety immediately. As customer service staff it is one of her main responsibilities to take care of these types of issues. Publix management give Vanessa the power to take care of the customer to a great extent with having to ask permission. Vanessa has had many opportunities to move up in management but for her the stress of the position is not healthy for her.

From the PESTL analysis it is evident that John Lewis is rapidly improving its policies, products, and services to those that fit today’s consumers and its culture. At the same time it is maintaining its reputation as a quality company. It is also clear that in the future John Lewis will face even more challenges and threats, especially since the global economy and the culture amongst shoppers is constantly evolving.  John Lewis has one advantage over most other retailers that it has a very loyal set of consumers, those that seek service and quality over price. Going forward, it would be beneficial for John Lewis to aim at the younger generation as well to maintain its success in the long run. Labour cost is one of the major expense for the retail business, especially after minimum wage increase from October 2015 and even further in the coming years. It is essential that John Lewis keeps this cost under control, while making efficient use of its workforce within multiple areas of the business. This in return will not have any adverse effects on the revenues and the cash flow position of John Lewis.

Customers want to be treated in a friendly manner with honest, straightforward information and responses. They appreciate a customer service representative who is willing to admit mistakes and work to correct them. Customers who believe they have been misled stop doing business with the company. These ‘critical incidents’ are experiences that make the customer walk away and never return. They don’t complain, they just leave and share the negative service experience with others. The bad news spreads, leading the organisation to lose more customers and deterring prospective customers. Critical incidents can include broken promises that annoy and anger customers. Customers expect to be informed if a promise cannot be fulfilled. Finally, customers expect understanding and empathy from a customer service representative who is willing to see things from their point of view, especially when there is a problem.

By acting quickly on what they tell us particularly if John Lewis is at fault. John Lewis uses formal methods of research and feedback such as customer surveys. This helps john Lewis to monitor levels of customer satisfaction and give us a broad spectrum if customer opinion to respond to. It is to be concluded that good customer service and providing customer satisfaction are a crucial aspect to all retailers.

Within these stores, there are many different departments and groups of job roles including sales floor customer assistants, store operations, section managers and store managers (Careers.marksandspencer.com, 2016). Marks and Spencer are devoted to providing great value and services to their shareholders and customers within their business, which suggests customer service is a key part within their organisation (Corporate.marksandspencer.com, 2016). The strategic direction of Marks and Spencer is to prioritise profitability as well as growing the business, alongside improving performance in all areas of the organisation (Corporate.marksandspencer.com, 2014). This essay will focus on sales floor customer assistant departments within Marks and Spencer.