Indicators Of Customer Service Standards
What is Customer Service Standards? Define
2. Key performance indicator –define
3. Create suitable KPIs for the tasks and staff of the Reception Area.
4. Draw a flowchart fully title (A guest reservation for dinner), noting the
steps the employee will take to undertake the task.
5. Review this video and create a table that rates the performance of the
Reception Area staff on specific Customer Serves task. point
Also Strategies
Employee training programs
Methods of providing the service or delivery
Employee motivation programs
6. Using this sample of the comments above, tweak your Customer
Service standards, strategies, and KPIs.
o I was on hold for 32 mins…..awful music and still did not get an
answer. Poor!
o 4 emails and I am still awaiting a refund from my cancellation.
o Quick checking in but they mislaid my luggage with that of a
guest checking out.
o Beautiful views from the 4th floor room but the reception did not
have ramp for my wheel chair.
7. Create a ccustomer Service monitoring plan. This is preferable in table
that will provide a snapshot of the current levels of CS against the
KPIs.
Solution
Customer Service Standards
Customer service standards refer to a set of rules, guidelines and regulations that a company
formulates to inform and shape the relationship between the customer and the company all the
way through the customer's presence in the company. Many companies usually adopt these
standards to ensure that there is the empowerment of customer service employees in matters of
quick and adequate solving of grievances and other issues for the benefit of both the customer
and the business. Therefore, sufficient and effective customer service standards are significantly
important in companies' strategies to maintain dedicated customers, attract new potential
customers, and consequently increase the company's revenue generation (Browning et al. 2013).
2. Key Performance Indicators
Key performance indicators (KPIs) refer to the critical index of the steps towards a certain set
of achievements. Therefore, through Key Performance Indicators, the company can focus more
on the strategies and operations for improving its outcomes. The KPIs are also significantly
beneficial in making decisions analytically and concentrating on the matters that need more and
immediate attention (Briggs et al. 2007). Examples of key performance indicators are as follows;
● Revenue growth
● Net profit margin
● Gross profit margin
● Operational cash flow
● Inventory turnover
● Current accounts receivables
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS 3
3. Suitable KPIs for the tasks and staff of the Reception Area
The personnel working at the reception area are the most important employees in any
company since they act as the forefront soldiers in an organizational setup consisting of many
employees. Good receptionists need to align their goals with the KIPs for receptionists in order
to discover the missing skills that have been highly highlighted in the KIPs for receptionists (Van
de Walker Handy et al. 2012). The suitable Key Performance Indicators for the tasks and staff of
the reception area are listed as follows;
● Maintenance of a good first impression.
The receptionist's main work is to receive customers and direct them appropriately according
to the services or goods they want. Therefore, receptionists are the first company's personnel that
customers have a conversation with other than the guards. In this regard, proper business
etiquette such as phone etiquette is a mandatory requirement in companies. Receptionists also
need to be organized and familiar with all the companies' departments (Guzik et al. 2010).
● Ability to handle stress
Workplace stresses are common within many organizations, and they need to be properly
managed. Small amounts of manageable stress are professionally healthy, but when the stress
levels increase, they can have detrimental effects on the receptionist's career and even health.
The receptionist ought to be able to manage and handle different levels of stress (Guzik et al.
2010).
● Collaborative skills
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS 4
A receptionist should possess collaboration skills that significantly depend on the spirit of
cooperation and reciprocated respect. Therefore, the receptionist should be a team player and
have the ability to balance personal set goals with those of the team as a whole (Guzik et al.
2010).
● Applying diversity skills
A good receptionist should understand the importance of equitable, diverse, and inclusivity
working environments. The company's diverse workforce should promote successful working
since when different minds bring different ideas together; the company gets a chance to grow
(Guzik et al. 2010).
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS 5
4. A guest reservation for dinner flowchart
Answering the
telephone
Acknowledging
a reservation
request
Taking the table
reservation
details
Checking the
reservations
book
Returning to the
caller
Confirming the
details
Saying goodbye
Apologizing
incase all tables
are booked
Offering an
alternative
5. Below is a table rating on a scale of 1-5, ratings the Reception Area staff's performance
on specific Customer Serves task. 1,2,3,4 and 5 represent poor, not good, fair, good, and
excellent performances, respectively. The poor performance of the reception area staff is
attributed to his unprofessional behaviors such as inappropriate usage of the parking
space, poor maintenance of the first impression through dressing code, not washing hands
after visiting the washrooms, always being late to work and not apologizing to the human
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS 6
resource department. Additionally, the reception area staff demonstrates extremely
unprofessional behavior when he ignores the guests while having personal conversations
with another staff member, when handling hotel room keys to a client without asking for
an identification card and failing to notice incidences of theft within the hotel premises.
Appropriate use of parking
space
1 poor
Maintenance of a good first
impression.
1 poor
hygiene 1 poor
Uniform maintenance and
transport
1 poor
Utilization of companies
facilities
1 poor
Time keeping 1 poor
Communication skills 1 poor
Adaptive business etiquette 1 poor
6. Customer Service standards, strategies, and KPIs.
a. I was on hold for 32 mins…..awful music and still did not get an answer. Poor!
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS 7
● To achieve customer satisfaction during a call, the employee engaging the customers in a
call should not leave the customers on calls for a long time without responding to their
queries.
b. 4 emails and I am still awaiting a refund from my cancellation.
● To achieve effective and immediate refund of non-utilized customer’s money, the
accounts department should always have easily accessible money transfers.
c. Quick checking in but they mislaid my luggage with that of a guest checking out.
● To avoid mix-up of customers’ belongings, the receptionists should use properly
identifiable stickers and luggage tags when receiving new guests.
d. Beautiful views from the 4th floor room but the reception did not have ramp for
my wheel chair.
● To enable easy accessibility of the reception area, the management should introduce
special equipment, areas and facilities for people living with disabilities.
7. Customer Service monitoring plan
Reception
Area
activities
Staff
responsible
Common CS mistakes
and successes
recorded
Method of
capture
used
KPIs Corrective
action
Person
responsible
for
corrective
action etc.
Attending
to
receptionist ● Sleeping
during work
Customer
complaints
● Maintenance of
good first
Stern
warning
Reception
manager
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS 8
customers
time
● personal talk
with co-worker
at front desk
● ignoring of
approaching
customers
● no eye-contact
with customer
● failing to turn
off cell phone
● taking
personal call
when on duty
● abandoning
station with
customer
present,
● Taking
personal call
on hotel phone
● Announcing a
impression
● Ability to handle
stress
● Collaborative skills
● Diversity skills
● Communication
skills
given to
the
receptionist
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS 9
room number
out loud
● Giving out
key without
asking for ID.
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS 10
References
Briggs, S., Sutherland, J., & Drummond, S. (2007). Are hotels serving quality? An exploratory
study of service quality in the Scottish hotel sector. Tourism Management, 28(4), 1006-
1019. Retrieved from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261517706001488
Browning, V., So, K. K. F., & Sparks, B. (2013). The influence of online reviews on consumers'
attributions of service quality and control for service standards in hotels. Journal of
Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2), 23-40. Retrieved from:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10548408.2013.750971
Guzik, G., Netz, A., & Bezic, M. (2010). U.S. Patent No. 7,822,662. Washington, DC: U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved from:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US7822662B2/en
Van de Walker Handy, S., Peterson, P. B., Wilson, B., & Hulen, C. J. (2012). U.S. Patent No.
8,095,417. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved from:
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6276255/