The success or failure of any business organization depends on its customer service practices. The primary focus builds good linkages and working relationships with consumers. It is important for the company to thank its clients and promote a positive, mutual, and friendly business environment so as to leave a great impression. When customers are happy, they will remain loyal to the organizations, and they are likely to spend more. The business has the responsibility to understand what customers regard as effective customer service. It can be done through following up on all the feedback that customers provide as they interact with the business (Nishii, Lepak and Schneider, 2008, p. 506). The organization should also ensure that it considers clients at all its areas of operations. Based on their feedback, the company should seek to improve its services in response to the gaps that the customers identify. This report examines the desirable principles of customer service and their effectiveness in the corporate world. It demystifies customer service in light of Tesco and Aldi supermarkets in the UK. The paper explains the types of customer service strategies adopted in these businesses, target audience customer service skills and customer service policies while highlighting the merits and demerits of the methods that both organizations use. It concludes by recommending the best customer service practices among the two supermarkets while providing justification for such recommendations.
Principles of Customer Service
The first principle of good customer service relates to speed and responsiveness. When the business is more responsive, the levels of customer satisfaction will be high. However, when the business is not enough, dissatisfaction increases and the business is likely to lose most of its customers to competitors. To ensure effectiveness, the company must guarantee that all its services are provided at a speedy rate. For instance, customers do not have to wait for long before their concerns are addressed. The organization must ensure that it responds to customer inquiries within the shortest time possible demonstrating to them that their requests have been heard and are being worked on. The speed, at which the company provides its services, depends on the contact channel, employee skills, and employee empowerment. In regard to contact channel, it needs to use faster communication channels such as live chat. Using channels such as email when addressing concerns that clients raise via calls slows down communication and causes ineffective customer service in terms of responsiveness. Also, employees need to be knowledge ability on all matters relating to the business and problem resolution. Workers who are well trained have effective explanation techniques and can respond quickly to customers' issues. Moreover, empowered employees do not need to escalate issues that customers raise to managers (Nishii, Lepak and Schneider, 2008, p. 512). They have the abilities to make judgment calls on their own, and in doing so, they increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs.
The second important principle of customer service is accuracy. While it is important for the business to provide its services speedily, it also has to consider the accuracy of information to avoid confusing the consumers. Studies show that inaccurate information causes client dissatisfaction. Factors such as training, information systems available, and teamwork affect accuracy in an organization. Service training raises accuracy since it expands on employee knowledge and affects how the business relates with the workers. Companies that have been proven to be successful are known to spend their resources on continuous staff training and education to help them develop soft skills such as empathy and active listening. Also, it is crucial for the organization to integrate its information systems for the purposes of promoting service accuracy. The company should seek to integrate its database, customer relations management technologies as well as service desk systems so that relevant information is provided to clients at the right time. Similarly, teamwork brings all the employees on board in search of effective solutions to consumer-related issues. It is important for a company to nurture an effective culture that supports effective communication by avoiding issues like internal politics and inter-departmental frictions to streamline collaboration.
Thirdly, clarity and transparency are priceless customer service principle. Clarity ensures that consumers process messages correctly as given by the organization. Communication has to be provided in a simple format, which the customers can interpret easily. The firm needs to use a language structure that is familiar with the employees to ensure that they are comfortable interpreting team communication. The messages should also be disseminated in a transparent manner.
Closely related to the principles of clarity and transparency is accessibility. The communication channel should ensure that customers can easily get in touch with the organization. Effective businesses use modern forms of interaction including social media in disseminating information to their clients. The services that the company provide need to be available at all times by implementing active 24/7 support to raise accessibility. Also, friendliness is an essential customer service principle since it addresses the human side of the firm. There is a need for human interactions to generate positive experiences to customers as they seek services from the organization. Employees need to be friendly, fair, and polite while paying maximum attention to customer issues.
Tesco and Customer Service
Founded in 1924, Tesco is one of the leading food retailing companies in the UK. Since the company was established, it has invested in new innovations while expanding its services to meet the needs of its customers. Currently, Tesco has 2306 shops in all parts of the world, and it conducts its business operations in 13 countries. At the onset, it was only focusing on offering food catering services but it later expanded its focus to electronics, mobile phones, internet services, finance products as well as cloths. As such, it has turned into a one-store where clients can access all the products they seek. Thus, the company's main business strategy is segmented into four parts that include online services, UK business, non-food business, and retail services. It has an effective operating strategy that is steered by a competent management team.
The primary reason why Tesco was established was to offer goods and services to its pool of clients. The firm ventured into opening new stores and adopted policies intended to promote price maintenance through the introduction of trading stamps. It helped in the reduction of prices as customers collected stamps in the process of purchasing their groceries. Tesco introduced the first client loyalty card in 1995. It was used in offering benefits to regular consumers after discovering the needs of its clients. Due to its customer-oriented policies, the organization was ranked as the most influential retailer in the UK in 1995. It proceeded to launch client assistants in 1996 for the purposes of making shopping easy.
In its policies, the core purpose of Tesco is improving the services to customers on a daily basis. The business was established to champion for consumers while increasing the quality of their lives. Thus, the company is committed to providing valuable products that are easily accessible to their customers. It sets expectations in its client service program. It lays out its service hours clearly. The program focuses on customer product development, ranging, store development, loyalty scheme, and culture. When the client complaints increased in the organization, Tesco decided to carry out an evaluation of the service with an aim of determining some of the gaps (Ramanathan, Subramanian and Vijaygopal, 2017, p. 482).
The business keeps its clients at the center of its operations, and it has adopted customer-oriented values. It seeks to understand its consumers, meet their needs promptly, and act responsibly while serving the communities and partners. The main focus of these values is on understanding employees, customers, and the communities. After this, the company strives to make those things available to people. It listens to people and talks to them using various communication tools such as social media and Clubcard data. All innovative services are then provided based on feedback. Tesco treats its consumers how they would want to be treated. Employees work as a team while nurturing mutual trusts and respect with its customers. They listen and support each other while sharing knowledge and experience that is essential for consumer service improvement. Essentially, the organization believes that by treating its employees well and respecting them, the will in turn respect the customers and serve them diligently (Ramanathan, Subramanian and Vijaygopal, 2017, p. 484).
Aldi and Customer Service
Aldi was started in 1990 as a retail company in the UK with over 300 stores across the UK where it sells drinks, foodstuffs, sanitary items, beauty and health product, and cheap household goods. It also sells various fruits and vegetables such as fresh meats, frozen food, baked products, and alcohol. The store is popular for providing the cheapest retail goods introduced from Germany, and it covers a diverse range of own products. Currently, compared to Tesco, Aldi is ranked on top in terms of customer satisfaction in the UK retail industry. The supermarket cherishes its loyal client base and continues to win new consumers by use of affordable pricing strategies and ensuring quality service delivery (Ramanathan, Subramanian and Vijaygopal, 2017, p. 479).
Just like Tesco, Aldi seeks to put consumers at the center of all its operations. The supermarket is not fixated on generating lucrative profits for itself but it is also committed to providing the healthiest alternatives. In all the products offered, the labels explain to the clients the ingredients of all that they purchase and most of the products have low levels of salt and sugars. It offers its customers special weekly offers, special purchase deals, especially in goods such as electronics and accessories, household items, appliances among others. Clients are also provided with products at bargain prices, particularly on Thursdays and Sundays. Apart from low prices, Aldi is also ranked as the best supermarket when it comes to responsiveness and handling customer complaints. While the focus is on guaranteeing valuable and healthy products to its market, it also ensures that the processes are designed in a manner that supports responsiveness, which provides a memorable shopping experience (Brandes and Brandes, 2012, p. 31).
The business recognizes that good client service attracts and keeps consumers. Therefore, the policy has been designed to collect information from stores purchasing and quality assurance departments for the purposes of addressing customer needs. Also, Aldi uses ethical practices in the collection and safeguarding of personal data collected from its employees. All the data collected from the consumers in a lawful, transparent, and fair manner. Such data is only gathered for valid reasons, which are first explained to the customers. It is collected and updated from time to time, secured, and used only for intended purposes (Brandes and Brandes, 2012, p. 47).
However, while the supermarket seeks to mobilize its employees to improve their client services, reports indicate that it does not take sufficient measures to address the concerns of its workers. The supermarket cares for its customers more than it does to its employees. It is a poor policy because unhappy employees would eventually provide poor services to consumers. Even so, there are some efforts put in place to promote the growth of the internal team, and the supermarket is on the verge of training its pool of employees to be communicators who exercise integrity. They perform their duties with passion and are adaptable to changing trends for the sake of customers.
Conclusion
In terms of customer service practices and policies, Tesco is at the forefront. The supermarket places its employees at the center by empowering them so that they can serve the interests of the clients effectively. When workers are taken through sufficient training on issues relating to service, they develop effective communication skills, which they use while interacting with the consumers. Training prepares employees on how to negotiate and prioritize clients' needs as they transact with the business. When companies take care of their employees, they will, in turn, take care of the customers. Workers who are dissatisfied with poor skill in client service will not treat them well. They will transfer their frustrations to the consumers leading to a loss of them in the long-run. While Aldi meets the needs of its clients effectively, it is more results-oriented at the expense of the human resource within its control. Nevertheless, complaints management stands out as an important customer service strategy. The management needs to be sensitive to that. By listening to criticisms, the company can learn about the products or services it provides to the market. The business needs to strive to ensure that clients understand that it appreciates feedback and acts based on the recommendations that they raise. Often customers raise objections regarding the pricing of the products, the behavior of certain employees, the time when the product or service is offered. When the company welcomes the voices of its consumers and considers its objections, it will react speedily and redesign its products or services in response to the client needs.
References
Brandes, D. and Brandes, N., 2012. Bare essentials: the Aldi way to retail success. BoD–Books on Demand.
Nishii, L.H., Lepak, D.P. and Schneider, B., 2008. Employee attributions of the “why” of HR practices: Their effects on employee attitudes and behaviours, and customer satisfaction. Personnel Psychology, vol. 61, no. 3, pp.503-545.
Ramanathan, U., Subramanian, N., Yu, W. and Vijaygopal, R., 2017. Impact of customer loyalty and service operations on customer behavior and firm performance: empirical evidence from the UK retail sector. Production Planning " Control, vol. 28, no. 6-8, pp. 478-488.
