Customer Service Management

BMGT-395 (3)

Week 1 (27 Jan. - 1 Feb. '03) Course Intro & Orientation. What is Customer Service?

Module 1: Customer Service Management and its Problems.

See Week 1 Group Assignments and Week 1 Individual Assignments

Begin Course Module 1 (See WT Course Content Area.)

The Course Modules have been prepared to help guide you through your study of customer service management. Please use them to supplement the text.

The information in these modules enriches Harris' presentation of the soft side of Customer Service Management and provides a useful link to Anton's approach. We need both so at times it will seem that we are actually running two courses in one - something about ten pounds in a five pound bag.

Anton's 1996 text is excellent - an acknowledged milestone in the field of CRM. Yet, I have found that customer surveys are difficult to implement for some of our DE students. Additionally, Anton's reliance on SPSS for his analysis in the 1996 book presents a barrier that we must overcome. (I am sorry that SPSS is not generally available, but it is an expensive program that we will have to do without in this course.) I have implemented Anton's SPSS model in Excel and prepared Excel templates to help you through the logic of Anton's model.

I will be passing out extracts, in the WT course content area, of Anton's 1997 book Listening to the Voice of the Customer which provides more information on customer surveys and measuring customer satisfaction. (See optional texts.) One can use other statistical packages as Anton notes in LVC Step 4. I will post the first Step (chapter) of LVC this week for your study.

I am also posting, in the WT course content area, extracts of the other optional text for the course which is the basis for the alternative term project. There will be sufficient information for you to grasp Anton and Petouhoff's (A&P) key concepts, methods and logic. In essence, using just the extracts of this optional text and your other texts, you can complete the project, learn a lot and get a good grade (if your project is implemented well). I will post the first chapter of A&P this week so you can get a head start. More next week.

Yes, the material in optional texts' extracts I provide is testable on the midterm and final. It will also be used in our weekly discussions.

Harris approaches the same problem as Anton but from a different level. But she and Anton agree on the need to improve Customer Service in nearly every business. We will start with some thoughts from Harris on Customer Servers and Satisfaction and from Anton' LVC work on customer satisfaction surveys.

Topics:

Customer Service and Satisfaction Customer Needs Excellent Customer Service Internal & External Customers Delighted customers

Cost of losing a customer ----------------------------- Customer Satisfaction Surveying Program Differing Customer Attitudes

Study Text: Anton: Table of Contents (ToC) & Preface; Harris: Table of Contents (ToC) & Preface, and Chapter 1; LVC: Step 1; WT Module 1.

Turn In & Participate:

Practice basic protocols. Complete Week 1 Assignments. Survey Library resources.
Confirm books have arrived and access to software that will perform multiple regression analysis.
Explore Internet Resources.
Explore the UMUC Databases/sources and other web sites for Customer Service and Customer Relationship Management.
Get acquainted with fellow learners; post a bio-sketch to share with others
Complete the WebTycho tutorial and a review of my general and specific course guidance.

Week 2 (2 - 10 Feb. '03) Start with People - and Measurement; Operational CRM.

Module 2: Implementing a Customer Service Program.

** Course Project Phase 1: Due 10 Feb. '03 **

Begin with the end in mind. You want to make some money. You want to build your business. You want to serve society. You want to build a better world. Admirable, but to achieve any or all of these goals, you need to look far ahead.

The USA has become a transactional society. You can purchase your next (or last) meal from anyone, be served by anyone, sell your products to anyone who will buy them. Not so in many other parts of the world. It is not uncommon for deals to fail because the parties to the deal lacked sufficient trust or faith in each other. Serving internal and external customers has, in truth, always been about relationships, faith, and trust. We have in the past often overlooked these critical factors, however. In particular the age of mass production, mass markets and mass merchandising encouraged people to get done with this transaction and get on to the next one - drive those volumes up!

Anton focuses on relationships - Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - and what the customer's want from a firm or its agent. Well done too. He also acknowledges the bane of modern management - what is measured, is managed.

Anton's book is truly a treasure trove. He pushes us to organize information we get back from customers so it can be used to improve the service we offer them. We need to read and 'mine' his book carefully. Don't forget to capture Anton's "fuzzy logic". Excellent food for thought and action.

A&P divide the pie into Operational and Analytical CRM. Each focuses on People, Processes and Technology. From the Operational perspective, we look for effective and efficient use. From the Analytical perspective, we look to measure, market and manage each area. (See A&P Fig 1.1) This first chapter explores the model. Fig 1.2 is particularly useful for its customer focused questions in each area. A&P go on to explore observable facts about CRM, what customers expect from Customer Service activities (A&P Fig 1.12), and critical success factors for customer service employees (A&P Fig 1.13). Pay particular attention to their observations and the logic of their argument. They end with a broader look at CRM noting that for nearly all firms, "world class" CRM means change.

"Start with People" is the good advice of A&P. They note with examples and logic that starting with technology does not pay off. Indeed, well trained and prepared people - employees, partners and customers - minimize the risk inherent in CRM. Anton presents the traditional steps to managing CRM projects along with his ideas about the customer needs gap, customer relationship management mapping, the customer relationship cycle and the customer's view of the company's value chain.

Harris looks at the many challenges to Customer Service including perceptions, expectations, values, and credibility. She ends up with a discussion of new trends in Customer Service including call centers.

LVC complements Anton's 1996 work by jumping right into customer surveys and linking customer satisfaction with company profits. He walks you through the basics of proposal writing (to get approval and money for your survey program). He then presents the foundation concepts of surveying in a way that will clarify some of the points you will also see in his 1996 work. In Step 4 he alerts you to some of the options for survey tools.

There are alternative models and views to those expressed by Harris and Anton. Keep your eyes open for them. Use the UMUC database to identify some of those alternatives and present them to the class as the course continues.

Topics:

Importance of Relationships Marketplace forces action What customers want Bottom-Line Return from Long-term Customer Relationships Management requires measurement Corporate Measurement Systems Customer Satisfaction ---------------------------- Integrated CRM     Operational CRM     Analytical CRM Triad - People, Processes Technology CRM "Facts" Business Revolution People, Processes, then Technology Customer Pull Executive CRM Strategy CRM is change ---------------------------- Start with People     Problems when you don't Secret to CRM Risk Management = People CRM Implementation = Change Impact on Job functions

Employee reactions Emotional life cycle of project Impact of Successful People Profile Individual Survival mechanisms Emotional intelligence CRM Project management Customers are people, too. ---------------------------- Challenges for Customer Service Customer Expectations Importance of Values Trends in Customer Service Problem Solving Negotiation Skills ---------------------------- Customer Satisfaction Survey Program Linking Satisfaction Surveys to Bottom Line Value of Saved Customers Working with Decision Makers Developing Customer-Driven Metrics ---------------------------- Customer Surveys - The Basics Gathering the Tools

Find examples of different CSM and CRM models.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
Gain approval for your Term Project subject organization or activity.
Complete and submit Phase 1 of your Project.
Commence work on Course Project Phase 2.
Use the UMUC library on-line database.
One article/web site to share with the class

Group Work:

Share examples and models of CSM and CRM.

Explore customer expectations.

Week 3 (11 - 17 Feb. '03) Move to Measurement & Problem Solving.

Module 3: Measuring Customer Satisfaction

Anton sets out to give us a way to collect qualitative data and analyze it using quantitative methods. Anton's Chapter 4 is critical to understanding his model so read it several times carefully. Anton addresses the issue of integrating quantitative and qualitative data again in Chapter 8 which we will cover in a few weeks. LVC complements this discussion with a Customer Satisfaction model in Step 5. It is not until Step 14 that he repeats some of the model he raises much earlier in his 1996 work.

Dr. W. Edwards Deming was one who focused attention on "delighting customers". Anton provides some excellent rationale for doing just that - and a way to determine whether we are reaching that objective. This is just one of many links between Customer Service Management (CSM) and Continual Quality Improvement that you will see throughout this course.

We will complete Harris' first challenge assignment at the end of Chapter 1. We will share and critique each other's letters in a WT conference. Harris' point: Become a better customer to better understand and improve customer service.

In Chapter 3, Harris introduces diagramming and charting and problem solving tools. If this approach is new to you, please take some time this week and find out how powerful such graphical tools are in helping us understand the situations we face. I teach a number of courses where modeling, charting, diagramming, etc. are showcased. If you learn the tools and use them, you will improve your thinking and your results (but not every tool works well for each person, so experiment with several).

LVC helps you to focus your survey. If you do not know where you are going, your survey will wander as well. Anton's model of customer Satisfaction (LVC Figure 5.1) should help you understand the ingredients. Step 6 discusses attributes in a different manner than Anton presents in his 1996 work; look at the two together.

Topics:

Qualitative Measurement Methods Quantitative Measurement Methods Mapping Quality Perception Drivers Moving beyond perception to Internal Metrics Impact Factor of Performance Strategic Improvement Matrix ----------------------------- CRM Successful People Process People are the key to change Change Management How People behave at work Analysis Tools - DISC profiling Personal Value Profiles Work and Thinking Styles Leadership Styles Communication Plan

Challenges for Customer Service Trends in Customer Service Problem Solving Conflict situations Negotiations Compliment & Complaint Letters (Challenge 1) ----------------------------- Clarity of Vision Set Specific Goals Customer Satisfaction Model Attribute Scan Product, Service and Employee Attributes Key Attributes

Write compliment and complaint letters (See Harris Challenge 1).
Explore conflict management and negotiating approaches used in customer service as reflected in the UMUC database and on the web.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
Use the UMUC library on-line database.
One article/web site to share with the class

Group Work:

Share examples and models of graphical problem solving tools. (including diagramming, mapping, charting, and others)

Week 4 (18 - 24 Feb. '03) Customer Relationship Indices, Teams and CRM, Strategy for CRM Success, Sampling & Survey Method. Module 3 (cont.)

** Journal.1 due NLT 24 Feb. '03 **

If we are going to use the model and methods presented by Anton in Chapter 4, we will need to quantify what we see. We need to ask the right questions and develop a meaningful way to interpret what responses we get back. So Anton presents us with some roll-up indices that we can use to pull together multiple threads (that we have asked questions about in a survey of customer opinion) and at the same time help top level decision makers understand proper ways to reapply resources in the continual search for a "better way".

Anton focuses on measuring customer satisfaction by letting the data speak for itself - yes, with a little help from you and me. The figures in Chapter 5 are some of the more important ones in his book. As shown in Fig. 5-5, Anton sets up a root and branch diagram (it is only partially completed in the figure) that allows you to move (left to right) from things a customer values through specific quality drivers to business processes, customer expected attributes and finally internal metrics. Just as importantly, you can start with the leaves on the far left (internal metrics) and track back through individual attributes, business processes, quality drivers, and value drivers. This linkage is represented in one of the Excel spreadsheets I passed out early in the course. You will have to set up a similar linkage and a more complete diagram for your target activity.

We will assume that the four quality drivers adequately describe your activity in the eyes of the customer. You are to identify the business processes for EACH quality driver. Then for each business process, you identify the favorable attributes the customer expects to see. Then for each attribute, you find multiple internal metrics that can be used to relate feedback from the customer and measurements of internal processes (like processing delays) to the respective attribute.

Please, take the time to understand Chapter 5 fully.

Part of our job is designing an excellent survey that will capture the customer's perceptions of our performance for key expected attributes. This week, I introduce the topic with Steps 7 and 8 from LVC. Next week, in Chapter 6, Anton gives us more, important lessons on survey development and implementation.

Harris reminds us that we need a long term strategy to gain success - and we need that strategy for customer service to be implemented in our organization. She speaks to the need to segment customers just as we do other markets, focus our resources and develop yet other skills as well.

Most CRM activities are team efforts and A&P remind us of the strengths and weaknesses of that approach.

Topics:

Relationship Indices Tracking Internal Metrics Calculating Indices ----------------------------- Team & CRM Team Stages & Development Valley of Tears Team Meetings CRM Wish List Implementing Reengineering Understanding Stakeholders

Strategy, Planning Structure, Culture High- and Low-Touch Consumption Behavior Market Segmentation Time Management ----------------------------- Sampling Decisions & Surveying Issues Sampling Myths Initial Sample Size Surveying Small Customer Base Survey Method & Data Collection

Adapt the survey process to your course project.
Practice identifying quality drivers, business processes, customer expected attributes and Internal Metrics.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
Complete and submit Part 1 of your Journal.
One article/web site to share with the class

Share the results of your time management exercise with your group.

Preview the quality drivers, business processes, customer expected attributes and Internal Metrics for your project with your group. Elicit their comments.

Week 5 (25 Feb. - 3 Mar. '03) Survey Design; Challenges, Problem Solving, Customer Retention and Measurement of Satisfaction. Module 3 (cont.)

Anton gives us some important lessons on survey development and implementation in Chapter 6. Use the TERRA scheme to help you select and form your questions. Figure 6-4 is also a necessary step on the way to designing our questionnaire. If we follow the model, every question on the survey will be related to an attribute and process that are coherently tied together to give us a picture of the customer's opinion of our performance on a particular quality driver(s). Both the overall satisfaction question at the start and loyalty question at the end are also important.

Figure 6-8 is also an excellent model for our survey instrument. Use a five point Likert scale. Group your questions by the process being addressed. Resist the temptation to ask 40, 50 or more questions on your survey. Keep it focused on the most important elements of information. In the real world this one survey would be part of a continuing program of finding out what the customer thinks of your products, services, and firm.

The survey instrument is the vehicle we use to capture the qualitative data from our customer. Once we have it, we will use other tools - many quantitative - to analyze what was said.

You can easily see how Anton's Chapter 6 relates to last week's readings in LVC. The Excel spreadsheet I sent you earlier implements the sample size formula on page 88. (Please also note that, at least in my edition, the 1st example of substituting numbers into the formula (for 20,000 contacts) has a misprint. The first addend in the denominator should be [25*19,999] not [2500*19,999].)

In my mind, Harris chooses a poor title for Chapter 5. Empowerment is one buzzword that I abhor. Empower the workers. Huh? Ask the workers to do today what you have been telling them for years they could not do - use their best judgment? And how do you think that will go over then? My version of "Empowerment" is a return of decision making power to its natural and rightful level. Train and develop the people you hire and give them the authority and responsibility to get on with the job.

It seems that everyone has a way to do more with less. Most systems involve having the next link in the chain pick up part of your work. That can be good if that next link agrees. It can be disaster if you have judged incorrectly. Harris speaks to "co-production" - using the customer to do part of the service work for her or himself. It even works sometimes. Harris then lays the foundation for you to complete Challenge 2 - design an improved system.

We jump ahead to Chapter 10 because it is there that Harris addresses both customer retention, churn, and measurement of satisfaction. Harris talks about some methods other than surveys to help you evaluate your performance.

A&P touch on one of Harris' themes - value of a customer. But A&P's quantitative approach is much more persuasive when budgets are being formed and projects approved.

In Anton's LVC Steps 9-11, we see many of the details of survey writing, design and implementation that we would miss without specialist training. Even if you choose not to conduct a survey, read these steps over carefully.

Topics:

Customer Relationship Survey Design Identifying Major Customer Service Processes Qualitative Research Developing and Drafting the Survey Scaling the Survey Instrument Sample selection Pretest and fielding the Survey ----------------------------- Why Measure Customer Service Customer Lifetime Value ROI of CRM

Returning Power to the lowest practical level Co-production - a little help from the customer System Design Customer Retention Value of Existing Customer Churn Measurement of Satisfaction Determining Effectiveness Alternatives to Surveys ----------------------------- How to Write a Survey Types of Scales Question Writing Questionnaire Design Implementing a Survey

Adapt the survey process to your course project.
Practice linking qualitative and quantitative methods.
Practice identifying quality drivers, business processes, customer expected attributes and Internal Metrics.
Explore conflict management and negotiating approaches used in customer service as reflected in the UMUC database and on the web.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
Turn in your response to Harris' second challenge.
Complete and submit Part 1 of your Journal.
One article/web site to share with the class

Share examples and insights.

Week 6 (4 - 7 Mar. '03) Brands; Seamless Value Chains. Module 3 (cont.)

This is a short "week", but before term break, I wanted you to study the quantitative side of Anton's integrated model. (Your understanding of this week's assignments will not be tested on the midterm; it will be checked in your execution of the course project and on the final exam.)

LVC provides a simpler look at analyzing your survey than Anton 1996. Read this first.

In Chapter 7, Anton takes you on a quantitative analysis excursion. Most of you will not have SPSS, the statistical analysis package Anton demonstrates, nor will you want to part with several hundred dollars to obtain the student version. So we will make do. Importantly, walk through Chapter 7 with care. It will help you recall the basic principles of data handling, the transforms we use to simulate reality, the adjustments we make to compare "apples" and "oranges", etc. I know some of you will be frustrated by this chapter, but it is very important that you raise your questions.

I will send you templates for MS Excel - as long as you have the Analysis Toolbox Add-in, you will be able to complete all aspects of the Chapter 7 Analysis without SPSS. You will need to create charts in Excel, PowerPoint, MS Draw or some other Draw program.

So what is key in Chapter 7 as it is written? Note the way data is coded and entered into the package. You can do that with any statistical package. Note also the requirement to "normalize" data so that it can be compared to other data sets or used in further calculations. When you enter the data into SPSS as shown, or into my spreadsheet template, the means and standard deviations of the responses to questions will be computed. You will have to label to questions and the process (PSIs) that combine them much as Anton has done in his Table 7-1.

The functional relationship which Anton posits is one we are investigating and applying to our data as well. Where SPSS beats Excel hands down is in the way Regression Analysis tables are generated. You will have to read your Excel help menus and the comments and notes I have appended to my spreadsheet model to help you generate these regression tables. I have pointed out the key links between my Excel template and Anton's model.

But the regression analysis is not the end - that just gives us the PSI's. Table 7-3 is the key model for bringing together the performance (mean for the ASIs) and impact (the standardized Beta) together (they are multiplied). (A standardized score has a mean = 0 and standard deviation = 1, also known as z-scores. Hence, data sets with different ranges and underlying characteristics can be compared.)

All attributes contributing to the same process are then added to form the PSI score. The CSI is then taken as the function of the performance of each process. You can see from Fig 7-14 that the PSI performance score is the average of the mean responses for each of its component questions. These scores are summarized in Table 7-2 along with the impact standardized Betas which came from a regression analysis of overall satisfaction against the process performance averages.

Remember that only variables that have a sig(t) score less than or equal to 0.05 are worth more investigative effort (statistically significant) based on the results of this survey. So it is important to separately identify these processes and attributes. (See Fig. 8-1 and Fig. 8-2.)

A&P walks you through the Customer Lifetime Value calculations. This is a very important concept as I have noted before. Master these calculations. Understand where the information is coming from and be able to calculate the lifetime value of a customer given different numbers and even different circumstances.

Topics:

Statistical Analysis of Surveys Analytical Tool Selection Data Handling Linking Data to Processes Representing Responses Organizing Performance Metrics

Linking Attribute, Process and Customer Indices ----------------------------- Customer Lifetime Value -----------------------------

Texts: Study: Anton: Chapter 7; A&P (extracts from): Chapter 7; LVC: Step 12; WT Module 3. Study also the Excel templates and explanations I send out for your use.

Practice using analytical tools with sample data sets.
Explore alternative statistical analysis packages for compiling and reporting survey data.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
One article/web site to share with the class

Share examples and models with your group.

Week 7 (8 - 14 March '03) Midterm Exam "Week"

** Journal.2 due NLT 14 Mar. '03 **

** Course Project Phase 2 Due 14 March '03 **

Review for the Midterm Exam.

Midterm will be posted on WebTycho in the study group area by 0000 GMT/UCT (London time), 8 March '03 and is to be returned to the Assignment area of WT by 2400 GMT, 9 March '03.
Complete and turn-in midterm by deadline.
Complete and submit Phase 2 of your Term Project.
Complete and submit Part 2 of your Journal.

None

Week 8 (29 Mar. - 7 Apr. '03) Creating Management Information from Data; Communications, especially with "Challenging" Customers

Module 4: Clarifying the Customer Service Strategy and Educating the Organization on Customer Service

We return refreshed, I hope, with new ideas and observations about Customer Service Management.

In Chapter 8, Anton helps us see how we can bring all the results together in a coherent, top-level report and presentation. You will note that Anton acknowledges that to prepare the graphs you will have to do more than click a few buttons in MS Excel Chart. In order to combine both impact and performance related to specific processes on the same chart, we will have to brush off our presentation graphics skills.

Pay particular attention to Figures 8-1 through 8-4. Using the template I pass out to you, you should be able to display your results on a similar chart and include all the types of information Anton has done. After all this work, Anton's key chart is Figure 8-4, for this is his basis for making changes to the customer service activity. Only those attributes that were revealed as statistically significant are said to have an impact (that we can support statistically), so only those fall into the "Invest/Improve" box. Note also the scripted actions on page 125-126 for hints on what to do next.

It was inevitable that Harris would talk about Communications sometime. She does so in Chapter 6. Useful and well worth a study. Remember - you have two ears and one mouth. Use them in that proportion. (Listen to the customer.)

A&P present an excellent chapter on benchmarking - first, and most importantly in my mind, internally and then externally to the extent you can share with others.

LVC Step 13 is an excellent review of the major types of analyses you need to consider using.

From Data to Information Enhancing meaning Bringing qualitative and quantitative results together

Communications Listening Verbal and Nonverbal issues ----------------------------- Benchmarking Major Types of Analyses

Texts: Study: Anton: Chapter 8; A&P (extracts from): Chapter 8; Harris: Chapter 6; LVC: Step 13; WT Module 4.
Review: Anton: Chapter 7 and analytical "handouts".

Explore alternative metrics and evaluation methods for Customer Service using the UMUC database and the Internet.
Use the UMUC database and the Internet to explore additional "words to live by" in the area of communicating with customers.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
One article/web site to share with the class

Share examples and models.

Explore benchmarking.

Week 9 (8 - 14 Apr. '03) Creating Management Information from Data; Communications, especially with "Challenging" Customers. Module 4 (cont.)

LVC Step 14 reinforces the analysis and proper use of the diagrams in Anton's Chapter 8 which you studied last week.

Harris reminds us of some details we must keep in mind and skills we need to practice when dealing with "challenging customers". ( I know I have been that challenging customer from time to time. I suspect you have as well.)

A&P look inside the firm at performance measurement and evaluation for customer service employees. This should be a very useful chapter for those of you in a customer service supervisory role right now.

Measuring Customer Service Employees Performance Enhancement Process Typical Key Performance Indicators Measurement & Presentation Examples Performance Feedback Evaluations

Challenging Customers - Born or Made? Respect, Empathy, Understanding When you (or your firm) were wrong ... ----------------------------- Reporting Results

Texts: Study: A&P (extracts from): Chapter 9; Harris: Chapter 7; LVC: Step 14.

Explore alternative metrics and evaluation methods for Customer Service using the UMUC database and the Internet.
Use the UMUC database and the Internet to explore additional "words to live by" in the area of handling challenging customers.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
One article/web site to share with the class

Share examples and models for handling challenging customers.

Explore Performance Evaluation for Customer Service Employees.

Week 10(15 - 21 April '03) Changing Corporate Culture base on observed and reported facts; Motivation.

Module 5: Leadership in Customer Service and the Evolution of E-Commerce.

** Journal.3 due NLT 21 April 2003 **

In Chapter 9, Anton brings us back to reality. When we focus on the technical details of creating and analyzing surveys, we can easily miss out essential features of our relationship with our customers. Customers respond to what we say and do. We too must respond to what the customers say and do - in fact, we must beat them to the punch, so to speak.

You will have noticed in Anton's buildup to this chapter that he tries to help us keep a logical connection with the customers' perception of overall satisfaction with our work. In Anton's Figures 5-4 and 5-5, the clear linkage between the Customer's perception of satisfaction with us as a complete activity, and the variety of quality drivers, business processes, and customer expected attributes is established. Anton creates a partial view in his discussion. Completing the view is left as an exercise for the reader as I have stated elsewhere. We also need to tie internal metrics to the customer expected attributes so that we can relate what we measure in the workplace with what the customer perceives from the outside. Again, this is a vital step if we are to test whether management changes internally have any affect on customer perceptions externally.

Anton states, "Let the customer define the outcome of each of your company's processes." (Fuzzy Logic 9.2, pg. 127) Absolutely! From the surveys you have completed, even those that because of circumstances were nonrandom, you can see something of the voice of the customer.

Anton also reminds us of the power of WoM, Word of Mouth. He speaks of positive referrals and product loyalty as being key features not to be missed. We are successful (good, brilliant, awesome, whatever term you choose) as an activity only as long as we are successful in the eyes of our customers. So he advises us on creating a customer focused culture - and this serves as a good wrap-up of Anton's message throughout the text. But he is not done.

Imagine the statistic he relates from Plymire's 1991 work: "Every complaint the average business receives represents about 2,000 unvoiced complaints about the same issue." If you consider the tens of millions of dollars needed for a 20 second advertising spot during the Superbowl, you can see one extreme of what American business spends to gain and keep customers. Yet, as Anton relates, the AMA says the average company may lose as many as 35% of its customers every year. No wonder we are admonished to change our corporate culture. Capture Anton's six point process and put it into practice. Where possible make your information system reflect the customer focused one Anton proposes (pg. 137).

Many of you will have studied Motivation, the subject of Harris's Chapter 8, at various times over the years. Harris' emphasis is of course on motivation of the customer service employees to stay the course in the face of the many everyday problems of being at the sharp end and having to deliver flawlessly.

A word on motivation itself: BA-humbug! I challenge any of you to go out and motivate your people to do anything. You can try, of course. But whether your people work harder, with more enthusiasm and dedication, or not, is not up to you. It is within the gift, today, right now, of every worker to work to the limits of his or her potential. Most choose to do otherwise for some very, very good reasons. If you ever expect to understand motivation, you will start with the reasons people do not "work harder." I have a favorite on this subject (hobby horse, yes): "I cannot motivate anyone. I can only hope to lay the foundation and create the environment so they will motivate themselves." It is just a retake on "You can lead a horse to water ... ." But my point is that no manager nor commander controls the spirit of his or her workers. Now a leader, well that is different, but more on that next week.

Harris' Skill Building exercise on pg. 115 is very useful as is the Challenge 3 exercise. I want each of you to complete both of these activities during this assignment period. For Challenge 3, if you have Office 2000 premium, you will find Publisher on disk 2. It is an easy Desktop Publishing program to learn. Use it if you have it. Otherwise, use the newsletter wizard of MS Word. I suggest that the best company or activity for you to write a customer service newsletter for is the one in which you have just conducted your survey, but you may select some other activity if you wish. I hope you will include some of the preliminary results from your survey in the newsletter - share the information with the workers in the activity. (Yes, you need to get the approval of the activity manager - perhaps even an article from him or her.) Remember, the subject is customer service.

How will your people find a better way to execute your processes? Probably you will want to send some people to training - or bring the training to your people. A&P are a great help here, for training costs money - and to get the money you have to be able to support that the probable impact of the training will be an improved bottom line that will make your expenditure look like a very wise investment. The ideas and tools used in their case study can be used by you, too.

Topics:

Changing Corporate Culture Customer-Focused Culture Customer Relationship Recovery Customer Focus: Satisfaction-Retention-Profits Not by Accident, by Design

Motivation Workers affect Customers (and vice versa) Company Newsletter (Challenge 3) ----------------------------- ROI of Employee Training

Explore the customer service literature for studies that support workers affect upon customers.
Create a company newsletter for the company you have investigated in your course project (See Harris Challenge 3)
Complete and submit Part 3 of your Journal.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
One article/web site to share with the class

Share examples and models for handling challenging customers.

Explore other approaches to valuing Employee Training.

Week 11 (22 - 28 April '03) Leadership in Customer Service. Module 5 (cont.)

** Course Project Phase 3 Due 28 April 2003 **

Complete course Critique on WebTycho

Many of you will have also studied Leadership, the subject of Harris's Chapter 9, at various times over the years. We at UMUC have a special course, MGST 310, on leadership which I personally never tire of teaching.

On pg. 120, Harris gives leadership a bad rap, I think. Power is the ability to influence the actions, if not the thoughts, of others. To say that leadership is the ability to influence others is to misunderstand the concept. Leadership takes many forms, but at its best, it is silent and invisible. Leadership at its best will spark the self-motivation present in all of us to rise to the occasion, whatever that might be. Leadership is a self-sacrificing act - the true leader is the servant of the group, not the other way round. You will certainly find managers, bosses and commanders that see themselves as the driving force, the kingpin, the "leader" of the group; but while I can understand a boss is a boss, whether he or she is a leader remains to be seen. And Harris is correct in insisting that Customer Service needs more and better leaders (a truism for all organizations unfortunately). So, my point on leadership and motivation together is that leaders create the environment in which everyone in the group motivates himself or herself to achieve higher levels of performance. And each person realizes that she or he is individually responsible for attaining and sustaining ever higher levels of performance.

Harris joins Anton in encouraging you to create a customer service culture in your organization. I sit here in England amidst one of the worst customer service cultures in the developed world according to experienced and knowledgeable observers. This "fact" is widely reported. I know how difficult it is in a large organization to create an excellent customer service culture. I know too that it can be and has been done time and again around the world in any number of cultures and in activities of various size. But it is never easy to achieve. We must all work hard toward the same goal or it will never happen.

A&P provide us with an excellent case study that shows how wiser uses of technology can improve customer service - saving customers and money.

LVC focuses on taking action and gaining management support based on your exceptional report of your study of a customer service activity. Well, yes, it is a generic approach but I could not resist my own call to action.

Topics:

Leadership Your Boss as your Customer

Smarter Uses of Technology Creating an Action-focused Presentation

Explore the customer service literature for studies on leadership styles and traits needed in customer service.
Complete Phase 3 of your Term Project. Submit raw questionnaire data and regression analysis.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
One article/web site to share with the class

No group work this week.

Harris speaks about modern methods of delivering Customer Service including use of Call Centers and the Internet.

By now you have set out or adjusted your customer service philosophy. Please put it in writing. Share it with the class if you wish or post it to me alone.

A&P present actual case studies that demonstrate the power of the Schwartz-Petouhoff Measure, Market, Manage Service Model (SP3M). While I detect some self-promotion here, the main message is valid so I have included it for A&P points the way toward CRM of the future filled with call centers, the Internet and technology. In the final chapter, they share insights into some of the technology that can be used to improve CRM performance. But remember, people are the key.

LVC points out that Continuous Improvement takes persistence, commitment, and money. But there is a huge payoff so stick with it.

Topics:

Delivering Customer Service to the Changing Marketplace New Customers - New Technologies Enhancing Service Experience Building Customer Loyalty Your Customer Service Philosophy (Challenge 4)

Measure, Market, Manage Service Model (Schwartz-Petouhoff) Case Study Technology that Optimizes CRM Customer Contact Centers Key Performance Indicators High Cost of Call Center Downtime ----------------------------- Continuous Improvement

Explore the customer service literature for studies on call centers and technology and their effect on customer service.
Write and turn in your own philosophy of customer service(See Harris Challenge 4)
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
One article/web site to share with the class

Group Work:

Share call center examples and alternative technology models with your group.

It is a short "week" again as we come to the end of our journey.

In Chapter 10, Anton offers us five case studies from firms that have focused on the "Voice of the Customer".

Harris rounds out her book with a pep talk.

Topics:

Beyond Patient Satisfaction Calculus of Customer Relationships Introducing the Teletary Profiling Customer Value Perceived Dynamics of Service Quality

Excellence is the Goal A journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step It is worth it in the end

Explore the UMUC database and the Internet for other examples of integrated qualitative and quantitative studies of customer service. Present them in summary (with a link) to the class.
Respond to specific questions from the instructor.
One article/web site to share with the class

Group Work:

No group work this week.

Week 14 (10 - 16 May 2003) Final Exam Week.

** Course Project Phase 4: Due 16 May 2003 **

** Journal.4 due NLT 16 May 2003 **

Course Review, Wrap-up & Final comments, Course Critique, etc.

Final Exam will be posted on WebTycho in the study group area by 0000 GMT/UCT, 10 May 2003 and is to be returned to the Assignment area of WT by 2400 GMT, 11 May 2003.
Complete and turn-in final by deadline.
Complete and turn-in Part 4 of your journal.

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