Each customer gets a reference number when they place an order so information can be recalled instantly from the system should the need arise.
The quicker service makes buying Large Electrical goods less stressful meaning customers go away from the department happy with the level of service they have just received.
There have, however been a number of occasions when the system has gone down causing absolute chaos in the department as all orders have to be placed manually which is much more time consuming than using the computers. This angers customers who expect a reliable system then works quickly and effectively. With these events the need for the Customer Service manager pays off, as they are someone who can defuse difficult situations. All selling Partners are also trained in dealing with problems but the CSM is there as someone with higher authority.
Two Year Guarantee on Large Electrical Appliances
John Lewis offers a second year free on all White Goods. This is one of the extra services that distinguishes John Lewis above other stores. This was something that was decided centrally and is offered by all Large Electrical departments in all stores in the partnership.
When customers come into the department it is usually for two reasons. They are the high level of service that they have become accustomed to and the free two-year guarantee that is offered. The guarantee covers a number of things including accidental damage, loss of frozen food, and mechanical failure with an appliance.
The guarantee starts from the date of purchase, which is where we have problems with customers. Delivery is never possible on the same day the order is placed and many customers question the fact that they are losing out on time of the Two year guarantee. Unfortunately there is no way around this problem. The Customer Service Manager is trained to deal with complaint and explains to the customer that the problem lies with the insurance company John Lewis uses, Landmark as that is the date that is printed on
the bill. Changes with this could be made to print the delivery date on the bill. I have been assured by the manager of the Large Electrical that this is a point that has been raised at Head Office. He also said that customers do leave the department after having brought up the point as the CSM point out that they do have the customers best interest at heart as they offer the extra years guarantee in the first place. I was also told that the CSM explains to the customer, if a problem arose with the machine in the time gap that isn’t covered in the two years something can usually be worked out with the customer.
These are just a few examples of how Customer service strategies are used in the Large Electrical Department to ensue that customers are happy with the service that they receive from John Lewis. They also highlight that even with these strategies there are problems that need to be addressed for perfect customer services.
These new strategies in the department have helped the department to meet its own objective in a number of ways. The Large Electrical Department has set a number of its own objectives so that is has its own targets to meet.
These objectives are:- To provide an efficient service to our customers
To provide a reliable service to our customers
To provide a knowledgeable service to our customers
The Ticketing System
The new ticketing system has proved to be very successful with both the customers and the Selling Partners in the department. This has been noticed by the Customer Service Manager from comments he has received from customers after having been served in the department. Comments from the Partners show that they also like the system as they feel that it is less stressful as the department is more orderly.
This system helps the department to run more efficiently as it is clear exactly who is the next customer to be served. It also means that the right Partners with the correct knowledge serve the correct people.
This does however raise the question of why don’t all the partners have the full extensive knowledge on all the products and systems in the department. This is one of the Partnerships objectives and by showing that staff aren’t able to deal with all the customers that come into the department.
Customer care is good as the Customer Service Manager links the suitable Selling Partner to the customer. This would be even better if all staff were able to deal with the customers. This makes it clear that not all the employees have the thorough training stated in the Partnerships aims. This is a point that needs to looked into to improve performance.
Telesales
As with the ticketing system the introduction of the telesales department has been a major success and has relieved the Large Electrical Department of some of the pressure that can build up during busy times.
This new initiative has meant that the department is making more money as more sales are being made because staff in the shop can deal with a larger percentage of people that come into the department rather than some customers walking off because they cant get served. The telesales team can also deal with a large number of people. The new telesales also means that John Lewis has entered a new market, the home shopping market, making John Lewis services available to more people. Such people include professionals who don’t have time to go out on shopping trip because of the busy lives they lead.
As noted earlier there are some areas where changes need to be made in order for Telesales to run more effectively for the Large Electrical Department. Telesales Partners should also be trained in product knowledge instead of just systems training. At the moment staff on Telesales are able to place orders for customers but cant actually advise and help the customer choose what appliance is best suited for them.
Once again this brings up the question of why aren’t partners being trained to multi task? By allowing this sort of training the partnerships aims would be met more effectively.
Computerised Ordering System
So far in the time that the computerised ordering system has been in operation there haven’t been any major problems with Partners getting to grip with the system as it is a fairly user friendly. The name of the system is Customer Service Net and it provides just that, good customer services. The customer can see exactly what is being done for instance the information that the partner puts into the system as the order is being placed. This minimizes the chance of mistakes being made which were fairly common with the old ordering format.
It also means that delivery areas have become much wider for the branch as the Large Electrical Department can delivery the goods via other branches using the system. This has helped the department meet another of the objectives that the Partnership has set.
The amount of paperwork has also decreased so after the customer has left the department the selling partner can move straight onto serving the next customer. This means that customers aren’t waiting as long to be served, and are happy as the whole process of buying goods from this department is easier.
Guarantees
This is one of the key reasons why customer by their goods from John Lewis rather than our rival companies. The extra year guarantee that we give to customers on all our white goods shows that John Lewis is interested in looking after customers after they have bought the good rather than just leaving them with the one years manufacturers guarantee.
This level of customer care is extremely high because John Lewis is paying money to ensure greater customer satisfaction. It offers piece of mind to the customer especially as they are spending a large amount of money on these goods.
The key issue that now needs to be addressed is the date that the guarantee actually starts from. To further boost the standard of customer care that is offered the date the guarantee should be the date that the customer actually takes delivery of the appliance. This would create better customer satisfaction. This is an matter that has got to be sorted out higher up the organisation and with the insurance company Landmark.
These examples show how The Large Electrical Department and John Lewis are constantly working to improve the relationship with the external customers, as well as ensuring that the Partners can also rely on different aspects of the partnership.
The department is meeting the main aims and objectives but there is room for improvement to make the customers experience of shopping in the Large Electrical Department at John Lewis Watford more enjoyable and pleasing. These can be improved upon through changes in the customer service techniques currently in place and training staff in many ways to better understand customers and the way that they must be treated.
There are many issues that must be addressed when serving a customer in the large electrical department to help with the sale of an appliance. These guidelines when followed will help the customer a better understanding of the appliance as well as ensuring a nice environment. All this shows good customer services. This new initiative was introduced last year. A copy of the original memo can be found in appendix 2.
Setting the scene
It is important to make sure that the shop floor is clean and tidy.
The employee must look at the customers personality and get on the same wave length to build a good rapport with the customer.
Take an interest in what the customer is saying by listening and understanding the customers’ query.
Approach
Approach the customer and start off by asking open questions. This allows the employee to fully understand what the customer wants.
Approach the customer with a friendly smile.
Acknowledge any customers who walk in to the department even if you are serving someone else. This shows that you have seen them.
Find Needs
Customers needs will either be a product or service that John Lewis offers. Find out what they want and then find the best product that will be suited to the customer.
Use your product knowledge to describe in detail why it is suitable.
Answer with FAB’s
A FAB is: - Feature
Advantage
Benefit
All products have individual features that will suit the needs of different people.
These features will be an advantage to a customer so it important to link the right feature to the right people.
The advantage will create a benefit for the user. An example of this is: -
Bosch Exxcel
1400
Feature Fairly fast spin speed at 1400 rpm.
Advantage With this fairly high spin speed there wont be much water left in the clothes at the end of the cycle.
Benefit Shorter drying time so whole washing process time is shorter.
Answer any objections
It is important to ensure that the customers queries and objections are resolved by pointing out in what way the they have chosen the right appliance by using positive words to link the customer and the appliance.
Sell add-ons
There are few extras that customers can by or services that they can use so it is now before the order is put through the till. These include accessories for the appliance, extra insurance and collection of old appliances. All these show that we care that the customer is getting what they need in order to have piece of mind and confidence in their choice.
Close the Sale
Check that there is stock available of that particular appliance and then order it for the customer. You can then take payment from the customer. Continue to talk to the customer about the choice they have made.
The Ending
Thank the customer and wish them well with their purchase. This friendly service will attract them back to John Lewis to make other purchases.
When serving customers Selling Partners must have certain good skills in order to provide good customer services. Within John Lewis like any other organisation there are three main types of communication on a personal basis with customers. These are written communication, Oral communication on the telephone and Face-to-Face communication, which includes oral and non-verbal communication.
It is important that we monitor our staff in these areas to ensure that they are performing to a standard that is suitable for John Lewis and reflect a good image with our customers.
The following are the three types of communication and the skills that are required for each to ensure maximum customer services.
Written
The Large Electrical department usually receive letters from customers when complaints are being made. For this reason the responses made must be well thought out so that the customer is pleased by the reply that they receive from the department. Aside from this there are a number of important skills needed for writing a letter to a customer. The skills are very important as they reflect the standard of the organisation. The skills required are:
Good Grammar. This reflects a high standard of well educated staff and shows the standard of John Lewis.
Spelling. It is important that spelling is perfect. Spelling mistakes can make it seem that a reply has been rushed showing little interest in the welfare of the customer.
Language An extensive vocabulary and well structured letter provides a knowledgeable response creating trust with the customer.
Politeness The customer is always right and a letter must not be rude in any way, as it must not offend the customer. Never make it look like the customer has made the mistake.
Understanding The reply must show that the writer has taken time to read the customers letter and understands the situation and what the problem is.
Compromising Depending on the situation the letter must offer the customer something to sort out the problem. This is usually down to the managers’ decision that writes the letter.
Persuasion The letter writer must be able to write in a persuasive way so that the customer is happy whilst not costing John Lewis too much money in compensation.
Trust As mentioned before the letter writer must build trust so that the customer has confidence in what is being done to help sort out the situation
Oral (On the Phone)
It is even more important that the Partners answering the phones and making the phone calls to customers have the skills needed and can put them into action without making mistakes.
Customers phone the actual department to make enquiries on insurance, delivery, opening times and many other questions on products.
Skills that are required for telephone communication are:
Language The telephonist must speak with clear and concise language so that the customer can understand exactly what is being said.
Politeness Regardless of the situation a polite manor must be maintained at all times. If it isn’t then a bad image is created of the department and the partnership.
Keeping Cool Just like remaining polite a cool calm temper must be kept throughout the conversation for the same reasons as politeness.
Compromising if the phone call is a complaint Partner must offer the customer something to sort out the problem.
Persuasion Again if it is a complaint then the telephonist needs to be able to persuade the customer to accept what the Large Electrical is offering. The partner also needs to be able advise the customer on choices perhaps using a bit of persuasion.
Trust Once again the Partner needs to be able to build up trust so that faith is gained by the customer in the department and will be willing to make their purchases at John Lewis.
Tone of Voice The tone of voice must show an interest in what the customer is talking about. A dull tone of voice will show disinterest and the customer will have little confidence in what is being said. Where as a happy tone of voice will show that the Partner is listening and taking in what is being said boosting the customers confidence.
Face to Face
When customers come into the department they expect to get a service that is of the highest standards. It is important to meet these standards as it can be the deciding factor whether the customer makes a purchase or returns in the future to John Lewis. This is only achieved when a number of skills and factors are present.
The skills needed for Face to Face communication skills are:
Presentation All Partners must be suitably dressed and presented as set out in the Partnership Business Dress Code. A copy of which can be found in appendix 3.
Approach First impressions are always the most important. So a friendly, polite approach is an absolute must when greeting any customer. A poor approach can create a lack of confidence by the customer of the Selling Partner.
Confidence Confidence is very important as it shows knowledge, which is vital in the Large Electrical Department. If the Partner is unsure then the customer will also be unsure and will be put off spending money in the department.
Posture Your posture affects the way your voice is projected. It is vital that you speak clearly as a lot of information has to be communicated to the customer.
Language Again use of an extensive vocabulary shows an educated person so customers will trust that the information they are being told is reliable.
Politeness/
Keeping cool It is also important that all partners are polite to customers regardless of what the customer has said to the Partner (for instance when complaining)
Listening It is very important that selling partners listen to the customer. This helps to establish what the needs, wants and expectations of the customer are. It also allows the partner to understand the type of customer they are dealing with.
Trust The customers are spending a large sum of money in the large electrical department so they need to be able to trust the Partner is giving them the correct information.
I felt that it was important to actually look into how the skills come across in the department at the moment. Myself and a fellow colleague in the customer services department conducted this. It was done using proformas which we used to grade and assess chosen Partners in the department to give a general idea of how well the skills needed for good customer services are put to use.
It would also help us to see whether improvements in training have to be made in order to boost the level of customer services offered by staff in the Large Electrical Department.
On the following pages are the examples of the proformas that were used to look at how well the department is conveying the skills needed for good customer services. There is also an example of a letter of complaint that was received from a customer with the reply from John Lewis regarding the matter.
There is then analysis of the proformas pointing out the positive and unfortunately the negative areas that were picked up when these tests were carried out.
The letter of complaint that features is an actual letter that was sent in by a customer. It was felt that it was important that the complaint was looked into fro the purposes of this report so the same mistakes can be avoided in the future.
First is an explanation of why the situation may have arisen and then how it can be combated in the future.
Issue 1
Within the department there are a number of different ways that an appliance can be ordered. This is because some are stock lines at John Lewis and can be despatched within a number of days. Occasionally these may be out of stock but the company will expect an imminent delivery however a delivery date can not be disclosed at the ordering stage. The final way that an appliance can be ordered is directly from the manufacturer. In the case of this happening no delivery date can be confirmed and the manufacturer will contact the customer with a date for delivery.
It would seem that the Christmas temp employed by the department at this time was confused with these ordering systems and quoted a date for delivery even though it was out of stock.
These mistakes are fairly easy to make as the ordering systems used in the department aren’t particularly user friendly. This system can be improved dramatically to avoid such mistakes. For example if the stock screen shows that a product is out of stock then it should automatically go to the correct screen to order that stock with an explanation of what is happening. Currently the salesperson has to choose the correct method for ordering the goods.
The employees in the department also need more than just the basic training that is often carried out on the shop floor through observation as not all possibilities with the system can be highlighted especially with the short-term contracts that the employees hold.
Issue 2
It would seem that there has been a fair bit of confusion with this issue and the manager assigned to the case has given out the incorrect information to the customer. As stated in issue 1 an appliance can be ordered directly from the manufacturer as a one off order by John Lewis. This was not the case with this machine it was a stock line that was out of stock. Which is evident as the Indesit Washer Dryer WDE12 is in fact displayed on the shop floor. However when looking up a customers Customer Requirement number on the CRS computer system it doesn’t display what kind of order has been set up. This is still not an excuse, as a manger in any department should know exactly what stock the department holds.
This can be improved once again by a more user-friendly computer system and full detailed lists of stock that the department holds.
Issue 3
The customer was disappointed and felt that they had been lied to, however this was not a lie and the employee concerned had in fact left the company. The Department took on four part time Christmas temps to help in the preparation for the Clearance and for general help in this busy time period. These temps worked from mid November until towards the end of January when the Clearance is over. It would again seem that there was in fact a mix up when the customer described the employee on the second phone call. Another explanation could be that the person who took the may have been unaware of the departure of the members of because of the short amount of time that may have elapsed.
Improved communication would create a better understanding of events happening in the department. The recent introduction of communication half-hour on a Wednesday morning has started to improve this however not all staff are present at this time.
Issue 4
The customer was annoyed that the machine could not be delivered until the following Wednesday that was the next day despatch delivery to the customers’ area. The customer felt that a special delivery should have been made in order to accommodate their week, especially after the inconvenience that the customer had been through already. What angered the customer was that the manager didn’t consider making special arrangements.
In order to maintain good customer relations a special delivery should have been made, at the convenience of the customer. This would mean that the customer would not incur added costs through the loss of earnings from having to take a day off work to accept delivery of the machine. The manager should have taken into consideration the customers anger when suggesting how delivery would be made.
The assessment of face-to-face communication was carried out on two full time employees in the department. My colleague who had just joined the Partnership and wouldn’t be recognised by the staff in the Large Electrical Department carried it out.
The performance was quite pleasing as both employees scored highly on most of the areas that were assessed. It was surprising that the time of day that the two assessments were carried out didn’t have an affect on how the Partners performed. One was carried out at 10:30 in the morning and the other at 15:45 in the afternoon.
Both Partners were well presented in line with the Partnership Business Dress Code, a copy of which can be found in appendix 3 at the end of this report. They looked ready to deal with any situation that may arise upon serving my colleague. The reason that one scored slightly higher was because the lower scoring employees Partnership badge looked like it had seen better days.
Jane’s approach was extremely friendly with a big smile and she started by asking how the customer was before proceeding with the sale. This was extremely pleasing where as Raj seemed to approach like a hawk, which could be a bit irritating for a customer, however he scored highly as it wasn’t otherwise disappointing.
They were both very confident as they have been with the partnership for many years and know what’s what. This means they come across to the customer having confidence as they are used to procedures in the department as well as what they are selling.
Their posture was also good the only thing that let them down was that they used the fixtures in the department to lean upon. This isn’t anything to worry about as it can be hard to stand upright for long periods of time.
Jane’s body language was very good creating a positive feeling through energetic movements whereas Raj’s movements were more subdued.
The language used was good although a more extensive vocabulary could have been used. It does however depend on the kind of customer that is being served. The Partner also has to try and assess as best they can the way they need to talk in order to be best understood by the customer they are serving.
Unfortunately they weren’t as polite as we expected they would. It was apparent when they were asked questions that they thought had obvious answers. This also had an effect on how well they were at keeping cool.
Jane’s listening skills were very good and you could tell that she was understanding the situation as she sympathised with the customer. Raj however wasn’t as good he wanted to put his thoughts and feelings across more rather than listening and understanding the customer.
Raj’s compromising wasn’t very good as the customer needed delivery on a certain date but he said that there was no way that could be done. He didn’t explain that the customer could pay to chose the date and time of delivery. Jane however was very good when the customer told her that they had seen the same machine elsewhere. Jane explained about the “Never Knowingly Undersold Policy”. A copy of which can be found in Appendix 4, another way w John Lewis offers good customer services.
Trust was apparent in Jane more than Raj although both scoring highly. This could be because Jane is a female and can tend to be trusted more than a male.
Their overall knowledge of the product on sale was absolutely superb and was able to answer most the questions asked from the top of their heads. Jane did need to refer to a brochure on a couple of points.
Overall this assessment reflects a positive aspect on the department. There are areas that can be improved upon slightly. It would need training to improve in these areas but perhaps just a chat with the manager to point out how they can improve to create a more or less faultless service.
When assessing how well staff performed when communicating using the telephone the situation was in the form of a complaint rather than requesting information. Once again on the whole the performance was very good using all the skills set out on the criteria well.
One of the phone calls was conducted like a secret shopper so the person answering the phone had no idea that it was for the purposes of a report. The other assessment was conducted through listening in with the Partners knowledge and observing what was going on. The following analyses how well the skills were used.
The posture of the partner was obviously only graded upon in the observation assessment and was fairly good. The telephonist sat at a suitable height and sat in a fairly upright position to give good voice projection. However Peters voice also sounded very clear which also indicated that a good posture was maintained throughout the call.
The language used wasn’t brilliant and was very basic in both cases. As with the face to face you have to be careful as the language used has to be understood fully by customers. Therefore it is important to judge whether they will understand the more complex language. It raises the question of perhaps they misjudged the customer they were dealing with.
When it came to the politeness aspect the result from Peter was quite shocking. It was almost as if he couldn’t see the person so it didn’t matter how he spoke to them he didn’t refer to them as sir when he should of done, instead he referred to the customer as mate. This doesn’t portray a business like manor and is way below the standard that is expected at John Lewis. Karen however was much more polite, but it is important to remember that she knew that she was being assessed.
Both kept very cool especially under the difficult pressure of the complaints that were being made about the problems the customers had encountered when buying an appliance from the Large Electrical Department. This was very impressive, and had probably been gained from past experience.
Again the high scoring on the listening aspect of the assessment was something that the Large Electrical Department can be proud of. They listened and took in all the information that was given to them unfortunately they were a little unsure when interpreting the information as their level of understanding, although good wasn’t as good as the listening.
As mentioned before both calls were in the form of a complaint and a certain level of compromise had to be included. They offered to do what the customer wanted in both cases to keep the customer happy and as trained persuaded the customer from taking the complaint any further.
Its always hard to build up trust with someone when you can’t see them so the telephonists did well to create that trust with the customer. This was apparent from the level of detail the customer went into about the problem, as they felt confident that the person at the end of the phone would be able to sort out the problem for them.
When Karen’s customer phoned she was quite angry as the switchboard had put her though to the wrong department at first so this shows that the accessibility was quite poor as well as the fact that she had been put on hold for 4 minutes before she was able to speak to an assistant. Paul was very quick to answer the phone so there were no problems with accessibility and the customer waiting for the phone to be answered. It does depend on how busy the department’s switchboard is. There are improvements that can be made as stated later on.
The tone of voice for both of them was pleasing. This showed interest in what was going on with the caller, which is one of the things that helped with the high level of trust.
The training and experience that both partners had received in the past was shown by their ability to handle the situation quickly and effectively.
Once again a pleasing result showing that there isn’t too much of a problem. As the recommendations will show later on there are ways in which changes can be made in order boost the standards even higher. Ideally complaints would be lowed so these situations wouldn’t arise at all.
From the analysis of the actual letter sent by the customer it was clear that the customer was very dissatisfied with the level of service that they had received from the Large Electrical Department. The reply to the letter was sent almost two weeks after the letter was first received by the Large Electrical Department. This time frame should ideally be shorter and ways in which this can be done will be highlighted later.
For obvious reasons the customers name and address has been deleted from all copies of letters in this report.
The content of the letter is the main thing that we are concerned in and whether it shows good letter writing skills and includes a satisfactory outcome for the customer.
The presentation of the letter was good it was easily identifiable as being from John Lewis through the use of logs and the letterhead. It looks nice and neat from the justification of the margins on either side of the page.
The grammar was also good. There were a couple of places that could have done with having a comma to help fragment the sentence.
Like wise with the spelling and language the writer used them well in order to reflect John Lewis’s professional company image. The use of words such as, “Tangible” fair well in such letters.
When writing a reply to a complaint letter it is important to be polite and offer your apologies. Chris did these both very well and this will have helped to soften the customer up.
Unfortunately the letter written seemed a bit standard and run of the mill, almost as if it’s a standard letter written to all customers this showed a lack of interest and understanding in this particular customers case.
Chris was compromising with what she offered the customer as a public relation gesture but this may not have covered the loss of earning the customer has encountered. This is however likely to have been appreciated by the customer, as the figure is a fair percentage of the cost of the machine purchased. It also encourages the customer to shop at John Lewis again, hopefully giving a more pleasurable experience.
Further conclusions on all the forms of communication have been addressed on the next pages but the letter seems to reflect a good response for John Lewis. As with anything improvement can always be made.
If at any time a member of staff is unable to handle a situation it is vital that they seek the advice of a Partner that has the experience to avoid mistakes which can cost the Partnership time, money and tarnish our public image.
As stated earlier changes can be made in the way things are done to improve the skills that are used in the different kinds of communication.
It is advised that monthly meetings are introduced within the department for the manager to talk to shop floor Selling Partners about the issues brought up as a result of the assessment into face to face communication, and feedback how there have been improvements. There weren’t any issues that needed to be addressed through training sessions. It is therefore an area that can be improved upon without any major problems.
There are major changes that can be made in the telephone system. There will be an introduction of wireless headsets that answer calls automatically. This will mean that customers won’t be left with the phone ringing for ages but will be put through straight away.
It still raises the question about being put on hold during busy times. So we will also put calls through to Telesales, as they are capable of dealing with the issues in their department too. This is only a trial run but if it is successful will be put in as a permanent feature. We don’t want this new system to stop customers who want Telesales from getting through.
Staff in the department who use the phones shall also be attending a course on telephone techniques to help improve on all the areas that were assessed that involved skills.
It was felt that the letter that was written and used as an example was good, but it was written by someone who doesn’t work in the Large Electrical Department. What happens is, the manager has to comment on the situation as shown on the letter that was received and then customer services write the letter to the customer. This means that the person writing the letter doesn’t understand the full story. In future responses should be written by the manager of the Department and it should be checked by a member of customer services department.
These changes should improve the standard of skills offered by staff in the department and improve public perception of the company.
Like with any business John Lewis has to follow a number of laws that are set out in order to protect the consumer. If these laws weren’t followed then John Lewis would suffer implications, which would be a devastating blow for the Partnerships image.
The main acts that must be adhered to are:
The Sale of Goods act 1979
This act states that all goods sold must be of merchantable quality. This means that any goods sold must be up to a quality that is suitable for the product.
About this act:
Wherever goods are bought they must conform to contract. This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality for instance not faulty at the time of purchase. If the goods sold don’t conform to contract then the customer is entitled to get their money back within a reasonable time. This is not defined and will depend on the organisation and the circumstances.
At present, the obligation is on consumers to prove the good did not conform to contract and should have lasted until this point in time to a satisfactory standard.
At John Lewis it is vital that all acts are adhered to because of the professional nature of the business. It is for this reason that John Lewis tries to sell the highest quality goods. In the Large Electrical Department a wide range of goods are soled. They sell equipment by different manufacturers where the quality can vary.
All appliances sold are fit for the purpose that the they are intended in the department. There are occasions when the appliances sold aren’t really of merchantable quality. This is however not usually down to John Lewis. In the handling process of the machine the goods go from the factory in sealed packaging. This packaging is then not opened until the customer receives the goods. It is only at this point that problems can arise, usually aesthetic problems such as dents or scratches on the appliance.
This is deeply regretted by John Lewis as it prides itself on quality goods but this area lets them down. All staff go through thorough training in goods handling to ensure that any problems aren’t caused by John Lewis. In such a case customers are offered either a new machine or an allowance on the one that they have received. Obviously the customer is entirely within in their rights to get their money if they wish and it by doing this that John Lewis operates within the law.
As far as mechanical problems the two year guarantee covers the customer and the problem will either be fixed if it fixable or replaced if not. This is not a problem for John Lewis as work carried out within the first year is at the expense of the manufacture and in the second year under John Lewis equipment insurance with Landmark.
With this cover the Large Electrical Department can ensure that they can follow this particular act by being able to offer particular services when they are needed.
Data protection act 1984
This act is all about the security of data gathered from customers by an organisation.
Personal data must be produced fairly and lawfully. Personal data must be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes and not further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes.
Personal data must be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.
Personal data must be accurate and where necessary kept up to date.
Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
Personal data must be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the 1998 Act.
Appropriate security measures must be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of or damage to personal data.
The Large Electrical department requires a fairly large amount of data on the customers. This is for the delivery of goods. The information that is needed is:
- The customers name
- The Customers Address
- The Customers Telephone Number
- The Customers Payment details
It is therefore vital that all this information is kept secure within the partnership. The data is entered into our ordering system and can only be accessed by Partners in the Large Electrical Department who have to enter their user name, known as their TR Number.
This identifies the user and stops anyone who shouldn’t have the information from getting it.
The information that John Lewis is only passed on to one other company and the customers are informed of this at the time of purchase. The information is passed on to the insurance company who cover the customer for the period of the guarantee. We do have an agreement that this information wont go any further.
If the information got into the hands of a third party without the permission John Lewis would be liable for their actions.
Supply of goods and service act
As with any act this act is once again in force to protect the consumer from being taken advantage of by the organisation.
This act states that the products or service must be carried out or produced with reasonable care and skill by the supplier or producer of the product or the service.
It also states that the goods or service must be produced or carried out within a reasonable time and when no price has been set a reasonable price must be assigned to the product. This price must not be set high that it takes advantage of the customer or too low that it breaks competition rules.
The information given to the consumer must also be the correct information and should correspond to what they have ordered or bought.
Therefore it is important that when customers buy appliances from the Large Electrical department the goods they order must be handled with care and attention so that they don’t get damaged by John Lewis in transit.
The delivery time must also be within a reasonable time frame, meaning that customers do not have to wait months for the goods they have spent a large amount of money on. On the whole customers don’t have to wait to long to take delivery of the goods they order especially when it is a stock line that they have ordered. Occasionally when order directly from the manufacturer the wait can be fairly lengthy. This isn’t the responsibility of John Lewis. However we do like to know that customers have had a satisfactory delivery and will do our best to move things along.
With the Large Electrical Department there are many variations in the appliances that all offer different features. It is vital that Selling Partners are trained to be able to inform the customers of the correct information regarding the chosen appliance.
Prices within the Large Electrical Department are set at a price that is competitive with the market, thus the term “Never Knowingly Undersold” but we never sell goods at loss leader to sell more products. We are therefore within the boundaries of this act.
We could be subject to being scrutinised by regulatory watchdogs if we don’t comply to the different point and areas of this act.
Competitions Act
The Competition Act 1998 came into force on the 1 March 2000. It introduces two main policies:
- Anti-competitive agreements
- Abuse of a dominant position in a market
Key aspects of the new legislation are
- Anti-competitive agreements, cartels and abuses of a dominant position are not allowed.
- Businesses, which don’t follow, are liable to financial penalties of up to 10% of UK turnover for any time up to 3 years.
- Competitors and customers are entitled to seek compensation.
- The Director General of Fair Trading have the powers to step in at the outset to stop or avoid anti-competitive behaviour.
The aim is to create a regulatory framework that is tough on those who seek to take advantage of competition but allows those who do compete fairly the opportunity to succeed.
The Large Electrical Department at Watford does have a fair bit of competition. This is with stores such as Curry’s and Comet who are situated in a nearby retail park. John Lewis complies fully with this act and doesn’t resort to “playing dirty” in order to succeed over our competition.
The Trade Descriptions Act
The trade Descriptions Act 1968 makes it an offence for a store to sell or advertise goods or services with a false or misleading statements.
The Act carries criminal penalties and is enforced by local authorities' such as Trading Standards Officers.
Trading standards will investigate any suspicious products or services that have been advertised or promoted as being something, and doesn’t meet the expectations of the customers.
On many occasions businesses are investigated by trading standards officers after gaining tip offs from the consumer.
With the large amount of ticketing in the Large Electrical Department it is very important that all information printed on the tickets is correct and corresponds correctly to the machine it is on.
The wrong information could lead to the Trading standards officers starting an investigation.
There have been occasions when the price shown on an appliance is incorrect. We have to offer the machine at the lower price to the customer otherwise this could lead to a complaint to the Trading Standards office.
As well as displaying the shop ticket on the machines we also have to display the Energy Labels, which display information about the machine on how efficient it is. By law these have to be displayed on washing Machines, Tumble Driers, Refrigeration and Dishwashers.
Failure to do this can lead to prosecution.
Here are many different ways that we are able to monitor the level of customer services offered by The Large Electrical Department. The results of this research is then used to pinpoint where changes need to be made, to further improve the level of service that customers experience when shopping in the department.
The Customer Service department is responsible for this research. We have a team of three people in the customer service department who are dedicated to this field of work and research into the individual departments in the branch to monitor the level of customer services.
Performance is monitored on a half yearly basis using a number of techniques. These techniques are shown on the following few pages.
Questionnaires
The main technique that is employed is departmental questionnaires. Customers are asked to take a few minutes to answer the questionnaire on the customer services they received in the department during the visit.
All Selling partners are informed when the week that these questionnaires are going to be used in the department and are taken through the questions on the questionnaire so that they are aware of what is being asked. It is up to the selling partners to ensure that they inform and ask the customers to take the time to fill one out after having been served in the department.
These questionnaires are fairly short so as not to be too time consuming for the customer. They ask questions such as:
Q. Were you satisfied with the appearance, cleanliness and tidiness of the department? Please also comment on these areas.
Q. What if any problems did you encounter in the department?
Q. What were your feelings on the knowledge held by the Partner that served you?
These types of questions help to build up an idea of the public’s perception of how they feel they are being served and overall level of customer services that customers experience from the Large Electrical Department.
It can also be used to obtain information on particular Partners skill and knowledge of the department. this helps to pinpoint any areas that need to be improved through staff training.
When similar problems occur it is then easy to rectify that particular problem and avoid other customers from experiencing it in the future.
Mystery Shoppers
Twice a year we employ secret shoppers to visit all the departments in the store. In total there are six different secret shoppers.
These people are from other branches so that they aren’t recognised by staff in the Watford Branch and are perceived as an everyday customer.
The mystery shopper is given a brief, which includes information on what appliance they are looking for, possible problems regarding size, delivery and features needed on the appliance they are after.
They go ahead with the order using a temporary account card set up by the Customer Service department so that there is no chance of it getting out that there is a secret shopper in the Branch. They order the goods to be delivered to a made up address.
The secret shopper is carried out six times over a two week process to ensure that as many different Partners are assessed as possible. The fact that there are six different shoppers means that each secret shopper only goes into the Large Electrical department once.
The secret shopper then reports back to the customer service department in great detail on how well the Large Electrical Department performed.
This type of information lets us build up a clear picture of how the department performs on a day to day basis.
An Example of a Secret Shoppers Brief
- The customer was after a washing machine.
- It had to have a fairly high spin speed, quick wash, optional independent spin.
- It had to be of high quality.
- Round about £350 - £400.
- The customer wanted the extended guarantee.
- The customer lived outside the delivery area.
- The customer was paying by JL Account card.
In this case the Selling Partner handled the situation extremely well as he knew exactly what to do to accommodate the different procedures needed for this sale as the washing machine needed to be delivered via our John Lewis Brent Cross Branch. The Selling Partner sold the customer an AEG LAVAMAT 74640.
The quality of skills was impressive in this instance, shown as the shopper is also asked to complete a proformas to assess the skills.
Customer Comment
Customers are also more than welcome to make suggestions on how John Lewis can improve to meet their expectation more. Customers also use this to comment on things that they are happy with.
The suggestions can be made in the Accounts Department generally for the whole store or to Departmental mangers on the individual departments.
This feedback is useful as it is done entirely on the customer’s own accord without being prompted to do so.
An example was a comment / suggestion that was made last week to the Department Manager of the Large Electrical Department. The customer approached the Manager and said that she thought that there needs to be some kind of display to show which customer number is being served as it is hard to hear the Partners call the number out above all the noise in the department.
This idea will be looked into and decided whether it is feasible for the department to have such a display installed. This would mean the new ticketing system to manage the queues would be further improved.
Written Letters
The biggest proof of how the levels of service customers are getting are through the complaints letters that the Large Electrical Department receives. These give a clear indication on the overall performance. They can cover a number of areas from the service they receive in store to the logistics of delivery.
When the department receives a letter a copy is sent to us in the customer service department to help solve the issues that have arisen, so that they can try and be avoided in the future.
These letters describe in great details what the problems are so it makes it even easier to rectify.
It can also work the other way. The Customer Service Department also regularly receive letters of thanks from customers on the high quality of service they have received whilst shopping in the Large Electrical Department.
We once received a letter complimenting one of the Partners on the advice that they gave to a customer who has subsequently been so pleased with the purchase they have made that they have returned to be served by the same Partner on other purchases they have made.
Telephone
We don’t use telephone surveys to gain feedback on how our customers viewed our performance. This is because we don’t like to bother our customers in their free time as this can anger and annoy them.
We feel that it would be a waste of time because when put on the spot customers are likely to answer questions with what they think wants to be heard and would want to get off the phone as quickly as possible to get back to what they are doing.
This doesn’t matter as our other forms of monitoring customer services make up for not using this technique.
If we did decide to use this form of monitoring then it would be fairly easy as when orders are taken we record the customers telephone number. So the option is always there if we decide to conduct this research at a later date.
Analysing Waiting Times
As well as giving the customer a ticket for waiting to be served in the department a record is also kept on a list for later reference on waiting times. The details recorded are as follows.
The times and number of people that are waiting in the department are looked at and then decided whether extra staff need to be pulled in from other departments to help cope with a rush.
It is also currently being used to decide whether the Large Electrical Department needs to employ more staff to accommodate the number of customers that come into the department.
It gives us an idea of how much time Partners are spending with customers so we can see whether they are giving the information required for good customer services or whether they are just rushing through customers to get through the rush and not taking much interest in the customers they are serving.
Staff Appraisals
Staff Appraisals take place on a six monthly basis. As well as being for the Partners benefit it also give the manager of the department a chance to gain feedback on things that the partners have noticed that could either help or hinder the departments performance.
They can also feedback on problems that they have with the way that things are done and can make their suggestion known on how these problems can be resolved.
The procedure for an appraisal is the Partner is taken into the interview room where the Manager talks to the Partner about their performance. The partner then gets to make his or her comment on their performance and then have a chance feedback on the way things are done in the department that could be changed to improve customer service.
The partners are the people that need to be asked as they are the people that see what is going on day in and day out in the Large Electrical Department.
These comments and suggestions are noted and recorded. These points are then brought up in monthly meetings between the Department manger and the section managers. They discuss how they can be put in place.
It was a Selling Partner that suggested the new Ticketing system for queuing customers in the Large Electrical department. This was suggested as he found that customers were pushing in which angered other waiting customers. This happened as the previous system made it hard to tell who was waiting.
It is all very well having all these techniques for monitoring customer services but the question is do they give the information that is required? The following section appraises how successful these techniques are.
Questionnaire
These are very useful for us to use as they allow us to get a picture of different members of staff in the department and on the way the department is run generally.
In the past many improvements have been made as a result of feedback of the questionnaires filled out by the customers of the Large Electrical Department.
We will continue to use this technique of monitoring customer services as we feel that it pinpoints pinpoint areas for improvement very well and is a reliable source of information.
Mystery Shoppers
Again secret shoppers are another very good way of monitoring how well the staff are performing in the store as well as looking at the wider picture of the whole department.
This technique is excellent at investigating the performance of the department as it would be at any given time. This is because the Partners are unaware that the secret shopper is assessing them. We do hope that there is no way that information spills allow the staff to be extra vigilant, as they may know that there is going to be a mystery shopper in the department anytime soon.
Generally the Partners perform well in such situations but we are able to pick up on various areas that need polishing up on. There are occasion where mistakes have been made that had to be rectified. However this technique lets us pick up on the problem, which is why we find this our favourite technique.
Customer Comments
Unfortunately customers aren’t really aware that they can make these comments and we only get a couple every month. We therefore need to make them better known by putting notices up in the department.
They currently make their comments on plain paper that hasn’t got a structure. It is therefore suggested that a comments card is designed for customers to use so they know exactly what areas to talk about on the cards to get their point across fully.
There should also be a suggestion box in the department with suggestion cards by the till point visible by customers.
Written Letters
This is by far the easiest way of gathering information and it is because of this that it is used as a guide so much. It is a good way of getting a customers true feelings as they are writing on their own accord so aren’t afraid of putting their true feelings down on paper.
It can be used to highlight the problems really easily meaning that they can be dealt with and rectified. The letters that we receive also make staff in the department that there are problems that need to be resolved as well as being a monitoring tool.
Waiting Times Analysis
Watching how busy the department gets is very important to being able to plan strategies in order to boost customer services. This is once again information that is readily available to us to use for analysis.
This is another technique that we will continue to use to ensure that the department is staffed well enough at the important times.
It is important that customers don’t have to wait too long as this can agitate them and give a bad initial impression of the department and store.
Staff Appraisals
Many staff fail to take this opportunity to speak their mind as they feel that the appraisal is just about them and not the whole working environment.
In future it needs to be made clear to all employees that is important that they are also responsible for feeding back information on how the departments customer service skills are doing.
It could be a very good way of getting feed back on the skills that are being enforced in the department and also the customer service techniques the department employs.
There are many ways in which The Large Electrical Department can improve techniques that are in the department to create even better customer services. The following are some recommendations on the improvements that can be made on the points brought up in this report.
The Ticketing system
As indicated earlier on in this report it is necessary to introduce a display screen in the department to tell customers what number is being served next. This would cut down the time that Partners spend looking for the customers. This then means that partners can spend more time with customers increasing customer satisfaction and later customers can be served sooner.
The only problem with this is that it could be fairly expensive to install, as there is a fair bit of equipment involved in this.
Telesales
A copy of weekly or even daily Memos should be sent down to telesales on the Internal E-mail system. This means that they are up to date on any changes made in the Large Electrical department. This will cut down the number of errors made by telesales. In turn this will take some pressure off the staff in the Large Electrical department who spend a lot of time correcting mistakes.
Apart from this customers would have a better, more trouble free experience when using telesales and would opt to use the services of John Lewis in the future.
Ordering System
Although the system is fairly user friendly for experienced staff on straightforward mistakes can be made. For example a date can be entered in incorrectly as we may not deliver to that postcode on the date given.
A way that this could be improved would be for the computer to automatically look up what dates we can deliver to the postcode when entered.
This would cut down on human error meaning less mistakes and failed deliveries. Their would be no negative effect with such a change and would only be seen as an improvement. The implication would arise if the system had to be changed all together and partners had to be trained how to use the new system.
Guarantees
Guarantees currently have to be filled out by hand which is extremely time consuming for selling partners. It also has to be done whilst the customer is in the department. There is a copy in the appendix, which shows how much information needs to be recorded on the guarantee, Appendix 5.
The system that is used for ordering the appliances should also be set up to pre print the details onto a guarantee form. It would mean that customers can leave the department a lot quicker and Selling Partners can move onto the next customer. Customers don’t really enjoy spending money on these purchases and we need to make life as easy for them as possible.
Skills
We currently have workshops and training schemes on selling skills but we need to concentrate more on the communication skills that are vital for good customer services. We will be looking to employ a new member of staff in the Staff Training Department who will concentrate on this area.
A boost in this can only improve the departments image over rival companies. This will impress customers even more and they will be even more pleased to be doing business with John Lewis.
Monitoring Customer Services
A more regular monitoring service should be in place, for instance monthly rather than the current time span that is used. This would help to build a better picture of how the department is performing.
It also means that problems can be dealt with more quickly and effectively instead of having to wait until the next time the department is monitored.
We should also hold customer evenings where we select a number of customers to come and talk about their experiences of John Lewis.
These could influence changes that would benefit the customer, as we will be getting even better feedback on problems that may exist in the department not yet picked up on.
These changes will go in the departments favour if introduced as well as benefiting our customers by raising the standard of customer services that is offered.
We have made many interesting discoveries whilst looking into the level of customer services in the Large Electrical Department for the purposes of this report. I have picked up on a number of areas that need looking into, to change the way that they are done to improve the level of customer services offered.
We hope that this report has highlighted to the reader that customer service isn’t just a desk that you see in a shop but goes a lot deeper than that, involving almost everyone who works in the partnership.
The Large Electrical Department is performing to a fairly high standard but as with anything in life there is room for improvement. This improvement will come through decisions made as a result of this report.
We hope that the standard can be raised to bring in more profit and help in the battle with our competition, not only of the Large Electrical Department but also on a wider area such as competition with other department stores.
It has been extremely interesting working closely with the Large Electrical department throughout the report, although they didn’t always know it, for instance when the investigation into communication skills were done.
It is hoped that the Large Electrical Department continue to perform well and that the work of the Customer Service team will help this to happen.
APPENDIX 1 NEW PARTNER QUESTIONS
APPENDIX 2 STAFF TRAINING MEMO
APPENDIX 3 JOHN LEWIS DRESS CODE
APPENDIX 4 NEVER KNOWINGLY UNDERSOLD
APPENDIX 5 LARGE ELECTRICAL GUARANTEE