The speed and accuracy of the service required.
I don’t feel that the information given was accurate as it wasn’t what I was looking for and they didn’t identify my needs. But the service they did give me was fairly quick.
How the staff worked as a team.
I don’t know if they work well as a team because when I was there I didn’t get to see the staff communicating with each other, which is perhaps how the overall custom could have been improved on.
Customer service
Thomas Cook.
First impressions.
It was clean and tidy. All the rooms are spaces out so it was good that everything wasn’t all together because it would be too compact. The uniform is smart and very professional looking. The uniform was a navy blue suit jacket and a navy blue skirt. It looked very formal.
How I was met and greeted.
The staff acknowledged that I was there straight away by asking “can I help you at all?” they seemed very happy to see another customer. This made me feel more at ease within the shop.
The staff members body language.
The member of staff seemed very confident when speaking to me and was smiling, using a lot of eye contact and we were generally having a good positive conversation. By her appearing more confident it made me feel more confident in what I was asking, which is a sign of good customer service.
The communication skills demonstrated.
The conversation we were having was very good, we were not just talking about the holiday we were having other conversations as well, such as compliments on hair, which is always useful for an opening ‘ice breaker’. When we were talking about the holidays she was explaining things to me well for example when she was explaining how far the beaches are from hotels and what each destinations are like.
How my feelings and needs were considered.
She asked me loads of questions to give her an idea of what I wanted. When I was asking questions about hotels and areas in my chosen destinations she was giving me real honest opinions about what she thought. This made me feel more comfortable and sure about booking my holiday with this company. She helped me choose good locations and hotels, and was helping me with prices and ‘deals’ that were on that month.
The speed and accuracy of the service required.
She helped me with exactly what I wanted and was very efficient about it. I was really pleased with the service that she gave me. She even printed off prices for me so that I wouldn’t forget any of the information. This is not only useful for the customer, but also creates a good lasting impression on the company.
Compare and contrast.
Both services were similar the way they met and greeted their customers, for example they stood up and went over to their customer. This is good as it saves the customer having to come to you and you can help them with their brochures more efficiently. With Thomas Cook when speaking with their customer they tend to have other conversations, this is a good and casual way to get to know your customer better and find out what they want more easily. Withy Going Places they didn’t start a conversation, they just asked basic questions of what you want in your holiday. Thomas Cook are better with conversations because having a general conversation with your customer makes them feel more at ease and it is easier for the staff member to find out exactly what their customer wants and needs. Thomas Cook is quicker to offer their services than Going Places. Going Places take longer to offer their services, this is not very good as you are making the customer wait and they will get impatient and take their business to another agents, this will loose business. Both organisations were good with asking questions about the holiday and good with getting a general idea of what their customer wanted on their holiday, for example insurance, excursions, maps, kids club etc. Both organisations set out their brochures in a similar way. They had their main brochures at eye view and then set them out in different categories such as, villas, worldwide, ski holidays, UK holidays and European holidays. This is a good way to set out the brochures as the customer will see the brochure you want them to see first. Both organisations are similar to each other, but Thomas Cook gives a better service than Going Places because they take more care with their services.
Analysing the customer service.
Thomas Cook
I think the customer service I received from Thomas Cook was attentive because they did very well getting information at my request. I couldn’t fault their service as they were very professional throughout, they could, however improve their service by offering other tour operators as this would widen the range of holidays available. This would also improve their business. The same applies to Going Places, you could introduce the scheme of ‘great’ to help, never the less even without the customer service, it is very useful and helps all of the customer needs.
I can’t really complain about the customer service as it was really good, they greeted me, asked me loads of questions, went through the brochures with me, gave me prices for each resort and used a lot of open body language. By doing all of this it made me feel comfortable and at ease with the sales assistant. The only thing I could fault is that I spent a lot of time talking to her, I did feel that by spending a long time speaking to the assistant that I lost interest in my actual aim of finding a holiday. I think that by keeping information relevant and to the point the customer will gain a better perspective, as all the information given to them will be required for their holiday. Whereas in this case much ‘jargon’ was used, which deferred away from the actual point. If I spent a little less time I don’t think I would have got so bored. Spending too long with the customer will bore them and it would be a waste of time trying to sell the holiday, because after you have spent so long telling them about the holiday they would have lost concentration and forgot most of the stuff that you have said. If you try to keep the time to a minimum then the customer will stay interested and will listen to what you say so you will be selling them the holiday while the customer’s attention will still be on the subject.
Analysing the customer service.
Going Places.
With Going Places I think they should introduce a rule that the first 10 seconds a customer enters the shop, you need to introduce yourself and show that you are there and willing to help, because this will assist the customers and it will be giving them a better service. Teaching the staff how to speak ‘with’ their customer instead of ‘to’ their customer, as I didn’t really get to speak to her, she just told me everything and that was it. If the staff listened more carefully at what you’re telling them, then maybe they could have given a better service and been more accurate with their information. By bringing in any personal experience that they have had, they are reassuring the customer and showing their enthusiasm to help. I think it would help if they introduced a scheme like G.R.E.A.T. meaning:
G - Greet your customer.
R - Remember to ask your customer if they need any help.
E - Educate your customer about the product.
A - Attend to your customer’s every needs.
T - Thank your customer.
This I learnt from a part time job I had where I was involved with a lot of customers and this was the way the company helped their customers’. This would help them keep the conversation going and help them attend to the customers every need. I felt that they rushed me when they were speaking to me, if they took a little longer they would be able to sell the holiday a lot better.
With all the things I have said so far it would greatly improve their customer service. The service that they would be giving if they followed my guide would be of a high standard. As they would be finding out their information by using the word ‘great’. It makes it simple for the staff to follow as it creates a structure, but also provides all the information needed when looking to book a holiday.
If Going Places started to use this method it would benefit their sales so much as they would sell more by giving a better impact on customers. If they were to spend a little more time with their customers they would be able to sell the holiday to the customer and make it look more appealing to them. The benefit of this is that it would start a repetitive scheme with the customer and introduce more customers along the way.
