For this project I am asked to explore one certain company and see how it well it performs in the open world. I am doing my project on Barclays Bank. In addition to this, in this project
Contents
CONTENT PAGE NO.
Introduction 3
Customer Service (E1) 4
Provisions of customer service 5
Business objectives (E2) 10
SMART objectives 13
Objectives of BARCLAYS 14
Customer service skills and communication 14
Consumer protection legislation (E3) 21
Improving customer services (E4) 26
Presentation on BARCLAY's customer service (E5) 30
Approach to assembling and analysing info about BARCLAYS (C1) 33
Questionnaire 34
Analysis of questionnaire 35
Results of questionnaire 36
Logical analysis of the effectiveness of customer service within BARCLAYS (C2) 41
SWOT analysis 42
SWOT analysis of BARCLAY's customer service 44
BARCLAYS and good practice 45
Techniques used at BARCLAYS (C3) 46
Suggestions for improving BARCLAY's customer service (C4) 48
Provisions of customer service and how it is monitored (A1) 50
Introduction
For this project I am asked to explore one certain company and see how it well it performs in the open world. I am doing my project on Barclays Bank. In addition to this, in this project I will find out facts about Barclays, and how it provides a service, whether I think their method is successful and I will observe and then analyse the company's customer service.
I will do the above by:
* identifying and describing the different types of customers and their needs
* identifying and analysing the skills required in customer services
* accounting for how the organisation has incorporated consumer protection into its customer service policies
* describing how the organisation uses customer service to meet needs as well as strategic objectives
By using the information above I will produce a report which will include:
* The techniques Barclays Bank use to try to improve customer service
* How Barclays monitors the performance of its customer service
* Recommendations on how Barclays could improve its quality system to help meet customer quality standards
E1
Customer Service
What is Customer Service?
Customer service is where an organisation can communicate with its customers. This is how a business gets to fully comprehend the specific needs of its consumers and make sure that it appropriately responds to them. Customer service is the key to the success of every business. It is an essential part of non-price competition and a means of differentiating the organisation from its competitors.
Components of customer service are:
* Help and information
* Customer relations
* Delivery
Help and information
This is necessary before, during and after a sale. The type of information will depend on the product. For the customer to get a full understanding of the product they want to buy will depend on the product knowledge and training of the staff.
Customer relations
Good communication between the customer and the staff could prove to be the difference between gaining a customer and loosing a customer. Staff giving the customer a smile as they enter through the door, or a greeting or positive attitude are all aspects of good customer service. When the customer meets a member of staff they are effectively meeting the whole organisation.
Delivery
This is an important feature of many marketing programmes and can ultimately be the deciding factor in the buying decision. Some people only buy certain fast foods because they provide free delivery with their service. Delivery nowadays is seen as an essential aspect in the market. Many popular companies start buy achieving individual customer satisfaction, this van be done with delivery.
The provision of Customer Services
The service for the customer mainly comes from the front line, or personnel. This can occur before or after the sale of a company item, it is essential for the business to ensure that its customer services policy is designed to:
* Care for all ranges of consumers, whether they be the general public, trade, passing trade or regular customers.
* Meet the needs of each individual customer, be it before or after the sale of a product. Also the business must correctly and professionally respond to any queries, orders or complaints
* Meet the customers expectations
* Achieve customer satisfaction
* Maintain safety
* Maintain service
In my chosen business Barclays, the customers that exist within the business are broken down into the following segments:
* Age
* Gender
* Income
* Area
Age: - Barclays Bank provides a service to people of different ages. Barclays aims specific services directly at specific customers. This contributes to meeting the needs of certain customers.
Income: - Income is the amount of money a person earns. Depending on what service Barclays is providing will depend on what income group, they will aim at. For example, Barclays will offer certain accounts to certain customers depending on their income levels and savings.
Area: - When Barclays is deciding where to set up, they must remember; location, location, location. If someone wanted to set up a chip shop, they would be more successful if they set up in a place where people want and like chips. For example, if a person was to set up next to a football ground, they would be very successful, in that after each match people would be hungry and want fast food and would turn to the chip shop. For Barclays the locations best for them are in shopping centres and on busy high streets.
The above is just a brief analysis of the different types of customers that Barclays have. These different customers have different characteristics, which then bring forth different customer needs.
Some of Barclays' customer's characteristics include certain disabilities/hindrances that can cause problems to Barclays if their customer services are not up to scratch. Disabilities that can appear in Barclay's customers are as follows:
* Foreign visitors
* The deaf
* The blind
* The disabled
* The elderly
These types of customers require special customer needs, and Barclays provides this for them. Some of the above customers as mentioned in theory, need help as soon as they come in, Barclays counters this with their customer services, by having someone at the entrance of the bank. This person's job is to greet customers as they come in and find out if they have any problems need any help and what in particular they have come into the bank for.
For instance in the case of the foreign visitors, the greeter would need to help find out what service they have actually come into the bank for. If the foreigner couldn't speak one word of English then the greeter would call a more experienced and well-trained employee to help them. This other person would help the foreigner as much as they possibly could. Barclays just like many other businesses in their market like to do their job with smiles and right attitudes.
* The elderly - When staff deals with the elderly, they should never talk down to them as though they are dumb and worthless. Instead staff should take their time and don't rush the elderly. Staff should; avoid jargon and slang words, be prepared to repeat their speech, write down and show the customer what they mean.
* The blind - Not all blind people have white sticks, sometimes they are only partially blind. Staff should always; speak to them as they are approaching them, so not to startle them, lead them gently rather than grabbing and dragging them, read information to them and be prepared to repeat if necessary and remember not to shout, there are only blind not deaf.
* Foreign visitors - Some foreigners are more nervous than the staff, because they're in a strange country. Staff should be very attentive and listen carefully. They should also speak very slowly without the use of jargon and slang words. If the member of staff is really stuck they should go and get help, but they should never laugh at the customer and make them feel embarrassed.
* The disabled - It is important that staff don t make the physically handicapped feel as though they are mentally handicapped. Staff should always be ready to give assistance to the disabled i.e. open doors and be patient with them.
* The deaf - It is not easy for a member of staff to recognise the deaf. If a customer is fully deaf, it is important that staffs are helpful and patronising. When staffs are speaking to the deaf, it is essential that they are continuously facing them, as many deaf people can lip read. In addition, members of staff should use simple signs to get their point across.
Not only does Barclays provide good customer services, it also provides special facilities for customers before and after the service they provide.
Barclays have the following different types of customers:
* Teenagers
* Males
* Females
* High class
* Middle class
* Lower class
* Disabled
* Adults
All these groups above have their own needs and wants and Barclays aim is to set objectives to fulfil their customers' needs and wants. Barclays look at the way in which their customers spend and save. Barclays confer with them to take out a loan which varies within the age groups and credit history.
* Teenagers
Teenagers tend to mostly spend their money on luxury items such as high brand electrical goods and high brand clothes. They tend to rely on their parents to buy their necessities that they need for everyday life. Teenagers want to be treated respectively as any other person, they don't want be taken advantage of, This is because most teenagers don't want to be looked down to and be felt inferior to others and to be treated differently because they are young
* Male and Females
Male and females tend to require services which are the same in banking terms; gender does not come into the equation.
* Family
Adults specifically require needs to be protected and require services such as guarantees if problems with occur. Also if they have child they want have a safe environment. They sometimes require crèche services but at Barclays these are not available. Families tend to have a joint bank account where the parents can have their bank accounts together.
* Senior Citizen
Senior Citizens tend to spend less than any other group. They mostly receive pensions every week and they want to pick up their money with no problems. Their bills are tended to be paid already so Barclays won't have to pressure most senior citizens for loans and advertisements. They tend to be loyal if treated respectively. They don't want to be given poor service such as rude employees. Senior Citizens want good services such as facilities as: places to sit, easy access, easy to get to and most important friendly and helpful staff
* Disabled
Disabled customers always need special attention because they may not be able to provide. These customers expect Barclays to have certain type of facilities such as: ramps, disabled toilets, helpful staff, treated fairly and not being taken advantage of.
E2
Business Objectives - All the businesses that exist have objectives; they all produce some kind of good or service to satisfy their customers. Some of these objectives are as follows:
* making a profit (surplus)
* surviving
* increasing sales or market share
* providing services to the community
* providing high quality products or offering high quality services
* developing a skilled workforce
* fulfilling charitable or non- profit objectives such as caring for the environment
i. Some business objectives are just to maximise profit, therefore they take on pricing and production strategies that specifically aim to achieve this goal. It has been suggested that some businesses have restricted their production, in order for the prices to go up. With most businesses today, the more risks they take the more chances there are of getting high sales revenue; this is why a lot of businesses take a lot of risks.
ii. In some cases, some organisations just want to ...
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* fulfilling charitable or non- profit objectives such as caring for the environment
i. Some business objectives are just to maximise profit, therefore they take on pricing and production strategies that specifically aim to achieve this goal. It has been suggested that some businesses have restricted their production, in order for the prices to go up. With most businesses today, the more risks they take the more chances there are of getting high sales revenue; this is why a lot of businesses take a lot of risks.
ii. In some cases, some organisations just want to survive in their market and not get broken down by established, household name products or services. It has been said that survival is every businesses objective, especially in survival. Businesses that have survival as an objective are normally new businesses that just arrived in the specified market. Businesses that have survival as their objective tend not to take any risks in their first years and so their profit margin is low.
iii. Whether a business is selling a good or providing a service, sales revenue and sales volume are both relevant. For example, a business such as library, wouldn't measure its success according to sales revenue, but to the number of people that use its services. Whereas most other businesses measure their success according to profit.
iv. Market share is similar to business desire to achieve sales revenue and volume. Market share is defined as; the fragment or aspect of the market businesses control. Most of the time the more market share a business has the more power or control it has. If a business abuses or manipulates the part of the market it controls, the Competition Commission steps in. An example of this is Microsoft, who have been abusing their market share and the competition Commission have stepped into the picture and forced them to separate into two different businesses.
The above objectives are known as Quantitative Objectives. These types of objective are targets, which can be aimed for, with a numerical value.
Other objectives are known as Qualitative Objectives. These types of objectives are non-profit making businesses, and their aims are to provide either a good or service to the public and if any money is made it goes back to the community.
These objectives are as follows:
i. Some business objectives are just to produce high quality products or provide high quality services; this is very significant to a lot of businesses. This can separate a business from its competitors and give it a long-term advantage. Some businesses thrive on making their product or service full of quality, but this could mean that costs go into making the product/service full of quality and consequently means in order for the business to make a decent profit would have to raise the price of the good/service.
ii. Other businesses, work on making their workforce very skilled. To do this the business must provide the workforce with:
* information they need to perform more effectively
* a regular performance appraisal
* a personal training and development plan
With these criteria, a workforce can produce quality goods and services.
SMART Objectives
All businesses objectives must be SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time
When a business makes its objectives, they must be SMART, i.e. the objective must initially be specific in what it is. For example, it could be to make a minimum of 35% profit next month. Secondly, it must be measurable i.e. it should have some sort of value on it, not necessarily a numerical or monetary one. It should be achievable; it's no good a corner shop aiming to make £10, 000, 000 in one year because they are never going to get that under normal circumstances. In addition, the objective should be realistic, aim for something that the business can actually retrieve. Lastly, it should be time managed. A business can come up with the entire objective in the world but it doesn't mean anything when you don't give it some sort of time frame.
The objective of Barclays is:
To be one of the most admired financial services organisations in the world, recognised as innovative, customer-focused company that delivers superb products and services, ensures excellent careers for their people and contributes positively to the communities in which they live and work in.
Barclays want to reach this objective by using the following values:
* Respect for the individual
* Service to their customers
The bank's aim is to build relationships with all its Partners in order to deliver mutual benefits. In order to establish a better understanding of our suppliers, above and beyond the actual service and products they provide, research was undertaken amongst all the bank's suppliers to ascertain their views of their relationship with us.
An additional objective of the research was to identify the proportion of the bank's suppliers which could be defined as "local" and "community" suppliers.
Barclays can meet these objectives using their excellent customer services. This means for instance if a customer asked for help once the staffs has given the help needed, they would then ask if they could do anything else to help the customer.
Customer service skills and communication
All organisations apply effective communication in customer service to present a positive image to the consumer. This means that skills are needed to carry this out, these skills are essential for bringing in more customers and the customers that already exist within a business. Customer services can be oral, written, face to face (verbal) and face to face (non- verbal). Or it can take place via the Internet.
Customer services cover the following aspects:
i. Customer behaviour - This looks at things such as customers buying habits. If a business knows what the customers mostly want to buy, it can then do something about the situation and meet the expectations of the customers.
ii. Different modes of communications - A business may communicate with its customers and potential customers with different sets of communication methods, this is also known as the communication mix. These are as follows; Advertising, promotional and information literature, face-to-face selling, telephone selling and website selling.
iii. Interpersonal skills - This is how the staff get on with people in general and especially the customers of the business. It is important that the staff have a good relationship with customers, as stated before one smile could be the difference between gaining and loosing a customer. In addition, some customers have handicaps, which can make it difficult, and frustrating for the staff to communicate with, so this is where the interpersonal skills come into play.
* A greeter - As mentioned before this person greets people as they come in. Barclays believe that it is important for them to give a good impression as soon as the customer enters the building
* Customer service desk - at the front of the bank, Barclays has a customer services desk, if the customer has any queries or problems that some of the staff cannot deal with, they go to the desk.
* Short queues - Barclays try to make their customers as happy as possible, they contribute to this by serving as quick as possible. They do this by filling up all the service points with cashiers. They also have ATM machines available and deposit points to allow customers to beat the queues.
It is important that businesses treat all their customers the same as a legislation is tied in with this aspect of customer services.
iv. Technological skills - this involves about the business's IT skills and using them to improve customer services. For instance using databases to record specific information about their customers.
v. Product knowledge - This refers to the staff's knowledge on the business's product/service and how helpful they can be.
Barclays also make sure that their cashiers and staffs have basic skill and techniques to meet their customer services standards.
Each member is able to do the following to meet the needs of their customer:
* Welcome customers- this just simply requires the member of staff saying hello and smiling at the customer to make them feel welcome.
* Listen actively- they do this by nodding their head and showing the customer that they are listening and showing concern to their problem or question
* Provide information- this allows the customer to retrieve perfect knowledge of Barclays services and the business as a whole.
* Close by asking if further help is needed.
In addition, Barclay's staff have certain policies on how they are to answer the questions of the customers. In my chosen business Barclays when customers ask questions, Barclay's staffs are taught to use empathy in their voice. This makes the customer feel cared for and is more likely to come back.
All staff at Barclays possesses the ART of great service, i.e. they are all:
Approachable
Responsive
Timely
When it comes to Barclay's staff being approachable, this requires them to create an open and welcoming environment that encourages customers to come to the organisation with confidence that their needs and wants will be fulfilled and any problems dealt with. Barclay's staff are always available and accessible. The responsiveness of the Barclays staff takes ownership of their actions. A business such as Barclays, which pays attention to customer service, always tries to be flexible and provide accurate and honest information. With Barclay's time management, they make sure that they provide services efficiently and accurately.
In addition, all Barclay's staff possess the different common types of communication when it comes to questioning techniques.
Customers question all Barclay's staff in three different ways:
* Face to face communication- when it comes to this form of communication, there are three key elements that Barclay's staff should be aware of; body language, tone of voice and words used. It is important that Barclay's staff have these key components in order to maintain Barclay's customer services standards.
* Telephone communication- with this particular form of communication the key elements are; tone of voice and words used. By correctly using these components Barclay's staff can attain the customer services standards set.
* E-mail- this form of communication only requires words. It is important that Barclay's e-mails have appropriate words in order for the business to look good.
The form of communication that Barclays have to deal with is face-to-face communication. This requires almost 100% body language. Body language can be interpreted in many different ways. Effective communication includes using positive body language.
Body language itself is broken down into the following categories:
* Posture- The staff at Barclays should show good posture, in order for them to do this they need to be open, lean forward slightly and respect the customer's space.
* Feet and arms- The Barclay's staff when talking with customers should not cross their arms and should be open and comfortable.
* Hands- The staff at Barclay's should give positive gestures, but should never finger point, have hands in their pockets or fidget, as this gives off a negative effect.
* Handshake- when it comes to a member of staff shaking hands with customers, the handshake itself should be appropriate for both males and females. In addition, the handshake, should be affirm grip but not too hard.
* Heads and eyes- members of staff should show good eye contact, a smile and nod, in acknowledgements to customer statements.
Lastly, all Barclay's staff should have good vocal quality; this is because vocal quality can affect communication by emphasising the message sent. Effective communication is fostered by correctly using vocal qualities. Vocal quality can be broken down into the following elements:
* Tone or pitch - this is the express feeling or emotion by using high or low voice characteristics
* Inflection - this is when there is an emphasise on the words and syllables
* Rate - this the speed of words per minute
* Volume - this is the loud and soft sounds.
Effective communication includes research, or fact finding about customers' needs. This can be accomplished by asking questions. If Barclay's staff use the above whilst asking these questions then they can appropriately and effectively get the answers in order to improve their customer services.
When Barclay's ask questions, they are composed of open and closed questions, these types of questions are asked for the following reason:
Open question - These are designed to gain more than a 'yes' or 'no' answers. They are designed to get people talking to get general information.
Closed question - These are designed to just get a 'yes' or 'no' answer. They are useful for very specific information.
In my business Barclays, when asking questions, they show empathy, this is because, they want to show the customers that they care and that they are all individually important to Barclays.
Whilst looking at Barclay's website and its effectiveness, I found there to be:
* Enough information for the customer. There wasn't too much information that filled up the screen, but enough to meet the needs of the customer.
* The appearance of the website was exceptional, there were not many pictures and not enough information and vice- versa; but there was a balance.
* General information and frequently asked questions that needed to be answered could be easily located as there was a search engine. If a customer uses the search engine they are likely to find what they need. There is also a navigator that helps the customer to go through the website.
* The website also visually captures the atmosphere of the Barclay's.
* The website also has interactive features that keeps the customers coming back such as a help function.
* Lastly it's very easy to remember Barclay's website, so the customer will never forget.
E3
Consumer protection legislation
This is designed to protect consumers against sub- standard products, unfair pricing dangerous goods and misleading descriptions. The Office of Fair Trading is responsible for consumer protection legislation.
The consumer protection legislation's are as follows:
i. The Sales of Goods Act 1979. This means that the seller has the right to sell goods; the goods will match any description applied to them. The goods must be of a satisfactory quality and must fit the buyer's purpose. Since the act has been established, it has been amended three times.
ii. The Supply of Goods Act 1973 (Implied terms). In every hire-purchase agreement, on the part of the owner, he then has the right to sell goods at the time when the property is to pass. The goods that are going to be sold must fit the description that they are been sold at.
iii. The Data Protection Act 1984. This means personal data should be processed fairly and lawfully. It should be accurate and kept up to date. Appropriate measures will be taken if unlawful processing of lost personal data occurs. Personal data should also not be kept longer than it is needed.
iv. The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This means that all service standards are covered by this act. The buyers are protected against any bad products or services. The transaction of the act states that; the product or service should be charged at a reasonable price, within a reasonable time frame. The materials used to make the product/service should be of satisfactory quality along with the skill and care used to carry out the process.
v. The sale and supply of goods Act 1994. This act is the same as the 'The sale of goods Act 1979', but renewed/amended
In some circumstances, the legislation's do not protect the everyday consumer so if the consumer wants to pursue further legal help they can go to the office of fair-trading.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is responsible for making markets work well for consumers. They achieve this by promoting and protecting consumer interests throughout the UK, while ensuring that businesses are fair and competitive. The OFT's job is to make markets work well for consumers. Markets work well when businesses are in open, fair and vigorous competition with each other for the consumer's custom.
Their job is to make sure that consumers have as much choice as possible across all the different sectors of the marketplace. When consumers have choice they have genuine and enduring power.
As an independent professional organisation, the OFT plays a leading role in promoting and protecting consumer interests throughout the UK, while ensuring that businesses are fair and competitive. Their tools to carry out this work are the powers granted to the OFT under consumer and competition legislation.
In a nutshell, the role of the OFT is to:
* Identify trading practice which are against consumer interests
* Put things right wherever possible
* Regulate the provision of consumer credit
Watchdog is a programme provided by the BBC that is concerned with the protection of customers. For example, if a customer went on holiday and the hotel was not up to the standards that it advertised about itself, then Watchdog are the business to get involved and make sure that the customer is protected and satisfied.
Another company who aim to help and protect customers are the National Consumer Council (NCC). Their aims and values are as follows:
NCC values
These are the hallmarks of how they aim to go about our work:
* Challenging: developing new ideas that combine innovation, strategic thinking and expertise with effective risk management
* Fair: working to protect the interests of those who are especially disadvantaged and ensure they are treated equitably
* Employ staff that is empowered and able to deliver our ambitions.
NCC values
These are the hallmarks of how they aim to go about our work:
* Challenging: developing new ideas that combine innovation, strategic thinking and expertise with effective risk management
* Fair: working to protect the interests of those who are especially disadvantaged and ensure they are treated equitably
The Sale of Goods Act 1979 explains that a product/service must be up to the satisfactory quality of the consumer, Barclay's rise to the occasion with their customer service.
This same Act states that the service must be as it is described, i.e. if a service to open a certain account says that you will be offered the following services on top of what you will already be offered then you should expect to be offered that service with everything included.
Businesses have to treat their customers the same as with legislation with this aspect of customer services.
Barclays uses the following aspects to meet customers needs:
* Barclays brings customer
* Personal Banking
* Banking for Business
* Premier Banking
* International Banking
* Stockbrokers
* Private Banking
* Investment Banking
* Barclaycard
* The Woolwich
* Asset Management
* Disability Services
* Press Releases
* Careers
* Industry Specialists
* Fluent in Finance
* Investment Management
* Barclays Marine Finance
* Toilets - for male and females
* Seating - for the elderly who need a rest
* Customer Desk - to answer complaints and queries
E4
Improving customer services
No matter how good a business' customer services is it can always be improved. For a business to improve its customer services, it must improve the following aspects:
* Reliability
* Friendliness
* Availability of goods
* Speed of delivery
* Exchanges and refunds
* Access to building
* Care for the environment
* Customer safety
Reliability
Product reliability would have to be referred back to as research and development, if looking at the design or construction of the product/service. When it comes to improving the actual service i.e. before sale help, it is often better when the staff have had some kind of training. This helps new comers to cope with any questions or queries that customers might have. To totally improve this aspect of customer service, the people working could be made to go on some kind of training scheme.
Friendliness
It would be impossible to only employ staff that are happy and cheerful. However, it is important that certain staff that the customers see first have a nice friendly face to welcome them. Staff that are shy and nervous are normally kept behind the scenes of the business. It is the job of the supervisor to watch over staff and watch their dealings with them. If a member of staff is not doing things right it is the right of the supervisor to put that employee straight and back in order
Availability of goods
Any suggestions to this segment of customer services must be reasonable. It can't threaten to bankrupt the business. The business shouldn't just decide to order anything. It is better for the business to invest in certain places and things, so that they can get ready available goods. This must be carefully thought through.
Speed of delivery
Some businesses that are totally dependant on their suppliers cannot control the speed of the delivery of their goods/services. Basically, the speed of the businesses is based on the turn around speed of the delivery. In order for delivery to be quicker, is must be made number one priority. Nowadays electronic communication is much faster than paper based communication, but the telephone is useful too. It is not sensible for a business to try to improve its speed to an unattainable standard, it must be realistic. Also speeding up the process of delivery increases the costs to the business.
Access to buildings
When it comes to improving the access to buildings, you have to look at this from a different perspective. It is silly to suggest that the business's building is actually torn down to make room for more access areas. Lifts and escalators could be added to help put more access for the business. In addition, ramps could be installed for wheelchairs.
Improving the environment
The standard of cleanliness expected will depend on the type of business that is in the area. The actual state of the business should be good and kept tidy, as the health and safety legislation is implemented. Certain facilities should be made available to ensure that the business is kept clean.
Customer safety
Things that go wrong within a business are predominantly down to safety complacency. Because nothing goes wrong or because no one has had an accident, people assume that safety measures are not needed. To improve this safety measures could be checked once a month randomly.
The techniques that Barclay's use to monitor and improve their customer services are as follows:
As mentioned previously, Barclay's customer services are:
* A greeter at the entrance of the store
* Staff (cashiers)
* Customer services desk
Although these customer services are appreciated by their customers, as Barclays like to do, they could go the extra mile and improve their current customer services. My suggested improvements are shown in the following bullet points:
* A greeter at the entrance of the store. To improve this particular customer service, I would suggest, especially during busy parts of the day that Barclays put more greeters to deal with any developing problems. This allows Barclay's to be more efficient with customer services.
* Staff (cashiers). Again, at busy periods of time when there are more people in the bank and also online banking, there are bound to be more problems and questions from customers that need to be dealt with. This is why I suggest that Barclays increase the amount of cashiers on site and staff to deal and keep in touch with online bankers.
* Customer services desk. With this customer service, it goes hand in hand with the staff on site and therefore gets the same suggestion; when there is a busy period of time put more people behind the desk, in order to address customers' complaints and problems.
To monitor the business Barclays have a range of feedback techniques which include the following:
* Informal feedback from customers, staff, management and non-users
* Surveys from customers, staff management, suppliers
* Suggestion boxes
* Focus groups
* Mystery shoppers
* Observation
Training and getting staff to go on courses to enhance their knowledge and skill could also improve customer service and to motivate staff even more offer performance bonuses.
E5
Presentation on Barclay's Customer Services and How They Could Improve:
The following are the notes for my presentation:
CUSTOMER SERVICES PRESENTATION ON
HISTORY AND INFO ON BARCLAYS BANK
* Barclays is a UK based financial services group
* It is engaged primarily in banking, investment banking and investment management
* Barclays is one of the largest financial services groups in the UK
* Barclays has been banking for over 300 years and operates in 61 countries with over 74,800 employees
BARCLAYS'S CUSTOMER SERVICES
* Age
* Gender
* Income
* Area
HOW TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICES
* A greeter at the entrance of the bank
* Staff (cashiers)
* Customer service desk
HOW CUSTOMER SERVICES ARE MEASURED
* Feedback from customer
* Training courses
* Suggestion boxes
* Surveys
The following are the slides from my presentation:
C1
Approach to assembling and analysing information about Barclays
I will now adopt an independent approach and assembling and analysing information about Barclays. To do this I will use a questionnaire, I will use open and closed questions and ask Barclay's customers what they think about Barclays. The way in which the questionnaires will be carried and assembled, is as follows; I will stand out side a Barclays bank and randomly ask customers as they are entering the bank. By randomly asking different people I will get a good, fair sample of Barclay's customers. I will ask people various questions pertaining to the customer services of Barclays. I will also ask questions about my suggestions on how Barclays might improve their customer services. Twenty people will be asked for my questionnaire and then I will multiply answers by five in order to generate a percentage. From here, tables and graphs will be conjured up then all results will be analysed. A sample of the questionnaire is on the following page.
In addition to using a questionnaire for my resources, a meeting was held at Barclays. We discussed Barclay's performance and their customer services. Some of these notes that were obtained from the meeting have been used throughout the coursework. The information that was generated from the meeting with a Barclay's cashier, plus the questionnaire which is shown on the following page was used to assemble the information about Barclays.
Questionnaire
Please circle your answers.
. What is your gender?
Male Female
2. What age group do you fall into?
0 years- 10 years 11 years- 20 years 21 years- 30 years 31 years- 40 years
41 years- 50 years 51 years- 60 years 61 years- 70 years 71 years- 80 years
3. What is your race?
Black White Asian Oriental Other
4. If how often do you visit Barclays bank?
Once a day More than once a day Once a week
More than once a week Once a month More than once a month
5. Do you enjoy your visit to Barclays? If not how could Barclays improve?
Yes No
6. Do Barclays meet your customer needs?
Yes No
7. Do you think Barclays should increase certain customer services?
Yes No
8. How do you rate your local Barclays bank out of 10?
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Analysis Of Questionnaire
Question
Type Of Question
Why Question Was Used
. What is your gender?
Closed
To show the percentage of men and women that visit Barclays
2. What age group do you fall into?
Closed
To show the percentage of different age groups that visit Barclays
3. What is your race?
Closed
To show the percentage of different races that visit Barclays
4. How often do you visit Barclays?
Closed
To find out the frequency
5. Do you enjoy your visit to Barclays? If not how could Barclays improve?
Open
To find out whether or not the customer is satisfied with Barclays, and whether or not that have any ideas on how Barclays could improve
6. Does Barclays meet your customer needs?
Closed
To find out whether or not the customers needs are met
7. Do you think Barclays should increase certain customer services?
Closed
To find out whether or not the customer thinks certain aspects of Barclays customer services can be improved or increased
8. How do you rate Barclays out of ten?
Closed
To find out what the shopper generally thinks about Barclays
Results Of Questionnaire
Question one- What is your gender?
Out of the 20 people asked, 13 were female and 7 were male. This means that 75% of the people were female were as only 35% were male, this is expressed in the following graph:
Question two - What age group do you fall into?
Out of the 20 people asked, 3 people were aged between 11- 20 years old, 9 people were aged between 21- 30 years old, 7 people were aged between 31- 40 years old and 1 person was aged between 41-50 years old. The rest of the age groups didn't have anyone belonging to them. This mans that 15% were aged between 11-20 years old, 45% were aged between 21- 30 years old 35% were aged between 31- 40 years old and only 5% were aged between 41-50 years old. This is expressed in the following graph:
Question three - What is your race?
Out of the 20 people asked 9 people were White, 5 people were Black, 3 were Asian and 3 were mixed race. The other races didn't apply to the question. This means that 45% were White, 25% were Black, 15% Asian and 15% mixed race. This is shown in the following graph:
Question four-How often do visit Barclays?
Out of the 20 people asked, 1 person said they visit Barclays 'once a day', nobody said they visit 'more than once a day', 5 people said they visit 'once a week', 3 people said they visit 'more than once a week', 4 people said they visit 'once a month' and 7 people said they visit 'more than once a month'. This means that: 5% visit Barclays 'once a day', 0% visit 'more than once a day', 25% visit 'once a week', 15% said they visit 'more than once a week', 20% said they visit 'once a month' and 35% said they visit 'more than once a month'. This is shown in the following table:
Frequency Of Visit To Barclays
Percentage/%
Once a day
5
More than once a day
0
Once a week
25
More than once a week
5
Once a month
20
More than once a month
35
Question five- Do you enjoy your visit to Barclays? If not, how could they improve?
Out of the 20 people questioned, 17 said they enjoy their visit to Barclays, only three people said they didn't. This means that 85% enjoy visiting Barclays, and only 15% said they didn't. Of the 3 that didn't enjoy their visit, one person said that the queues at Barclays are always long and they should do something about it. One person said that there wasn't enough staff around to help them and the other person said that finding a car space is a nightmare. The results are shown in the following table:
Do You Enjoy Your Visit At Barclays?
Percentage/%
Yes
85%
No
5%
Question six- Do Barclays meet your customer needs?
Out of the 20 people asked, 17 people said yes and 3 people said no. This means that 85% said that Barclays meet their customer need and 15% said that Barclays didn't. This is shown in the following table:
Do Barclays meet your customer needs?
Percentage/%
Yes
85%
No
5%
Question seven- Do You Think Barclays Should Increase Certain Aspects Of Their Customer Services?
Out of the 20 people asked, 15 people said yes and only 5 people said no. This means that 75% said yes and 25% said no.
Question eight- How do you rate Barclays out of ten?
The results for this question are shown in the following table:
How do you rate Barclays out of ten?
Percentage/%
0
2
0
3
0
4
0
5
0
6
0
7
30
8
35
9
5
0
0
Analysis of Questionnaire
The questionnaires show that a mixed number of different people was questioned. This was done to get the best possible results, although these questions can't stand as hard evidence as they are just a sample of the whole public. This means they are not 100% reliable, but are a good source. In addition, my results prove suggestions made in the presentation of Barclay's customer services. For example, I said that Barclay's could increase certain aspects of their customer service. When I put this to the people questioned 75% of them agreed with me. This shows that my suggestion is not only reasonable needed by the customers of Barclays. This questionnaire is also used later on in this project, when I am justifying my suggestions, as the questionnaire can be used as evidence.
C2
Logical analysis of the effectiveness of the customer service within Barclays Bank
I will now analyse the techniques used by Barclays for monitoring and improving their customer services. As mentioned previously, the techniques used are as follows:
* A greeter at the entrance of the store
* Staff (cashiers)
* Customer services desk
Although these customer services are appreciated by their customers, as Barclays like to do, they could go the extra mile and improve their current customer services. My suggested improvements are shown in the following bullet points:
* A greeter at the entrance of the store. To improve this particular customer service, I would suggest, especially during busy parts of the day that Barclays put more greeters to deal with any developing problems. This allows Barclay's to be more efficient with customer services.
* Staff (cashiers). Again, at busy periods of time when there are more people in the bank and also online banking, there are bound to be more problems and questions from customers that need to be dealt with. This is why I suggest that Barclays increase the amount of cashiers on site and staff to deal and keep in touch with online bankers.
* Customer services desk. With this customer service, it goes hand in hand with the staff on site and therefore gets the same suggestion; when there is a busy period of time put more people behind the desk, in order to address customers' complaints and problems.
To monitor the business Barclays have a range of feedback techniques which include the following:
* Informal feedback from customers, staff, management and non-users
* Surveys from customers, staff management, suppliers
* Suggestion boxes
* Focus groups
* Mystery shoppers
* Observation
Training and getting staff to go on courses to enhance their knowledge and skill could also improve customer service and to motivate staff even more offer performance bonuses.
I will evaluate the above techniques using a SWOT analysis.
SWOT Analysis
The abbreviation SWOT stands for: -
* Strengths
Internal
* Weakness
* Opportunities
External
* Threats
Swot consists of looking at a company's activities, or in this case Barclay's customer service activities. Company activities are its strengths and weaknesses, by looking at these, you perceive the opportunities and threats that could or will appear.
The swot analysis looks at a business situation and it is performance. This ensures that the company does things according to its strengths and makes sure that its weaknesses are not shown in the market.
The opportunities and threats show which dangers the business might meet. The SW (strengths and weaknesses) are said to be internal, and the OT (opportunities and threats are said to be external.
Some strengths of a business: -
Quality of goods
Designing of product
Equipment available
Skills of people in the company
Some weaknesses of a business: -
Lack of marketing
Lack of modern equipment
Lack of promotion
Lack of sales
Opportunities of a business: -
To expand company via merging
To make company more hi-Tec, e.g. add website
To sponsor some kind of sporting event
Threats of a business: -
Other competition, i.e. another product
Other products could steal a product's ideas
SWOT Analysis of Barclay's Customer Services
The strengths
* Problems can easily be picked out
* To date Barclay's is one of the largest financial services groups in the UK. It is also a leading provider of coordinated global services to multinational corporations and financial institutions worldwide
* By using the survey from the customers, Barclays can assess how good their customer services are and can deal with any problems before they get out of control
* By having observers assessing Barclays, it makes the staff step up a gear in their customer services, this is also a motivator
The weaknesses
* None of these measures guarantee an improvement in Barclay's customer services
* With the observer it is hard for them to put any type of numerical or monetary value on when assessing Barclay's customer services
* The observer only comes for part of the day, if they came in the morning when everyone is full of energy, they would get a different response if they came five minutes from closing time, so results are not always 100%
The opportunities
When it comes to the observer, Barclays could increase the frequency at which they assess the customer services. This way they can get a better idea of how well Barclay's are doing when it comes to their customer services. This would mean that staff would have to uphold a certain level in their customer services as a drop would show and could jeopardise their job, as managers wouldn't be happy.
The threats
The threats that Barclays face in terms of customer service come from their competition. For example, Competitors such as other banks, now advertise their customer service, to show how much they care for their customers. This can be interpreted as non-priced competition and could result in Barclays loosing some of its customers. So in order to still be able to compete, Barclays must move to another level in their customer services.
Barclays and Good Practice
Within my chosen business, Barclays, they have what they call good practices. These are things that they do naturally. I will now analyse an aspect of Barclay's good practice which is as follows:
* Dealing with enquires
Dealing with inquires. This is one aspect of Barclay's good practice. What Barclays do if an enquiry is made concerning Barclays, they make sure that the answer to that enquiry is met as fast as possible. Barclays also have a set procedure when dealing with inquiries or complaints from customers. Firstly they take the details of the person who made the inquiry, secondly they record everything in book that took place between the member of staff and the person who made the inquiry; lastly Barclays then try their best to deal with the inquiry and then get back to the person with the results.
C3
Techniques used at Barclays
I will now evaluate the techniques used by Barclays to monitor and improve their customer services. Firstly I will evaluate the techniques used by Barclays to monitor their customer services by using a table illustrating their advantages and disadvantages.
. Observer
Advantages
Disadvantages
It allows Barclays to get a general idea of good their customer services are
It doesn't give a clear and accurate description of how well Barclays customers services are doing
2. Surveys
Advantages
Disadvantages
Surveys indicate the amount of customers that come to Barclays, which reflect on their customer services.
They are not 100% reliable, so it doesn't show Barclays which particular aspect of customer services needs improving.
I will now evaluate the techniques that Barclays use to improve their customer services with built in quality measures.
A technique that Barclays currently have is a phone line where their customers can contact them about any queries. This does not necessarily mean that if a person phones in it is a complaint. For instance a question may have been asked by a customer, staff at the customer services desk may not have known the answer. So what Barclays do as a way of improving their customer services is; take down the customer's name and phone number and get in contact with them as soon as possible with the answer to their problem. Or they may ask the customer to get in touch with the particular Barclays branch in order to obtain their answer. Barclays do this as they aim to meet all their customers' needs, plus exceed them (as mentioned in their objectives). By doing this technique it will encourage repeat purchasing from the specified customer and bring in potential customers.
This is because when a person has had good or bad experience 90% of the time will explain their experience with other people that will change other people's perception of the business whether it is good or bad.
An inbuilt quality measure that Barclays use is training for their staff. The training that each member of staff has depends upon what department they will be involved in.
C4
Suggestions for improving Barclay's customer service
As mentioned previously my suggestions for improving Barclays customer services are as follows:
* Increase the amount of greeters on the door
* Increase the amount of cashiers on site
* Increase the amount of staff available at the customers service desk
* Increase the frequency at which observers assess the customers services of Barclays
The following are the justifications for my suggestions:
* Increased greeters at the entrance of the store. To improve this particular customer service, I would suggest, especially during busy parts of the day that Barclays put more greeters to deal with any developing problems. This allows Barclays to be more efficient with customer services.
* Increased cashiers on site. Again, at busy periods of time, there are bound to be more problems and questions from customers that need to be dealt with. This is why I suggest that Barclays increase the amount of staff on site.
* Increased staff at customer services desk. With this customer service, it goes hand in hand with the staff on site and therefore gets the same suggestion; when there is a busy period put more people behind the desk, in order to address customers' complaints and problems.
* Increased frequency at which observers assess customer services. I would suggest that Barclays raise the frequency at which observers visit Barclays, this will make the staff work hard at all times, as they know that an observer could be assessing their work. This makes the worker work at their best and therefore betters Barclay's customer services.
All of my suggestions involve increasing each customer service provided by Barclays. I have already justified all of my suggestions, but to further my justifications, a questionnaire was conjured up. One of the questions was used to ask if the customers who Barclays aim to please, think that the current customer services provided could be improved by increasing certain aspects. 75% of the people asked said yes and felt that improvements by increasing certain aspects could be made. This then justifies my suggestions, as the majority of the sample that were asked agreed with me and since Barclays would listen to these suggestions as they aim to meet customer needs, and exceed them.
A1
Provision of customer service and how it is monitored
Again as mentioned previously, the customer services that Barclay's actually provide are as follows:
* A greeter - This person greets people as they come in. Barclays believe that it is important for them to give a good impression as soon as the customer enters the building
* Staffs on site - Barclays continuously have staff all over the site, so that if a customer need assistance whilst in the vicinity of Barclays it is available.
* Customer service desk - at the front of the store, Barclays has a customer services desk, if the customer has any queries or problems that some of the staff cannot deal with, they go to the desk.
* Short queues - Barclays try to make their customers as happy as possible, they contribute to this by cutting down the queues as quick as possible. They do this by filling up all the positions with cashiers, the ATM and deposit machines are a big advantage too.
They monitor these services with the following techniques:
* Observers - Barclays set up their own observers for their staff. The management schedule a person who works in inspection to pretend to be a normal customer; this helps the management to see how the staffs are treating the customers. This helps the business to monitor their customer service. To improve the customer service, especially that of the staff, they could increase the frequency that the observer visits.
When it comes to some of the techniques used I don't think some of them are that useful to Barclays. For example when it comes to the observer that assesses Barclays, I don't think the results are reliable. If the observer came into the bank when first opens on a Monday, all the cashiers and staff are full of energy, but when the observer comes in five minutes before closing time on a Friday, the results for his assessment will be different. So I don't think that the results are that helpful, unless the observer visits more frequently, which they currently don't do.
2
