At BA this is not done very often but when it is done they do react to it by improving what the customer has said. At BA they will give out their survey as the customers are leaving the airplane and on the survey it will state where they need to send the form of to. BA do not do they survey very often because they believe that in one way this is hassling the customer and that is the last thing they want to do so they only do it when they feel they need to. If this is done as it should be then it should satisfy the customers that took part in the survey.
Mystery shoppers
Mystery shopper are used in big stores like New Look and G Star Raw because this will help the organization to evaluate how the staff are doing with their customers service and to see if they are doing what they have been trained to do which would be to deliver the best customers service possible. Once the mystery shopper has finished their shopping they are ask to fill in a questionnaire about their experience at the shop so they can evaluate how they customers service is and if it needs to be improved. The mystery shopper is usually a random person.
At BA this is not used because they do not need to do it because their customer service has been rated and one of the best around and talking from personal experience they do have a very good customer service which is what is needed for organization in their market. Is they did use mystery shopper on there flights it would just be a waste of money because they know that it is that their customers service that is lacking. It maybe could just pick out little issues about the service.
User panel
A user panel is when a random group is chosen to answer some direct questions about the organization. This is done by choosing people that are currently at the shop, common at places where you can sit and relax, because these people have got a fresh idea of the organization and them just answering a few questions will help them as well as the organization because the customers can tell them about them selves, strengths and weakness, so that they can react to it and make the customers satisfied. It is usually just a small sheet of paper with a question on the top and space for the customers to write their answers.
At BA this can not be done because they don’t want to disturb their customers while on their flight because they might find it annoying because usually on flight people want to relax and sleep and just enjoy the ride. So this is why companies like BA don’t use user panel. Instead of user panel they use questionnaire which are given during the flight and is up to the customer if they want to fill them in or not. This way if the customer wants to relax then they can or if they want to fill in the questionnaire they can do that as well also this way the customers are not being hassled during the trip to do anything.
What quality systems does your selected business operate?
Many different businesses use loads of different quality system but we are only going to discuss a few and going to relate them to BA. Quality system are techniques that are used by business to find out about their business and about there products so that they can improve it and become better as an organization.
Gap analysis
A Gap analysis will be used by an organization to see how they are performing at the current time. They will make a diagram, as shown on the right, and on it they will pin point how they are currently doing and also make a mark on it to where they want to be and the gap between the to pin points is the GAP and on the diagram on the right the space that is highlighted blue is the GAP.
At BA they will do a gap analysis every year so that they can carry on bettering themselves. This will enable them to see how they are currently performing and compare it to reveals in the market. This is also good for pushing the organization constantly to improve so that they can achieve there end goal of becoming the overall market leads.
Quality circles
This is when an organization will get together some employees from their business to talk about a selected product or service and see what they think needs to be improved. The meeting does not need to be about a product or service it can also be about the management of the place they are working or about any problems they are having. This is good for the organization because they can learn a bit about there selves and this can lead to them being improved as a business on a hole this is all very cheap to do.
At BA they will have a notice board up at there workplace which will show dates of these quality circles and people will sign up to go to them. By BA doing this they are enabling also the staff to get a say in the business which is also a good way of motivating them as well as BA getting some input about there service or about their management and see how they can improve it.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is when an organization will look a rivals performance and they will set there aims based on there performance so they would aim be higher than them. This will make business aim high and motivate them to be better so that they can be the market leaders. This is done very commonly these days by business because it is an easier way for them to set aims and it is what the business wants. By them doing this effectively they will also be satisfying the customers because they can then choose to come to the business that is doing better.
At BA they will do benchmarking a lot because the market that they are in is very tough at this moment in this so they need to be constantly on top of there rivals and the only way on doing this is by aiming to be better than them in every thing including quality of service and price. In order for them to achieve this they need to be looking at there rivals all the time and setting new standards all the time for their employees and keep training them till you know that your service is better and price is better because that is the main thing that customers are looking for at the moment, a cheap service with good quality.
Ishikawa (Fishbone) diagram
An Ishikawa diagram is used by an organization to find out, from the employees because they are the ones that are working, what problems there are in the organization and how is can be improves so that the can run more efficiently which will equal in them earning more money. On the right is an Ishikawa diagram first what is done is that the employees will point out problems of the organization and as you see on the right they are in the green boxes. Then what is done is that arrows are put in and the ones that are facing towards the fishes head are the ones that are ways to improve the problem and the ones that are facing towards the tail are the problems that are facing.
At BA they don’t use the Ishikawa diagram because they don’t have a high staff turnover rate so they don’t need this to be done. If they was to do one then it may only consist of one major problem which is the environment because staff that are working for the company maybe “tree huggers” and are leaving because they are see how much pollution they are causing. this will in the end satisfy the employees to be more motivated and produce better work and make them fell happy that there voice has been heard.
Databases and marketing
Database and marketing is a core to any business because it is the way in which the business will communicate with customers and if that is cut off then customers will be unaware of offers they may have on and about the business as a whole. The marketing is also very crucial to any business weather it only is word of mouth that is still marketing if this is cut off then no one will know that your business exists.
At BA they have a CRM database where they store all there information about there customers that are join to there executive club. In this database there will be information about customers and there buying habits. It will also consist of information such as customers name, address D.O.B and all the other basic about he customers and also one of the main things that they will look at is you ethnicity because if you are originally from a different country and have moved hear then they can offer you holidays back to your country for cheap. This is where marketing also comes into it because by them offering the holiday to them they are marketing that service to them. Another very clever thing that they do with this database is that they store information about the customers buying habits so that they can see where the customers goes frequently and same as before offer them deals to that country.
By the customers joining this club it is not only that the organization is getting all the benefits but customers do as well because the customer will be building up air miles which they can use, when they have enough, to go on a flight for free.
Direct marketing and e-marketing
This method is a form of sales and supply which is made directly to the consumer. Also included in this method is tele-marketing, door to door distribution. However in BA they would use the internet as one of the forms of direct marketing. Direct marketing is used to target customers directly so that they are aware of the product and so that they can come to them directly so they can get there tickets as cheap as possible. This can also mean leaflets that you are getting though the post which could show you special offers that they have on.
By BA marketing on the internet they can make their price cheaper because it is very cheap to run a internet page than a shop because the overheads are next to nothing unlike a shop where the overheads are very expensive. There are also negatives on running on the internet which is that old fashion people rather purchase tickets face to face because they do not trust the internet yet because they have heard about frauds that have been taken place.
