The National Maritime Museum should motivate their internal customers, by doing this the internal customers will provide good customers service to their external customers.
External:
The External Customers for the National Maritime Museum are:
- Researchers and Archaeologist
- Families- Babies
- Schools- Primary/ Secondary
- Disabled- Wheel chairs, Electric Chair &Parking Space
- Entertainment & Leisure
- Foreign Languages- French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese
- Special Hire
- Organised Groups
Research and Archaeologist: National Maritime Museum provides different types of information on their exhibits, such as history on the buildings.
Families: For families the National Maritime Museum provides baby changing rooms and provide sound or video images. Activities such as Science Weekend for all age groups and who are interested in how the earth moves and interested in to see the planetarium show.
Schools: National Maritime Museum provides conferences, lectures, questionnaires and booklets on the Museum for schools. E.g. For leisure and travel and tourism they produce videoconference on customer service.
Disabled: National Maritime Museum provides Wheel Chair, Ramps, Electric Chair and Parking Space for the Disabled customers.
For Visitors with Visual Disability the National Maritime Museum provides Large-print guide, Braille guide with a list of touchable guide and Tactile plans for three levels of the museum.
Deaf and hard-of Hearing: The Museum have galleries hoops. Key audio installations, the admission area and the information desk are also looped.
Entertainment/Leisure: National Maritime Museum provides different activities to entertain their customers. E.g. Elisabeth exhibition and conference
Foreign Languages: Maritime Museum Should provides an Interpreter or a guide person for the foreign languages The Museum should provide different types of technology such as tape recorder or touch pad with earphone.
Special Hire: National Maritime Museum will offer special hire for the customers such as wedding occasions or conferences.
Organised Groups: National Maritime Museum provides interpreter for the Organised groups. Coach hire
Contrast the needs of services to Internal & External
Importance of employees: (Internal & Customers):
- Employees are vital in the attempt to achieve consistently high customer services.
- National Maritime Museum must have the right systems in place in order to achieve their goals.
- If staff cannot take the right actions when dealing with customers, the business will suffer.
Everyone needs good service:
A definition from the institute of customer service:
“ Customer Service is the sum of total of what the National maritime Museum does to meet customer expectations and produce customer satisfactions.”
Internal Customer Service generally involves:
- Staff code of conduct- This document sets out the Code of Conduct for staff of the National Maritime Museum and the trading company National Maritime Museum Enterprises Ltd. In this document the word Museum is taken to mean the National Maritime Museum, the National Maritime Museum Trust Funds and National Maritime Museum Enterprise Ltd.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Staff of the Museum are to familiarise themselves with the contents of this code and the statement of Corporate Principles and are to act in accordance with the principles set out in these documents.
- Staffs of the Museum have a duty:
- To discharge their public functions reasonably, according to public service values and the Seven Principles of Public Life, and according to the law; and
- To recognise ethical standards governing particular professions.
- Service teamwork and service partnership:
E.g. The teamwork from internal group has to come together to get the work right. One of the examples will be the Elisabeth Exhibitions. The internal customers need to work together because if they worked together they will able to produce better presentation and able to produce better service for the customers, which means the customers will be satisfied and repeat business.
- Actions by a number of people in a team or in several different organisations:
E.g. another organisation was the school because the teachers have to work together by organising the students to behave right and to stay calm.
Effective Service:
- Effective travel and tourism organisations will have a strong service culture in all that they do.
- They should empower their employees to solve customers’ problems.
Helping staff achieve:
Effective staff in travel and tourism:
- Take pleasure in seeing that their customers are happy E.g.: when I visited the museum I was satisfied with service because I had a great welcomed and also I had a better greetings too when I left the museum, so I was pleased with the service.
- See the value of their work- E.g. when I was in the lecture there was two women who took pride in their work by giving the right information.
- Travel and tourism organisation should work hard to recruit people who fit this bill. E.g. “Security Officer” the museum recruits people security officer by if they had and experience working as a security officer and who also interested in motivated and taking pride in the customers.
Role of Managers:
A successful Organisation culture is likely to involve managers:
- Giving support to staff that give attention to customer needs.
- Rewarding staff that do this well
Setting standards- E.g. “Mission statement”
Dealing with colleagues:
- Do as you would be done by
- The viewpoint of the external customers
Needs of internal customers:
- Information
- Training
- Good communication
- Co-operation
- Common goals
Motivating Staff:
- Praise
- Benefits
- Awards
- Training
Needs of External Customers:
- Need to be satisfied with the work
- Need to have a good experience
- Need to have special need met
Customer charters:
- Like a guaranteed of standards of service
- Express Mission Statement and Organisation value
- Establish complaint procedure
Comparison between Internal and External Customer Service
The similarities of Internal and External Customers for the National Maritime Museum are:
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Satisfaction - Customer Satisfaction is important to Internal and External of the Museum because customer need to be satisfied with the service the Museum provides.
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Caring for Customers- Caring for internal and external Customer is important because customer need to be treated with politeness and should able to provide good customer service.
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Maintaining Safety- Maintaining Safety is important to an Internal and External for the customer because customer should feel safe and secure in the environment.
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Meeting Customer Expectations- Meting customer expectation is important to both internal and external of the organisation because the National Maritime Museum should provide what customer expect and provide good service.
The Difference between Internal and External Customers for the National Maritime Museum are:
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Expectation: The expectation for external customer is that they provide with good service and good quality and the expectation for internal is to provide good standard of work.
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Good Public Image: For External the Public Image is important because the public see what’s going on outside and it’s different to see what’s going inside of the business.
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Increase Sales/ Profit/ Customers: It does not matter how you treat customer Internally because it doesn’t affect them.
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Job Satisfaction: The Job satisfaction is to do with internally because it’s the way they perform in the job.
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Customer Loyalty: Customers loyalty matters for internally because if the organisation is loyalty with the customer then it will lead to a repeat business.
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Competitive Edge: Competitive edge matters to internal because they need to know the how they perform with the competitors.
Customer Service in the National Maritime Museum
Mission Statement, Responsibilities and Objectives:
The National Maritime Museum Mission Statement:
“The Museum works to illustrate for everyone the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars and their relationship with people.”
The Mission Statement helps the National Maritime Museum to focus on the customer and the service provided by the museum to its customers and also to help them provide better customer service.
The Museum’s responsibilities are to safeguard and enhance the value of its pre-eminent assets:
- Its Collections- The collections of the exhibits
- It’s Expertise- To meet the target set by the Government
- It’s building- One of the big asset because they are part of World Heritage Site
The Museum’s objectives are to spread the benefits of the assets by:
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Effective Organization and sound financial management
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Maximising the access and inspiration for all users- access to public transport, but also to provide access to people. Museum are set target of this inclusion. The inspiration will interest the visitors and will make the customers to see the collection.
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Satisfying Stakeholders, locally, nationally and internationally
The Stakeholders of the National Maritime Museum are:
- Government (National)- Greenwich Council, World Heritage Site
- Sponsors- P&O (Internal)
- Researchers- (External)
- Suppliers- (Internal)
- Owner of exhibits- (Internal)
- Customers- (External)
- Staff- (Internal)
- Friends- “F@nmm” (Internal)
Government: (National)- Greenwich Council (Locally) World Heritage Site (Internally). The National Maritime Museum set target by the government to meet the needs and to attract different types of customer all over the world and also to provide better facilities such as providing wheel chair for disabled people.
Sponsors: one of the sponsors is P&O they want quality exhibits, which means they could have good publicity which lead to better public image.
Researchers- Researchers produce different types of research from over the world and encourage the museum to improve on their exhibits.
Suppliers: who supply food and other products and the supplier expect good pay at the right time.
Owners of Exhibits: The owner of exhibits wants security on their collections of picture or etc and a good feedback from the museum.
Customers: The customer wants good Customer Service, helpfulness staff and to provide better facilities for special needs.
Staff: The staff should be motivated, which then will lead to good sales and profit. The staff will have an experience working with different types of customers.
Friends (F@nmm): Friends of the National Maritime Museum actively support the largest Maritime Museum in the world. The friends mission is to support the work of the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory and the Queen’s House by:
- Giving money for acquisitions, to save items of national importance that are in distress and encourage educational initiatives.
- Giving hours of time by providing voluntary help when needed
Values:
In carrying out its programme, the National Maritime Museum recognises the vital role played by its staff and volunteers and in particular it values.
These are the main principle of customers in the museum:
- Good ideas and learning
- Excellence in customer service
- Teamwork and communication
- Quality
Customer service is important to National Maritime Museum because:
- Need to attract customers and meet visitor targets set by the government
- Need to meet “social inclusion” and public service requirements by the government
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Need to increase sales- The Museum produce income through shops, cafes, charging for special exhibitions, hiring venues for corporate events and weddings and sales from the Picture Library.
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To have a competitive edge- Good customer service can give the Museum an edge over other tourist attractions or leisure facilities, as we compete for customers' leisure time and money.
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Happy workforce- The staff also takes pride in being part of an organization, which delivers high levels of customer service. Job satisfaction is increased by positive feedback from our customers – its more rewarding to be thanked for a great day out than having to deal with an unhappy customer!
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Good public image- As a national museum with collections of national and international importance, all our staff takes pride in our reputation and public image.
-
Customer loyalty and repeat visits- Excellent customer service results in strong customer loyalty and increased visitor numbers – especially repeat visits.
The different types of customers are:
-
Individuals- Casuals Visitors
-Special Interest Visitors
- Researchers
-
Groups- Foreign and Domestic Tourists
-Special interests and Education
-
Families- Parent with young children
- Mixed- age groups
-
People with Different cultures and different languages- People from diverse ethnic and religious communities
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Special Needs- blind or visually-impaired
-Deaf or hearing- impaired
-Learning difficulties
-Physical, Emotional, Mental health needs
-
Virtual users- People who access the Museum through our websites
-
Internal customers- Members of staff who support the work of others
Assessing the quality of Customer Service& how could they measure?
Setting Quality Criteria: Elisabeth exhibition
- Organisation needs to have something to measure
- Target can be set Internally and Externally
Internal Quality Criteria:
- Customer Satisfaction levels- Feedback from customers, customer comment box
- Health & Safety- check by how many incidents happened in the museum
- Accessibility-They could able to check how many Disabled visitors have visited the museum. Also they could see how many people have used wheel chair and have used touch talks and sign-interpreted.
- Provision for individuals needs- family, disability and accessibility
- Value for money-
- Quality Staffing- (Recruiting & Training)
Bench Marking (Case Study: Elisabeth Exhibitions)
-
Can we set a target for each of these principles?
- How can we measure them?
Research:
In 1997/1998 the Maritime Museum had 50% of people visited the museum, but in 1998/1999 the Maritime Museum had 54%, which means the visitor number has increased by 4%. In 1999/00 the museum had 52% but by 2000/01 it has decreased by 3%. By 2001/02 the museum visitors has gone up by 10%.
- Predicted targeted Market
This table shows the predicted target market. The age group of 18-24, In 1997/98 they were 10% of Visitors and in 2001/02 it was 7% which means it has decreased by 3 % since 1997/1998. In 1997/98 they were 18% of visitors visited who are aged from 25-34 and in 2001/02 it was 19%, which means it has gone up by 1% since 1997/98. Although it was a change in 1998/99, because the number of visitors who are aged 25-34 has increased by 4% since1997/98.The age group 35-44, in 1997/98 it was 23% and in 2001/02 it was 23% which means they have been no change but in 1999/00 the percentage went up suddenly they have decrease since 2000/02. In 1997/98 it was 24% but in 1998/99 the percentage went down by 2%. From 1999/01 they have been no change of percentage of visitors arriving but in 2001/02 the percentage has decreased by 1% since 2000/01.The age group of 55-64, in 1997/98 it was 15% but the figure went down until 1999/00. However the figure went up in 2000/02. In 1997/98 it was 10% of visitors who are aged 65+ but the percentage stayed same until 1999. Although the percentage starts to rise slowly in 2000 by 2001 the percentage has gone up by 2%.
In 1997/98 the age group 45-54 were most likely to visit the Museum in 2001/02 the age group 35-44 are most likely to visit the museum.
This table shows the predicted income. In 1997/98 it was 37% visitors visited who were A/B Income earners, but by 2001/02 it has increased by 47%. The C1 Income earners visited the museum in 1997/98 was 46% and in 2001/02 it has decreased by 35%, but also the percentage did rise in 1999/00. In 1997/98 it was 12% who were C2 income earners, but in 2001/02 it has decreased by 9%, however the figure did rise in 1999/00. the D/E Income earners visited the museum in 1997/98 was 5% but in 2001/02 it has gone up by 9%, but there was steady change in 1998/2000.
Overall it show that in 1997/98 it was most likely that C1 Income earners visited the Museum but by 2001/02 it has changed because A/B Income earners are likely to visit the museum
This table shows the staffing levels. The visitors were very satisfied with the exhibition display in 1997/98 but the visitors were very satisfied in 2001/02 because it has gone up by 4%. There were only 2% of visitors not satisfied with the exhibition display in 1997/98 but it went down by 1%. In 1997/98, 50% of visitors were satisfied with the staff but in 2001/02 the percentage has increased by 14%. They were no satisfaction in 1997/98 or in 2001/02.
Service Provided:
- Timed tickets
- Walked up for the sales
- Pre-booking via web & Telephone
- Queue management barriers
- Lifts
- Seating
- Audio
- Exhibitions
Service (2):
- Signage
- Additional restaurant capacity
- Special Events & Resources for children, families & Adults
- Guided Tours
- Gallery Favourites
- Family Workshops
- School Programmes
Monitoring:
- Times Visitors
- Assess visitor numbers, times & types (Survey & Ticket sales)
The amount of time visitors are spending at the museum is continually increasing with just 18% spending between 2 and 3 hours in 97/98 in 2001/02 now that spending that time here.
- Use customer comment cards
- Staff observation & Feedbacks
- Customer response feedback
Mystery Shoppers:
- Assess Communication
- Assess Product Knowledge
- Assess according to Quality Criteria
Staff Feedback:
Customer Feedback:
- Formal& Informal
- Observation
- Written
- Oral
- Complaints
- Compliments
Suggestion Boxes:
Focus Group- National Maritime Museum doesn’t use focus groups. If the National Maritime Museum used focus groups they could have more visitors visiting the Museum and also they will get satisfied customers and repeat business.
External Quality Criteria:
- Government- (DFCMS) Department for Culture Media and Sport
- Social Inclusion- Includes all types of Customers
- Income Generation- Financial targets set up
- UNESCO- United Nation Education Science of Cultural Organisation
Evaluation of customer service at Maritime Museum
This is an evaluation on customer service at Maritime Museum. I will be evaluating the service provided by the museum when I went for the visit. I enjoyed my trip to the Maritime Museum and it has helped with my assignment on customer service and also they provided information, which will help my coursework.
The service provided by the National Maritime Museum was excellent and the staffs were motivated to their work. I had great greetings when I visited the museum and I was provided information on the exhibits, when I didn’t know. E.g. when I visited one of the history section I didn’t know about Nelson so the staff took his time to explain for us, so I thought that was good customer service. The lecture from the staff was good because they took their time on providing information, which I thought it was a good customer service.
Satisfaction:
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Displays: The displays were excellent and they provided information on each display, also they provided special feature for the special people. The displays were organised.
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Food: The National Maritime Museum food was excellent because the Museum provided different types of food.
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Staff quality: The National Maritime Museum Staff quality was excellent because the staff was motivated to their work and they could do their job/role without oversee.
Recommendation:
The National Maritime Museum could improve their reception service by providing the staff with the right information, because one of the staff didn’t know about the booking we had for the customer service lecture.
Target Market:
-
Family: I think the National Maritime Museum have provided better facilities such as baby changing rooms and special baby chairs for the baby.
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School: The National Maritime Museum has provided excellent service for the school by giving them information on different sources, which will help them in their education.
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Groups of Tourist: I thought the facilities provided by the National Maritime Museum for the group of tourist were excellent, because they provided electronic guide, which will help them to choose a language.
Recommendation:
I think the National Maritime Museum should improve on their Coach Parking, because school and tourist who travel by coach having difficult to park their coach. When I visited the National Maritime Museum it took us 25 minutes to park the coach.
I think the special needs in National Maritime Museum were outstanding. The museum provide different equipments for each special needs such as visitors with visual difficulties they provide Large Print guide and Braille Guide with touchable objects. For visitors with physical disabilities the Museum provide lifts and ramps for the wheel chairs. For the deaf and hard of hearing visitors they provide perimeter loops, key audio installation and any assistance dogs.
Recommendation:
I think the National Maritime Museum special needs were excellent so there isn’t much to improve on the special needs.
Customer Expectation:
-
Safety: I think the National Maritime Museum safety was good because they provided Fire Exit. The safety is important for the Maritime Museum because they should take good care of the customers when they visit the museum and they should inform when their something goes wrong.
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Staff &Products: I think the product knowledge were excellent because the staff known about the product. The communication skills provided by the Museum were superb because most staff was helpful by providing right information for the visitors.
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Value For Money: The food provided by the National Maritime Museum was value for money because they provided different range of foods such as vegetarian and non-vegetarian.
Recommendation:
The National Maritime Museum could improve on the souvenirs shop by reducing the payment on the gifts.
If the customers are happy with the service provided by the Museum then they will have repeat business, so which means it will be edge over the competition.
It is good for the National Maritime Museum to keep the complaints record so then they could improve their service in the future. E.g. Elisabeth exhibitions improved their service by providing time tickets.
Recommendation:
The National Maritime Museum doing very well in keeping customers happy so there are fewer complaints.
Crippin’s Crypt Restaurant
Murder House
1 Slaughterhouse Row
London E 14
March 29,2006
Mr J.Ripper
Alperton Community School
Stanley Avenue
Wembley, Middlesex
HAO 4JE
RE: Complaint about the poor quality of the restaurant
Dear Mr.Ripper,
The purpose of this letter is to express to you my apologies for any inconvenience you may have experienced on the 27th of March 2006 due to Poor service you have experienced in our restaurant.
I have taken my time to investigate your case and the possible reason I could give you is that my staff didn’t have record of your booking and so you had to wait for 45 minutes to be seated because the restaurant was full. We are terribly sorry if you were embarrassed by our service. During the 45 minutes the manager sat you at the bar and gave your party free drinks. As soon as the table were clear, the staff sat you down in two different tables and meanwhile we were preparing vegetarian food.
I have come up with a solution to solve these problems. I will be talking to my staff about the record of booking. I will also have word with the waitress and provide better training on dealing with customers. I will make sure the systems work correctly. For the bad service you had received by our restaurant we will provide you a free meal and better service from our restaurant. Once again I am terribly sorry for the service provided by our restaurant
Yours sincerely
Mytheley. Theivendran
Head Manager, Crippin’s Crypt Restaurant
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Dealing with a letter of complaint.
EVALUATION
First, grade (1 low to 5 high) the letter for accuracy of English & style:
Next, grade (1 to 5) for communication quality:
Finally, comment on any improvements you think you could have made.
I could have improved the wording of the letter. I should improve on my solution. I have highlighted the bits, which I should improve.
Improved Letter:
Crippin’s Crypt Restaurant
Murder House
1 Slaughterhouse Row
London E 14
March 29,2006
Mr J.Ripper
Alperton Community School
Stanley Avenue
Wembley, Middlesex
HAO 4JE
RE: Complaint about the poor quality of the restaurant
Dear Mr.Ripper,
The purpose of this letter is to express to you my apologies for any inconvenience you may have experienced on the 27th of March 2006 due to standards of service you experienced in our restaurant.
I have taken my time to investigate your case and the possible reason I could give you is that my staff didn’t have record of your booking and so you had to wait for 45 minutes to be seated because the restaurant was full. We are terribly sorry if you were embarrassed by our service. During the 45 minutes the manager sat you at the bar and gave your party free drinks. As soon as the table were clear, the staff sat you down in two different tables and meanwhile we were preparing vegetarian food.
I have come up with a solution to solve these problems. I will be talking to my staff about the record of booking. I will also have word with the waitress and provide better training on dealing with customers. I will make sure the systems work correctly. For the Disappointment service you had received by our restaurant we will provide you a free meal and better service from our restaurant. Once again I am terribly sorry for the service provided by our restaurant
Yours sincerely,
Mytheley. Theivendran
Head Manager, Crippin’s Crypt Restaurant
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Dealing with a letter of complaint.
EVALUATION
First, grade (1 low to 5 high) the letter for accuracy of English & style:
Next, grade (1 to 5) for communication quality:
Finally, comment on any improvements you think you could have made.
TELEPHONE MESSAGES
TELEPHONE MESSAGES
TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION SKILLS
EVALUATION
Were House rules followed?
Grade each 1 (low) to 5 (high)
Now grade the quality of communication:
Now grade quality of customer service:
Performance to be assessed on:
Quality of advice:
Accuracy of information given
Clarity of expression and of voice
Confidence
Appropriate language use
Product knowledge
Mark Band 2: Communication is effective.
Display thorough product knowledge
Communication is accurate.
Mark Band 3: Communication is successful and confident
Customer dealt with confidently.
Communication is thorough, confident, accurate and fluent.
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