Task 3
Scenario The Director of Logistics is pleased with the control you have taken to address some of the customer service problems that have arisen. Mary is performing better at her job and feeling more confident in her role and the new Team Leader of the administration team is working well. The Director would like specific targets developed to measure the performance of the warehouse team. They would also like to monitor internal customer satisfaction levels and then recommend any changes required to improve the delivery of customer service through the Transport and Logistics department. Before you can respond to the Director you will need to do some further research and consult with your team. In your research you discovered that John Readings missed its financial targets this year. This problem triggered an investigation into customer service. Previously, customer service was not monitored as most of the team had years of experience at the company. Now, however, 90% of the team is new. The following information has been recently gathered by the company on customer service team performance through call-monitoring and management observations: • A few team members are high performers in all areas, but most team members achieve between 60% and 50% of targets, i.e., most team members are consistently poor performers • Dispatch at 65% of targets • 90% of team members take 30% too long on average to resolve store enquiries or complaints • 90% of team members take 40% too long to answer phones (internal customers are on hold an average of 12 minutes each) • Total number of customers has remained stable • 90% of team members do not follow John Readings procedures: • Process orders incorrectly: 40% orders • Incorrect/no referrals to senior team members when required: 40% • Safety procedures especially forklift pre-starts are not being documented or undertaken • Warehouse injuries have increased 25% in the past 12 months • Team members do not correctly store customer information • Team members have no reliable system for retrieving customers’ information The majority of customer information exists on paper documents which are not readily available when talking to customers on the phone. The following customer feedback has been gathered by John Readings through questionnaires: • ‘Finally! It’s been a year since anyone has asked my opinion’ • ‘Customer service seems to be getting worse, not better, half the time I call up, I have to provide my details again because customer records have been lost’ • ‘Warehouse employees are sometimes rude and defensive’ • ‘Enquiries and complaints take too long to be resolved and involve multiple calls’ • ‘Warehouse employees are often unable to help with problems’ • ‘Warehouse employees appear to have no procedures and inspire little confidence in ability to handle anything but the most routine of enquiries’ • ‘With the exception of one or two staff members, service is uniformly poor’. The following data has been gathered by John Readings through questionnaires: • 30% of internal customers are unhappy with product turnaround times • 20% of internal customers have found poor service and product quality and delivery times are impacting negatively on sales and customer experience in store • 50% of internal customers feel that they are not being listened to • 90% of internal customers never hear any suggestions to indicate that the Transport and Logistics department understands and considers their changing service or product needs. 1.To prepare for the role play: You must review the case study as this will form the basis of meeting to seek input in stakeholder and organisational needs. Based on your analysis of the data, during the role play you will need to demonstrate that you have: a. Discussed the customer feedback b. Outlined the data obtained from the questionnaires c. Provide your recommendations to address the issues (refer case study) d. Seek input and ideas on how team and individual performance can be measured to ensure a quality service to customers. 2. Based on the information from your consultation meeting and research, prepare a written report for the Director of Logistics titled: Customer Service Standards Report. Your report must include: a. Develop a set of KPIs for John Reading’s customer service representatives. KPIs should address the areas of customer and business requirements identified below: i. Call/enquiry/complaint handling time ii. Following organisational procedures, especially in the areas of quality, safety, resource, and delivery standards iii. Identifying customer issues and opportunities to increase customer satisfaction or meet customer needs iv. Ability to handle complaints v. Ability to record and store customer information vi. Customer satisfaction. b. Develop a plan or procedure for monitoring team members’ performance against KPIs include here the related organisational systems and technology to assist you to provide quality service. c. Develop a questionnaire to collect customer feedback related to KPIs and/or designed to uncover identifiable gaps between services provided (including the quality of service) and customer expectations. d. Analyse the performance data and customer feedback to identify systemic customer service issues and trends. e. Develop a contingency plan for customer service delivery f. Recommendations for adjustments to warehouse services, systems, policies and procedures are clearly outlined 3. The Director of Logistics is pleased with your report and your recommendations. He would like you to organise a presentation to your warehouse staff informing them of the changes you are proposing. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation and participant briefing notes for this session. 4. To obtain feedback from customers, issue the survey developed in Question 2 to at least ten people. These can be customers in your workplace, friends, family etc. You must submit the completed surveys as an appendix in the report you will write. Based on the survey results create a report titled, Service Improvements and: a. Detail the findings of the surveys b. Outline how any identified issues by customers will be addressed to improve current service practices. Company History John Readings Pty Ltd is an Australian retail company trading under the name Reads. Its primary business is general book sales to the consumer market. It currently has 41 stores located in all Australian States and Territories. This chain of traditional booksellers retails a broad range of fiction and non-fiction books, DVD’s etc. and Read’s main opposition comes from Borders, Angus & Robertson, Dymocks, Collins and the large department stores including Myers, David Jones, Kmart and Big W who sell some of their books and related products at below cost price. John Reading who, prior to the war had been a business prodigy, started the company in 1956 when he returned from the Second World War to Melbourne and an unlikely inheritance. His second cousin, removed, whom he had never met and was only vaguely aware of, had died in England and left him with a substantial estate and a request to bring reading to the masses. Subsequently John Reading, who knew little about books and even less about fiction but was an extremely savvy businessman, opened his first store in Collins Street Melbourne in late 1956 just in time to catch the Christmas trade. Fortunately, he married a gregarious reader and budding author Tilley Johnson who went on to write and publish the now famous Darkfire Trilogy – a fantasy series unsurpassed in modern fiction. Together they built the Readings empire and by 1970 it consisted of more than 50 stores across Australia. In the mid 1970’s John and Tilley handed the business over to their daughter Zoe who like her mother had a talent for creating and, mentored by her father since she was small, she also had a good business head on her shoulders. Under Zoe’s leadership the company grew to more than 250 stores and was investing and expanding into New Zealand and Asia. Vision and Mission Mission To publish great books well and provide access to diverse stakeholder groups and individuals. Vision · To be a respected publisher that values diversity, nurtures talent and encourages exploration and creativity · To be customer focused in all aspects of our business and to respond to changing customer needs with immediacy and enthusiasm · To anticipate change, encourage access to the written word in whatever form is most appropriate at any given time in society · To be the number one destination for authors, customers, agents, employees and other publishers · To improve business efficiency by increasing visibility of day to day demand and responsiveness to it. Business Plans John Readings Bookstore National Business Plan (Excerpt) John Readings Expansion Strategy John Readings Future Business Expansion John Readings Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan John Readings Risk Management Strategy Plan Operations and Finance Operational Plans John Readings Procedure Standard Production Support Plan John Readings WHS Management System Principles Objectives Standard Operating Procedures John Readings SOP Receiving Materials John Readings SOP Stock Issue John Readings SOP Warehouse Cleanup Projects National Booksellers Conference and Fair Financial Reports and Information John Readings Payroll Scenario John Readings Financial Statement John Readings Annual Salary Budget 202x John Readings Operational Financial Policy and Procedure Manual Operational Policies John Readings Continuous Improvement Policy John Readings Quality Policy John Readings Customer Complaints Policy and Procedure John Readings Policy Energy John Readings Policy Environment Online Book Selling Strategy John Readings Online Competitor Analysis John Readings Import Ban Books John Readings Inventory Management in Bookstores John Readings Supply Chain Impact of Internet Bookselling Human Resources Marg Jessop, the HR Director at John Readings for more than 20 years, says: “In general, we have been very strong in our employee relations. Our employees tend to stay with us long term. We have been fortunate in that sense. It’s not something that we say, but what we have done for the employees that make them feel that we do care for them. There are a lot of things that we’ve done in the past. We have shown them that if they are capable, even if they are beyond the retirement age, we’ll still want them to stay with us. I think that once employees know that the employer really means what they say, it makes a lot of difference to them, we already have people who are in their 70’s. I have one employee who is 75 in one store. So, in that sense, we are in the forerun of HR practices. And we value our staff and their talents; they are an asset to us.” Employees at John Readings have always been paid above the average and they work a 32-hour week with the option to work overtime and take a day in lieu. “We don’t like to pay overtime but we’re very happy to let staff work flexibly as long as they organise their shifts and let us know in plenty of time. We trust our staff to do the right thing” Jessop says. Jessop feels, beyond this, employee communication has played a pivotal role all along. "When we have good times, we share with the employees and we listen to