IMPROVING CLIENT SATISFACTION BY PHILIP SPOCK PROJECT SCOPE

IMPROVING CLIENT SATISFACTION BY: PHILIP SPOCK

PROJECT SCOPE Problem Statement A lack of internal processes, in any company, will lead to misunderstandings and negatively affect the expectations that the clientele of a company has. Strategies for Gathering & Assessing Information • Archived Data from company surveys • Employee Interview with close clientele relation • External research relating to standardized processes & customer satisfaction

PROJECT SCOPE (CONT. ) Background Info: Liberal Studies: Throughout this project I used a combination of qualitative and quantitative data sources. By using employee interviews and client surveys, along with external research, I am able to find ways to increase the satisfaction of the company’s clients. I will be applying the concepts learned in Liberal Studies courses which will provide additional support for recommendations for improvement. This will include strategies of team work and different leadership skills. Expected Outcomes: • • • Increase in customer satisfaction by meeting clients’ expectations Improved internal processes by adopting best practices found in research Finding the correlation between customer satisfaction and the overall success of a company

LIBERAL STUDIES & LEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIP Leadership defined: “the process of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement” (Clegg, 2006). The main goal of this project is to increase client satisfaction. Leadership is a key ingredient that can help achieve that. One type of leadership that could be most beneficial is transformational leadership. Transformational Leadership: Style where leader works with subordinates to identify needed change, creating vision to guide the change through inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with committed members of the group. In other words, transformational leaders are change agents who facilitate their organization’s ability to maintain competitive advantage while honoring the responsibility to help employees improve, learn, and grow (Xu, 2015).

TEAMING Teaming is a verb and term made to deliberately capture the activity of working together which helps organizations carry out interdependent tasks. Teaming helps coordinating actions and making shared decisions. Effective teaming requires everyone to remain vigilantly aware of others’ needs, roles, and perspectives. Teaming is an active process that can be channeled with transformational leadership. * The purpose of teaming in the workplace is to expand knowledge and expertise so that organizations and their customers can capture the value (which will then lead to high customer satisfaction).

EMPLOYEE INTERVIEW

EMPLOYEE INTERVIEW What can departments do to increase client satisfaction? “… to maintain and increase client satisfaction, it’s important that each department is sending a consistent message to not only the clients but also to the other departments within the organization. ” “In order to be consistent, rules and expectations need to be put in place both internally and also communicated with our clientele. “ Are you happy with all processes within your department? If not, which ones and why? “We are currently working on establishing new processes internally in an effort to improve our customer service and overall client satisfaction. ” “We still have to see how these new processes are going to be affecting our clients and what impact this is going to have on their overall satisfaction with our company and product, but I am confident that our new processes will contribute in a positive way. ” How easy is it to make departmental changes? “A lot of people are afraid of change, even if they know change needs to happen for the greater good. ” “I think the biggest challenge with implementing change is the adoption piece. It can be relatively easy to come up with a list of things that need to be changed, but it is much more difficult to get your team members on board with actually adopting the change that you are proposing. ”

CLIENT SATISFACTION SURVEY

Chart Title SURVEY RESPONSE 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 8% 10 19% 8 1 2% • Results based on 493 responses • Question: How Likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague? 9 10 2 5% 3 6% 4 4% 9 12% • 0 = Not at all likely | 10 = Extremely likely 5 14% 8 13% 7 10% 6 7%

Level of Risk BREAKDOWN OF CLIENT RESPONSES • Score of 9 or 10: Not at risk 9 or 10 31% 0 -6 46% • Score of 7 or 8: Somewhat at risk 7 or 8 23% • Score of 0 – 6: Highly at risk 9 or 10 7 or 8 0 -6

COMMON TRENDS FOR IMPROVEMENT

TREND #1: GENERALLY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE ”Continue to be disappointed with the customer service. Every time we do get someone good, you promote them (or they leave for something better) and we are left starting over again. ” “There are several issues that exist … [and] lack of response time. I felt like we were way oversold. I have never had to spend so much time managing a software I pay for. ” Customer Service reps seem to be in over their heads, turn around time on support tickets is ridiculous long … Not a fan!” “Too many people involved in the process, short cuts that cause other issues, not making changes that follow through platforms … timeframes for resolution of a ticket can sometimes take a long time, sometimes no sense of urgency. ” ”Turnover in customer service, putting inexperienced people in control of your client relationships, difficulty in getting issues solved. ” “The Client Service managers are too busy to help, tech support usually cannot assist you with one call and their Payroll Service is a total failure. ”

RECOMMENDATION FOR IMPROVEMENT According to Monica Baldea, ”Practicing effective listening will take place both in relation to the external environment – through the power of information from customers of the organization – and in relation to the internal environment – in terms of information to come on one hand from the organization’s employees and other part of the organization’s managers” (Baldea, 2014). If the company can practice effective listening with the clientele, clients will feel valued and listened to, resulting in an increase in overall customer satisfaction. Transformational leadership, when implemented by employees, will create a sense of trust and belonging with clients (Seymour, 2015). Clients who feel they’re valued and cared for by employees will be more satisfied. If clients feel employees are more engaged they can establish more meaningful relationships and the client can understand how work gets done from start to finish. “Effective teaming requires everyone to remain vigilantly aware of others’ needs, roles, and perspectives. ” Employees need to remain attentive to their client’s needs and perspectives. By doing so, employees can better predict problems that may arise before they happen, leading to a better experience overall for the customer.

TREND #2: NEGATIVE IMPLEMENTATION EXPERIENCE ”We are a staffing company that schedules assignments that have continuous changes. Your implementation manager promised a scheduling feature during a demo and this never happened. ” “Outstanding issues from implementation not resolved at 9 months post live … customer service is getting slower and follow up on issues is getting worse not better. ” “Promises that were made by your company with the conversion that never happened. I feel like we’re cleaning up everything on our end with no help from your company. ” “Installation for us was painful due to the Project Manager’s performance and the company’s unwillingness to modify the implementation schedule and process our needs … we wasted a lot of money trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. ”

RECOMMENDATION FOR IMPROVEMENT “Employees and customers must learn to ask questions clearly and frequently. They must make the small adjustments through which different skills and knowledge are woven together into timely products and services” (Edmondson, 2012). It is important to communicate questions and expectations clearly beforehand so there are no misguided assumptions on behalf of the client or the employee. Research shows that customers often have expectations that to them seem reasonable or a given, so they may not discuss their expectations during the implementation process. This can be described as expected requirements, meaning “[they] are often so basic the customer may fail to mention them – until we fail to perform them” (Nicolae, 2013). This leads to poor quality, which is defined as “the match between what customers expect and what they experience. ” (Nicolae, 2013).

TREND #3: OVERSOLD “Oversold and underdelivered. ” “Promises that were not delivered on the original sale … The quality control / review at your company is non-existent. ” “Sales team overpromised in the beginning and the system under-delivered. Many of the features we thought were included with the initial price were actually add ons. ”

RECOMMENDATION FOR IMPROVEMENT This trend focuses on the root issue of miscommunication between departments and clients. Transformational leadership is grounded in moral foundations. “If employees use transformational leadership, they will be seeking the best interest of both the client and the organization and constantly learning that organizations are able to create high trust and high performance work cultures that produce increased profitability and long-term sustainability” (Caldwell, 2011). ”Teaming is essential to an organization’s ability to respond to opportunities and to improve internal processes” (Edmondson, 2012). It’s critical to develop a clear, consistent message internally that is delivered to clients in order to reduce confusion and miscommunication.

BEST PRACTICES / STRATEGIES FOR EACH TREND Poor Customer Service Negative Implementation Experience Oversold • Make teaming an interdepartmental strategy • Implement transformational leadership and practice this with clientele • Use effective listening skills • Use strategic communication to address all potential areas of risk • Make adjustments to adapt to clientele needs • Use teaming to expand share knowledge and expertise • Utilize transformational leadership to make clients feel valued

REFERENCES B LDEA, M. , & BĂLTEANU, A. (2014). THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION SOURCES IN EFFECTIVE LISTENING PROCESS IN ORGANIZATIONS. Fiability & Durability / Fiabilitate Si Durabilitate, (1), 333 -339. Caldwell, C. , Dixon, R. D. , Floyd, L. A. , Chaudoin, J. , Post, J. , & Cheokas, G. (2012). Transformative leadership: Achieving unparalleled excellence. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(2), 175 -187. doi: http: //dx. doi. org/10. 1007/s 10551011 -1116 -2 Clegg, S. R. (2006). Handbook of organization studies (2 nd ed. ). London: SAGE. Edmondson, A. C. (2012). Teaming: how organizations learn, innovate, and compete in the knowledge economy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. NEKORANEC, J. , & NAGYOVÁ, L. (2014). ADAPTATION OF EMPLOYEES IN THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN TERMS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. Revista Academiei Fortelor Terestre, 19(1), 114120. Nicolae, L. I. , Tanasescu, D. , & Popa, V. (2013). Customer expectations management. Valahian Journal of Economic Studies, 4(3), 91 -100. Retrieved from http: //www. remote. uwosh. edu/login? url=http: //search. proquest. com/docview/1540957618? accountid=9355

REFERENCES Šárka, H. (2014). Tools of Internal Communication from Knowledge Transfer Perspective. Journal Of Competitiveness, 6(4), 50 -62. doi: 10. 7441/joc. 2014. 04 Seymour, T. D. (2015). Examining the mediating effect of ethical behaviors on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement (Order No. 3714754). Available from Pro. Quest Dissertations & Theses Global: Business; Pro. Quest Dissertations & Theses Global: Health & Medicine; Pro. Quest Dissertations & Theses Global: Social Sciences. (1707689247). Retrieved from http: //www. remote. uwosh. edu/login? url=http: //search. proquest. com/docview/1707689247? accountid=9355 Sturpe, D. A. , & Schaivone, K. A. (2014). A Primer for Objective Structured Teaching Exercises. American Journal Of Pharmaceutical Education, 78(5), 1 -6. van Rooij, S. W. (2010). Project management in instructional design: ADDIE is not enough. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 41(5), 852 -864. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1467 -8535. 2009. 00982. x Wiedow, A. , & Konradt, U. (2011). Two-Dimensional Structure of Team Process Improvement: Team Reflection and Team Adaptation. Small Group Research, 42(1), 32 -54. doi: 10. 1177/1046496410377358 Xu, F. , Caldwell, C. , Glasper, K. , & Guevara, L. (2015). Leadership roles and transformative duties - preliminary research. The Journal of Management Development, 34(9), 1061 -1072. Retrieved from http: //www. remote. uwosh. edu/login? url=http: //search. proquest. com/docview/1712554395? accountid=9355