When you provide the right service at the right price, at the right time, and to the agreed-upon specifications, the customer is satisfied. This is the mission of most organizations because they assume that it is sufficient to satisfy customers. But studies conducted on the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty show that this assumption is deeply flawed. Xerox, for several years in the past, polled 480,000 customers per year regarding product and service satisfaction using a five-point scale […]
Feb
24
Jun
4
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The 2 Things Customers Really Want
First is to be treated well. Second is to get the expected result. To help explain these two things, the following scenario will help: Yetunde wants to withdraw money over the counter from her bank account. We might consider the service to have the following stages, in order: Arrival at the bank Reception at the revolving security door Waiting to withdraw Interaction with the cashier while withdrawing Cash collected Departure She had gone to the bank and withdrawn money. Here […]
Jun
4
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How to evaluate the business impact of training programs
Training is aimed at improving individual and group performances and in turn influencing the overall performance of your business. Hence it is important to evaluate the impact of training programs and ensure that your employees can demonstrate a positive impact of the training through improved productivity. Some of the ways of doing this evaluation are post-training quizzes, one-to-one discussions, employee surveys, participant case studies, and official certification exams. However, there is a proven methodology – The Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model. Pioneered by […]
May
14
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When do team leaders lose their leadership?
Team leadership means providing guidance, instruction, direction and leadership to a group of individuals (the team) for the purpose of completing tasks successfully. The leadership component (highlighted) is what galvanizes other functions and helps to positively influence team members to want to follow. Hence when a team lead, supervisor, head of unit, or manager ‘work’ without the leadership component, people find it very difficult to follow them. And some of the consequences are loss of motivation to work, low productivity, mismanagement of […]
Apr
10
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Using Service to Create a Competitive Edge
Many organizations think that the only way to grow their business is to find new customers. But often, the best source for growth is sitting right in front of you: existing customers. Finding new customers aids business growth but here’s an important fact: Studies show that the probability of selling to an existing happy customer is up to 14x higher than the probability of selling to a new customer. See Figure 1. Figure 1 Hence it makes perfect sense to take […]
Oct
8
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The service quality factors for competitive advantage
The service quality factors are those attributes of service about which customers may have expectations and which need to be delivered at some specified level. They vary from organization to organization and also from customer to customer, so it is difficult to capture every aspect of service quality for every organization. However, the following is a good attempt that can help organizations start to define, deliver and measure service quality: access, aesthetics, attentiveness/helpfulness, availability, care, cleanliness, comfort, commitment, communication, competence, […]
Sep
17
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2 Gaps that Dissatisfy Customers
Satisfaction is the result of customers’ assessment of a service based on a comparison of their perception of service delivery with their prior expectations. (see Figure 1 below). Figure 1 If the customers’ perception of the service matches their expectations then they should be satisfied. If their perception of the service exceeds their expectations then they will be more than satisfied, even delighted. If their perception of the service does not meet their expectations then they may […]
Sep
3
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A Look at Our E-learning System
Organizations now commonly use e-Learning to deliver some or all of their training, with over 70% using Learning Management Systems to do so. Hence, our e-learning service is another way we can help you build competence in your workforce, interestingly, without the costs associated with the classroom learning. Our e-learning system is complete and comprises of a learning management system and content of over 200 quality courses covering the following areas: Sales and Marketing Human Resources and Admin Personal Development […]
Aug
16
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The negative impact of poor management
The role of the manager in the workplace is perhaps the most significant in terms of impact on organizational performance. Managers have the most direct influence on employees they line-manage. They are responsible for aligning the performance of their team and its members with overarching organizational goals. Hence an organization that has poor management personnel in place has multiple problems. The issues begin internally and begin to show themselves externally with long-lasting effects that may infect the entire organization. Indeed, […]
Aug
16
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The strengths-based approach to managing teams
The management approach of the manager contributes greatly to the level of employee engagement. And employee engagement is very important in any organization. So before exploring the strengths-based approach, it would help to refresh ourselves on what exactly employee engagement is and why it’s very important. Employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work. Employee engagement does not mean employee happiness. Someone might […]
