Question 1: Identify Mr and Mrs Jones’ customer needs and expectations in this case study. What would a customer expect not only on an important occasion like the mentioned anniversary but on each occasion when visiting an establishment?
| Response |
| For every business organization, customers are very important. Customers are the kingpins in the market. If the business fails to satisfy the needs and expectations of the business, then it is very difficult for the business to stay in the market. The business growth stats decline if its customers are dissatisfied. According to the given case study, Mr. and Mrs. Jones expect the best services from the staff of the restaurant on their special day, but the behavior of the staff was not appropriate and professional.
The customer has the following expectations from the restaurant- · Every customer who visits the restaurant, wants to get good service and hospitality from the restaurant staff members. A customer wants good service like a respected welcome, good food, positive response from the staff, at least when the customer pre- book their table in the restaurant. · Opposite it, Mr. and Mrs. Jones have to face many problems and challenges on their special day. They don’t get a seat in the restaurant at the end moment. · The restaurant staff and employees have no business ethics and etiquette that how to attend to the customers and how to talk with them. · Instead of solving the problem of the couple, the staff was running for it and ignored their problem. The couple wants that get good hospitality in the restaurant but the situation was totally opposite to their expectations · On their special day the anniversary, after this bad experience, they ignored things and celebrate their anniversary. · At the end, after the worst experience at Cape Lighthouse, the couple expects apologies from the staff of Cape Lighthouse, but they were wrong. · No staff member was come to attend to them and show apologies for their behavior and poor customer service. Following are some basic needs of every customer who visits the restaurant. Customers expect- · Warn welcome from the restaurant staff members (Raji, & Zainal, 2016). · Good and healthy food · The food is delivered on time and they don’t need to wait for long for their order · Easy and quick payment procedure · Good hospitality · Sincerity and polite way of communication from the staff. |
Question 2: What could be the likely effects of this incident for the business and custom down the track if the customer service issues are not addressed?
| Response |
| For every business, its customers are very important. Customers have the power that can increase the value of a business in the market and can also down the business value. A business that fails to satisfy its customer needs, cannot survive long in the market. The inappropriate behavior of the staff and employees of the restaurant and poor customer service can lead to the business in downfall. If the business fails to address the poor customer service, then the business can face challenges like-
· Decline the customer value in the market- The customer expects a positive response and good hospitality from the restaurant. If the restaurant fails to provide good customer service to its customers, then it can negatively impact the business. A dissatisfied customer will not visit again in the restaurant and gives negative feedback to other potential customers in the market, which will automatically decrease the brand and customer values in the market. Losing customer value for any business is no less than a curse for the business (Salazar, 2018). · Losing skilled and experienced employees and staff persons- Every person wants to serve in an organization that has a good reputation and brand value in the market. No individual wants to work with an organization that has a negative image in the market and offer poor customer service to their customers. This situation leads to business losing their qualified and experienced staff members and employees. Due to their poor performance, the business can lose its best human resources. |
Question 3: You are the General Manager of the Cape Lighthouse and the experience of Mr and Mrs Jones has come to your attention.
You are determined to make contact with the customer to attempt to resolve the issue and achieve a positive outcome. Draft a letter which clearly outlines the steps you will undertake to contact Mr and Mrs Jones and how you will try to solve the issues. (This could be used as guidance for a telephone conversation for contact).
| Response |
| Dear Mr. and Ms. Jones,
I got to know that you visited our restaurant last Saturday, and not get the excellent services from our staff persons. Our entire team much apologizes for not fulfilling your wants and not meeting your expectations. We are extremely guilty and sorry for the worst hospitality and for not offering the right services that you expect from us. We are extremely sorry that we fail to make your special day more special. From the entire team of Cape Lighthouse, our waiters and customer attendees apologized for their inappropriate behavior and poor service. We as a team want to correct our mistake and want one more opportunity to show our service and make your day special. This time it’s on us. The Cape Lighthouse wants to invite you to the restaurant and welcomes you from bottom of our heart. Please visit the restaurant and have dinner with the beautiful sea view and the excellent ambiance. We love to offer you the entire service for free. Kindly give our team one more opportunity to show our best customer service, and think about this letter as an apology. We want to rectify our mistake and want to offer you the best service this time. The Cape Lighthouse also wants to arrange a small entertainment band of your choice. We feel thankful if you give us one more chance and visit the restaurant again. General Manager Cape Ligthouse |
Question 4: Considering Mr and Mrs Jones’ recent experience, it is important to assess if there are recurring issues with customer service at the Cape Lighthouse. How will you determine if this is a one-off issue or if there are persistent problems? Outline your approach.
| Response |
| The experience of Mr. and Mrs. Jones at the restaurant was not good and they have no mistakes in the entire scenario. The couple pre-booked the table in the restaurant, but the staff of the restaurant was not attentive and sensible, and do not manage the pre-bookings. This is completely a careless and un-attentive behavior of the staff members and not an off issue. Even after their careless behavior, they visit the restaurant and decide to have dinner in the restaurant, but the couple does not get excellent hospitality. They get their food after waiting for a long time (Aftab, et al., 2016). The staff members ignored their orders and do not even apologize for their behavior. Hence, it can be said that this is a persistent problem.
The above-discussed problem of poor hospitality can lead to business downfalls ad their bad services can also affect negatively the business performance. To compete in the market and offer good customer service the restaurant can opt following things- · Should introduces a feedback system for the customers · Conduct training sessions for the staff · Make easy the payment procedure · Avoiding inappropriate behavior of the staff members · Even if there is any mistake from their side, apologize for the mistake and feel sorry |
Question 5: You are required to develop a policy and procedures for each of the following problem areas which were evident:
- Bookings
- Staff Presentation / Greeting / Hosting
- Reporting requirements / staff hierarchy (General Responsibilities and who is to be contacted in case of an issue – if your industry sector varies [events, cookery, tourism, accommodation] you may use the hierarchy which is commonly relevant to that industry sector)
- Customer Service Procedures for Service (Orders, timelines, attendance)
- Dealing with complaints
- Each policy needs to include:
- The policy name
- The aim or purpose
- The details of what is included
- The procedures included to achieve the purpose
- What are the requirements to train staff to be able to perform the procedures?
- How will this policy and its effectiveness be monitored and evaluated?
- To whom will this policy be made available? How?
Answer
- Bookings- Cape Lighthouse have to develop its official website and app on which the customers can book their seat and table. The personal website and app also helps o maintain a record of bookings of the restaurant. The website and app should also contain the urgent bookings and immediate cancellation procedures.
- Staff Presentation- The organization should provide proper training to their employees and staff persons to attend the customers and offering best services to their customers. The organization staff should behave very politely and use positive and soft tone to communicate with the customers.
- Reporting requirements- The organization should also arrange and provide the facility of reporting in the restaurant. If the customer has any query and problem, then there should be a reporting counter, that can resolve their problem (Khatter, et al., 2019).
- Customer Service Procedures- the organization needs to improve its customer service procedure in the restaurant. Like- first, greets and wishes to the customers when they enter in the restaurant, before asking for the menu and order.
- Dealing with complaints- an organization should open a customer query counter and a separate department for registering the customer complaints and resolving their problems.
Policy and procedures for the restaurant-
Policy of customer reservation- the organization should introduce the policy of customer reservation that helps to record all the bookings and orders of the customers. The main objective is to provide excellent customer service.
A policy of customer reporting- the main objective of this policy is to manage the entire services of the organization. A counter and a department for reporting the customer query should be identified by the manager. So that, it can resolve and avoid repeating again in the future (Benavides-Velasco, et al., 2014).
Customer service policy- the main purpose of this policy is to provide excellent services to the customers. The entire staff should try to meet the expectations of the customers and get positive feedback regarding their services.
For all these services and policies, there is a need to give training to the staff of the organization so that they can deliver the best customer services and hospitality. It is also important to track the performance of the business. For this, the manager should take and collect feedback from the customers that will help them to identify their weak areas that need to improve.
References
Aftab, J., Sarwar, H., Sultan, Q. U. A., & Qadeer, M. (2016). Importance of service quality in customer satisfaction (A study on fast food restaurants). Entrepreneurship and innovation management journal, 4(4), 161-171.
Benavides-Velasco, C. A., Quintana-García, C., & Marchante-Lara, M. (2014). Total quality management, corporate social responsibility and performance in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 41, 77-87.
Khatter, A., McGrath, M., Pyke, J., White, L., & Lockstone-Binney, L. (2019). Analysis of hotels’ environmentally sustainable policies and practices: Sustainability and corporate social responsibility in hospitality and tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Raji, M. N. A., & Zainal, A. (2016). The effect of customer perceived value on customer satisfaction: A case study of Malay upscale restaurants. Geografia, 12(3).
Salazar, J. M. R. (2018). A Comparison of The Effectiveness of Various Social Media Platforms in Promoting Restaurants. Empirical Quests for Management Essences, 2(4), 1-14.