Exceptional Customer Service & Effective Cost Management

Will you ever believe that customer service and costOften there is a myth that to run an effective service
management can be interlinked. To tell you the truth;operation a lot of buzz and hype has to be created
both these aspects if taken care off; in a well plannedaround the whole thing. Does it mean that only 7 or 5
and efficient manner can be complimentary and so tostar hotels would have the capacity of serving guests
say hand holding to one another while interacting withaccommodation needs? That's not true. Had this been
the customer. In layman's terms effective customertrue; then the idea of low cost airlines would have
service module will focus solely on serving customersnever been successful. One should concentrate more
rather than boast about it by letting the entire worldon getting the product right rather than how to present
know. If you try and analyze the marketing spend ofa sub standard product. The amount of money spent
most of service related companies you would realizeon promoting a sub standard product can be better
that instead of concentrating on service excellence;utilized or rather saved by perfecting the product.
these companies are rather concerned on letting theTherefore: a no frills service delivery function can also
entire world know that they have found out a newbe successful provided it caters to customer needs
way of sneezing; not realizing it is not worthwhile forand requirements.
the customers to know about it. Going all out inThe catch here is to spend substantial amounts of
promoting and advertising for s sub standard productmoney on training and skill development of the
or service might mean unnecessary expenditure whichemployees rather than unnecessary advertising and
is not effective cost management. The learning thatrationalize every single penny spent. A well trained
one gets here is that there should be moreemployee would more often than not win a customer
concentration on perfecting the service deliveryor a guest which would mean repeat business and
function rather than wasting your energies onprofitability for the company. One should realize that a
gimmicks.customer would only deal with a business operation if
The work force of a company or a service deliveryhe finds value in it and every customer would have his
function is one of the most important elements whichor her own parameters in assessing the value; for
will be able to find and justify the correct balance ofsome monetary value might be of more importance
exceptional customer service viz a viz effective costrather than the experiential or a more holistic view. The
management. Although successful companies orbottom line is when a customer will transact; that
operations are run on systems rather than individuals;would reflect in the bottom-line of the company.
but it is the commitment of the individuals that makesAnother aspect here is that the service delivery
the difference between and average and anfunction should focus more on what the customers
exceptional service output. Utmost care should bewant and thereby provide accordingly; rather than
taken while hiring the team; especially the ones whospend huge sums of money in a useless or unutilized
would be interacting directly with the customer. Theseservice delivery aspect.
employees are the face of the company and theirThe focus of a service delivery function should be to
attitudes and behaviors can make or break theuse tools such as effective cost management in
situation in front of the customer for the businessconjunction with exceptional customer service to
operation.provide that ultimate WOW experience to the guests.