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Gathering Information about your Customers

PG Diploma in Hospitality Management

Customer Service and Quality Systems – Session 8

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Objectives

• Evaluate the use of different types of customer classification

• Determine when questionnaires are the most appropriate tool for data collection

• Create a questionnaire

• Determine when focus groups are the most appropriate tool for data collection

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Course Review1. What is an internal customer and why is this concept

important?

2. A guest at your hotel ordered a wake up call but did not get it. He has missed an important appointment and is very upset. How would you deal with this?

3. Why are computer systems increasingly important in the hospitality industry? (at least 3 reasons)

4. What is knowledge management and why has it become an issue for the hospitality industry?

5. Some writers have said that the employee is more important that the manager or the customer. How would you argue this case?

6. What are the characteristics of TQM? (at least 5 points)

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Social Categorisation

• Employment Category

•RG • Example Occupations • Class

• 1. Professional •A • Accountant, doctor, clergyman, university teacher

• Upper Class

• 2. Intermediate •B • Pilot, farmer, manager, Police officer, teacher, manager

• Middle Class

• 3N. Non-manual skilled

•C1 • Clerical worker, sales rep., shop assistant, secretary

• 3M. Manual skilled

•C2 • Butcher, bus driver, electrician, miner

• Working Class

• 4. Semi-skilled •D • Bus conductor, bar person, postal worker, packer

• 5. Unskilled •E • Labourer, office cleaner, window cleaner

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Acorn

• A tool to understand the UK population and the demand for products and services

• http://www.caci.co.uk/acorn/whatis.asp

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Acorn – Family Incomes

49: Large families, many children, poorly educated 27: Middle income, home owning areas04: Affluent mature professionals, large housesAn index of 100 represents the average in terms of either all adults or the average of all adults currently in the UK.

Family Income Acorn 49 Acorn 27 Acorn 04

£0-9,999 168 73 43

£10,000-19,999 105 98 57

£20,000-29,999 68 111 79

£30,000-39,999 45 130 120

£40,000 – 49,999 27 119 189

£50,000+ 8 138 506

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Acorn – Eating Out

49: Large families, many children, poorly educated 27: Middle income, home owning areas01: Affluent mature professionals, large housesAn index of 100 represents the average in terms of either all adults or the average of all adults currently in the UK.

Topic 49 27 01

Regularly eat evening meal in pub/restaurant

49 107 151

Regularly eat lunch in pub/restaurant 58 107 90

Visits coffee bar 3+ times per week 74 69 74

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Life CycleEg Guber and Wells:1. Young singles no longer living with parents2. Young married with no children3. Married couple with children under 64. Married couple with children over 65. Older couples with children6. Older couples without children, head of

household working7. Older couples without children, head of

household retired8. Older single working person9. Older single retired person

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Exercise

• Design a guest feedback card – groups of 2

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Types of Questionnaire

• Self-administered– Mailed– Delivered personally

• Interview– Telephone– Face-to-face

filled-in at home

filled-in on the spot

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Questionnaire Survey• Often used with previous customers• Completed questionnaires are mailed back

• Advantages– cheaper to administer than

interviews– Quicker to administer –

mailed out– Absence of interviewer effects

– it has been shown that bias may come from interviewer’s gender, ethnicity, or social background.

– No interviewer variability– Convenience for respondents

– privacy

• Disadvantages– Cannot prompt or probe

– Respondent boredom

– Questionnaire can be read as a whole - hence questions not independent of each other

– Format has to be simple and straightforward

– Limited number of questions possible

– If not all questions completed

– Low response rate

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Types of Question

• Closed questions– ordered alternative responses

• E.g. under 1 year, 1 to 2 years, 2 to 4 years

– unordered alternative responses

• Partially closed questions– Does your child have any sleeping difficulty?

– No– Yes, getting off to sleep– Yes, nightmares or night waking– Yes, waking early in the morning– Yes, other difficulty

• Open ended questions– How do you feel about that?

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Rules for Wording Questions

• Use simple, conversational language– Usually seventh grade level is used.– Use simple words that do not need much time

and effort for interpretation.

• Avoid Leading and Loaded Questions– Leading questions suggest or imply certain

answers– Loaded questions suggest social desirability,

or are emotionally charged

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Rules for Wording Questions 2• Avoid ambiguity

– Use words such as “often”, “occasionally”, “usually”, “regularly”, “frequently”, “many”, with caution.

– If these words have to be used, explain their meaning

• Avoid double barreled questions– Questions that refer to two or more issues within the same

question.

• Avoid making assumptions

• Avoid burdensome questions– That may tax the respondent’s memory– That are long and tedious to read

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Sequencing• Funnel Principle - general questions should be

asked before more specific ones and demographic questions should come at the end

• Opening questions should always be interesting, simple, and easy to answer

• Use filter and pivot questions to direct flow:-– FILTER question - screens out respondents

who are not qualified to answer a second question

– PIVOT question - type of filter question that is used to determine what version of a second question to ask

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Questionnaire Layout

• Layout and physical attractiveness of a questionnaire are important– should appear as short as possible– should not appear overcrowded– booklet form is often most effective

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Question Layout 1• Closed question with horizontal/ vertical format

– How would you rate the quality of service in this restaurant?

(please tick the appropriate answer)Very Good Good Fair Poor Very Poor

– How would you rate the quality of service in this restaurant?

(please tick the appropriate answer)Very Good Good Fair Poor Very Poor

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Question Layout 2• Dichotomous variable – two parts to the answer

Please specify your Gender: MALE FEMALE   

• Categorical variable with four categories and also “other” category – we can also ask them to specify if it is important that we know what other category is.

How would you classify your employment status: Unemployed

Manual worker   Tradesperson   Professional   Other Please specify ………… ……

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Question Layout 3

Q. What is your age?

21- 25  

25 – 30 30 - 35 over 35

 Notes:-– Where do you tick if you are 20?– Where do you tick if you are 25?

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Question Layout 4• How often in an average week would you

drink wine?

everyday

three to four times

only on the weekend

less than once

once or twice

Notes:-– Allows you to avoid ambiguous terms like ‘often’

and ‘rarely’

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• The following are a list of statements that some people say about drinking. Please tick the appropriate box.

 

Agree Agree Neither DisagreeDisagree

strongly Slightly Slightly Strongly

A drink makes many people more sociable

 

Life would be very dull without a drink

 

Drink usually brings out the worst in people

 

Having a drink is one of the pleasures in life

 

• This is an example of a Likert scale type question – important that instruction is given to tick one answer to each question.

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Pivot QuestionsHow often do you read newspapers? Tick category that is closest

Never (if never skip to q12) More than 1 day (proceed to q11) 1 every day (proceed to q11) 2 - 4 per week (proceed to q11) 1 per week (proceed to q11) less than 1 per week (proceed to q11) Notes:-

– Tells the respondent to skip to a particular nest of questions depending on their response to this one

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Ways to Increase Response Rate on a Mail Questionnaire

1. Address the questionnaire to specific person, not “occupant” and send it first class.2. Include a carefully written, dated cover letter on letterhead stationery - request

respondent cooperation, guarantee confidentiality, explain the purpose of the survey and give the researcher’s name and survey.

3. Include a postage paid, addressed return envelope.4. Questionnaire should have a neat, attractive layout, and reasonable page length.5. Questionnaire should be professionally printed and easy to read, with clear

instructions.6. Send two follow up letters to those not responding. The first should arrive one

week after the questionnaire being sent out, the second a week later. Gently ask for cooperation again and offer to send another questionnaire.

7. Do not send questionnaire during major holiday periods.8. Do not put questions on the back page –instead a blank leave space and ask the

respondent for general comments.9. Sponsors that are local and are seen as legitimate (govt. bodies) get a better

response.10. Include some form of incentive – entry into a draw or monetary incentive (personal

choice).

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Focus Groups• An interview conducted by a trained moderator in a

non-structured and natural manner with a small group of respondents

Group size 8-12

Group composition Prescreened, homogenous respondents

Physical setting Relaxed, informal setting

Duration 1 - 3 hours

Recording Use of audio and video cassettes

ModeratorObservational, interpersonal, good

communication skills needed.

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Use of Focus Groups

• Generate new product or service ideas• Understand consumer vocabulary• Useful for judging effectiveness of ad

campaigns• Reveal consumer needs, motives,

perceptions and attitudes• Facilitate understanding of quantitative

studies• Generate future research objectives

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Advantages and Disadvantages

• Major Advantages:– Synergism– Snowballing– Stimulation– Security– Spontaneity– Speed– Cost savings

• Major Disadvantages:– Lack of

representativeness– Misuse– Misjudge– Moderation problem– Difficulty of analysis

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Exercise

• Construct a questionnaire to find out what customers of your restaurant think of your customer service. (Groups of 2)