How to Enter Workshop

CUSTOMER SERVICEPrepared by Amanda Dalton-Winks |Dalton-Winks ConsultingM: 0413 510 387

OverviewCustomer Service and Customer ExperienceAlthough the question asks about customer service, keep the end-to-end customer experience in mind

Demonstrate an understanding of:• The customers’ journey from when they first become

aware of your business to your interactions with them after their visit and beyond

• The typical customer life cycle• e.g.: How do they find you?; Do they visit once or repeatedly?;

Do they bring friends on return visits?

Thought-starters:• How do you fulfil their needs

• e.g.: functional, social, emotional

• How do you make their visit easier, more enjoyable, memorable?

• How do you make them feel valued?• What are their pressure points

• e.g.: unsubscribing due to too many emails• What are their sweet spots

• e.g.: extending visits due to value-add offers

Top TipsKeywords• Before starting, highlight the key words

in each question and the tips section• Aim for approximately 3-6 key words

per piece• This will clarify the information you need

to provide and help you stay on track with your answer

Recommended Resources• SATC website

• South Australian Tourism Plan 2020• SATC Corporate Plan• Regional Visitor Strategy• Regional Tourism Profiles• Domestic Market Profiles• International Market Profiles• Understanding China• Research & Statistics/Other Research/Useful Resources

• TiCSA website• Regional Tourism websites

Evidence• Qualified

• Use when discussing People, Relationships, Community

• e.g.: case studies, customer quotes, testimonials, media clippings

• Quantified• Use when discussing Business, Markets, Economy

• e.g.: metrics (percentages, YoY figure comparisons), graphs, charts

• Mixed• Useful when discussing marketing-related

initiatives and outcomes

Editing• Ask someone who’s not directly

involved in the business to:• Proof-read and look for spelling and

punctuation errors• Make sure you’ve answered the

question (and keywords) properly• Tell you if anything doesn’t make sense

to an objective reader• Check that acronyms have been

written in full for first use

4a. Describe your customer service philosophy/values

4a KeywordsDescribe your customer service philosophy/values

• Tip:Consider the systems and procedures you have in place to deliver outstanding service. How do you make an effort to understand visitor needs, welcome them, thank them, and do business with them?

Provide an overview of what you do and how you do it:• Customer Service Philosophy

• Short description of your approach to customer service• Similar to business vision, mission and values• Thought-starters:

• How do you want your customer to feel about you?• How do you make that happen?• How do you apply your own

experiences as a consumerto improve your business?

• Policy and procedures• Brief description of your systems• Explanation of how these are

communicated to and implemented with staff

• Consider:• Customer Journey mapping• Competitor benchmarking• How often are your procedures revised?

• Training and development• Thought-starters:

• How do you stay informed of consumer trends?

• Where do you find inspiration for innovation?

• How do you develop and empower your staff?

• Consider:• Industry memberships• Attendance at SA Tourism Conference• Training courses and TiCSA workshops• Online resources such as subscriptions,

eNewsletters, blogs etc

• Encouraging feedback• List and short explanation of channels

• Keep it fairly brief and provide more detail in part c

• Include:• Metrics (quantified evidence)• Examples and a general customer

quote (qualified evidence)

4b. Explain how you provide for visitors with specific needs

4b KeywordsExplain how you provide for visitors with specific needs

• Tip: Demonstrate how you consider visitors’ special and specific needs. Think about who your customers are and their specific requirements and how you identify who requires the accessible tourism products/experiences and services you offer. Do you offer any specific accessible tourism products, experiences and services to visitors?

• Identify areas of need by Target Market/Demographic• Refer to your content for the Marketing section (Q3)

• Cover a broad range of needs, wants, and expectations• Accessibility • Emotional • Families• Functional • Social • Events• Dietary • Cultural • Dog-friendly• Allergies • Business/Corporate • Smokers

• Explain• How needs are catered for

• Pay special attention to any accessible tourism offerings

• Outcomes and examples of successes (qualified evidence)

• Flexibility of solutions as needs arise• e.g.: staff empowerment and

authority levels

• Consider using a table to list the information clearly and concisely

4c. Describe how you measure customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement

4c KeywordsDescribe how you measure customer satisfaction andidentify areas for improvement

• Tip:What processes do you have in place to understand how your customer feels about your product/service? For example: feedback forms, monitoring social media, blogs, mystery shoppers etc. Consider providing a case study/example where you have implemented a change based on customer feedback.

• Overview of customer satisfaction ratings• Consider including a dashboard snapshot or screenshots

• List of feedback channels• Expanding on the list from part a• Ratings, percentages etc by channel (quantified evidence)• Year-on-year (YoY) comparisons of overall satisfaction

(quantified evidence)• Any other measurement tools

• e.g.: ReviewPro reviews dashboard (includedin Quality Tourism Framework accreditationvia TiCSA); Social Media dashboard (GoogleAnalytics, Hootsuite etc); informal feedback& observations from staff

• Procedures• Response times• Differing response approaches for:

• Feedback • Praise • Complaints (give detail in part d)

• Staff authority levels/escalation strategy• Identifying areas for improvement• Repeat business strategy

• Case study/examples• Changes implemented from feedback (qualified evidence)

4d. What processes do you have in place to respond to customers’ complaints both online and offline, and manage your online reputation?

4d KeywordsWhat processes do you have in place to respond to customer complaints both online and offline, and manage your online reputation?

• Tip:This is a three-part answer. It is crucial to know what your clients are saying about your business and take measures to protect your business. A sound Reputation Management strategy will outline the processes you have in place to understand how your clients see you, think of you and talk about you and how you take action when feedback is received (negative or positive). In this response you need to outline your reputation management strategy and what processes you have in place to respond to positive and negative feedback (online and offline), how you measure customer satisfaction and what processes you have in place to monitor your online reputation.

• Complaints process• Include this even if no complaints have

been received in the qualifying period• Overview from receipt to resolution• Levels of authority and escalation

guidelines• Number of complaints received/resolved

• Percentage of visitation (quantified evidence)

• YoY comparisons (quantified evidence)

• Reputation management strategy• Managing and monitoring online reputation

• Earned, owned, and paid media• Online search

• Understanding customer sentiment• Action/response plan

• How you handle negative comments• How you build on positive comments

• Measurement

• Procedures, response times and messaging by channel

• Online (including social media and reviews)• Offline (including in person, by phone, email,

mail)• Consider using a table to list the information

clearly and concisely• Case study/examples

• Positive resolution of a complaint (qualified evidence)