possible services manual for ufone

8/14/2019 Possible Services Manual for Ufone

1/15

SERVICES MANUAL

FOR

UFONE

1


2/15

Services manual - Ufone

Frontline staff serves as the backbone of an organization and pave way to shaping customer

perceptions. Therefore, relevant training programs should be devised to make employees

efficient so that they enable two way communication.

This manual consists of the following basic topics:

1. Personal Management

Hygiene

Body language

Appearance

2. Emotional Labour

Anger Management (Dealing with difficult customers)

3. Interpersonal Skills

Interaction

Personal/interpersonal conflicts

4. Time Management

5. Role Conflict

Personal management

Being a part of the front line staff means interacting with the customers. Many times a customer

judges the firm by their employees who are present in front of the. Hence, those employees

should look their best and act their best in order to make a good impression on the firm and keep

them coming back for more.

There are many factors that are included in personal management of firm. The ones that apply to

ufone are listed below.

2


3/15

Personal hygiene:

It is important for the frontline employees to be as neat as possible or else it will create disgust in

the customers. The most important factor included in personal hygiene is grooming. And

employee should be properly groomed with a proper hair cut and hair style. Hair should not be

falling all over an employees face as then it makes a bad impression on the customer. Also

unkempt beard also makes a bad impression, so an employee should shave properly before

coming to work. Nails should be properly cut as when coming in contact with the customers, he

should see proper clean hands instead of dirty ones. Women should avoid makeup over dose as

that does not look proper when they are in contact with different types of people, some may be

allergic or some may not like that look. Oral hygiene should also be taken care off since frontline

employees need to talk to the customers, bad breath or dirty teeth will cause customer disgust.

Appearance:

Employees should look their best when they are dealing with customers. Their clothes should be

clean and properly ironed. Everyone should have one look that will give a sort of unity feeling in

the environment. Different color of clothes should be avoided; same color will make a better

impression. Shoes are one thing that every one notices, they are the thing that people also judge

the other person by, and therefore employees should wear clean and proper style of shoes.

Body language:

Body language can convey a lot of messages to the person in front. It is important to keep a good

form of body language that tell the customer that he is being listened too and make him feel

welcome. It was noticed that employees at Ufone branch did not make any eye contact or did not

smile at the customer they were dealing with. They appeared to be obsessed with their

computers. That mistake should be avoided. Employees should make proper eye contact with the

customer and smile while speaking to them. He should greet the person properly and make himfeel warm and welcomed. While sitting, the employee should not slouch; he should appear

relaxed but sit straighter. Composure and posture of an employee should be maintained at all

times, it should make them look confident.

Interaction:

3


4/15

While interacting with customers, employees should speak properly. If a customer is speaking in

English, the best way to reply would be in English as well. An employee should be well spoken

and should know what he is saying to the customer. The employee should be friendly to their

customers, even if they are dealing with difficult ones. They should apologize to the customer is

their work has taken too long. A proper greeting and a proper goodbye is a must as that adds

impression. Frontline employees are many times put under a lot of stress because of their

customers so they should be well trained in stress management. They should be able to handle

the stress and remain calm at all times. It is important for an employee to make more eye contact

and smile to the customer. They should not be as engrossed in their computer as that makes the

customer feel ignored. The employee should always listen to the customer and reply politely

back to them even when they are dealing with difficult customers. After the employees case has

been handled, they should say a proper goodbye and wish them a good day.

Training session:

Employees should be trained once every month on personal management and they should also be

evaluated once every month so the company knows where they stand with their employee. If

there is any difficult employee or the management thinks that there is something personal that

should be dealt with in private with an employee, then it should be done on one to one basis.

The best way of training employees on personal management would be by:

Visual displays : in this different pictures and a power point presentation should be shown

to the employees about how they should deal with personal management matter. This is

an effective way of getting the message across to employees.

One on one training : employees should be called one by one for the training session and

should be told everything there is to know about personal management. Also different

employees may have different habits, these could be dealt with in these one on onesession as more ground can be covered that way on personal basis.

Role playing : when in training two employees should be asked to do role playing exercise

in front of everyone. Every employee would have a turn in doing so. This will help to

4


5/15

understand the customers point of view and will help bring faster changes in the attitudes

of the employees.

Evaluation

Every month the employees should be evaluated. Customers should be encouraged to fill out the

customer evaluation and suggestion form. Employee of the month should also be chosen on this

basis as this will encourage motivation. Frontline employees themselves should be asked to

evaluate their fellow frontline employees and the management should be asked to do the same. In

the end after all the evaluation has been done, it should be decided what needs to be added in the

training session and what needs to be focused on the next time around.

Helping Frontline Staff to Present a Positive Face (combating emotional labor)

Arlie Hochschild created the term 'emotional labor' in 1983 to describe the things that service

workers do that goes beyond physical or mental duties. Showing a genuine concern for

customers' needs, smiling, and making positive eye contact are all critical to a customer's

perception of service quality. These types of activities, when they're essential to worker

performance, are emotional labor.

When you have to face angry clients, or people who are usually unpleasant, emotional labor

becomes a major challenge. A large part of that challenge comes from the need to hide your real

emotions, and continue to 'smile and nod your head,' even when receiving negative or critical

feedback.

Implications for Workers

When you are involved in emotional labour, you need to control your feelings in order to fulfill

the goals and expectations of your organization. You can either express only your positive

feelings or hide or manage your negative feelings. When people are dealing with negative

emotions, they tend to do one of the following:

Show emotion they don't really feel

Hide emotion they really do feel

5


6/15

Create an appropriate emotion for the situation

There are two emotional labor techniques:

Surface acting - You fake, or pretend to have, an emotion by using unnatural and artificial body

language and verbal communication. Smiling and using a soft tone of voice help you show

emotion that you don't feel, or hide emotion that you do feel.

Deep acting - You control your internal emotions, directing them to believe that you actually are

happy, and enjoying the interaction with the other person. Rather than feel like you're pretending,

you convince yourself you're not experiencing a negative reaction.

How to overcome issues with emotional labour:

A team of management personnel should be made who will act as counselors. Any employee

who is suffering from a problem can approach, through a hotline number, any member of the

team and express their problems. This will reduce the anxiety and stress level of the employee as

he/she will have a platform to lighten their heart from their problems.

Anger Management

Difficult customers are a nightmare of every frontline employee. Everyone knows the popular

term that "the customer is always right." Unfortunately, the most difficult ones make it a point to

rub this in your face. But there are tips for dealing with difficult customers you can follow to

keep your head cool and avoid conflict with the customers.

Some frontline employees make the mistake of aggravating the situation whenever a difficult

customer makes himself or herself known. But these tips for dealing with difficult customers will

help you be in control.

1) Get to the root of the problem

Ask the customer how you can assist him or her. If the root of the problem is simple enough,

don't say anything more that you know will upset the customer. Your goal is to solve the

6


7/15

problem and get away from the difficult customer as quickly as possible, without sacrificing your

store's reputation.

Difficult customers who leave with a bad experience often make it a point to spread bad word of

mouth about it to other people. And you know how powerful word-of-mouth is and how fast it

spreads.

2) Smile. It confuses people

One of the best tips for dealing with difficult customers is smiling. Not only does it keep the

situation from becoming too tense, it also helps you keep up a cool front. Being charming often

alleviates the problem instantly.

Warning: Be sensitive to people's emotions. A genuine smile is nice, but an insulting smile isn't.

So do what you can to resolve an issue and accompany it with a smile. But don't smile while he's

giving you a piece of his mind. You need to express your empathy, and not make them feel

you're mocking them.

3) Offer a present

One of the most effective tips for dealing with difficult customers is making sure they leave yourstore in a good mood. Ensure the customer that the mishap will not happen again. It's a small

price to pay for a happy ending.

The truth is, these types of customers are everywhere. And if you become rather difficult

yourself, then the whole situation won't get anywhere. Follow these tips for dealing with difficult

customers and you'll be alright. Perhaps next time, that consumer will have a change of heart.

Chances are one person in a dispute is going to get angry or angry first. Try not to react to theanger. Stay focused on the problem and the solution.

2. If someone's anger is impeding your ability to do your job, transfer them to a manager or

someone trained to work with angry people.

7


8/15

3. If you can't help a customer, give them options. The worst thing a customer can feel is

victimized.

4. Accept that you may not have all the answers. Even if you think you know what the rules or

parameters are, ask a higher up if you may do something differently for a customer.

5. Anger affects other people, so if you feel yourself getting affected by another person's anger,

take a few deep breaths or stretch your body to get a little more oxygen going in order to try and

gird yourself up against the anger.

6. If you are a customer, and you are not getting what you want, go to the next step -- a manager,

a supervisor, etc. Often times, going over a stubborn employee's head (or their manager's head,

too), will solve the problem. You may encounter someone very pleasant in an executive suite or

office of the store

One of the most essential management tool that front line employees should be well trained

about and should have prior experience to is how to deal with anger while serving customer.

Anger management is important because it could have a very positive impact on health and

physical projection of the front line employees. When employees face Anger while at work, their

physiological and biological activities are affected, accompanied by high blood pressure, heart beat rate etc. which affects the level of energy and vigor with which employees present

themselves while at work.

It important to understand that while at work, it is imminent that you (the employee) would face

a substantial amount of customers who are dissatisfied with performance of the management at

times. At times you might require to take a challenge to calm down the unhappy customer at

work and ensure that he gets satisfied; this is a very difficult yet important task.

There are some very important steps that you should consider while performing frontline duties

to ensure that you get a right impression of your firm/organization and in the end ensure

customer satisfaction.

Some very essential points include:

8


9/15

1. Dont take responses personally: it is important that you realize that if you encounter an

angry customer, he or she is angry on the management or the organization that you work

for. Hence, you should try not to take comments personally.

2. Honesty is the best Policy: it is important that you realize the importance of being honest.

Hence if the organization is wrong or at fault, it is better to accept it and find a solution

rather than further argument. This would help you satisfy customer and retain them in the

long run.

3. Decide the implications based on your actions: Handling difficult customers can be

challenging, but it's worth mastering the negotiation skills required to win their loyalty.

When they're satisfied with the way you handle their complaints, they can also be among

your biggest sources of business. And since customers are the lifeblood of any business,

the more you can rely on regular customers and referrals then the less time and money

you'll have to spend to get new business.

Four Things to Avoid while at work:

1. Don't make threats: it is important that you as a representative of the organization should

not be harsh or rude to your customer no matter what happens. Being calm, helpful and

supportive is something that you should keep as your motto.

2. Don't argue: It is important that you do not argue with the customer at any point.

3. Don't raise your voice: It is important that you do not raise your voice or shout in front of

the customer since it is inappropriate behavior.

4. Dont make the customer feel wrong: It is important that you remain in line with the

customer opinions and suggest him/her various options rather than portraying an

impression/image that the customer is wrong.

Time Management

9


10/15

Time management is not an inborn skill, but can be learnt easily through practice. In Ufone, you

can differentiate yourself by your ability to handle information and manage your time. So here

are 4 tips to make you better at managing your work:

1. Do the most important thing first.

Assist the customers before attending to anything else. If you have to make a customer wait

due to some problem, then apologize for the delay. The first thing to do when you enter the

office is to make a to-do list in order to organize the day with prioritized tasks. Keep this list

accessible so that you are reminded of your tasks throughout the day.

2. Be proactive.

We don't have problems finishing projects, we have problems starting them. Take the

initiative in activities or duties and other will help you out. Once the solution has beenstarted there are many to help you, plus an individual becomes self motivated to do so.

3. Don't leave work sitting on your table.

The ability to quickly process information and turn it into actions is one of the most

developing skills of the professional world today. Organize your work in files so that you can

easily access them when required. Similarly, organize your emails in folders. If the message

needs more thought, move it to your to-do list.

4. Multitasking is good.

While serving one customer, try to fulfill the customer needs with multitasking. For eg. If

the customer is looking for the payment of a bill, tell the customer about the new packages

and start off quickly by the mode of payment of the customer.

Activities

Time management activities include a situation when you have to handle customers in a certain

amount of time. And there is a specific PCT (per customer time) that you need to maintain in

order to complete all the customers in the duration.

Trainings would have to be done on a regular basis to keep employees in practice and maintain a

regular quality assurance.

10


11/15

Games should be played in which employees are given a fixed amount of time and they have to

make quick decisions along with manage their time.

More common and practical example would be an activity that has the combination of team work

and time management. Its called a Rally, in which group of 2 or 3s are setup among the

employees. Then certain tasks are given with time duration and stop over and pit stops as in a

real car race. But this one is on foot, with each stops having clues for the next game and stops.

After a certain amount of games and stops the team reaches the final pit stop. All the teams start

off together, the first team to arrive at the pit stop wins.

During the rally, all the games are difficult that require different type of skills, some may require

2 people to work together to complete it, while others are more of strategy and time management

activities. But the team that has the best team work and time management are determined to

accomplish and win the race.

11


12/15

Interpersonal Skills

Reducing the Cycle of Mediocrity in Frontline Staff:

Activity: Ufone should develop a response on an ongoing basis according to the customer feed

they get. This could be done with the help of placing a drop box at their service centers, creating

blogs and collecting suggestions and feedback from their website.

Ufone can track call volume trends and work on improving them based on what the customers

say. This can later be inculcated to the front line staff in order to enhance the level of service

provided and customer dealings could be improved.

Response: Based on the input, Ufone can plan a response accordingly. Other than the frontline

staff, they can calculate hold time which would in turn be a leading indicator to calculate how the

response is changing and whether customers queries could be addressed and solved on the

phone and or whether customers have to come in person to the service centers.

Also the call abandon rate can be devised.

Back log: This is the work in progress of an organization calculated in volume. Any task aging

will be a bad indicator of jobs being done and would have a negative impact. However, this can

be improved.

Retention Program:

In order to have employees deal with customers in a lively way, it is important that they are self

motivated. For this, retention programs can be devised.

Rewards can be planned to lower down labour turnover so that increasing amounts of investment

need not be made for training of new employees. Implementation can be done in the form of:

Employee of the month award and displaying the best employees picture in service

outlets

12


13/15

Special discounts for front line employees (the employees will be given credit for their

phone line or if they are on post paid, then they will get a percentage discount on their

bill)

Collecting all queries and then having a face to face discussion session with front line

employees and management (the customer queries which are received and their proper

responses will be discussed as a one on one session where one management personnel

will be the customer and the front line staff member will answer his/her query)

Entrusting front line staff with responsibility and accepting their feedback as highly

valuable because they are the ones who directly deal with customers.

Training employees in a way that they influence a purchase decision for packages andmaking them being able to do cross selling.

.

Role Conflict

Frontline conflict takes place between the two bosses and the customer. For a telecom industry, it

is very difficult to satisfy excessive customer demands. The employees have to believe in what

the company is offering is right, however the organization/client conflict would be greatest when

the employees think Ufone is wrong and decide to accommodate the customer instead.

Various customers would need to be tackled at the same time, however, the conflict would be

high when customers come with incompatible expectations and have to be satisfied at the same

time. This could take turns with one customer taking additional time. This is the reason why time

management is essential for meeting deadlines. Working simultaneously would be an issue,

hence job specialization is important.

To overcome role conflict:

There should be proper job descriptions

Managers and subordinates should understand each others responsibilities

13


14/15

Colleagues should understand and respect each other

Team Building

4Cs

by Matthew Richter

The organization can take help of Thiagi's Hello Game which would make the employees more

interactive and willing to learn as much as possible from the training program.

Customer satisfaction can be used as the training topic. The number of participants could be any,

while teams are being formed.

Time:

30 minutes to 1 hour

Supplies

Timer

Whistle

Paper

Markers

Preparation

Take four papers with these topics

What are the components of customer satisfaction,

What are the characteristics of great customer satisfaction

What are the Challenges for achieving great customer satisfaction

What are the characters involved for customer satisfaction

Flow

Brief the participants. As a manger explain what is to be gathered by employees related to

customer satisfaction and what they think about it. It should be jotted down on the papers

provided.

14


15/15

Define terms. Define what is meant by each of the terms mentioned.

Components are the part of the business concept, for instance, taking feedback from

employees.

Characteristics would be the features associated with the telecom company. Forexample, the speed of service which the service is provided or queries satisfied.

Challenges are the hurdles associated with the service, such as signal issues on special

occasions and inability to satisfy customers.

Characters are people are people who would be associated with Ufone, for instance,

front line employees in service centers.

Now the teams are to be divided into FOUR equal sized teams.

Brief the teams: Allot each team a different C and ask them to jot down points related to each.

In this way they can discuss certain valuable points that were not tapped before.

Give each team 10 minutes to survey the room and gather points for each C. Later on they should

all be made to sit together and brainstorm whats collected and data analyses according to it.

15

possible services manual for ufone

Documents