Bt's Customer Service Advisors Aim example essay topic

About BT Name: British Telecommunications Business: Telecommunications, Telephones, Lines for transferring data Customers: The public (Anyone wishing to communicate through a range of media) Location: Nationwide Mission Statement: Our ambition is to be the best provider of communications services and solutions for everybody in the United Kingdom and for corporate customers in the rest of Europe, with global reach through partnerships Social Mission Statement (BT Better World) We aim to be at the heart of the information society - in which everyone irrespective of nationality, culture, ethnicity, class, creed or education has access to the benefits of information and communications. Customer Care Customer care is the care, service and attention that a company shows to their customers. Customer care has become extremely important in BT because they believe over the last decade organisations that rely on a standard of service, which encourages their customers to come back is of the up-most importance. In an extremely competitive marketplace especially now with Internet businesses customers have more than enough choice usually. An excellent degree of customer service may be the only aspect of a company, which differentiates them from a competitor. Customer service involves looking at the organisation from the customer's point of view and most systems and practices in the firm are customer driven.

BT now are a customer centric company, which means everything they do in their service is geared towards the customer. BT have a separate customer service department which deal specifically with helping and dealing with customer complaints or queries. Slogans like customer is king, customer is always right and customer comes first is customer care at its extreme. However the essence of customer care is that if the service, assistance and attention shown to the customer are second to none then that company will have the upper hand in competing in business BT's External Customers British Telecom in the United Kingdom serves twenty-one million customers with more than twenty-eight million exchange lines. These telephone lines are used by businesses, consumers and used by other service providers. Businesses and other telecommunications companies use approximately eight million of these lines; the remainder are residential customers mostly as their telephone lines in their homes.

BT has one of the largest commercial customer bases in the UK. Basically BT's main customers are anyone who wants to communicate through a wide range of communication options. Whether it being residential (i.e. friends at home) or business (i.e. ranging from a secretary, to call centres, to businesses online). BT has a wide range of customers however essentially as nowadays the majority of the population will have use of a telephone BT's customers are possibly everyone Customer service will be extremely important to BT's customers, as communication has become so important in today's world. Many people now believe that their phone is a necessity.

Residential customers will expect the same level of service as businesses. Many businesses would completely come to a stand still if their communications were down for example call centres, Internet services, offices. Mostly all modern businesses would certainly be badly affected without communication exchange lines. This contributes to BT's customers relying on them for an excellent, unparalleled degree of service. If their company's communications were severed they would be already unsatisfied with the service and expect it rectified immediately. As there is also competition in the market such as NTL / Cable BT must ensure that their service is without fault or some customers may change providers.

BT Internal customers BT believes that their employees are critical to their success. BT have stated that research shows that the way a company treats its employees influences customer decision making. They believe a reputation as good employers will help them win and retain customers. BT aim to attract, recruit, develop and motivate the best people. In BT improving the quality of service to external customers starts with the quality of service that employees of the company give each other. For example in BT, team managers and office workers may not interact with customers, however BT believe their customers are the BT engineers who work with the external customers (i.e. the public).

If the team leaders and office staff give their fellow employees an excellent quality of service the benefits of excellent customer service will then be passed to the external customer (the public). Stages of Effective Care Strategy 1. Keeping the customer connected When BT are late installing a service they will immediately divert all of the incoming calls to an alternative fixed or mobile phone free of charge. The failure to repair a customer's service is compensated with a rebate 2. BT's promised time BT also has promised times according to the agreed installation of a service and the date of when the call allowance begins; it is basically a next day service. From the date of the fault being reported the rental rebate will start two days afterwards Customer Care Strategy British Telecommunications follow their strategy through their customer service mission statement " To provide a great service experience at every customer contact on behalf of our BT partners".

They state their values as Customers are at their heart, they aim high their goals are clear, they deliver, they are "one team". They state that customer satisfaction is their number one priority for the BT group. Customer service is at the heart of their retail strategy and right at the heart of everything they do in customer service. BT also have a customer service guarantee, stating that they value the customer and that's why they aim to provide a service they can trust and depend on and a commitment to help them in the unlikely event that they have a problem with their service.

BT guarantee's is that if the customer is experiencing difficulties with their service they will make it their priority to keep the customer connected by offering to divert their incoming calls to a number of their choice. Alternatively they can claim fixed rate compensation. BT's Promise to their customers. To supply the customer's service on time. To repair the customers service on time. To keep appointments with the customers.

Not to disconnect the customers service by mistake Monitoring Quality, Costs and time BT monitor their quality of work through many different ways however the customer facing engineers for example do so through Event-Driven Customer Service Measures (edcsm's). They are used to measure BT customers satisfaction with their recent contract with BT. Major business edcsm is a monthly continuous survey of BT's fault repair and provision of service shortly after individual faults and orders have been closed. Major business edcsm gives a monthly track of overall satisfaction with BT's fault repair and provision of service and the key issues that drive overall satisfaction.

BT sees the time and costs creating an effective customer care package as an investment. They believe the time and money spent on recruiting competent staff; training the staff and maintaining their staffs knowledge of customer care is worthwhile. The time and money spent now will be an investment, as customers who are satisfied with the excellent service will come back to BT time and again. This will build a substantial customer base through the initial customers and through new customers joining BT by means of recommendations.

Also as the staff are effectively trained they can deal will customer complaints and problems efficiently and effectively. This saves time and money and in the long run the investment now should be returned in sales figures, as BT will have a customer base larger than their competition. Customer Rapport When a fault is reported to BT the engineer will be sent as soon as possible to resolve the problem. However when a BT employee call at people's houses they have certain rules to adhere to which is extremely important for the customer to know and the employee to know.

For example when BT people call at your house they will not normally do so without an appointment and they will always carry identification. These two facts act as a security measure for the customer. Also recently all BT employees who meet customers will carry identity cards. These cards incorporate security features, which make them very difficult to forge or tamper with. BT also gives advice to the customers on how to check the person at their house.

There is a phone number BT give their customers that they can call to verify the number on the identity card. They can also ask to see the card at any time that the employee is on their premises. These security measures act as a customer relationship built on trust and that the customer is kept safe and secure and that the job will be done well by a professional. BT believes that improving their processes; systems and products are important elements in improving customer satisfaction. However they believe the vital ingredient, which sets them apart from their competitors, is the rapport they have when dealing with their customers. BT has compiled ten golden rules for their employees to adhere to when dealing with the customer.

These ten rules help the customer feel comfortable with the BT employee and helps build a rapport... Be friendly. Really listen. Show you understand. Give the customer the benefit of the doubt. Don't be afraid to say sorry.

Don't leave customers in the dark. Don't blame another part of BT. Take responsibility. Agree what happens next. Keep your promises Maintaining Relationships BT values the importance of a good relationship with their customers. A good illustration of a relationship between a business and its' customers is reward schemes.

BT have such schemes as the friends and family calls scheme whereby the customer chooses 5 phone numbers which they think they use most often. (They can also check this with BT). Each the time the customer phones these numbers they will receive a reduced rate. BT also provide free services for their customers such as call minder. This service acts like an answering machine, when the customer is out or unable to answer the phone BT will ask the person phoning if they would like to leave a message. This message is then stored by BT in the customers own personal account and can be received by phoning 1571.

Also exclusive to BT customers is 1471 by phoning 1471 the customer will be able to determine who was the last to call. Another free service to BT is call waiting whereby if the customer is dialling a number, which is engaged by pressing 3 and hanging up BT will phone the customer when the engaged line is free again. These are all small services, which help build a relationship with the customer and create loyalty. BT also have price packages to suit all types of customers such as anytime and everyone. These packages offer low rate calls at certain times of the day for example for a fixed price a customer can receive free local calls at the weekend and evenings if this suits. Handling Complaints In consultation with the office of telecommunication (Oftel) BT have developed procedures to deal with complaints from their customers.

BT Promises. To supply the service and repairs on time. To keep appointments. Not to disconnect customers by mistake. It accepts liability if these procedures above are not adhered to When the promise does not apply. To some services.

If a customer won't allow entry to premises. If circumstances are beyond the control of BT. If the customer breaks their promise (Where BT can suspend their service or end its agreement and refuse to provide the service to the customer again) BT's customer service advisors aim to resolve the problem or complaint as quickly as possible and if possible during the phone-call. They will also agree a course of action they will take with the customer. As many people are reluctant to come forward with a complaint BT do not mind if someone else makes the complaint for the customer.

However when this is the case the customer must confirm they are doing so on behalf of a friend as to protect the customer's privacy and security details. If customers are not happy with the way their complaint is dealt with BT give their customers numbers to phone whether it be residential customers, business customers or payphone customers. These numbers are for the customer service managers. If the customer feels their complaint is still not being dealt with satisfactorily they can ask to consult with a senior manager. BT also have a complaints review service which will carry out a detailed review of the way the customers complaint has been handled and also try to resolve the problem. Customers can claim two types of compensation a daily rate, if money has been lost or an exact amount, which has been lost due to not meeting the guarantee if there is an actual financial loss.

Evaluation I believe BT has an excellent customer care policy for the industry in which it operates. Their customer care strategy is the heart of their retail strategy. This means that the whole nature of BT and its business is geared towards the customer. That their retail strategy's main aim is not about buying and selling or market share but their customer's satisfaction. They truly believe that their customer service policies will be an investment, which in turn will gain massive dividends for the company.