Moments of Truth in customer service Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Moments of Truth in customer service - Essay Example Without customers, there is no business to speak of. Carlzon’s impressive marketing approach effectively brought out the company out of the red, from an $8 million loss in 1981 to a staggering $71 million profit in less than a year. More than taking risks in terms of grand expenditure for such a move, what really worked in this strategy was adopting a change internally instead of externally putting up a more sophisticated faà §ade.Carlzon realized the need to shift from an inward, production-oriented airline to a more customer-driven and service oriented company. People need more humanized service instead of a more technologically advanced aircraft to ride on. Carlton’s team closed gaps in customer service that caused the company to lose revenue from the customer’s defection to other airlines or from simply losing the trust and confidence of their customers. Gronroos (2001) identified common gaps between customer expectations and the perceptions of the actual se rvice delivery as management perception gap; translation gap in quality specs; service delivery gap, gaps in â€Å"promises† made in marketing; and overall gap between perceived service and expected service.In each gap, customer satisfaction hangs on a thread and if not filled immediately, the company stands to lose the customer who has the power to spread the word of his or her dissatisfaction to others who could be prospective customers.Moments of truth usually occur within encounters between customers and company staff. Thus, each member of the company should be thoroughly trained in the provision of quality customer service. Empowering the staff with the trust that they can use their better judgment in satisfying customers, they must be authorized with decision-making powers under various moment of truth situations with customers. Having knowledgeable, courteous and happy staff brings about happy and satisfied customers. These customers know that they are in good hands an d with efficient staff who are able to provide them with their needs, it is likely that their satisfaction will bring in more business. To take the advise of Nilsson, the person responsible for the resurrection of Scandic Hotels, decision-making power should be shared with sales and service-front-line workers â€Å"right at the customer level† (Goodman, 2000). Nilsson recommends a decentralized management