Visit Malaysia Year 2014

Malaysians should be geared for year 2014. The year 2014 scales Malaysia’s tourism industry through Visit Malaysia Year 2014 campaign. Surely Malaysia are not shortage of locations because we boast captivating attractions such as Langkawi, Tioman, KLCC Twin Tower, Batu Caves, Pagoda Temple, Desaru and the list goes on. According to News Straits Times dated 1^st January 2014, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture aims to attract 28 million foreign visitors to Malaysia.

Despite the exotic tourism appeal in Malaysia, one area that shall be under the frame of microscope is Customer Service. Public and private sectors should instill the importance of customer service to ensure the campaign is successful. Customer service ranges on the offered products and services that include product quality, customer care, facilities, equipment’s, technical installation, warranty, hygiene, grooming, communication, body language and reliability. This may provide the related industries to extend their promotional scales to attract customers to their outlets.

However several outlets may tarnish Malaysia’s image in this campaign by offering over priced products with poor quality services. We do not want our visitors to be cheated which shall reflect negatively to our campaign. The ministry should have a continuous monitoring on such outlets and take necessary actions to curb unreasonable price hike. Visitors that are treated excellently shall be referral to other customers. According to Lee Resource Incorporation ‘91% of unhappy customers will not willingly do business with your organization again’. Thus we do not want to lose even a single customer and everyone should be treated fairly without diminishing the service quality.

This campaign also requires all ministries to work closely as the responsibility does not solely falls upon the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. For example, the Health Ministry is required to conduct numerous inspections on all restaurants to ensure it complies with hygiene and safety regulation. We also do not want our foreign visitors’ to complaint the bad odor at Malaysia’s public toilet. According to www.thestar.com.my dated 20^th November 2013, the Urban, Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry conducted inspection on 10 257 public toilets and claimed that majority of it are still dirty with 1086 facility failed to even make the cut. Worse the Ministry reported that no food premises were chosen for the gold prize under the ministry’s 1Malaysia Clean Toilet Awards 2013 as none had fulfilled the requirements.

The ministry should firmly ensure that all organizations especially hotels and food related operators emphasize the valuation of customer service training to their employees’. Training and development can mold the employees’ skills otherwise if the employees are unprepared, surely it shall jeopardize the overall campaign objective. As Malaysians all of us have to be co-operative and ensure that the campaign is successful in terms of revenue and hospitality. Failure to do so may harm Malaysia’s image in global eyes and in return affect all the industries that ranges from airlines, hotels, restaurants, tour operators, tourist agencies, transportation, entrepreneurs till trishaw riders in Malacca. Finally I would like rephrase a quote from Sam Walton, the Founder of Wal-Mart who claimed that “There is only one boss. The CUSTOMER. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

Customer Feedback-Does It Serve Its Purpose?

Why are we gathering customer feedback? Is customer feedback an important tool to analyse customers’ opinions? According to Whitney Wood, Managing Partner of The Phelon Group "If you handle it right, the dialog between you and your customers can become the lifeline of your business. To establish and maintain a healthy flow, customer feedback must result in change your customers can see. Change is the most powerful currency to reward vocal and consultative customers."

Customer feedback form is designed to provide informational input to analyse improvement on the provided product and service. We can obtain feedback through various techniques such as telephone surveys, engaging a third party, survey form, questionnaire and online response. However, I always wondered if the managements are devoted in tackling customers concern through the highlighted feedback.

Few months back, I went to a pizza outlet, only to be left disappointed with the poor service from the waiter. The waiter poorly handled the order procedure and showed grumpiness when I expressed his poor service. He even placed the cutlery angrily. Upon leaving the outlet, I informed his superior on the waiter’s service and demand for improvement. I even wrote the feedback on the given customer satisfaction form for their record and future references. Within one month I had an opportunity to go to the same pizza outlet again with my colleagues. Deep down my heart I expected there shall be improvement in the service but once again the same waiter wined out the same poor service. After ticking the waiter off, we called the manager and explained the situation. Recalling the previous incident and satisfaction form, I demanded if the manager had taken any steps to improve the service especially from the waiter. Dumbfounded expression was enough to ensure that the manager did little to neither mend nor rectify the situation.

Another example that I would like to share was having a tea at a popular cafeteria. I liked their warm service but felt they could improve especially on key salutation areas. I wrote down in the given feedback form and explained to the cafeteria supervisor the importance of greetings through salutation. On my next visit to the cafeteria, the waiters had applied the given feedback and thus it increases my likelihood to go often to the cafeteria. Upon knowing my arrival to the cafeteria, the outlet manager and supervisor thanked for my points. The manager stated that improvement shall be done to fulfil customers’ needs. It also shows that they are serious in tackling any deficiencies.

Based on both examples, customer feedback forms are used to address any views from customers except for implementation. Example A used the feedback form as mere documentation but Example B used it to improve and provide quality service to customers. In long term, which outlet shall gain from the improved customer service? Such concern shall remain not only for Example A but for all other organizations that continuously ignores the provided feedback. It is common for poorly trained officers to belittle the importance of customer feedback and in such case management should emphasize the importance of constant monitoring and control. It is their duty to train their employees especially with the current customer that demands perfection and exceptional excellent service. Management needs to be firm with their employees when applying changes for the betterment of customer service. End day, it is how a management perceives the customer feedback form - A piece of idiotic paper or VALUABLE INFORMATION FOR IMPROVEMENT.

Hygiene And Customer Service

When is the last time you experienced a poor hygienic outlet? Poor cleaning practices and employees hygiene awareness has major influences in attracting customers.

Richard Milne through Nordic Correspondent (Financial Times Limited 2013) stated that Noma, an exclusive restaurant in Denmark resulted 63 diners fell ill with vomiting and diarrhea which was due to poor hand hygiene and lack of running hot water. In year 2009, the Fat Duck restaurant at England had 240 diners suffered gastroenteritis due to contaminated oysters and handling of food by infected employee.

In the year 2003, Malaysia’s Ministry of Health stated that 1097 restaurants, 603 stalls, 92 hawkers, 76 schools canteens and 31 food manufacturers were closed due to unhygienic operation. Poor hygiene practices have increased the concern among shoppers and diners especially at supermarkets, hypermarkets, restaurants, cafeteria, food manufacturing plants and wet markets. Several unhygienic factors includes cleanliness of employees such as long finger nails, unhygienic food preparation, poor personal grooming, uncooked water, congested piping, poorly washed equipment’s or cooking pots, poor environment such poorly maintained air conditioners, dirty cutlery or attire, smelly washroom, opened food containers and lengthened food storage.

In one of my visit with a friend to a mamak restaurant at Skudai, I declined to order any food or beverage. My friend ordered teh tarik but he got puzzled why I did not order anything. I said the appearance of the waiter with poorly shaved beard or moustache, dirty finger nail, sweatiness, dusty floor and not cleaned attire is enough to reject the offer. I went to the washroom and could not resist its bad odour. When the waiter came back with the teh tarik, my friend told to the waiter that he did not want the drink and we went to another restaurant. Most outlet proprietors feel that customers should adapt to the current environment but it is the other way round. Outlet proprietors have a SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY to customers and maintaining good hygiene is part of essential customer service.          

Price vs Quality

Price determines the growth of any business in any industry. The phrase “Cheap product has low quality or expensive products has higher quality” remains intact in customers mind set. Lately the global price hike in petrol has resulted for most organizations to increase their products and services prices. 

My wife always grabs the opportunity whenever new restaurants are launched. She likes to try new food for whatever price as long it provides the required satisfaction. Recently she decided to try an Indian restaurant but was taken back with charges. She felt being vindicated because the food she consumed was charged double the amount compared to any normal restaurant. She felt the product quality was below par, poorly served and lacked the right valuation. She voiced those comments to the restaurant proprietor but she was snubbed claiming that the petrol hike means they have to increase all the prices. Most Indian restaurants in Johor have charged higher prices but failed to address on the quality measurements of their products. 

Another example was based on a regular cafeteria in where I and my colleagues would hangout for their famous Hainan Tea. Immediately after petrol price hike, the next day the cafeteria has new designed menu card with ‘new’ price for their products. For the next few days we noticed a big comparison in the cafeteria, the product quantity has reduced and the quality of the product has plunged. The content of product does not have many ingredients as before which could be termed as cost cutting measures. Even the price of Hainan Tea has increased but the flavour is missing the previous golden taste. The question remains “Has the quality being compromised despite hiking the product or service price?” Does the restaurant or cafeteria proprietor feels that customers shall buy for whatever prices even if the quality is degraded? 

Most organizations still maintain that products are priced accordingly and quality is not neglected. However as customers we can see the vast differences in the quality of the offered products whenever they increase the price. Majority of the organizations should emphasize that customers purchase their products with intent of deserved valuation or worth the money. Setting high price is acceptable but if the quality slackens, the word of mouth shall smear any organization in the bad books of customers.  

Poorly Trained Employees

Poorly trained employees have constantly influenced quality deficiency and face difficulties in handling the assigned tasks effectively.

In one of the training I conducted at a sub-con manufacturing plant, I found out that their organization have high rejects especially from the production department. Two factors that has been narrowed down to the high rejects; firstly majority of the production operators are foreigners that leads to communication barriers and secondly they do not have adequate job nor process knowledge to carry out the task effectively. Every day in the morning briefing, the Production Manager just explains the areas to tackle and types of rejects. The manager claimed that training's are just a waste of time and employees should learn the traits on their own. The high rejects has only resulted repetitive tasks in production which affects the overall shipment or customer delivery timeline. Crystal clear that not all techniques can contribute to success as each employee possesses different level of knowledge especially in understanding the job process. Based on the above scenario, the production manager has made two errors; firstly he failed to provide the right training method and secondly failures to neither rectify nor improve the first committed error.

There are various techniques to train new employees such as using visual or photos to identify types of rejects, utilizing job orientation, process monitoring, mentor mentee, job rotation, shadowing, e-learning, coaching, simulation, games, off job training or process knowledge. Management should take things seriously and apply the right methods to ensure the organization’s growth is in the right direction. Training can be experimental but the main objective is to gain results. I always emphasized that organization have a responsibility to provide the RIGHT training methods to their employees as part of talent management. Training and development maintains employee retention subsequently upgrading their skills that leads to productive performance. 

"Thank You. Please Come Again"- Customer Service

“Thank You.  Please Come Again”. The tactful phrase has been a common well-wishers exit by organizations to customers.  The exit statement unlocks a curiosity “Why customers have to come back to your outlet again”.

It is common belief that customers come back to the same outlet only if their needs are fulfilled and satisfied with the overall service. Customer retention involves the offered products and service which are supported with excellent customer service. X Factors such as price range, variation, personnel, appearance, technology advancement, promotion, convenience, safeties and reliability shall determine on continuous customer retention.

For example, customers always prefer a clean and hygienic restaurant compared to filthy and congested cafeteria. Even if the restaurant is clean and hygiene, the following factors shall be considered by customers such as the price of the products, offered choices, atmosphere, Wi-Fi and seating arrangements shall be taken into consideration. Customer satisfaction has constantly grown from periodical to much aligned techno savvy generation.

The elusive questions remain “Does all organizations have continuously conducted analysis on their weakness and IMPROVED their services?” The organizations’ management should be serious in applying changes for improved customer service. Majority organizations still assume that customers shall always come despite average customer service. Since the implementation of service tax, customers have known their rights for exceptional excellent service.

If organizations continue to take things for granted, customers shall always use the phrase “Thank You For Your Lousy, Poor, Out-dated and Incompetent Service. We Shall Never Come Again”.    

Poor Queuing Techniques

Queuing techniques are coordination that enables employees to serve customers in a systematic method. An article by Richard Larson in blog.tenstator.com stated that ‘Businesses that implement effective queue management practices can speed up queue flow and improve service times by 30%. Poor queue management can impact consumer safety, reduce productivity, tarnish brand reputations and the list goes on.’

In one of my recent visit to a fast food restaurant at Kulai, Johor, I waited for almost 30 minutes in a group of 8 customers before my turn which is almost the same time we can order food and consume in normal dine-in restaurants. Customers always take into account of time-saving and fast service when entering fast food restaurants. It is important for employees to insert an effective queue management system to ensure the continuous flow of customers and efficiency in operations.

Another intriguing situation shared by my colleague who had waited at a fast food restaurant at Sitiawan, Perak, in a group of 11 customers. Initially only one counter was open and the queue started to grow. After waiting for almost 20 minutes, his turn was in number 5 but the queue was up to 15 customers. Sensing that the customers are growing impatient, he noticed that the Floor Supervisor instructed one of his employees to open another counter. Once the counter was opened, the employee asked the queuing customers at the back-line to her counter. It created confusion and disapproval especially to the front line customers whom had already waited for such a long period. Several furious customers voiced out the poor coordination with abusive words. The floor supervisor and floor manager realised the mistake done by his employee tried to diffuse the situation which should have never occurred in the first place itself.

Clearly before a new counter was to be opened, the next following queued customer should be the main priority. Employees should be provided with the right customer service technique to prevent commotion by guaranteeing service to be provided one at a time, on an unbiased basis. Employers should insert appropriate customer service training to their employees as unsuccessful queue supervision can inflict harmful effects to any business in any industry.  

Managing Drunken Customers

Managing drunken customers requires essential customer service skills as we have to deal with drunk people from all walks of life and within all industries. In one of the recent hotels that I audited, I found that there was a heated argument that turned into a brawl between drunk customers with waiters.

A report presented by Alcohol Focus Scotland’s ServeWise stated that ‘As drunkenness affects balance, judgement and sometimes the state of mind, there are many accidents and crimes where alcohol is a contributory factor’.

Being tough against drunk customers may not necessarily resolve a drunken case argument as it usually makes things worse and resulting into being harmed. The customer service personnel should be confident in exercising his duties because poorly trained personnel’s may give an upper hand to drunken customers. Techniques such as slowly ushering away one party from the scene may diffuse the situation as it calms down the aggressor whom do not have potential target to shout. Approaching the drunk sobers friend in tackling the situation is ideal too as the drunken customer prefers to listen more to his personal friends rather than an authoritative personnel. Applying friendly but genuine approach when dealing with customers is requisite to ensure situation remains under control. Alternatives drinks such as coffee, fruit juice or tea may do the trick in handling overly drunk customers. Customer service personnel should recommend the use of cabs when customers’ level of drunk has reached beyond control. Truly calling the legal enforcers may resolve the situation as the siren sound sends fear among the drunken aggressor. If the drunken customer is aggressive, escort him outside till the arrival of enforcer officer whom can look after the customers’ safety. Organizations can stop serving drunk customers immediately if they found them being intoxicated at a point of madness. It is profound that such act is done solely to be responsible to customers’ safeties.

Employers especially in hotels, restaurants, convenience stores, bars, transportation companies and service centers should provide a set of training programs for their employees with relevant skills to interact and engage with drunken customers. Even the recent riot in Serangoon, Singapore was attributed to a drunk individual that resulted death. But for me, I believe the incident could have been thwarted if the bus driver had used the right technique in handling the drunken passerby that came into the tour bus. The right training enables employees to initiate learning paths as well as insert liable service especially in serving alcohol that promotes social responsibility.      

Product Knowledge Provides Reliability In Customer Service

Product knowledge provides sufficient and essential basic knowledge because it creates reliability when dealing with customers. Sustainable product knowledge among the employees shall enhance the level of confidence which subsequently strengthening communication skills.

My colleagues had went to several restaurants and found that most employees are unable to provide detailed product knowledge on their offered products and services. Hardly the employees could define nor describe the ingredients or presentation of a product. It has been a norm for employees to reply “I’m not too sure on the products, sir. You can refer to the given images of the products in the menu”. I had a similar experience at a popular cafeteria in JB town. The hot climate persuaded me to try on the offered desserts. Upon glancing through the offered selections, ‘Ice Kacang Soursop’ caught my eyes and I decided to give it a try. There were no images thus I enquired with the waiter whom had stated that it contains the normal Ice Kacang ingredients added with soursop toppings. Assuming that the provided product knowledge was accurate, I decided to go with the order. I got myself prepared to quench the thirst of sweetness but all fell flat when I saw the actual product. The ordered item just contained ice and soursop. The product did not contain any other ingredients as a normal Ice Kacang would have or as explained by the waiter. Clearly disappointed, I called the cafeteria supervisor and he stated there was an error in the menu which was supposed to be stated ‘Ice Soursop’ rather than ‘Ice Kacang Soursop’. He apologized for the error and replaced it with normal ice kacang. I explained to him that the menu error is acceptable but the cafeteria waiters should be trained to provide accurate product knowledge.

Most organizations hire employees and briefly explain to them the background of their organization. The employers expect their employees to fend themselves with product knowledge. Train the employees and provide them with the required knowledge. Employees should be well-trained especially indispensable product knowledge to avoid miscommunication subsequently affecting the image of the organization.  Employees should posses the types of products, background, price structure, models, styles, delivery, distribution, warranty and process. Essential product knowledge enables employees to provide the necessary guidance for customers's needs and wants. Undermining the importance of product knowledge shall affect the overall image and operation of an organization. The palatable question remains elusive- Are Your Employees Equipped With Sufficient Product Knowledge To Serve The Customers? What have you done to improve the situation? 

Customer Is Always CUSTOMER

Customers are important for continuous business cycle. The modern globalization has seen the transformation for the needs for organizations to provide essential customer service to fulfill customers arising demand and inquisitiveness.

I had a similar experience when decided to change my usual laundry shop. Initially the price was the main factor to change outlet. The new outlet offers RM 1 lower compared to my usual delivered laundry. The first few visits to the new outlet were fine and the sales girl was always cheerful and receptive. However during the last few visits, i noticed that the sales girl's customer service was abrupt and rude. I was still contemplating on continuing to use the outlet's service. However I had the final straw when i passed the receipt and this time she was not even bothered to greet. She took the receipt and came back after one minute and passed my laundry with a stoned face expression . I decided that's it and after that I went back to my previous laundry outlet. Even though the previous one charges extra RM 1 but I am satisfied with the given hospitality.

A survey by White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC proves that 1 unhappy customers will share the experiences to 9 other peoples and so on. Organizations requires to instill customer service skills to their employees to ensure they do not lose their valuable customers. Employees should trained on managing personalities and attitudes of customers. They may come across good, bad, ugly, demanding, angry, upset or abusive customers but customer is always CUSTOMER. 

Customer Service: Key Salutation Greetings & Titles

Key salutation is vital in addressing our customers. When we mentioned key salutation, it is common to hear phrases such as  "Good day, Good morning, Selamat pagi, Ohayao gozaimaz, Vanakkam, Zao Shang and Buenos diaz. Even when we address our customers it is important to insert titles such as Mr, Miss, Madam, Senora, Encik and Tuan. There has been wide speculation on how we address our customers. Several argumentative points suggested that addressing  names without titles can be used with close related customers.

For example, John, how are you today? However it is not applicable to organizations that has multitude walk-in customers such as food and beverages outlets, retails, superstores and property developers. I went to recently opened Starbucks outlet at my area. A customer was in front of us and about to order his beverage. The outlet's representative addressed the customer "Abang nak apa" (brother, what you want). The customer asked back "Excuse me, bila masa i jadi you punya abang" (When did i become your brother). The customer continued with his order. Then it was my turn and the representative stated again " Abang nak apa" and i replied "Green Tea Latte". I told him to serve in a mug but within 15 seconds he asked again what was the order i made. I had to reinstate that it was Green Tea Latte. Noticeably key salutation greetings and titles were not used by the outlet representative. Besides, the outlet representatives forget my order within 15 seconds which shows lack of active listening skills.

The management should provide their employees a clear and professional key salutation greeting to avoid being painted negatively. Addressing customer through titles and salutation enhances the professionalism of an organization. Key salutation and titles are necessity elements in customer service skills that should not be compromised for whatever reason.