Unit 14, Assignment 1: (Distinction level)
Introduction
In this assignment I will be writing a report which will compare and analyse how two
different businesses provide customer service. I have chosen one business that’s part of the
hospitality sector, Premier Inn, and another business that’s part of retail, Tesco. I will cover
the customer service roles in both businesses, as well as their varying methods for dealing
with customers, ways in which customer expectations are met in both businesses, and much
more.
P1
What is customer service?
Customer service involves the support a business offers its customers before and after they
buy a product or service. It’s important for businesses to provide good customer service
because a customer’s experience will often influence their decision on where they shop.
Providing customers an easy and enjoyable experience with your business will boost your
company’s reputation and make those customers more likely to return. Whereas bad
customer service can harm a company’s reputation and make customers less likely to
return.
Premier Inn
Premier Inn is the largest hotel brand in the UK, with over 800 hotels and 72,000 rooms.
They compete with other big hotel brands such as Travelodge and Ibis hotel and run hotels
in a many different locations including city centres, suburbs, and airports. Quality customer
service is highly important for Premier Inn because they operate within the hospitality
sector which is all about providing services to customers.
Premier Inn have a variety of customer service roles including:
Hotels receptionists: The responsibilities of a hotel receptionist include, greeting
guests, making bookings, taking phone requests, and managing complaints.
Porters: Hotel porters handle the guest’s luggage and show them to their rooms.
, Room Attendants: Room attendants make sure that the rooms of guests remain
clean, inviting, and homely, during and after their stay at the hotel.
Tesco
Tesco is a leading British multinational retailor with over 330,000 employees. They hold
among the highest market share out of all supermarkets and compete with the likes of Asda,
Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury, and Morrisons. Customer service isn’t as essential to Tesco’s success as
it is for Premier Inn because they are a retail business which sell tangible goods instead of
providing a main service.
Customer service roles within Tesco can include:
Home delivery drivers: Home delivery drivers are responsible for delivering
groceries to the homes of customers.
Contact centre workers: Contact centre workers are responsible for handling any
inbound queries regarding returns, deliveries, gift cards, and electronics.
Cashiers: Cashiers are responsible for serving customers at checkouts, handling
returns/refunds, and issuing receipts when asked for.
The importance of teamwork: Teamwork is important for all businesses when delivering
customer service because it allows for those in different job roles to communicate and
effectively work together to ensure that the customers met with high quality service.
Consequently, if a businesses employees have terrible teamwork, this may result in
Organisational rules and procedures: Organisational rules and procedures must be followed
for employees to be clear about their individual job roles. Failure to follow rules and
procedures may lead to employees making mistakes that cost the business, such as mopping
without leaving a wet floor sign leading to a slipping accident and legal action being taken
against the business.
The different approaches to customer service.
Phone calls: Tesco provide customer service over the phone through their customer service
centre. Their customer service team handles customer issues and complaints regarding
deliveries, gift cards and faulty items. Premier Inn also provide phone customer service
through their reservation team, who handle guest bookings and hotel queries.
Face to Face: Tesco provide face to face customer service through their various store
colleagues who serve customers at checkouts assist them in finding specific products while
stocking shelves. Premier Inn also provide in-person customer service through receptionist
who greet guests when they enter and book rooms. They also have porters who carry
guests’ luggage and walk them to their rooms.
Chat/Text-based: Tesco can be messaged via WhatsApp for any enquiries regarding gift
cards, Clubcard, refunds, online shopping, and technical support.
The Skills and knowledge required for customer service.
, Clear communication: When dealing with customers, it’s important to make sure that you
quickly address the issues they have in a clear and mindful manner so that you don’t
frustrate the customer.
Product knowledge: In certain businesses with high brand image, it’s usually expected for
the employees to be knowledgeable about the products being sold so that they can answer
assist customers in store and answer questions.
Patients: Patients is required when dealing with difficult customers as lashing out at
annoying customers can result in the employee losing their job and hurt the brand image of
the business.
P2
The different types of customers.
Internal customers: Internal customers are people who exist within the organisation and
receive goods/services from another part of the organisation. In Tesco’s case, this would
include sales assistants, delivery drivers, and store managers.
External customers: External customers are people or clients who exist outside of the
organisation and pay for the goods and/or services which the company provides. For Tesco,
this simply includes all the customers who visit their stores and buy their products.
Customer personalities: Handling different customer personalities such as the aggressive,
quiet, and demanding, will require different customer service approaches as to not offend
certain types of people and drive them away from the business. For example, when handling
a complaint from an angry and aggressive customer, it’s important for Tesco employees to
show that they’re listening to them through open body language and eye contact. It would
also be important to use a soft tone to avoid accidently seeming rude and potentially anger
them further and causing them to escalate the complaint.
Customers with special requirements: Customers with special requirements due to
language barriers, age, cultural differences, or disabilities, will also require differing
approaches to customer service to ensure that those people are heard and that their
complaints, or queries are appropriately handled without offending them. For example,
when interacting with a customer of a unique cultural background, it’s important for Tesco
employees to be careful to avoid stereotyping the customer and be mindful of their differing
social etiquette.
Customer complaints
Tesco deal with customer complaints through the contact us section of their website. There
they deal with queries and complaints regarding online grocery shopping, Clubcards, in
store purchases, refunds, etc. They also link their call centre number within this section so
that customers can directly call their customer service team for any issues or complaints
