“Evaluate the quality of service”: Motivator, Management Tool or Demotivator?

“How will the Bank use the information received and for what?”

The fact that customer satisfaction and loyalty is important, everyone knows. Just as the fact that customer loyalty depends not only on discounts and bonuses, but also on other factors, including the quality of service. But do retailers and service providers, including financial ones, really want to manage the quality of customer service? Or most just enough to pretend? I have no definite answer yet. In one of the publications I asked the readers a question, see. Picture and signature. There were no comments, so I want to make out this case myself. I do not claim the ultimate truth.


To pay utility bills, I come to the bank. Of the 12 windows open 4, the electronic queue does not work. A lot of people, all on the nerves, each window has its own turn. When asked why only 4 windows are open, they answer: "We have lunch." I stand in the queue for almost 30 minutes, walk up to the window. Next to the employee console: "Evaluate the quality of service." I ask: “Do I value only your work, or everything as a whole?” The girl answers that only her, after which she quickly makes all the payments. I press the green button, because I understand that the girl is not to blame for the fact that everyone left for lunch, that the electronic queue broke, etc.
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So what is it: quality management service or its imitation? I have no definite answer. But since I communicate almost daily with companies that want to implement customer service quality management, I want to share my version of what is happening. First, a little theory.

Companies that want to evaluate the quality of service can be divided into two groups. One needs a solution that I call Motivator. The latter want a real loyalty management tool and customer service.

The idea of ​​the Motivator is simple and consists in the following. It is important to us that the staff worked well. To do this, set next to sellers, client managers, etc. red and green buttons. Staff will know that his work is being evaluated, so he should work better. At the same time, customers will see that their opinion is heeded, which will have a positive impact on the company's image. Statistics on clicking will be used as one of the indicators of the quality of work of staff.

Those who need a management tool think a little differently. We regularly, with the help of special surveys, monitor customer satisfaction. To do this, we use our corporate standards, Net Promoter Score technology or CSI. We have a Customer Satisfaction Plan, but this is not enough. We know that the most effective way to expand a business is when customers recommend us to their friends. And for this they must not only be satisfied, but also emotionally loyal. We understand that for this we need to constantly “keep abreast of” clients, and without an effective Management Tool this is impossible.

Consider these solutions in more detail.

Motivator

The idea of ​​the Motivator is very common, primarily because of its simplicity. Indeed, the problem is solved by installing the simplest push-button panels connected to the discrete input module (possible without output), which in turn is connected via USB or RS-485-USB adapter to a computer. Software can also be the easiest. It is enough to write a program that will read information about clicks from a discrete input module, write it down somewhere, show it somehow and everything is ready. Cheap and angry. But the benefits end there.

More disadvantages. The first is the inability to use the resulting statistics as an estimated KPI, linked to the system of personnel motivation. The root cause is that button presses in most of these systems are not events that can be assigned various attributes, but simply metric values. If so, then it is impossible to assess the accuracy of the information received. And inaccurate information can not be used as an estimated KPI. This is an axiom. Ultimately, this means that their main task, namely, to motivate the staff to work better, the Motivator decides only in part. But this is not the biggest problem. It is much more dangerous when a manager keen on managing by KPI does decide to use unreliable information as an estimated KPI. Usually such managers argue like this: “We have video cameras, so employees don’t make sense to deceive me, then why not use pressure statistics to encourage (or not encourage) staff.”

Anyone who thinks the same way, I want to say the following. Even if we assume that 100% of employees are crystal honest people, the reliability of information cannot be guaranteed without special checks. The fact is that customers can not be banned from pressing buttons. This means that a woman can come with a child who several times presses the button he likes. Or a client with poor eyesight first presses one button, then another, etc. If the remuneration of employees will depend on the customers' view, the presence of their children, etc., then the Motivator will turn into a Demotivator.

The problem is solved in two ways. The first way is to use the statistics obtained only as accounting KPIs - not to link it with the staff motivation system, with all the ensuing consequences. The second method, using special tools (technologies), is to evaluate the accuracy of the information received. One of such technologies is Expert Monitoring . But in this case, it will no longer be a Motivator, but a Management Tool.

There is another way to turn a Motivator into a Demotivator - to offer customers, for example, a three-point scale, to assess the quality of staff work, and then use the resulting average score as one of the estimated KPIs. This causes workers cognitive dissonance - “the state of mental discomfort caused by a clash in the minds of conflicting values, etc.” The reason for the dissonance is very simple. On the one hand, employees must respect the interests of the company, which may not coincide with the interests of customers. On the other hand, if the employee, who must uphold the interests of the company, is financially dependent on customer evaluations, he will have the same cognitive dissonance. Sometimes they try to introduce such an approach in educational institutions, only instead of workers - teachers, and instead of clients - students. Immediately you recall the Republic of Schkid, where the teacher sang with the students "Do not marry the girl students." I remember his disciples loved him very much.

The problem is solved by the simultaneous observance of two rules. First, never use the average score for personnel assessment, but take into account only negative customer reviews (you can leave only one red button at all). Secondly, every negative review must necessarily be investigated, and if it turns out that the employee was right, then this review should not be taken into account in calculating the KPI. How to investigate? For example, to use for this purpose all the same Expert Monitoring . That is, in this case, it is not a Motivator, but a Management Tool.

As for the second task - to show customers that they listen to their opinion, the Motivator solves it. But for this button, you can not connect anywhere.

Management tool

The purpose of implementing the Management Tool is to keep abreast of clients, prevent, and if they arise, quickly eliminate factors that can reduce customer loyalty and satisfaction, evaluate the effectiveness of measures aimed at improving them (promotions, loyalty programs, etc.) . The scope of the effective management tool is shown in Figure.

In order for a technical solution to be considered a Management Tool, it must have certain functionality. Here are five key attributes of an effective loyalty management tool and customer service quality:

1. Flexible adjustment of measurable indicators;
2. Evaluation of the reliability of the information received;
3. Diagnosis of the causes of customer dissatisfaction;
4. Incident management;
5. Operational monitoring, retrospective data analysis, automatic construction of tactical and strategic reports.

Any specialist in the field of management, looking at this list, will say that this is the functionality of a conventional management system. And there is. This is the functionality of a professional management system, “honed” to manage loyalty and quality customer service. But the devil, as you know, is in the details. Let's consider them.

Flexible adjustment of measurable indicators

It is impossible to measure everything that is necessary for effective management of loyalty, satisfaction and quality of customer service with the help of one indicator. There should be at least three such indicators according to the number of key management objects: staff, office as a whole (infrastructure and business processes), customer loyalty (willingness to recommend a company to friends and acquaintances). Therefore, the Management Tool should provide the ability to measure at least three indicators. To do this, it must be possible, firstly, to easily change the questions asked by customers, secondly, to locate push-button consoles in various places of the front office or point of sale, and thirdly, to receive information from their other systems. The table below shows the correspondence between the control objects, the questions asked, the location of the consoles and the measured indicators.

What we measure	What we ask	Console location	Indicator
The quality of staff	Rate staff performance	At the manager (at the checkout)	% Red to the number of transactions
The quality of the office as a whole	How do you like us?	At the exit	% Red to the number of visitors
Customer loyalty	Would you recommend us to your friends?	At the manager (at the checkout)	% "Green" -% "red" to the number of transactions

With the exception of the last question, which is an adaptation for the retail and services sector, the key issue of the Net Promoter Score concept, the questions may be different. The main thing - they should not allow double interpretation. An example of a question that can be understood in different ways - "Evaluate the quality of service." It can be understood as a proposal to evaluate the work of a specific person (his friendliness, speed of work, etc.) or as a request to evaluate the work of the office as a whole, including the duration of standing in line, the work of business applications, etc., which are not depend on. If different clients understand the question differently, then the value of the information received decreases.

It is also very important where the keypad is installed. For example, if you want to evaluate the work of the sales point as a whole, and the console is installed at the cash register, then the visitors who have remained without attention and therefore left without a purchase will not be covered by the survey. And the most important thing is, of course, a measurable indicator. For example, to assess the quality of personnel work, it is meaningless to take into account “green” clicks, while for assessing loyalty they are necessary. The base is also important, in relation to which relative indicators are calculated. For example, to evaluate the work of personnel, such a base should be the number of transactions (purchases), and to assess the quality of the office’s work, the number of visitors.

An important feature is the ability to quickly change the questions asked. This allows you to use the Management Tool to conduct marketing research for a specific target audience - your clients.



Read more about this application of the Management Tool in the solution description Ankerter button .

Evaluation of the reliability of the information received

Since the receipt of information is related to the human factor, the assessment of the reliability of the information received is, as the English say, absolutely must. It is possible to assess the accuracy of the data in only one way - to conduct a random test. Any other methods, such as installing video cameras (sellers will be afraid to wind up the results) or using CFM systems (the assessment is tied to the ticket), etc., at best, can reduce the amount of unreliable data.

The management tool should provide the ability to assess data reliability and make this process convenient. To solve this problem, we propose to use the technology of Expert Monitoring .

Diagnosing the causes of customer dissatisfaction

What is the use of knowing about customer dissatisfaction if it is impossible to establish its reason? Causes of dissatisfaction, they are also loyalty drivers, can be divided into two categories: local and global. The first are drivers that can be managed locally (at the point of sale level). To the second - all the rest. The management tool should provide the ability to manage at least local drivers.

The method for diagnosing the causes of customer dissatisfaction is based on a comparison of the client’s subjective assessment (pressing the “red” button) with objective data, which is automatically measured at the moment the button is pressed. This can be the number of visitors (queue length), the quality of IT infrastructure and business applications, the speed of service and, of course, the quality of staff. Objective data can be measured using built-in tools or using external systems. In the second case, the possibility of integration with such systems should be provided. In this and in another case, it is of fundamental importance that button presses and metrics characterizing loyalty drivers are tied to a single (common) time scale. Otherwise, the diagnosis becomes impossible. Read more in the article: Emotional loyalty in the retail and services sector. Monitoring, diagnostics, management .

Incident Management

The ultimate goal of loyalty management and quality of service is to ensure that 100% of customers are satisfied and recommend your company to their friends and acquaintances at every opportunity. But until this goal is achieved and some customers press the “red button”, it is necessary to fix this dissatisfaction, diagnose (determine its cause) and, if this is not an accidental or “false” press, inform the relevant responsible performers and the decision maker. Those, in turn, must take measures so that, for the same reason, discontent no longer exists. In Net Promoter Score terminology, this is called close the loop. An effective management tool should provide this capability.

But do not reinvent the wheel. Many companies use Service Desk - systems that receive incidents and service requests from internal users of IT Infrastructure, business applications, etc. The easiest way is to use the existing Service Desk to receive information about customer dissatisfaction (when a customer presses the red button). The process of managing such incidents will naturally be different. But the tools for this can be used the same. In this regard, I want to draw the attention of Service Desk service providers to the fact that loyalty management and customer service quality management is another area of ​​application for their services.

An effective management tool should provide integration with the major Service Desk (HP Service Manager, BMC Remedy SD, etc.), as well as with e-mail. In the second case, when the client pushes the red button, an e-mail should be automatically generated, sent to a specific address and containing maximum information about the incident.

Operational monitoring, retrospective data analysis, automatic construction of tactical and strategic reports

Any effective management system, besides the operational management itself, must also support strategic management. Managing loyalty and quality of service is no exception. Therefore, an effective tool for managing loyalty and quality of service should be composed of:

1. Means of operational monitoring, allowing, firstly, to see the current state of affairs at each front office or point of sale, secondly, to promptly notify the relevant services and personnel if something goes wrong. This applies both to management objects (staff work, business processes, etc.) and to the work of the Management Tool itself (for example, information about the button presses does not enter the database due to server unavailability).
2. Retrospective analysis tools that allow you to see the dynamics of changes in significant indicators (characterizing loyalty, quality of service, etc.) and correlate them, on the one hand, with loyalty drivers (for example, how loyalty depends on the queue length), on the other hand, the number of sales.
3. Automatically build tactical reports in various analytics (by points of sale, regions, etc.), for example, in MS Excel format.
4. Automatically create strategic reports showing trends, baselines (typical loyalty value during the day), etc.

See the Loyalty Button for details.

Not all the functionality described above needs to be implemented immediately. Moreover, at the first stage, the Management Tool can be used as a Motivator and, gradually increasing its functionality, turn it into a Management Tool. The main thing - do not turn it into a demotivator and not be in a situation where the first stage will be the last at the same time.

The economy of the issue or "where is the money

Any costs must be economically justified; therefore, the Motivator and the Management Tool must be compared from these positions too. To do this, you need to take into account at least two indicators: Hard ROI (money returned immediately) and Soft ROI (money returned indirectly). Even the most superficial analysis shows that the Management Tool is much more profitable to implement:

1. There is an opportunity to refuse the services of secret buyers. The possibility of obtaining reliable information about the quality of personnel work, provided by the Expert Monitoring technology and supplemented by the Tachometer of the Sales Point , in many cases makes them unnecessary (it is the secret buyers today who function as “motivators”). This is a hard ROI. By the way, for many companies, saving on secret buyers is the main source of funding for a project to implement a customer service quality management system.
2. The field of application of the Management Tool is not only the management of the quality of service, but also the management of customer loyalty. And loyalty is easily converted into money. Specific figures can be found, for example, in Fred Reicheld’s Loyalty Effect. This is a soft ROI.

The economic effect of the introduction of the Motivator, of course, also exists, but it is not very clear how to measure it. Obviously, in this case, we can talk only about Soft ROI, and the classical Motivator will not allow to abandon the secret buyers.

Motivator, Management Tool or Demotivator?

The time has come to answer the question asked at the beginning of the article: “How will the Bank use the information obtained?” My version is a Management Tool, really used as a Motivator.

The fact that this was supposed to be a management tool is indicated by the presence of Q-Matic terminals.



This is a customer flow management system (or Customer Flow Management System) or, more simply, an electronic queue. Push-button consoles used as part of CFM-Systems are designed to obtain subjective assessments of customers and compare them with objective information, in particular, how long customers are waiting in line. Therefore, the question: “Evaluate the quality of service” in fact should have sounded like: “You did not wait in line for too long, dear customer?” Now it sounds like: “Evaluate the quality of the staff’s work”. Exactly, as our small survey has shown, almost 100% of clients understand it, and this is how, apparently, the employees of the Bank understand it. So I think we see the classic Motivator. It is unlikely that the compensation of the staff somehow depends on which buttons we press, so it, most likely, is not a Demotivator either. Let me remind you that the task that Motivator solves well is to show us that our opinion means something. I would like it to really mean ...