Assignment Week 4

Identify the needs and priorities of the organisation in delivering services to customers

1.

Create a cover sheet

BSBCUS401B Assessment I
Name
Date

28/10/2014

2.
What are the communication techniques and systems in place for identifying
and assessing customer service needs in the college?
The demands for quality standards in higher education as Australian Academy of Commerce, are
increasing due to competition as a result of massification and internalization process of college and
universities. The expectation for better performance in quality of teaching, academic research and
other related educational activities are forcing these institutions leadership management to rethink their
strategies. One way for colleges and universities to accomplish this objective is to place a renewed
focus on meeting or exceeding the expectations and needs of their customers, namely their students.
To know what are the customer srevice needs, we have to identify and assess that use the
appropriate communication techniques and systems which may include:
Analysing customer satisfaction surveys : One of the primary ways to gauge customer
satisfaction is to use a customer satisfaction survey,questionaire.
These surveys are designed to give you anonymous insight about
how the customer views your organisation and what if anything
needs to be changed in order to retain the business. Academy will
give the questionaire to students at the end of each semester to
collect feedback from them.
Conducting interviews : Unlike surveys, individual interviews allow you to get to the
underlying reasons an answer is given. Asking to rate something on a scale of 1 to 10 doesnt
bring the insights or the learning that comes from asking customers specifically what they were
trying to accomplish, what worked for them, what didnt work, and why. After the interview,
the interview notes and any recordings will need to be summarized and distilled into a set of
distinct customer needs.
Face to face conversation : Face-to-face conversations and oral communications make
possible more detailed discussions to clarify issues. Management team should get deeply
informations from their staff;
o With trainer : The teachers is the person who interact with student mostly, so they know
situation in class very well.
o With Administrative Staff : These staff contact with student when they need help about
general issues or any advice, so they know the students problems. Asking staff would
let management team know how to response their student.

 Making recommendations : There are many ways to receive recommendations from

customers to improve the services , these are following ;
o Suggestion box : The suggestion box is a common tool in
business to get information about quality of the business
from the customer standpoint, which gives Academy a way
to determine customer satisfaction. Implementing some
suggestions makes customers feel that their opinions count,
and there are usually plenty of suggestions to choose from
that are useful.
The typical suggestion box is a box into which people could
insert notes, ideas for improvement.
o Complaints box : This is the opportunity to address any concerns from students and will
let the Academy resolve to make students satisfied.
o Online Feedback form : This way suitable for student who prefer electronic tool.
Academy are always looking for ways to improve and enhance services and welcome
any comments students wish to make; can use the link to fill in our online comments
form (http://www.ausacademy.edu.au/)
Phone call : Students and staff can ask and answer questions in real time, so this should be the
fast way to get message from them. But Academy must have efficient database that support
with any relevant questions.

3.
What the customer needs and who are the customers of the Australian
Academy of Commerce.
Before identify what are the customer needs, we should know who are the customers?.
In Higher Education, the student to be considered as customer in the teaching activities in classrooms.
Because of main revenue of Australian Academy of Commerce come from the students, so I
identified student, both domestic and overseas student , as our customer. The more you know about
your customers, the more effective your sales and marketing efforts will be. It's well worth making the
effort to find out why they buy it. If you know why customers buy service from you, it's easier to
match their needs to the benefits your business can offer.
The customer needs
Knowing and understanding customer needs is at the centre of every successful business. Our
aim is to provide services to students and visitors that are accessible, flexible, welcoming and
appropriate to our customers needs, which are the following ;

 A quality service is consistently provided :

o Student expect to study with the institution that provide a standard education with
quality, courses are value for money (when compare with other college), validated and
certificates are issued by the Ministry of Education.
o Emery, Kramer and Tian (2001) said, Students may not be excited about the hard work
in the short run, but in the long run, the students will be very appreciative of the quality
education that prepared them for the real world (p. 8).
o After finished course, student expect to have useful skills that can be applied to the
workforce

Staff are well trained, highly motivated, professional and welcoming :

Staff of the Academy will be educated in the service standards; friendly and empathic
teachers and administrative staffs ; will exhibit customer friendly service skills; and be
knowledgeable, professional and demonstrate optimal effort to meet needs and quickly solve
problems. Staff listen to, respond to and act upon the needs of the customers. Trainer checks
with students to see how they are going.

Sufficient resources are employed to cope with customer needs and demands of service :
There should provide enough resources and facilities ,which easy to access, to support
student activities such as computers, books, job board, restrooms, kitchen or tea room,living
room etc.

The service is flexible and provided in a convenience and relaxing environment :

o Academy can provide up-to-date information to student which include timetable of each
subjects and holiday, learning information, migration policy, work opportunities and
others news.
o Have not only variety (wide range) of courses that students will select to study with their
interest (what they want to learn), but also have different time that would flexible
schedule. Some course is available full-time, part-time, evenings or by distance
education. Academy allow you to change your attendance pattern after student enrol.
o Most of student want to know information about career opportunities for each course in
the relevant course description.
o Opening hours 8 am 8 pm.
o Options of payment methods (Cash ,Cheque,Online Transfer)
o Easy access to contact with staff members.
o Have signs to helps student do things.

Safe, comfortable of the Venue:

Academy should located in the area that close to the public transportation, study room
should suitable for studying in term of comfortable (have enough space, air-condition, big
screen of monitor) safety and hygiene environment.

4.

Respond to and report upon the Feedback from customers

Feedback should be included as an important tool to improve performance as Academy grow.

It will serve as a motivation for staff. Customer feedback can correct deficiencies and lead Academy to
new services. Responding to the customer's concerns is not only a chance to fix the particular problem,
it is also a great avenue for engaged customer relations.
It is very important to collect all the feedback from the customers and sort out any problems the
customers identify, then analyze them. Customer feedback is worthless without the right analysis,
Proper analysis provides a business with a better view of what it has to change, what it has to improve
on, and what it has to do. The following are the best considered strategies that all businesses must
possess to do a more proper job of analyzing customer feedback.

Categorize the comments. Reading through customer feedback would enable you to see that
there are recurring patterns to what your clients are saying about the way you handle or run
your business.

Divide the categories into sub-categories.

Specify according to the nature of the feedback. Your customer feedback would naturally
come with negative and positive comments. Deal with both. The positive comments would
provide a concrete idea of what you are doing correctly, and thus, what you need to continue
doing. In the same way, the negative comments would guide you towards changing some
aspects of your business that your clients do not really approve of. And closing the loop to
resolve these problems with each customer is also a proven way of retaining more business.

Consolidate your results and make a plan to determine your next move. Get all your results
together, and then make a plan of action as to how you intend to respond to each of the issues
raised. Make a feasible and effective plan.

5. Conduct a customer service audit of the organization and list any problem issues
or areas to be addressed.
Based on the observations in the audit, suggested follow-up activities might include: training
for staff; changes to the physical surroundings (such as providing more parking spots); increased
communication with staff of the importance of being a customer-focused organization; and/or focused
training around your customer service goals.
Organization should us evaluation tools for customer service. Customer Satisfaction Surveys;
(please see in Appendix A and B) Customer satisfaction surveys are also a useful tool for gathering
information and testing whether your customer service is on target with customers expectations.
Through discussion, we determine the size of the survey required, timing and goals of the survey for
your company.
The purpose of the audit was to investigate the levels of customer satisfaction after
participation in courses of the Academy. This audit aimed to evaluate customer feedback to decide if
customer experience was high enough to maintain the Academy reputation. Objectives of this audit are
To gather quantitative data on customer satisfaction using a questionnaire;
To gather qualitative data on customer experience of the course;
To gather information on the promotion of the website to see if it is being used regularly and
if not why this is;
Analyse findings and draw relevant conclusions to meet our aim.

There are problem with customer satisfaction surveys;

o Wording and Execution Biases : questions themselves may be biasing your results.
Customers have a variety of reasons,both intentional and unintentional,for answering in
a way that does not reflect their true feelings.
o Survey Structure: One of the most overlooked forms of survey bias comes from poorly
designed survey structures. Each of these portions of survey structure can contribute to
survey bias and drop outs. You can see differences between questionnaire in Appendix
A and B. (This type of survey bias includes the selection of different forms of questions
(rating scales, ranking, open-ended versus closed-ended) and the options of answers
provided to the respondent.)
o Unwillingness to Provide Honest Answers: Respondent bias created by the
unwillingness to provide honest answers stems from the students natural desire to
provide socially acceptable answers in order to avoid embarrassment or please the
Academy conducting the study.

6. Describe the colleges performance in delivering customer service overall.

After Conduct a customer service audit, the comments we received were mostly positive and
included effective presentation style and enthusiasm from the trainers delivering the course. The
highest level of feedback received was mostly from people working in schools or education, these
professionals found the training most effective as their roles involve a high level of contact with
student
Enrolment has become easier. People can apply to the course online and many people are put
forward for the training by their employer. The website is a valuable tool for the Academy as it offers
advertising for the course, knowledge, course application and updates. However, the comments we
received from our questionnaires show that some people were unaware of the website suggesting it
requires more promotion during the course.
Accessibility: Academy facilities are easy to navigate with clear signage and be accessible for
all people including those with disabilities. Clearly identified contact numbers and available hours for
staff members are communicated to customers. The phone systems are customer-friendly with access
to a live person.
Trainer, Staff, Administration: Employees of the Academy had educated in the service
standards of the college; with exhibit customer friendly service skills; and be knowledgeable,
professional and demonstrate optimal effort to meet needs and solve problems. The teachers are all
qualified and experienced educators with extensive and ongoing industry experience. The Student
Services Officers are friendly, efficient and multi-lingual. Other than English: Spanish, French, Thai,
Mandarin, Korean, Tagalog, German, Dutch, Czech and Slovak are some of the languages spoken by
our dynamic team.

Communications: Employees respond to customer requests in a clear, concise, and timely

manner. Customers can consulte regularly about the service provided and the results will be reported
regularly to agency management. Employees mostly protect and uphold all aspects of confidentiality.
Timely service: Staff responds to customer requests for information as close to the time of the
request as possible and can update the customers about unavoidable wait times and offer other options
to meet customer needs.
Complaint Filing Process: Individuals who have complaints about a customer service issue
should address the concern to the department head in the area involved. If the issue is unresolved,
complaints should be directed to the division vice president or the college dean. The Customer Service
Representative may be contacted for issues unresolved at the division/college level or if the customer
needs assistance in directing the complaint.
Location: The Academy is in a great location in Sydneys central business district. It is the
perfect place to study as the underground trains and buses link up to practically anywhere in the
Sydney metropolitan area.

Appendix A
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear customer we apologise for troubling you but we are concerned to ensure that we can raise our
own awareness of our customer's perception of the service we supply. We intend to use your
response to improve our management systems and our service to you.

Please complete the form below and return to us for review and action as necessary.

Quality Rating

Criteria
+2

+1

-1

-2

Overall Performance
Value for Money
Quality
Delivery / Programme
Health & Safety Awareness

Scoring Key
+2 = Totally Satisfied
+1 = Satisfied

-1 = Dissatisfied
-2 = Totally Dissatisfied

0 = Neither satisfied or
dissatisfied

Remarks (How can we improve our service to you?)

Would you like us to contact you and discuss

any concerns you may have?

Completed By:

YES

NO

(Please tick)

Date

Please return by Fax to: F + (612) 9211 8811 or mail to Australian Academy of Commerce Pty
Level 7 / 8 Quay Street Haymarket NSW 2000
Thank you for your feedback

Appendix B
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Customer:
As the manager of Australian Academy of Commerce, I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve
you. Please help us serve you better by taking a couple of minutes to tell us about the service that you have
received so far. We appreciate your business and want to make sure we meet your expectations. We hope that
you will accept this as a token of our good will.
Sincerely,
Arada Sintrakanpon and Natcha Chairat
Manager of Australian Academy of Commerce

________________________________________________________________________________
1. In thinking about your most recent experience with the Australian Academy of Commerce, was the
quality of customer service you received:
o Very Poor
o Somewhat Unsatisfactory
o About Average
o Very Satisfactory
o Superior
If you indicated that the customer service was unsatisfactory, would you please describe what happened?

2. The process for getting your concerns resolved was:

o Very Poor
o Somewhat Unsatisfactory
o About Average
o Very Satisfactory
o Superior
Would you please take a few minutes to describe what happened?

3. Now please think about the features and benefits of the courses itself. How satisfied are you with the
courses:
o Very Poor
o Somewhat Unsatisfactory
o About Average
o Very Satisfactory
o Superior
Would you please take a few minutes to describe why you are not satisfied with the courses?

4. Customer Service Representative

The following questions pertain to the customer service representative you spoke with most recently.
Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements:
Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree Strongly
Disagree

The customer service representative was very

courteous
The customer service representative handled my call
quickly
The customer service representative was very
knowledgeable
Are there any other comments about the customer service representative you would like to add?

5. The Process
The following questions pertain to the process by which your most recent service contract was handled.
Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with the following statements.
Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree Strongly
Disagree

The waiting time for having my questions addressed

was satisfactory
My phone call was quickly transferred to the person
who best could answer my question
The automated phone system made the customer
service experience more satisfying

Thank you for your feedback. We sincerely appreciate your honest opinion and will take your input into
consideration while providing products and services in the future.