Friday, October 12, 2012

Implementing Quality Services

It goes without saying that any service company is in business to implement Quality Service.  The real question is how to do it when there is always pressure on pricing and costs continue to rise.  The first and most important thing necessary to implementing Quality Service is hiring people that are committed to providing Quality Service.   Without the right people, nothing else matters.  

This means a robust performance evaluation system that helps identify A and B Players who can be A Players and weeds out employees that do not have the service orientation necessary to provide outstanding or extraordinary service.   In addition, on going training is required to make sure all employees have the tools they need to succeed in providing high Quality Service.    None of this happens by accident; that's for sure.   

Beyond people, service companies must implement a continuous improvement process that is focused on every dimension of service delivery.   This means using every service issue as an opportunity to improve service.   And, this is not just about front line people that interact with customers or clients; but rather every function within a company.   Metrics and customer and client surveys must be in place to measure all aspects of service delivery and used regularly to identify weak areas requiring improvement.

To deal with pricing pressures that could impact Quality Service, if not addressed, service companies must find better, faster, cheaper ways to implement services.   The emphasis here must be on "better".   In our case, moving certain back office accounting functions to India, allowed our firm to commit more resources to front office jobs that have direct interaction with our clients and customer, without sacrificing Quality Services.   In addition, state of the art technology must be part of the mix to give clients and customers access to live information 24/7, particularly for global companies.

Providing Quality Service requires a never ending process of improvement.   It is hard work.  All employees within a service company must be totally committed to the organization's reason for being.   The reward for implementing Quality Service is both customers for life and new clients attracted to service companies that deliver on their promises.  

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