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| IIITA's e-Magazine |
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 Oct-Dec 2007 Vol 4 Issue 15 |
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Perspective |
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| QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE
by
Ashutosh Singh
Sales Manager
Reliance Life Insurance Corporation |
What is Quality? Can it be measured? When is Quality seen or not seen?
These are basic questions regarding Quality. When the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service is able to satisfy the stated or implied needs of a customer, it is termed as Quality product or service. Quality is therefore more often seen when it is not there.
A customer’s perception of a specific service is influenced by two kinds of service quality.
The Technical or “Hard” Quality, and
The Human or “Soft” Quality
HARD QUALITY
There are a few concrete aspects of a service such as in the bank:
Exterior looks (Facelift, Location, Parking, Space etc.)
Interior arrangements (Counter, Lighting, Flooring)
Seating arrangements (Convenience)
Scheme of the bank (Variety)
Interest rates (Return on investments, competitiveness)
If these infrastructure requirements go well with the expectations of customers, will they derive quality service?
SOFT QUALITY
The emotional aspect of a service, being received at the hands of the employees, contributes to the customer’s perception of quality. To cite a few:
Commitment
Friendliness
Attitude
Attention
Flexibility
In attending to the needs of customers, from the foregoing, it is evident that a customer rates a service as good or otherwise based on the hard and soft quality of service.
Sometimes customer show their preference/ loyalty purely on account of soft quality rather than hard quality. Soft quality service at times make good for deficiency/ shortfall in hard quality.
PRODUCT OR SERVICE?
The consumers more often comment on the service part rather than on the product itself therefore can we look at service itself as a product? If yes, respond to following posers:
Can service be produced in advance and held in readiness/ produced, inspected,
stored?
Can service be demonstrated as a sample offering on accrual basis?
In respect of any other commodity, the answers to the two posers are yes. When it comes to service, the value of it depends on the customer’s personal experience. The experience can not be sold or passed on to third party.
COST OF QUALITY
Any consumer looks for quality besides costs and more often than not settled for marginally higher cost products, if the quality is assured. The consumers expectations keep soaring higher and are never satisfied with quality of the product he bus. He looks for better quality.
Hence “COST IS LONG FORGOTTEN BUT QUALITY IS REMEBERED FOREVER”
Also remember, quality service is seldom remembered, but even a slight deficiency is never forgotten.
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Ashutosh Singh
Sales Manager
Reliance Life Insurance Corporation
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