Activity 1 -

1) Why do you need to clearly understand customer's needs?

2) Who do you obtain information on customer needs, expectations and satisfaction levels?

3) What sorts of things determine customer's needs and expectations?

4) Explain the difference between internal and external customers. Give examples of both.

5) Should internal customers receive the same service as external customers? Why?

6) How does product and service quality offered by your suppliers impact on the product/ service quality offered to customers?

Activity 2 -

1) Why is it necessary to collect feedback from customers, suppliers and stakeholders?

2) How might you obtain this feedback?

3) What is the purpose of a customer survey?

Activity 3 -

1) What sort of changes in internal and external environments might affect quality service?

2) Customer-driven organisations will succeed in a competitive market because they use research and knowledge of their customers to design products and process that the customer wants will pay for. What sort of information do they integrate into the planning of quality products and services?

3) What are the benefits of integrating market research findings into planning for quality service?

4) Although the key indicator of Japanese marketing success in the motor vehicle manufacturing and other industries is their customer focus, there are other contributing factors. What do you think they are?

5) Briefly explain the ways in which a service organisation of your choice uses market research to identify and pursue opportunities to enhance the quality of their service and products.

Activity 4 -

1) Why should managers provide opportunities for staff to participate in the development of customer service practices and what format could those opportunities take?

Activity 5 -

1) Outline the steps involved in developing policies.

2) What considerations should be taken into account when assigning responsibilities in policy documents?

3) Use the internet to source a quality service policy or procedure form a service organisation. Review the policy and prepare a brief commentary on:

a) The intent of the policy

b) Its links to regulations and other policy documents

c) The scope of responsibilities covered in the policy

d) Recommendations for improvements to the policy document.

Activity 6 -

1) Why should policies, procedures and expectations be communicated to colleagues?

2) The responsible service of alcohol aims to provide consumers with safer venues that are committed to practicing harm-minimisation techniques. Currently, mandatory training in relation to the responsible sale, supple and service of alcohol covers, duty of care, standard drink measure, harm minimisation, refusal of service, the effects of alcohol, juveniles, identifying intoxication and conflict resolution. Identify appropriate methods for distributing information on hypothetical change to mandatory training requirements for bar staff in relation to the responsible service of alcohol.

Activity 7 -

1) Research an organisation in the hospitality, tourism and travel industries and develop a list of the policies and procedures they have made available to customers and the method they have chosen to do this.

2) In regards to the scenario in Activity 6 question 2, how could venues make policies readily available?

Activity 8 -

1) A number of strategies for monitoring the progress of achieving product and/or service targets and standards have been discussed in your learning material.  Which of these strategies do you consider to be the most useful? Why?

Activity 9 -

1) Develop a questionnaire to identify the customer service training needs of workers responsible for administration in hospitality, tourism and travel business.

2) What should be considered when organising internal training for staff on customer service policies, procedures and expectations?

3) Research training providers suitable to deliver customer service training in NSW (Australia). Provide details of one provider including their area/s of expertise and justify why you would use this provider to deliver customer service training.

Activity 10 -

1) Research two management roles in the hospitality, tourism and travel industries and write a brief overview of the service outcomes and dispute resolution responsibilities for each position. Identify the skills, knowledge and personal qualities to manage service outcomes and dispute resolution for reach position.

Activity 11 -

1) Why is it necessary for managers to act as positive role models for profession  A1 standards expected of service industry personnel?

2) What is coaching?

3) What characteristics do you think a good model or coach would have when it comes to developing team members professional service standards?

Activity 12 -

1) What are the benefits of seeking ongoing feedback from staff and customers and using it to improve customer service?

Activity 13 -

1) Analyse the results of a customer satisfaction survey from a service industry organisation of your choice. Use the survey results to assess the effectiveness of the organisation's customer service practices and identify any apparent systematic customer service problems. Prepare a brief report of your findings and recommendations.

2) How can an organisation make decisions to overcome problems and to adapt customer services, products and or service delivery?

3) How can an organisation manager customer service records, reports and recommendations within the organisation's systems and processes? How is this information used? How could the information be used to great effect?

Activity 14 -

1) Why is it important to assess the effectiveness of customer service practices?

2) What resources could you use to assess the effectiveness of these practices?

Activity 15 -

1) How and why must customer service be evaluated?

2) What are the steps to identify and solving problems? Include a brief description.

Activity 16 -

1) Why should managers adjust their policies and procedures once they have identified improvements to customer service procedures?

2) Review a customer service policy from a hospitality, tourism and travel organisation of your choice. Provide a brief overview of the intent of the policy and make recommendations on any adjustments that could be made to improve service quality.

Activity 17 -

1) Why should managers communicate protocols in consultation with relevant staff (i.e. frontline staff) and why should this be documented?

2) If your recommendations from Activity 16 question 2 were to be accepted by the organisation, how could you communicate these recommendations to service delivery staff?

Activity 18 -

1) Write a story about a conflict with your work colleague or customer, how it started and what did you do about it? 500 words.