Developing Customer Service Standards

Ensuring effective customer service requires targeted efforts in a number of areas, one of which is to develop service standards for each market segment. Differentiating customer service is achieved by adopting different standards according to the following criteria: availability of assortment varieties and quantities in percentage of orders placed; actually delivered quantities and assortment varieties in percent of the ordered ones; time (cycle) to execute orders in hours or days, and more. The development of service standards uses the results of its analyzes and assessments. Standards relating to customer service should be developed in the following areas: responsibilities of management; quality control system; supplier's obligations; design management; document management; purchase quality; product identification; management of the processes of providing services; customer service quality assessment; management of control, measuring and implementation equipment; corrective actions applied in the case of established discrepancies in the provided services; loading, unloading, storing, packaging, delivery and storage of the product; customer interaction; control over data related to service quality; internal audits related to service quality; personnel training; statistical methods. This paper explores the need and capability to develop customer service standards and provides an algorithm for developing standards for employee behaviour toward customers