Managing Customer Service
BML207: Managing Customer Service VAQAS Auditing Guidelines
SEMAL Dr Andrew Clegg p. 1
Your Brief
As part of your fieldwork report you will assume the role of VAQAS assessors and provide a critical evaluation of the overall quality of the visitor experience for a specific tourist attraction of your own choosing. You will be given access to a full suite of VAQAS resources to help you conduct a suitable quality audit. Within this auditing process you will also have the opportunity to utilise additional tools and techniques covered in the module.
Auditing Guidelines
Use the VAQAS self-assessment toolkit provided to assess the different components of the visitor experience. Make sure that you have read the VAQAS assessors manual before conducting your audit, so you know how to conduct the audit accurately and thoroughly. The VAQAS audit is extremely thorough and you are asked to complete a full audit. However, for your final presentation you will be expected to provide a succinct summary of your audit, and calculating an average mark for each of the following auditing sections which are:
1. Section 1: Pre-arrival • Telephone enquiries • Leaflet and brochure content, accuracy and clarity • Website content, accuracy and navigation 2. Section 2: Arrival • Initial signage • Appearance of initial grounds and buildings • Car park • Layout and maintenance of facilities • Welcome, efficiency and appearance of staff • Visitor information • Cleanliness 3. Section 3: Attraction • Layout • Range and quality of general signage • Appearance of grounds and buildings • Range of content • Quality of presentation • Quality of interpretation • Appearance, attitude and knowledge of staff • Other areas • Cleanliness 4. Section 4: Toilets • Layout and design • Fixtures and fittings • Maintenance and cleanliness 5. Section 5: Catering • Layout and design • Range, presentation and quality food • Appearance, attitude and efficiency of staff • Maintenance and cleanliness 6. Section 6: Retailing • Layout and design • Range and presentation of merchandise • Appearance, attitude and efficiency of staff • Maintenance and cleanliness p. 2
How to Use the Auditing Resources
This bit is important!
You have been provided with an auditing template that contains a separate spreadsheet for each of the themes outlined above. Use the following guidance to complete the audit satisfactorily:
Complete the audit for each section and score each element.
Note as the scores are entered an average score for each section is automatically calculated. For example the average score for telephone enquiries is 2.9, leaflet and brochure 3.5 and website 3.3. The overall score for Section 1: Pre-Arrival has also been automatically calculated (3.3).
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With this information it is now possible to produce a graph showing the overall result and gap analysis for each section. Sec.on 1: Pre-‐Arrival 4
3
Score
2
1
Score Gap
0
-‐1
-‐2
-‐3
1.1 Telephone Enquiries
1.2 Leaflet and Brochure
1.3 Website
Service Element
You need to include a summary graph like this for each section - so there
Remember each element within each section can be expanded upon. For example
should be a minimum of six graphs in your report.
if we take website from Section 1: Pre-Arrival above with an average score of 3.3, this average is derived from the 12 measures that make up that section (see below).
This information can then also be graphed to show the overall result and respective service gaps (see below). The inclusion of any additional analysis to support the overall discussion of service quality will be left with you - use them where they will add context.
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Sec&on 1: Pre-‐Arrival -‐ Website 5
4
3
1
Score
-‐4
Road colours and drop-‐off points
Access Statement
Download &mes considered
Contact details
Group and special interest informa&on
Descrip&on of facili&es
Direc&ons/maps simple to follow
-‐3
Links to other websites
-‐2
Photo cap&oning
-‐1
Use of photos
0
Relevant and up-‐to-‐date
Gap Naviga&on
Score
2
Service Element
The template provided is used to gauge service quality for the attraction as whole however, individual sections can be used to compare different sections within a specific attraction. For example, if you decided to VAQAS the Science Museum in London, then the scoring for interpretation (see Section 3 - Attraction) could be repeated on the different floors to highlight the differences in the quality of interpretation used on different exhibits.
In your Excel template the final spreadsheet is called ‘Final Score Sheet’ (see below). This is linked to each individual spreadsheet and auditing section, and as you enter the individual scores it will calculate an overall service rating for your attraction. This final service rating should be included and discussed in your final report.
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Specific Guidelines and Instructions
If when working through the auditing template a specific element is not applicable then you need to change the score recorded from 1 to 0, which indicates it is not used, and also give a score of zero. If, as in the case below, an entire section is not applicable you also need to enter 0 in the cell displaying #DIV/0! This is important as it will affect the overall score on the final scoring sheet.
When a complete section is not applicable you also need to make a small adjustment to the final score sheet - which serves to show the weighting that is given to those areas which impact most on the visitor experience. Where a score
is N/A (for example car park as above) you need to set the figure in the ‘Max’ column to Zero (see below).
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Note in this example the car park option was not applicable. Therefore on
the spreadsheet scores were marked as zero, and 0 was entered in the cell displaying #DIV/0!. These scores are reflected in the final score table which
shows a score of 0 and total of 0 for 2.3 car park. You simply need to change the max score (which was 5) to 0. This therefore removes this section from the overall scoring.
If you have any queries over auditing categories that have not been used,
and how to amend your scoring sheet then please contact me directly, and I will help you make the necessary amendments.
Overall, when completing the audit, you only mark what is actually there, assessing quality in context, therefore, for example, an attraction will not be penalised if they have no catering facility. Therefore, quality standards at a small family-run farm attraction will obviously differ from those found at a large corporate owned theme attraction, it’s very much about assessing quality in context looking at does this meet the needs and expectations of the visitor.
Supporting Evidence
You should take plenty of photographs to help document aspects of the auditing process that you can then refer to in your subsequent analysis. In your supporting discussion, I would expect to see these different elements discussed, and you may wish to include an additional table showing relative scores for each component, and how the overall average was calculated. Through this analysis, you should be able to compare relative best practice on-site and potential areas of improvement.
Finally, you should hopefully not expect any aspect of the visitor experience to score lower than a three, unless there was an acceptable explanation (these would usually be highlighted at a debrief, such as work in progress, staff training etc). The attraction will fail the assessment if any area that is assessed scores ‘0’ or if the overall percentage is less than 50% in any section. VAQAS assessors would discuss any attractions falling within the 55% – 65% band to see how they can work with the attraction to improve to an acceptable standard in order to gain p. 7
accreditation. Guidelines for scoring between 1 to 5 on each element are provided in the assessor manual. Lower scores indicate potential gaps and provide the basis for identifying areas of quality enhancement - in doing so you are asked to base your recommendations for improvement on best practice within the attractions sector you are considering. For example, if you audit Petworth House and record service gaps around interpretation then recommendations for improvement must be based on the identification best practice for interpretation within the heritage sector. At this point I would expect to see reference to the literature supporting this discussion. Equally, higher scores indicate areas of best practice and again there should be some link to the academic/industry literature to support this discussion.
Report Structure
In terms of the overall format and layout of the report, emphasis must be placed
on providing a clear and logical structure. I will expect to see the following elements provided in the report.
Introduction
Your report should start by providing a clear overview/audit of the attraction you have chosen, and the nature of the product/experience that is being provided. Give consideration to the different elements of the visitor experience, related areas such as pricing, awards, accolades, and who the main market of the attraction is. You can include any materials that may help you convey the nature of the experience on offer - this could include for example photographs and visitor information, such as site maps. You may also be able to find information on current approaches to customer service - for example do they have a current customer service strategy. This is something you might be able to enquire about after your visit. Some reference to the operational profile of the attraction (for example visitor numbers) could also be included, and I also expected to see some reference to the key pressures influencing the management of the visitor experience for the wider attractions sector you have chosen. You will need to demonstrate engagement with the literature and industry resources to do this to the required standard. Think carefully about how this information is presented in order to establish a suitable context.
This initial discussion could also make reference to existing customer feedback that you could access via looking at visitor comments on TripAdvisor. Including one or two comments is not sufficient, and I would expect to see analysis of a number of comments with key themes identified and presented accordingly, for example using a word cloud.
The understanding of the attraction demonstrated in the introduction, and the key factors influencing the quality of the visitor experience provide the basis on which to discuss areas of enhancement or best practice in your later discussion. Some reference to the rationale for the choice of attraction should also be included.
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Clear Presentation of Auditing Results and Discussion
I expect to see the results of the auditing process clearly displayed and analysed in your discussion, which should initially be structured around each component part of the VAQAS self-assessment toolkit and the principal auditing areas (see page 2).
You should complete the audit template thoroughly, and use these results to provide the basis of your discussion. In addition to the inclusion of auditing results, I also want to see a graph showing the service gap for each individual element you have assessed (you will have covered gap analysis in the session on measuring and monitoring customer service).
You must then also provide a commentary for each section highlighting what the results are showing. While this is an applied piece of work, I will expect to see some reference back to the academic literature in order to place your observations in context. Also at this point make sure you include any photos that support any aspect of your discussion. Also include make use of any additional tools, techniques and concepts covered on the module. For example when looking at the attraction website you could also score against the webqual template discussed during the module.
Conclusions - Best Practice and Recommendations for Enhancement
Your report should finish by including the completed scoring template with an overall quality score for your attraction. In addition to this you should also identify what you consider to be areas of best practice for each section, and also identify areas of enhancement and make recommendations for improvement. At this point I would expect to see wider recognition of best practice across the attractions sector, and you making reference to best practice from other attractions. You must ultimately provide a critical commentary on the overall quality of the visitor experience and highlight areas of best practice (if applicable). The final part of your report must outline a series of recommendations for service improvement as the basis of a new customer service strategy for the attraction that you have
chosen. Failure to include the final recommendations section will result in a penalty mark of 20% being applied to your report.
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Some general notes: •
Remember not to write in the first person. The report should be objective and written in the third person.
•
While annotation will be allowed in the VAQAS templates, avoid using long lists in your discussion and structure your analysis accordingly using paragraphs. Commentary in any tables included will not count to your word limit.
•
Subheadings are allowed and are recommended to help structure your report accordingly. Ensure that the subheadings are numbered accordingly and consistently throughout. A contents page should be included at the start.
•
I do expect to see quite a visual report - this is necessary to help articulate the nature of the visitor experience the attraction offers. Look at each section and consider carefully what information can be included. For example when looking at the attraction’s website I would expect to see a screenshot included in your discussion.
•
All photos and any illustrations should be clearly labelled and referenced in the text. If you use an image make reference to it do not put it in as simple window-dressing. Photos should be not text-wrapped.
•
I do expect to see a level of referencing to the academic text, particularly when discussing your observations and making reference to best practice and areas for enhancement from across the attractions sector. Evidence of benchmarking of good practice from comparable attractions should be included.
•
Please ensure that your student numbers are clearly included on the front page of your report.
•
In terms of the overall style of presentation I will leave that to you. However there is an opportunity here to present the information in a slightly different manner. You can look beyond a standard black and white document, and even think about changing the page orientation. Be creative but make sure you present the information in a structured and accessible way. Quite simply make sure the information is selfexplanatory and suitably informed by your own investigation background reading, and best practice.
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•
Remember to make reference to the assessment criteria. These are: • Clear rationale for the adopted tool and context for choice of
attraction
[I will expect you to apply the VAQAS audit tool accurately and thoroughly on a given visitor attraction, including a context for your choice of attraction i.e. [product/experience overview/drivers influencing service quality in attraction/ sector]
• Appropriate use and application of tools and techniques used to
improve service quality
[I expect to see the auditing templates used appropriately and then analysed accordingly, making reference and use of the key tools and techniques used during the module]
• Clear and logical structure, including introduction, main body and
conclusion
[I expect to see a clear structure, reflecting the guidelines presented in this brief]
• Ability to convey results of fieldwork accurately and succinctly
using appropriate formats
[I expect to see the auditing templates completed, with clear evidence and calculation of scoring for the individual components and a completed score sheet for the whole attraction. Evidence of gap analysis should also be included]
• Reference to the academic literature and accurate referencing [While an applied exercise a level of academic referencing is required, particularly to support your analysis and discussion of best practice]
•
Please note that the guidance provided in this document should be treated as a starting point for this assessment. How you present your information in the final report is up to you and you are free to develop your own style. Be creative whilst at the same time ensuring your discussion is based on a thorough and accurate audit, with evident reference to the background literature.
•
It is important that this exercise is completed thoroughly and your audit must be completed by Friday 7th March to ensure you are able
to make reference to your auditing results during Topic 4 - Measuring and Monitoring Customer Service. Failure to complete the audit by this
date will result in a 10% penalty being applied to your report mark. As proof of completion a scanned version of your completed audit should be emailed to me by 5pm on Friday 7th March. •
Audits should be conducted in groups of 2 (3 maximum but only with clearance of the module tutor). Your choice of attraction must be approved by the
module tutor and confirmed by 27th January. An auditing booklet will be available for each group.
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•
A final word - you are being asked to undertake a thorough audit of a tourist attraction using an industry recognised quality assessment framework. This needs to be undertaken diligently, and analysed using the Excel templates provided. Your task then is to present a succinct summary of this audit, adhering to the guidelines provided. Do not attempt to map and analyse everything specific aspect of the audit. If you have additional questions then please contact me directly.
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