Service from the Heart / Palvelua Sydämellä - entry level (basic) one-day-service-training for tourism service entrepreneurs and personnel - material has been developed with partial EU funding in Leonardo da Vinci -funded project Quality Boost for Tourism

1. Service from the heart Tourism service training 31.1.2011

3. Culture tourism

5. Customer expectations

6. Internal and external customers

8. Finland as a tourist destination 31.1.2011

9. Tourism as an industry X% of the world’s working population receive livelihoods from tourism In Finland, approximately xx persons receive livelihoods from the tourist industry (catering and accommodation, places of interest, sports and nature activities, rural tourism) Tourism accounts for around x% of Finland’s GDP Finland has around xx rural tourism enterprises In Central Finland, the proportion of foreign tourists out of all tourists is x% According to research, Finland’s most appealing tourism factors are… 31.1.2011

11. Finland

12. Province!

13. Town

14. Village

15. Tourist destination

16. CompanyWhere do you see tourists? 31.1.2011

17. Culture services from the heart How can a tourist area be profiled using the local culture? Tourism is the realisation of images created by communications Profiling occurs via communications, appearance and activities > marketing, interior design, signs and guidance, souvenirs, service products (dramatised guidance) and customer service 31.1.2011

18. Regional tourism This slide can be used for each trainer to add their own example. 31.1.2011

19. 2. Identifying customer needs and desires Who are your customers? Do you really know what they want and expect from your provision of services? 31.1.2011

20. 31.1.2011 What is good service? respect for others taking others into consideration fulfilling needs and desires What are the consequences of good service? the customer will return; the customer will probably become a loyal or key customer employees will be satisfied; he/she has done a good job, perhaps even surpassing himself/herself the customer will remember you and your company  free marketing

22. Do they all want the same things and same services from you?31.1.2011

23. My internal and external customers Internal customers Co-operation between various acting bodies in the village Companies, associations, independent operators, public sector Co-operation between villages External customers Use the services -> Tourists Domestic International 31.1.2011

25. Reputation

26. “Grapevine”

27. Earlier experiences

28. Customer needsCompany image Technical quality: what? Functional quality: how? adapted from Gummersson 1995 How is service expectation created?

30. What values do your customers seek when using your company’s services?

31. Benefit segmentation vs. marketing communications, service pledge31.1.2011

32. 3. The customer’s path Service product experienced by the customer 31.1.2011

33. 31.1.2011 The basic stages of a service product Customer expectations and needs The image created by marketing communications 2. Arrival stage First impressions of the service environment 6. Post impressions Assessing of experiences (cf. Overall quality experienced) Various stages of the customer service process 3. Expectation stage Observations of the service environment (e.g. other customers) 4. Service stage First impressions of staff Pertinence of service, politeness, customer service attitude 5. Conclusion of services Saying goodbye, taking the customer into consideration

34. The customer’s path depending on the nature of the service product 31.1.2011 It may be very straightforward or complex!

35. 31.1.2011 The customer’s path and moments of truth, e.g. family visit to Kalajärvi Inspiring interest / initial desire to visit the destination Browsing marketing material (website, social media) Decision to visit Arrival (guidance, parking place, entry) Ticket purchases, info Assessing the post impressions Leaving Going to the toilet Buying from the kiosk Using the cafeteria services Watching the performance

36. 4. Competence in providing personal customer service Using the right attitude to achieve WOW! 31.1.2011

38. Tourism is everybody’s business!

39. On the company level

40. The comprehensive customer orientation in activities (cf. service pledge)

41. On the personal level

42. Personal communications: gestures, expressions, tone of voice, etc.31.1.2011

43. 31.1.2011 Attitude significance 10 x 100 = 1000 10 x 0 =0 Attitude is decisive – always (Positiivarit) Final outcome Information Skill Service attitude

44. 5. Exceeding customer expectations Willingness of involvement and leaving a positive memory with the customer – even a lifetime experience! 31.1.2011

45. Lifetime experience? We cannot guarantee others a lifetime experience, but we can create the right settings and possibilities for this experience. A lifetime experience is an unforgettable experience that leads to the personal development of the individual experiencing it – that what is learned and experienced during the lifetime experience may be adopted as one’s own everyday personality, or having a lifetime experience may lead to changing one’s own world image. (LEO 2006) 31.1.2011

46. 31.1.2011 Service into a lifetime experience – service product levels Exceeds expectations, leaves a positive memory. Customer is very satisfied and wants to tell others of this good experience. OK level, customer satisfied in principle. Basic level, minimum requirements met, customer fairly satisfied.

47. 31.1.2011 WOW! Great service!

48. 31.1.2011 Service quality as experienced by the customer Professionalism and expertise Attitudes and behaviour Accessibility and flexibility Reliability and credibility Service rectification Service state Reputation

49. 6. System for listening to customers 31.1.2011

51. death

52. move to another location

53. buy from the competition

54. change companies by recommendation

55. chronic complainers and/or constantly after variation. They purchase products at random from different companies.

56. change of company, because the same service is available elsewhere for a more reasonable price.

59. Nevertheless, around 90% of unsatisfied customers return, if they feel that the matter has been resolved or attempts have been made to resolve the matter

60. Social media facilitates the effective word-of-mouth principle

61. Based on personal experiences and feelings, but it may also be effective at “branding” the entire company

63. Telephone survey

64. Direct feedbackAsk, chat, watch Note body language, gestures and expressions!

65. Rural tourism customer feedback Feedback for tourism enterprises and the other services of the village Electronic feedback form: Can be sent to the customer after the service event -> also acts as a thank you message! Paper feedback form: Clear instructions and request for feedback (a pile of questionnaires placed somewhere is insufficient) Feeding the feedback into the system Summary by village National summary Comparability: How well have we succeeded in serving customers? 31.1.2011

66. What do you do with the feedback? It’s not enough to simply collect feedback, it also has to be competently processed and utilised! Positive feedback: Tells us what the customer thinks is good! It must be noted that the customer compares experiences on the basis of earlier experiences. This information may be used in, for instance, planning marketing communications. Rectifying feedback: Tells what points need improvement! Remember! Nobody is perfect, if no-one complains, this means you have been difficult to approach! You have to react to feedback and utilise the feedback in the development of activities. 31.1.2011

67. 7. Challenging situations When it doesn’t always go to plan… 31.1.2011

69. Working in small groupsWrite down an account of one of your own experiences of an awkward customer service situation Don’t reveal the solution yet, just describe the situation Next, these documents are exchanged among the small group and the other members of the group each provide their own solution for resolving the problem Finally, the true course of events is revealed as to how the situation was resolved 31.1.2011

72. Try to take responsibility for the event yourself, but don’t take the complaint personally.

74. Agree on the solution; remember, you can’t always fully meet the demands of customers.

75. Conclude the matterand thank the customer for providing feedback.

77. Ways of rectifying or compensating could be e.g.Offering a new similar service Correcting the service Gift voucher Price reduction

80. However, the customer is King, who will always have the freedom and power to decide who to buy services from!http://www.aasiakas.net/