设置物流服务质量标准【外文翻译】

外文翻译

原文

Setting Standards for Quality Service in Logistics

Material Source: Emerald Backfiles Author: Richard Lancioni，John L Gattorna The major issue in customer service for the 1990s will be quality. The perspective one takes when developing an approach to achieve quality service must be based on the precept of "consistency". Because customer service covers such a variety of tasks in an organization, it is important for a company to define exactly what customer service is and what functions it will include, before it undertakes a quality service initiative. In general, customer service encompasses four general task areas: problem resolution; customer information;order administration; and telemarketing.

(1)Problem Resolution

Resolving customer problems is the most common task that customer service performs. It is the most complex and often the most difficult and stressful task for a service person to engage in. Generally, the problem resolution process has six stages.

Stage 1. Diagnose Customer Problem．This stage is the most important since the service representative must diagnose the customer problem and gather the relevant information, before the resolution can be developed. The key questions to ask include what? where? how? why? and to what extent?

Stage 2. Follow-up with Customer for Additional Data．This stage may or may not be needed, depending upon the interaction that takes place-in Stage 1. Here, the service representative goes over with the customer the information that was provided to ensure its completeness.

Stage 3. Data Gathering．This stage is the longest and the most intricate, since the pertinent data may be hidden in an internal department or a part of an internal process that is unfamiliar to the other service representatives. The data gathering may include information from sales, marketing, manufacturing, finance, technical support, field sales, etc.

Stage 4: Develop Tentative Solution．Before a final solution is developed, it is important to check with the customer to ensure that al l aspects of the problem have been addressed. A tentative solution may be appropriate and it should be reviewed with the customer, before a final agreement is reached.

Stage 5: Modify Solution．This is an optional step based on the complexity of the buying process and the nature of the problem. Stage 5 is necessary in situations where a negotiated final settlement is needed.

Stage 6: Implementation．Customers typically want the implementation phase to be "hassle free and fast".

(2)Providing Customer Information

Providing information to customers is an essential function of all international customer service operations. The following are some quality information provisioning standards that are frequently used:

• Telephone answering: pick up on or before the t hird ring.

• Closure time: average time of call.

• Number of call-backs: average number of call-backs as a percentage of total calls. • Face-to-face customer contact: number of face-to-face contacts per representative. • Questions answered on initial c ustomer: average number of completed questions per customer call.

• Information availability: percentage of information available at time of call.

• Access time: average time needed to access customer information by information area.

• Response time from internal departments: average time of response to specific information areas by internal departments to customer service.

• Problem resolution time by internal departments: average resolution time of customer information problems by other departments.

(3)Order Administration

One of the most repetitive areas in customer service is order administration. This, again, is a multi-dimensional function and can range from order entry to credit to collections. Order administration is a function that can report to other departments in a company besides customer service, including finance, logistics, marketing, and sales. Standards that could be used include:

• Number of orders processed in a given time frame — by day, by the hour, etc. • Number of errors as a per centage of the total orders processed: this standard evaluates the overall accuracy record of the order entry function. Quality improvement goals should be set to reduce the number of order errors.

• Order exception resolution time: this standard looks at the time required to handle special order problems such as returns, the processing of credits, etc.

(4)Telemarketing