Improving Service Quality
by Dera DeRoche-Jolet

If your customers graded you on the quality of your service, would you get an A plus? When competing services are similar, we win and lose customers based on the quality of the service. For instance, there may not be much difference in the rooms offered by competing hotels. Why then do some travelers choose one hotel over another? It’s their quality of service.

Only your customers can judge the quality of your service. That’s because service quality has to conform to a customer's specifications and expectations. Administrators of a medical clinic might view service quality as the credentials of the doctors. Patients, however, are more concerned with waiting time and the personal interaction with the doctors, nurses and other staff members than where a doctor obtained his degree.

Alarm company owners might be more concerned with the technological excellence of the components of the alarm system. Your customers might be more interested in the waiting time for an install or the time and patience you give to them in explaining how to use their new system.

Alarm companies provide a service and must determine what benefits customers expect to receive and then develop the services to meet those expectations. Only by meeting your customers' expectations on a consistent basis, can your company deliver quality service.

To improve the quality of your service, you must first understand how your customers and potential customers judge service quality. Consumers make quality judgments on how you perform the service. Once you know and understand how your customer evaluates your services, you can take steps to improve. Following are some guidelines customers use to judge service quality.

Reliability means a consistency in performance and dependability. It runs the gamut from being accurate in billing to performing the service at the specified time.
Responsiveness is the willingness and readiness of you and your employees to provide the service. It means returning phone calls quickly and providing prompt service such as setting up appointments right away. Responsiveness is also the attitude your customers perceive from you and your employees.

Competence means possessing the required skills and knowledge to perform the service. It goes without saying, how important training is. A knowledgeable employee sells and resells your business to your customers by giving them a sense of security that they have chosen the right company.

Access is your approachability and ease of contact. It means that waiting time for service is not extensive and convenient hours of operation.

Courtesy is the politeness, respect, consideration and friendliness of your company and its employees. That means keeping your uniforms clean and neat, no tracking mud on a customer’s floor, and a friendly, polite greeting.

Communication is keeping customers informed (in language they can understand) and listening to them. It means explaining the service and the cost and then assuring your customer that the problem will be handled.

Credibility is your trustworthiness, believability and honesty. It includes your company name and reputation. Keep in mind that customers judge your company, in part, based on your personal characteristics and your degree of hard sell.
Make the effort to Understand and know your customer’s needs. Take the time to learn your customer’s specific requirements. Provide individualized attention and give recognition to regular customers.

Security means freedom from danger, risk or doubt. Everyone looks for security. With alarm companies, security is important because it is what you are selling. Yes, it involves physical security, but it also includes financial security and confidentiality.
Often, companies fail to recognize that service quality problems exist. Many dissatisfied customers never complain to the company. Most customers tell more people about bad service experiences than they do about good ones. Your customers, whether they complain or not, when left unhappy, can hurt your business.

Service quality is not an accident and can be improved through total company commitment. Managers must take quality seriously. Without a commitment to quality from management, your other employees cannot be expected to follow suit. All your employees must be committed to quality. Reward high-quality service in your employees.

Front-line workers, such as the salespeople, receptionists, and installers are your most critical resource. A rude installer is a rude alarm company and an incompetent receptionist is an incompetent alarm company. Your employees are the critical link to your customer. Without them, you cannot improve your service quality.