Funeral Plan free essay sample

Among StaffTop down, directive style of management; Employee feels fortunateEto be employeedInteractive, bottom up style of management; Employee is seen as an internal customer of management Measurement of Quality of Service DeliveredFamilies served tell us we did a good job, high level of service quality assumedCustomer-centered goals are created and continually measured In short, todays funeral home managers must actively promote excellence in customer service if they are to keep in step with contemporary management philosophies.Those funeral homes that fall back on the status quo will find themselves falling behind in market share. †¢Lack of a Service Strategy Developing a service strategy involves defining your potential customers, determining what their expectations are, and creating a match between your customers expectations and your ability to deliver service. Operating a funeral home without a defined service strategy may have worked twenty-five years ago, but it wont w ork in todays competitive environment. We will write a custom essay sample on Funeral Plan or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Without such a strategy, you dont know who your customers are and how much they value different aspects of the products and services you provide. Without a service strategy the funeral home is often not managed in a way to assure quality service, while a well-defined service strategy helps create high quality service standards. Funeral homes that have a clear, focused service strategy will be better prepared to be successful today, tomorrow, and well into the future. †¢The Importance of Employee Training Has Been Overlooked Without ongoing training, owners, managers, and employees will not provide top-notch customer service. Everyone benefits from being exposed to new skills, attitudes, concepts and ideas.While mortuary colleges have made strides in teaching customer service skills, the bulk of the educational experience is still on embalming and preparation. Employers should not assume that the new graduate is qualified to fulfill the customer service obligations of the position. My experience suggests that many funeral homes place little, if any emphasis, on ongoing staff training. The potential result can be a downward service spiral. One unhappy, untrained employee can result in an unhappy customer. The more the customer is unhappy the more the staff is unhappy and so the cycle reinforces itself. One negative nteraction between a staff member and the family being served can cause headaches; that small incident can overshadow all of the good things that had been done before. This fact alone underlines the importance of ongoing customer service training for every funeral home employee, from the funeral director to the part-time assistant. †¢The Evolution of the Large Corporate Structure Many think that the growing trend toward the large corporate structure will create a financially stronger funeral service industry. However, those participating in this natural change must guard against diminished levels of customer service. As an organization grows, it tends to drift away from the needs of the front line customer. Sometimes it is tempting for the corporate executive to increase prices to enhance cash flow while downplaying the need for an ongoing focus on customer service excellence. As the corporate hierarchy grows and policy makers become more distant from customers, the risk is that people in the system may forget who the customers are. Though this is certainly not true of all corporations in this industry, I have observed that it has happened to some of the players in corporate funeral service.The challenge for funeral service corporations is to keep their ears to the ground and listen to what the customer, on the local level, is telling them. Bottom-up management techniques facilitate this process. Excellence in Customer Service: A Challenge Owners, managers, and front-line employees must realize that customer service excellence is a strategic process. Lip-service, slogans on stationary and advertisements wont suffice in todays world. Families served and those you hope to serve must be at the center of all your management decisions, changed attitudes and customer-friendly behaviors.Moreover, funeral homes across North America must realize that this service crisis affects all of them. Funeral homes in small communities sometimes think that customer service problems only apply to large funeral homes in large cities. This is not true. If it hasnt already, the service crisis will soon reach the smallest of funeral homes. Without the necessary training–from the top level executive to the front line part-time employee–positive strides toward excellence in customer service are unlikely to occur. I challenge you to lead your funeral home staff in the direction of total commitment of quality service.