The Quality Advantage Program (QAP) is the flagship program of the Customer Service Academy of Jamaica Limited, the benchmark for customer service training in Jamaica and Caricom.

Introduction

The Quality Advantage Program (QAP) is a management system designed to ensure the consistent delivery of quality customer care.

The Quality Advantage begins with the shared dedication to quality in every employee from top to bottom. In all functions the QAP is a tool designed for managers to communicate to all employees the core values and philosophy that drive the company to become a world leader in its market. The QAP is the sacred text through which all employees can be energized and directed towards one common goal and vision.

Through the effective use of the QAP, consistency of behaviour and service, which leads to a higher degree of customer satisfaction, can become not only a dream but also a reality for all.

The Quality Advantage was created by Ben Henry in 1994 and implemented throughout the Sandals Group. Every year since 1994 Sandals has been voted the world’s best all-inclusive hotel group. We would like to think the Quality Advantage Program implemented in 1994 has a lot to do with the company’s success as a leader in customer service.

Advantage of the QAP

The overwhelming advantage of the Quality Advantage is its sustainability. Normally, if a company brings in a trainer to deliver, say, a week of customer service seminars, the positive effect will last for only a few weeks, and the company may have to bring in another trainer again soon. Companies cannot afford to bring in external trainers on a regular basis… it’s too expensive.

Under the Quality Advantage Program, a select group of managers and supervisors will be trained to become In-house Trainers of the Quality Advantage Program. A Quality Advantage Trainers Guide would be developed for them to use when conducting training in the QAP. This will ensure constant reinforcement seminars in the Quality Advantage.

By implementing the Quality Advantage, you bring measurable quality improvement well within reach. Your organization can contain costs while increasing customer satisfaction, and improve the bottom line while becoming more competitive in the marketplace.

the three phases of the ten-step quality advantage programme

 Phase One: Intention

Step One - Situation Analysis: Statement of Current Status

The S.W.O.T. analysis is designed to identify the strengths of the company, its weaknesses, the opportunities open to it, and the threats facing it. This analysis will provide the company with its current status with respect to customer service. Only one day is necessary for this workshop. The target group should consist of the senior management team, and representatives from the supervisory and line ranks, and should not exceed 20.

Step Two - Defining Customer Service Goals and Objectives

The S.W.O.T. analysis tells the company where its customer service is now. After completing this analysis, the company will now know where it wants to be with regard to service delivery. Goals and objectives would be written to take the company where it wants to go. All departments would be part of this goal-setting exercise. Two categories of goals and objectives will be developed … corporate (overarching) goals and the (individual) department goals. Only one day is necessary for this workshop. The target group would ideally be the same group which was involved in Step One.

Step Three - Visioning

The group which took part in Steps One and Two should also be the target group for this one-day visioning workshop. The group will be required to come up with a vision statement that has the following three features:

(i) it has a long time frame;
(ii) it is clear, compelling and easy to grasp;
(iii) it connects to the core values and purpose of the company.

Once the vision has been decided on, the group will then work on a mission statement.

Step Four - Values and Philosophy

This three-day workshop will see the same group as the target audience with the number remaining at 20. The objective of this workshop is to identify those Guiding Values that the company executes well and that really matters to the customer. In addition to identifying the company’s guiding values, the group will work on developing a Corporate Customer Philosophy and a Value Proposition. A Corporate Customer Philosophy articulates a company’s commitment to its customers. A Value Proposition is three things:

  • Firstly, it is a slogan which a company wants the public to identify with;

  • Secondly, it is a corporate commitment; and finally,

  • it is a set of benefits different from those that other companies offer.

“Nobody does it better” is a catchy slogan, but it is also a corporate commitment to Kentucky’s customers that they fry chicken better than anybody else. By doing chicken better than the competition, Kentucky’s customers get better satisfaction eating its chicken and will not go any place else to buy chicken.

This three-day workshop will also focus on identifying at least 15 Customer Service Basics that all employees of the company must know if they are to consistently deliver quality customer service. It will also develop a Promise made by the company’s employee to him/herself; the customer (internal and external), and to the company; a Customer Service Checklist which identifies the three phases of the customer’s experience with the company and the components within each phase which must be known and practiced every time by the employee.

The workshop will also focus on preparing a Code of Conduct or Guiding Principles for all customer-contact staff, and the development of a Customer Service Charter which will consist of a number of guarantees to customers that will easily be lived up to, once constant reinforcement of the Quality Advantage is a matter of course. Finally, a Team Charter will be developed.

Step Five - Development of Customer Satisfaction Standards

This two-day workshop will focus on the development of customer satisfaction standards for managers and supervisors; for the telephone; and for all departments, front of the house as well as back of the house. At least one line staff from each department should be a part of the target group, which comprises managers and supervisors.

Step Six - Input and Consensus

Once the vision and mission statements, along with the values and philosophy, the performance standards and all the other components have been decided on, a draft copy of a document comprising all these components should be circulated among all the departments and subsidiaries within the organization for input and consensus. This is essential in order to get buy-in from all those people who were not part of the process. A consensus agreement form should be signed by everyone and sent back to the Managing Director/CEO. This process should take no more than two weeks.

Step Seven - Development of Training Strategies and Manuals

This step represents curriculum development. The following workshops will be developed by CSAJ consultants for delivery in Step Eight:

  • A three-day workshop in The Manager’s Role in Service Quality Leadership comprising the following components - the Art of Leadership, the Principles of Customer Service Management, the Strategies for Promoting and Embedding a Service Culture at the Workplace, and Managing and Supervising the Service Function.

  • A four-hour workshop in Developing a Reward and Recognition Program That Works. This workshop is conducted gratis for clients.

  • Workshops for all management and non-management staff into the components of the Quality Advantage Program.

  • Workshops in Pathways to Legendary Customer Care for all management and non-management staff.

  • Preparation of the Quality Advantage Trainers’ Guide to be used by In-House Trainers selected by the company to deliver the continuous reinforcement seminars in the Quality Advantage.

  • Preparation of a Manual of Activities for trainers to use in the training sessions. These activities will consist of quick quizzes of group activities, individual activities, case studies, role-plays, etc.

  • Train-the-Trainer Workshop, a 5-day program for those managers and supervisors selected to be the In-House Trainers. The first two days of the workshop will focus on presentation and adult learning techniques; and how effective coaching, feedback and recognition will reinforce the trainer’s training efforts and the learner’s performance. The third day will be devoted to going through the Trainer’s Guide, and the last two days will be “Teaching Practice” whereby the newly-minted In-House Trainers are given the opportunity to conduct a training program with their fellow trainers as participants.

  • The preparation of Service Audit Forms to be used by managers and supervisors in the company to monitor and evaluate employees’ adherence to the standard. These forms could also be used in mystery shopping exercises conducted by external consultants hired by the company for such purposes. These are prepared gratis for clients.

Phase Two: Implementation

Step Eight - Delivery of Training Seminars and Workshops

The training seminars and workshops for management, supervisors and line staff will be conducted on any day (including Saturdays and Sundays) that is convenient to the company.

 Phase Three: Integration

Step Nine - Integration

Once CSAJ is out of the picture, it is up to management to institute the following measures that will ensure that a service culture takes root in the company:

  • Observation, monitoring and evaluation of staff to ensure that they are working according to the company’s standards. “People don’t do what we expect; the do what we inspect.”

  • Weekly gatherings to reinforce the Quality Advantage.

  • Daily briefing and review sessions by heads of departments or designated department supervisors.

  • Job specific orientation of new employees.

  • General orientation of all employees … new and old. All employees should attend re-orientation every year.

  • Continuous reinforcement seminars delivered by the In-House-Trainers. Every day, for 15 minutes, some aspect of the Quality Advantage could be reinforced. That works out at 90 minutes a week, or 75 hours for every employee for a 50-week year. These 15-minute sessions, along with longer training sessions (30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 2 hours, ½-day, 1 day) should result in all line personnel receiving at least 120 hours of training each year.

  • The introduction of executive contact – this involves regular interaction with customers by management. Managers should find time to talk to customers and get their own feedback. Customer intercepts should be conducted at the business, to interview customers. The message is clear – customers are vitally important.

  • Encouraging front-line staff to get their own feedback by asking customers about the organization’s service and then passing on the information to their supervisor.

  • The establishment of Customer Panels (Focus Groups). These should meet regularly to advise the company on how to improve its service delivery.

  • The establishment of a Customer Service Watchdog Team, and invite customers to sit on this team. Customers would be asked to tell what the company was doing right, was doing wrong, and was not doing at all.

  • The conduct of mystery shopper exercises to evaluate the service.

  • The conduct of half-yearly questionnaire surveys of customer satisfaction.

  • The conduct of annual questionnaire surveys of employee satisfaction.

  • The development of a 3 – 5 question comment sheet for customers to fill out when they come to do business, if the nature of the business allows this to take place.

  • It is initially important that the customer satisfaction standards are incorporated in the job descriptions of all employees, including managers and supervisors. Furthermore, the standards and the other components of the Quality Advantage will become part of the performance appraisals of every individual in the company. If they are not incorporated, then employees are going to feel that they are not important, and therefore will not deliver quality customer care consistently.

Step Ten - Rewards and Recognition

There is a concept that all managers and supervisors must become familiar with … it is the concept of WIIFM – “What’s In It For Me?” If we want employees to smile with customers all the time and they do so, then they should be rewarded and recognized for their efforts. Otherwise, they will eventually stop smiling. Appreciation for a job well done will encourage employees to do even better. A comprehensive reward and recognition program established by the company will ensure that employees who continue to deliver the Quality Advantage consistently will benefit in some way.

 

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