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 Retail CCI Pulls In The Customers
It pays to invest in service. This is true for both businesses and workers and certainly true for FarEast Flora.com Private Limited.
Mr Ryan Chioh, its Managing Director, said: "Through the experience of good service, customers will continue to come back to us." It was then they started on the Customer Centric Initiative to help them implement service improvements.
Today, if you place an online order at www.fareastflora.com, a Customer Service Executive will call you to confirm your order.
This and other service initiatives were implemented to "wow" customers at every interaction point and ensure expectations are met and even exceeded.
Their investment has reaped benefits: Customers are happier, with satisfaction levels improving by 20 per cent. Not surprisingly, Mr Chioh is also pleased, with sales going up by 16 per cent and his staff delighted as their average pay has risen by 15 per cent.
These results are replicated by other companies including Triumph International (S) Private Limited.
Madam Anita Sng, 50, has been with Triumph for 16 years and is its Senior Sales Supervisor. In line with Triumph’s service innovation to serve male customers, Madam Sng was trained specifically for this.
“Previously, they were too embarrassed to even step into a lingerie shop”, she recounted with a laugh. "They would ask the OG store security officer to call me over, and I had to run in and out of the store, to help these male customers with their purchases".
Now, more male customers are walking in, attracted by a more inviting store design. She is also able to recommend products, and even help male customers wrap their purchases in specially designed gift boxes.
Her new customers have helped drive sales up at her outlet by 20 per cent and her commission has increased by 23 per cent.
What’s more, someone is unwrapping a pleasant surprise!
So far, CCI has been adopted by about 200 companies in the retail, food and beverage, taxi and healthcare industries, of which 94 companies have ongoing service improvement projects and 26 have completed their first CCI projects. Some are even scoping out a second phase of projects to build on the momentum and good results.
More than 8,000 workers have been trained, and some 2,800 of them have received higher pay or commission. Higher service levels pay three times more, not just for businesses and workers, but for Singapore too.
In 2005, Singapore was ranked 21st in the world by the Global Competitiveness Report for the standard of customer orientation. This was dismal, considering that we were ranked among the top 10 just a few years before. In 2005, together with Spring Singapore and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, National Trade Unions Congress started CCI to raise service levels. We were confident that our service standards could be pushed up with the CCI rallying employers, unions, workers and government agencies to work towards service excellence.
By 2007, our ranking rose to the 15th position. This year, we again moved up and reclaimed the 10th position, a great result for all!
"We intend to explore further to make the CCI help companies go beyond Service 101, that is, more than basics such as service training and service audits and consider exploiting technologies and innovations for better customer experience," said Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Co-Chairman of the CCI Committee.
This confidence and vision will see us pulling out all stops to make CCI work for us and making service pay many times over. More so during this downturn, so we can strengthen our competitive edge.
 We intend to explore further to make the CCI help companies go beyond Service 101, that is, more than basics such as service training and service audits and consider exploiting technologies and innovations for better customer experience."
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