Activity 5 Report writing, business letters and workplace documents
Applied activity
Weighting: 20% (10% each letter. 5 marks for appropriate structure and 5 marks for language)
Length: 750 words (this is approximate)
Description: This assessment requires you to undertake a practical activity demonstrating your understanding of the structure of business letters.
Submit the following two letters. Use appropriate structures for the content. You do not need to include address details.
Letter 1
Your organisation supplies stationery to several large and many small businesses. You have a loyal group of customers due to your excellent service. Unfortunately, industrial action affecting the production of many of your products has created a shortage of stock and you will not be able to meet many urgent orders. You hope that this will last for only two weeks and you need to encourage customers to wait for the industrial action to be resolved, rather than use another stationery company.
Write a letter to customers advising them of the situation. Use an appropriate structure for your letter.
Letter 2
You have had a longstanding carpet cleaning business in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide. Last year a new cleaning company opened in the area. The owners of this company aggressively marketed their services and have taken many of your regular customers. You need to persuade these customers to resume using your services so you decide to write them a letter. You believe they were happy with your services but they may need some incentive to start using your company again. You may offer them a small discount but you do not want to focus too much on price as you always do a quality job cleaning carpets, and this takes time.
Write a letter to all the customers you have not heard from in a year, encouraging them to book an appointment to have their carpets cleaned.
Activity 6 Client communication
Case study
Weighting: 20%
Length: 750 words
Description: This assessment requires you to answer case study questions, demonstrating an understanding of listening. You must reference at least three sources in your answers. Ensure that you correctly reference the sources in terms of the Communication Skills Guide.
Case Study: Fast, Accurate and Consistent Service
When customers come to an organisation, they have more information and more choice than ever before. They know what they want and where else they can get it and they expect immediate satisfaction. Customers expect best service from any of the access points to an organisation. Regardless of the channel or combination of channels they choose when they either walk into a business, use the phone, send email or letters, or connect through social media, customers have high expectations.
The increasing contact between online companies selling insurance to their customers through the Internet, TV advertising and call centres has meant that the customer now controls when the contact, service and selling opportunity takes place. Customers are able to initiate the contact through the web and remote call centres. They have a 24/7 expectation of fast, accurate, and consistent service.
Companies selling online implement the following strategies to meet these expectations. They empower frontline employees to listen and engage proactively with customers. They offer multichannel choice and design seamless experiences. They also measure and continuously improve product and service delivery.
Questions
1 How can an organisation that offers customers the opportunity to buy insurance services online gain insight into the types of experiences valued by its customers?
2 How are customers' expectations of service through the web different from their expectations of face-to-face customer service?
3 What capabilities do you expect from an empowered frontline employee of any organisation?