Customer services for individual customers at VCB thanh xuan branch

DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been submitted anywhere for any award Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged Author i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis would not have been possible without the support of many people First of all, I would like to thank our respected supervisor – MA Tran Thu Hoai, a lecturer of English Department, Academy of Finance for her immense support throughout my research Without her continuous guidance and support during my project support, my project would not be completed I also want to give my kind regards to the director and all staff of the International Payment and Customer Services Department of Vietcombank (VCB), Thanh Xuan branch for their kindness and help in my practicing time at this bank ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ATM: Automatic Teller Machine VCB: Vietcombank POS: Point of Sale HO: Headquarter Office iii FIGURES AND TABLES No Figures and tables Figure 1.1 Relationship between service Page no and customer Figure 2.1 Organization structure of VCB Thanh Xuan branch 19 satisfaction ( Spreng and Mackoy, 1996) – Hanoi Table 2.1 Retail business performance and growth rate of 25 VCB Thanh Xuan branch in 2011 and 2012 Table 2.2 The comparison of capital mobilization activity 26 from residential between VCB and VCB Thanh Xuan branch in 2011 and 2012 Table 2.3 Retail capital mobilization by customer segment in 27 2011-2012 Table 2.4 Result of retail credit activities of VCB Thanh 28 Xuan branch in 2011-2012 Table 2.5 Customer evaluation of customer service quality of the branch iv 33 TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION……………………………………………………… ……… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………… ………ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………… iii FIGURES AND TABLES……………………………………………… …… iv INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Organization of the study Significance CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Background knowledge of customer services 1.1.1 Customers and customer services 1.1.1.1 Customers 1.1.1.2 Customer services 1.1.2 Service quality and customer satisfaction 1.1.2.1 Service quality 1.1.2.2 Customer satisfaction 1.1.2.3 Relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction 1.1.2.4 Decisive factors on the service quality 1.2 Roles of customer service 10 1.3 Levels of customer service 12 1.3.1 Level one – Meet customer expectations 12 1.3.2 Level two: Exceed Customer Expectations 13 1.3.3 Level Three: Delight the Customers 14 1.3.4 Level Four: Amaze your customers 14 CHAPTER 16 CURRENT SUTUATION AND RESEARCH 16 2.1 Overview of Vietcombank (VCB) 16 2.1.1 Fields of operation 16 2.1.2 Human resources and network 17 2.1.3 Position of VCB in Vietnam banking industry of Vietnam 17 2.2 Overview of VCB, Thanh Xuan branch 18 2.2.1 Organization structure 18 2.2.2 Main activities of VCB Thanh Xuan branch 20 2.2.3 Functions of International Payment and Customer Service Department 20 2.2.4 Products and services for individual customers of VCB Thanh Xuan branch 21 2.2.4.1 Personal loan products 21 2.2.4.2 Deposits – Savings products 22 2.2.4.3 Current account products 23 2.2.4.4 Fund transfer service 23 2.2.4.5 Other products and services 24 2.3 Current situation of customer service for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch 24 2.3.1 Current situation of retail business activities 24 2.3.1.1 Capital mobilization activity from residential 25 2.3.1.2 Credit activity 27 2.3.2 Current situation of customer service for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch 30 2.3.2.1 Mechanisms and policies for retail activities 30 2.3.2.2 Human resources 30 2.3.2.3 Customer services for individual customers 31 2.4 A research on the customer services for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch 32 2.5 Shortcomings of customer services for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch 34 2.5.1 Shortcomings 34 2.5.2 Reasons 35 CHAPTER 37 RECOMMENDATION TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS AT VCB THANH XUAN BRANCH 37 3.1 VCB's oriented strategy in 2011-2015 and vision to 2020 37 3.2 Recommendations to improve customer service for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch 40 3.2.1 Recommendation to VCB Thanh Xuan branch 40 3.2.1.1 Improving the service quality 40 3.2.1.2 Improving the qualification of the staff 42 3.2.1.3 Ensuring the competitiveness of the price 43 3.2.1.4 Creating a professional working environment 44 3.2.1.5 Improving the good image of the bank in the customers 44 3.2.2 Some recommendations to VCB Headquarter Office 45 3.2.2.1 Strongly developing the service and exploit differential advantage products and services 45 3.2.2.2 Developing the network 45 3.2.2.3 Developing the human resources 46 3.2.2.4 Improving the work of management 46 CONCLUSION 47 REFERENCES .v APPENDIX INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Vietnam is switching to market economy socialist oriented, and especially after being an official member of WTO, it has been known as fast developing country in Asia The field of monetary, credit and banking industry plays an important role in stimulating the economy of our country Activities of commercial banks help to regulate, attract and provide capital and banking service for the development of the country The development of banking service is an inevitable trend in the process of integration of the commercial banking system in Vietnam To survive and develop in this competitive market, it is required that beside investing in technological innovation, improving management practices and modernizing payment systems, commercial banks have to pay special attention to customer services The provision of high quality and beneficial services to customers is the fundamental to strengthen the relationship between banks and customers It is one of the most important factors to determine the profitability, risk diversification, position, prestige and the success of banks Therefore, constantly improving, expanding the quality of service is always the top concern of most commercial banks It is obvious that Vietcombank (VCB) is a big commercial bank in Vietnam Previously, the main activity of the bank is foreign trade Nowadays, it becomes a multifunctional bank, providing customers with many financial services such as credit, capital mobilization, capital business, etc It also orients to develop individual customers in order to become the most developed retail bank in Vietnam So, my research here is an investigation to “Customer services for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch” I wish this study would provide effective suggestions for VCB Thanh Xuan branch to improve customer services Aims of the study As mentioned above, this study will provide knowledge about customer services in bank’s daily running activities, focus on analyzing the current situation at VCB Thanh Xuan branch, and suggest some recommendations to improve customer services for individual customers in this bank Scope of the study The scope of this study is limited in VCB Thanh Xuan branch, 448 Nguyen Trai, Hanoi Moreover, the research focuses on analyzing the current situation and improving customer services for individual customers at International Payment and Customer Service department in this branch Methods of the study The data methods are used to collect and analyze the information about customer service theory and the current situation at VCB, Thanh Xuan branch The data used in this study are mainly secondary data: data from the directors and staff of VCB, Thanh Xuan branch, from internet and books Organization of the study Beside introduction and conclusion, my thesis consists of three main chapters as follow: The first part: the introduction dealing with the rationale, aims, scope, methods, organization and significance of the study The second part: is the main part of the paper with chapters Chapter 1: Literature review This chapter gives the definition of customer services and its roles in the developments of the corporation Chapter 2: Current situation of customer services at VCB, Thanh Xuan branch Chapter 3: Recommendations to improve customer services for individual customers The last part: the conclusion Significance It is hoped that this study, to some extent, will be a useful reference material for the staff, especially for the manager of VCB to improve customer services 3.2 Recommendations to improve customer service for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch 3.2.1 Recommendation to VCB Thanh Xuan branch It is sure that the branch has had their own solutions to improve the performance of retail and customer service for individual customers However, to continue promoting achievements and overcome the limitations, I would like to offer some recommendations as follows: 3.2.1.1 Improving the service quality Not all of banks which provide efficient services are considered as modern banks The problem is that the services should be developed as per each bank’s business features and strategies However, the service quality is more important If the quality of services is not guaranteed, the diversification and development of the services will have no meaning when customers not want to use them To improve service quality, VCB Thanh Xuan branch should implement some issues as follows Firstly, VCB should improving modern banking services, especially internet banking, e-banking so that the branch can provide information to customers quickly Customers can make transactions at their workplace Besides, the bank should pay attention to the data quality and the technology system’s security, punish seriously some delays in delivering services to the customers, notice to the transmission errors, blocked transmission caused by the overload Second, it is required that VCB promotes the services’ added value such as the cross-selling service package service, after-sale service, VIP club… Credit, especially credit for investment and production is one advantage of VCB Thus, to comprehensively develop, the branch can use credit as an 40 intermediary and push other cross-selling services up,etc…It means that when providing credit to their customers, the branch encourages them to open an account, send revenue to the account, import-export payment through the bank with preferred policies, etc… Moreover, to develop the package services, the bank’s products should be diversified and its services must be perfect, competitive in terms of quality and cost The third is to simplify the procedures and automatic the operation process to minimize the transaction time of the customers, ensure the precision and timeliness of the transactions in order to create the belief of customers and build business process consistent, transparent between departments to shorten the waiting time of customers The bank’s departments should be wellequipped, the counters should be arranged reasonably and the parking should be widened so that the customers will feel satisfactory and convenient when going to the bank for their transactions Fourthly, it had better promot marketing new products and services to the customers, organize seminars to introduce new products and services to customers To make the marketing activities effective, what the branch needs is a professional marketing department which is responsible for researching, forecasting the market and the development trend of services, determining the target customers and the potential customers on the basis of the market segments and the analysis of competitors Then it should develop detailed strategies of approaching, initiating, developing and maintaining the relationship with the customers The fifth is to set up hotlines to serve customers quickly anytime and anywhere The customers will be more satisfied when they are served over the working hours For automatic service via ATM, ensuring service providers 41 24/24 hours as committed to customers is a very important issue and has great influence on customer satisfaction Therefore, to manage ATM machines, the branch must have a department which is responsible for regularly checking the operation status of the machines The last but not least is to maintain a close and long- lasting relationship with the customers and expand the market to attract new customers as well as potential customers VCB should pay higher attention to its customer care such as visiting the enterprises’ director and chief accountant To the customers who stop doing transitions at the bank or switch to another bank, VCB Thanh Xuan should find the reasons to have suitable solutions aiming at maintaining the close relationship with the customers 3.2.1.2 Improving the qualification of the staff Staff is the factor that determines business performance and enhances the competitiveness of the bank This depends heavily on qualifications, professional, creative dynamism, ethics, serving attitude of bank officials It is also the problem that customers usually complain and most wanted from the bank Therefore, in order to improve the quality of banking products and create a good image in customers’ mind, improving the qualification of staff and employees is a critical solution, which value in all periods of branch development Under this recommendation, VCB can focus on the following aspects: First, the bank should develop a scientific, accurate and fair recruitment process to recruit the qualified staff and in accordance with job requirements Next, VCB had better periodically organize training courses on professional skills for staff and employees about the ability to complete their 42 work with modern technology, the ability to behave when in contact with customers Furthermore, it is required to hold contests on professional skills, sports and other social issues Through these contests, the branch on one hand can reward to encourage individuals who have good results, on the other hand can find out the current weaknesses in order to remedy promptly, and then improve the quality of the service In addition, VCB should pay attention to the treatment policies/benefits of employees so that they can be satisfied and make customers satisfied with the services of the branch The last is to renew transaction style, reflect the civilization and courtesy of staff to customers strengthen the discipline of officers and employees in the bank 3.2.1.3 Ensuring the competitiveness of the price In the competitive environment nowadays, with the appearance of many local and foreign banks, customers have a lot of choice and they become more sensitive with the price than before Therefore, the bank should ensure its competitiveness of the price to attract new customers and maintain the current customers through recommendations such as: It is suggested that VCB should conduct a research to have efficient information about the service price and the interest rate at some other banks in the same locality in order to review the service price and interest rate policy of itself The bank should update the developments of the market as well as the transaction price to get the customers' belief in the competitiveness of the price of the bank 43 Moreover, VCB should promot the flexibility of the price policy such as applying the preferential interest for customers who have a large number of deposit money or having a discount on the transaction fees for the loyal customers or those who have a huge balance 3.2.1.4 Creating a professional working environment Working environment directly affects the psychology and attitude of staff To create a satisfactory psychology, an attentive attitude of serving customers as well as a professional style of work, VCB Thanh Xuan branch needs to build a professional working environment by building a working culture "All for customers" and making efforts to become "a leading retail bank in Vietnam" in the awareness of all staff Besides, it should be fully equipped with the necessary facilities Another important thing is to enhance the cooperation and assistance between departments, increas the capacity of customer management, focus on developing group of individual customers which has stable income, gradually increasing VIP customer group 3.2.1.5 Improving the good image of the bank in the customers VCB is known as a leading bank for foreign trade in Vietnam with experienced staff To strengthen the credibility of customers to the bank, VCB needs maintaining and further developing some advantages Firstly, it is required to respect the commitments with customers, maintaining well the existing customer relationships and strengthen the customer relationships with potential customers In addition, it should promote contributions for society and community, organize sports activities for charity, build a good image in the customers with the high consistency in the leaflet, logo, slogan, furniture and offices’ design as well as the service quality and the working style The advertisement should also be conducted consistently in the overall system It 44 should be the forefront of improving services and meeting customers’ needs Ensuring service quality is always supply accurately and quickly 3.2.2 Some recommendations to VCB Headquarter Office In order to give customers the highest satisfaction, besides Thanh Xuan branch’s own efforts, the VCB Headquarter Office (HO) and the overall system’s support is very necessary There are some recommendations for VCB HO to help VCB implement comprehensively and sustainably develop in the current integration environment: 3.2.2.1 Strongly developing the service and exploit differential advantage products and services The competition of the banks in the banking and financial market is now more and more fierce In order to further develop, VCB needs more solutions offering new products and services to customers, especially the differential advantage products and services Continue promoting the advantages of the traditional services which bring high service charge revenue Develop new services such as participating in issuing agency, payment agency for bond businesses, the real estate payment brokerage service, package service for securities companies… 3.2.2.2 Developing the network It is necessary to set up a nation-wide sales network, which is strong in both quality and quantity, in order to expand the scope of operation and attract more customers, develop actively the new distribution channels, for example, ATM system, POS, direct banking, internet banking so that the customers can get the banking services more conveniently 45 3.2.2.3 Developing the human resources VCB needs to improve the management capacity and qualification of profession, language of staff and managers, continue training and developing qualified human resources in order to meet the requirements of integration 3.2.2.4 Improving the work of management Banking activities contain many risks, so risk management in the work of management is considered as the most important task It needs to establish the internal supervision teams to control the risks at branches, implement, arrange the organization structure reasonably to ensure the safe in the risk management and increase the overall system’s efficiency, focus on investment, development and risk control in activities of relevant branches and increase the competitiveness to push all activities comprehensively up to make them become a thoroughly banking service development channel To sum up, chapter of the research has given the oriented strategy in 2011-2015 and vision to 2020 of VCB and some recommendations to improve customer service for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch With the pressure of equitization, it is necessary for VCB to further improve service quality and product diversification Today competitive environment VCB needs to promote the brand more widely, meet more customer demands to maintain the loyal customers and attract new customers to the branch 46 CONCLUSION A good customer service is a vital element and the objective that all of banks are now pursuing Along with the strong competition in today's business environment, understanding of customer service and service quality becomes more and more necessary Therefore, the thesis is more useful in making policies and development strategies for the bank In the field of services, especially in banking, satisfying the customers’ demands plays a very important role which is derived from the interaction between the customers and the bank as well as the positive impacts that the banks get Particularly, if the customers get high satisfaction from the bank, they will continue using the bank’s services, supporting the bank’s new service products and introducing the bank to their other partners to become a loyal customer of the bank, which will increase the sales, market share, profit and status of the bank in the market That is the goal that every bank expects to reach With the subject “Customer service for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan Branch”, the paper has studied about customer service for individual customers of Thanh Xuan branch through description statistics, analysis of retail performance, the status of the factors affecting of customer service for individual customers Along with the consideration of the oriented strategy of the bank, the paper has taken a number of recommendations to develop and improve customer service for individual customers of VCB Thanh Xuan branch Due to limitation on spatial and time, the paper was not able to further research on retail operations and customer service for individual customers However, this paper is all of my efforts I hope that this paper will somehow help the leaders of the branch make appropriate plans to improve and develop customer service for individual customers at the branch 47 REFERENCES References in Vietnamese [1] Bản công bố thông tin – Chào bán cổ phần lần đầu công chúng (12/2011) Ngân hàng Cổ Phần Ngoại Thương Viêt Nam (VCB) [2] Báo cáo tài hợp năm 2011 2012 Ngân hàng cổ phần ngoại thương Việt Nam (VCB) [3] Cẩm nang sản phẩm dịch vụ dành cho khách hàng cá nhân Ngân hàng cổ phần ngoại thương Việt Nam (VCB) References in English [1] Entrepreneur Press (2006) Million Dollar Habits: Proven Power Practices to Double And Triple Your Income [2] John Wiley & Sons (2007) Customer Service Delivery: Research and Best Practices [3] Nigel Hill, Jim Alexander (2006) The Handbook of Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Measurement [4] Nigel Hill, Greg Roche & Rachel Allen (2007) Customer Satisfaction: The Customer Experience Through the Customer's Eyes Websites http://www.vcb.com.vn/ http://www.ehow.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org v APPENDIX CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY Dear Customers, Our goal is to provide our customers with the best service Please take a few minute to complete the following customer service questionnaire Your comments will enable us to see how we are doing overall and find out how we can improve Customer service survey No Criteria Poor Quality of products, services Attitude of staff and employees Qualification of staff Quality of after-sale service Quality of communication Facilities and the level of technology The marketing and introduction of products and services to customers Price competitiveness (price of services, interest rate) Fair Good Excellent Open-ended questions What did you like best about customer services? How could we improve our customer services? Thank you for taking the time to complete our customer service survey NHẬN XÉT CỦA ĐƠN VỊ THỰC TẬP Họ tên người nhận xét: Chức vụ: Nhận xét trình thực tập tốt nghiệp sinh viên: Khóa: 47 Lớp: 51.03 Đề tài: “Customer service for individual customer at VCB Thanh Xuan branch” Nội dung nhận xét: Về tinh thần thái độ thực tập sinh viên ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Về ý thức kỷ luật, tuân thủ quy định đơn vị thực tập ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Về kỹ giao tiếp, kỹ mềm ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Về kiến thức chuyên môn ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… Xác nhận đơn vị thực tập Hà Nội, ngày tháng năm 2013 Cán hướng dẫn thực tập SUPERVISOR JUDGEMENT Supervisor: MA Tran Thu Hoai Student: Pham Thi Mai Giang Class: 51.03 Intake: CQ47 Topic: Improving customer service for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch Mark: - In number: - In word: Hanoi, date month year REVIEWER’S JUDGEMENT Reviewer: Student: Pham Thi Mai Giang Class: 51.03 Intake: CQ47 Topic: Improving customer service for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch Mark: - In number: - In word: Hanoi, date month year ... the relationship between branch and customers 20 2.2.4 Products and services for individual customers of VCB Thanh Xuan branch 2.2.4.1 Personal loan products VCB Thanh Xuan branch supplies individual. .. investigation to Customer services for individual customers at VCB Thanh Xuan branch I wish this study would provide effective suggestions for VCB Thanh Xuan branch to improve customer services Aims of... RECOMMENDATION TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS AT VCB THANH XUAN BRANCH 37 3.1 VCB' s oriented strategy in 2011-2015 and vision to 2020 37 3.2 Recommendations to improve customer