Relationship Between a Service Provider and a Consumer - Article Example

The inside track system or process is one by which knowledge and information on what s might need or expect to be produced will be highly considered as far as decision taking on growth and diversification strategies is concerned. A general conception on factors which leads to the growth and success of a firm by many people is the resources the firm possesses. These resources could be in the form of Human resource or capital resource. This conception is however not wrong, because a company with a large human resource is expected to have a high output or produce more goods and services on a larger scale and scope since this enable them reach more customers than their other competitors. On the other hand, when there is high capital resource then more investments could be made to set up the best production procedures and service provision systems, to enable them offer nothing but the best products to the consumer hence helping them build a strong customer base. It is however also important to notice that, the existence of these things such as capital and human resource which is seen as the basis of success and growth of a firm by many people would be useless when there are no consumers to consume the products or services been produced. In other words, it is the existence of consumers which determines whether or not the large human and capital resources possessed by a firm is needed or not. When firms are able to build a strong and established customer base, these customers help these firms to produce new and innovative products and services as a result of been able to identify some other needs of their customers and capitalizing on the trust built in them by their customers as a result of the long lasting relationship between the firm and its customers. Apart from these established customers leading or helping a firm to produce more innovative products, they can also help in improving already existing ones. From the article, you would realize that Hercules business as a result of supplying its military customers with explosives, gave them a good insight into the activities of their established customers, helped them in analyzing and figuring out some other needs or things their established customers need to be supplied with or use in their operation. This lead to the production of new companies such as the turpentine and pine oil and these products immediately after been introduced into the market had ready consumers for them since its production was motivated by the needs of some customers. This is because it is evident that in the supply of explosives by Hercules to their military customers was done very diligently to the satisfaction of its military customers hence establishing trust and good business transacting relationship between the firm Hercules business and its military customers. This type of relationship between a service provider and a consumer is something which is achieved a long term and is something which needs to be constantly and consciously worked at through the provision of good, quality and first class services. These things all lead to a customers satisfaction and when a customer is satisfied with the goods and service he/she is been provided with you the service provider succeeds in winning the trust of your customer. Winning your customers trust leads bounding him/her to buying your products rather than that of your competitors. Another important relationship the Hercules business had was that with the lacquer industry as a result of the production of soluble nitro cellulose for this industry which also lead to the discovery and production of other new products from the same raw material. These new products were also produced as a result of the Hercules business identifying some other needs of their established customers in the lacquer industry. One advantage which is quite obvious the Hercules business had from the divestiture into the production of these new products for the lacquer industry is it was less capital intensive since they chose to produce new products from the same raw material, which means also that if not the same; a similar production or technological process was also used. This also meant that there was not that much need to employ new skills and purchase new production machines. From all that has been elaborated earlier, it is clear that tapping important and relevant information from established customers on the assessment on already existing products and other needs of theirs which need to be met, form a very solid and reliable platform of making a firm more innovative and producing exactly what its customers need and in the form they like it and of the of the quality suitable for them. Through this a firm can win the trust and commitment of its customers to their products. This also however makes a firm gain some kind of competitive advantage and credibility over its competitors. It is however important to note that getting the information needed from your established customers can only be gained by training your employees to go a step further beyond the normal customer relations but based on certain ethical principles if the aim of getting very useful tacit knowledge from your customers to incorporate into company operations can be achieved. It is also very important your employees are able to get useful information as far as the operations of your customers are concerned since it is only through this that their unmet needs which can be capitalized upon to produce new and innovative products can be identified. This research by your employees on your customers must also be done on regular basis to keep you very current and obsessed. This system of frequent interaction with customers and the tapping of knowledge from them also saves the huge capital from hiring expensive consultants on certain issues such as how to improve your products amongst others. In the article, a statement was made that “the pursuit of an inside track suggests that the emerging needs of customers may supersede the importance of existing skills and resources. I believe this statement is not actually right since it is the emerging needs of customers that leads or calls for the need to employ new skills and resources in order to be able to cope with and meet the needs of the customers. In order words, the emerging needs only precedes the need to getting in place needed skills and resources. A conclusion can also be drawn that neither customer demand nor existing technologies can be singled out as what influences the growth of a firm or divestiture by a firm but rather tapping useful knowledge and ideas from established customers evaluating them and incorporating them into company operations. As a manager of a engineering company in the agriculture industry, some established customers your company has be in close contacts with as far as practicing the inside track system with include , Farms, Feed producers, Agric chemicals producers amongst others. By now, you would have appreciated the great importance of this inside track system, it is therefore important that you establish good relations with your established customers by providing them with nothing but quality service and products. You must quality your hall-mark and what your company is identified and known for. This will help strengthen the relationship between you and your customers and make it easy for you to be able to make efficient use of the inside track system as far as the getting of information and other things mentioned earlier from you customers are concerned. When you are able to established this relationship with your customers which you would agree with is a very long but worth taking journey, you would be able to know the perception of your customers about your services and goods so that if there are any amendments you need to do to them, you can identify them quick enough to prevent loosing your valued customers. You would also be able to identify their needs and capitalize on them to produce new products which will be unique and more sought after. This will not only create a good image for your company but also increase your profit margin and put you ahead of your competitors. WORD COUNT 1,377 Read More