Managing Customer Experience - Assignment Example

STUDENT NAME SUBJECT INSTITUTION NAME Full Design Proposal - Managing the customer experience Table of Contents Full Design Proposal - Managing the customer experience 1 The Core Proposal 1 Introduction 2 Problem Identification 2 How the Problem will be solved and the Solution 2 The implications for the marketing of the ideas/solution 4 Implications for Ethics and Sustainability issues 8 Implications for staff recruitment and training 10 References 12 The Core Proposal Introduction Ani Pet Grooming Shop is a grooming animal care facility which consistently provides higher customer satisfaction by giving excellent service, quality pet grooming services, and enjoyable atmosphere at an affordable price. Its services include conditioning or shampooing, nail clipping and polishing, trimming of facial fur and between the toes, cleaning of the ears, teeth brushing, anal gland expressing, de shedding treatments and shaving of different styles (Sandlin, Kimball and Entrepreneur Press, 2009). The shop is situated at the trading centre in the suburb. Its target customers are all pet owners without restriction to only one pet per household. They are professionals who work and need convenient, reliable and trusting pet grooming services available to them to keep with demands of their schedules that are hectic. Problem Identification The overall revenue of the business has decreased drastically by 10% with hardly new enquiries visiting or calling for services. The cost of leasing the premises for the business is increasing by 20% every year making it very costly. On the other hand, customers have been decreasing drastically since the development of the infrastructure around the area. Many of the Ani Pet Grooming customers own businesses while others work full time. They have a busy life and work schedule, having a greater inconvenience in coming to the pet grooming shop to drop off and pick their pets with the normal opening hours of the business. They thus prefer to do a faster grooming touch on their pets by themselves as long as they won’t have to take a trip to the grooming shop. How the Problem will be solved and the Solution To prevent the high costs incurred and fatigued customers, Ani Pet Grooming shop will convert to a mobile pet grooming business. There will be no need to secure a whole premises and one small office partitioned from the owners’ house will be enough to serve walk-in customers as well as the staff. This will lower overheads and provide greater flexibility of the location, as there will be no leases to sign, maintenance and repairs of the premises, paying local services and no opening and closing time fixed. Customers will find it convenient for our pet groomers to attend to their pets at their homes. They will also find it less stressful for both them and their pets as their will be no worry of traffic, travelling, parking and dealing with a restless pet on the way. When a groomer visits a customer’s home, he leaves the pet calmer and happier to the delight of the pet owner. Mobile pet grooming will enable the business to know its customers better on a one-to-one basis by having time to know their desires and wants for their pets. Since the customers don’t mind paying extra-fee for a home visit by a groomer, higher fees will be chargeable than normal and thus increasing the revenue of the business. Also, a visit at a customer’s home may pick up other business from the neighbors and friends of the customers and thus serving several of the same at one appointment which saves time and increase revenue. Mobile pet grooming will also create spread of word of mouth by existing customers about the unique and convenient pet grooming services, which will increase customers and expand customer base for quicker business growth and increase in revenue. Since the only investment will be a vehicle for mobile services, lettering and logo branding on the vehicle will serve as a free advertising mobile billboard for the mobile grooming business which will generate daily new interests from onlookers and enquiries. Since there no customer will be coming physically to the business, it will lessen the work of dealing with walk-ins all the time and provide a healthy break for staff in between appointments. Furthermore, because appointments are booked, the owner may decide whether to take up an appointment or not during certain times in order to take time off without inconveniencing the customers. Mobile grooming business will also provide pride and satisfaction to the owners by providing a unique and valued professional pet grooming services, while delighting customers (Primm, S & Roncevich 2009). The implications for the marketing of the ideas/solution The trend today consists of work professionals choosing to have families later in life and instead keeping pets for companionship. Pet owners have decided to treat their pets like part of the family or like children. They are thus willing invest a lot of their money in a service that will treat their pets just the same. Ani Pet Grooming shop’s target customers are working professionals whose hectic schedules are demanding, work more days and longer hours, and travel a lot. They therefore need quality and convenient grooming services for their pets. For this reason, there is a need to marketing the mobile pet grooming idea to these customers to in order to create awareness and meet their needs. The target market of the pet grooming business consists of work professionals and households that can easily afford the services and need quality, faster and convenient services. Mobile pet grooming services will be a solution to all their needs and marketing it will create awareness for the business, provide information about it to customers, create new and increase enquiries. Customers would like convenient services which the business will be able to meet as groomers will be going to customers. With rising fuel costs, many people are trying to save as much as they can put their hands on and the business will enable that its customers don’t incur any costly visits to the grooming sites. Customers like it when their pets are comfortable and at ease and the business will be able to meet their desires as their pets will be groomed on a one to one basis and not surrounded by other pets which will create stress and anxiety free environments for their pets. Customers will call in to make appointments. They will provide details like the kind of pets they have, the breeds, type of services needed, their location and the time they would like their pets to be groomed. The Customer Service Assistant will negotiate the available time for the services and books, books the appointments and assigns a groomer on the same. After the services are given to customers, the Customer Service Assistant will call the customers for feedback and find out if they were satisfied with the services. Several marketing tools available will be used to ensure the target market is aware of the mobile pet grooming services in order to meet their needs. First, business cards will be provided to include the name of the designated staff of the business and contact information, which will indicate that the mobile pet grooming services are provided. The clip art on the business cards will ensure the customers identify the business easily. Second, a reference list will be used to provide contact information of people the business has provided pet grooming services in the past. The business veterinarian will also serve as a reference. Third, brochures will also be produces that will include one-page description of the services. This will highlight the services provided, the served territory and selling points to prospective customers. Existing customers will also be included in the brochures. Fourth, flyers will be designed to get attention from prospective customers. They will contain key points about the business but not as detailed as the brochure. Fifth, personalized pet products will be effective in attractive prospective clients and appreciating existing ones. Pet toys, brushes, feeding mats and food bowls will be imprinted the business name and contacts. This is another way of branding and positioning the business. Finally, a website will be a great marketing tool to provide detailed information about the mobile pet grooming services. It will contain information like pet shops, services provided, local veterinarians’ directory, site-building tools and pet care tips, as well as any related information and advertisements. The website will build the reputation of the business which will give it great goodwill (Payne, McDonald & Frow, 2011).There are marketing strategies to be used to ensure that the availability of the idea reaches the target customers. Existing contacts can be used to market the idea, as word of mouth is a powerful tool. The business owners will tell everyone they know about the availability of the mobile pet grooming services and ask them to tell their friends and relatives. Everyone contacted will be given personalized pet products, flyers and brochures as well as business cards to give out. Veterinarians always come into contact with the same target market that the business does, as so they will be told about the new idea of mobile services and asked to recommend to their clients. Flyers, business cards and brochures will be left at the veterinarians waiting rooms. Store counters and bulletin boards, cafes, supermarket, local pet shops and bus stops will be areas to place advertisements and marketing materials. The target market can also be found in pet shows and other pet events looking for solutions to their needs and other new ideas coming up related to pets. Mobile pet grooming services being a great idea, the business will sell it at pet shows by hiring a stall to promote the services and use the opportunities to give business cards, personalized pet products and brochures as well as demonstrated how the services are done. The business will also display its contacts in the yellow pages at the ‘Pet Care Services’ page for customers looking for pet care services. Implications for Ethics and Sustainability issues All sizes of businesses have realized the importance of ethics that is vital for their success. Confidence and respect for a company’s customers is crucial to the business. Companies are held accountable for their actions as many people demand that they meet their social responsibility for their customers. A customer who isn’t satisfied can easily hurt a company and that is what any business wouldn’t want to encounter. There are several ethical and sustainability issues that emerge in business which can affect the business (Tencati & Perrini, 2011). The first ethical issue related to a pet grooming business is fairness and honesty. Maintaining business and individual integrity is important when dealing with customers. Staff need always be honest when providing information about the business services provided. All information ranging from services to be offered to a client, price, hidden costs and, warranty and guarantee, meeting appointments should clearly be provided to the customer. All customers should be treated equally without biasness of any kind. If the service is first come first served then the system should remain as it is but not at any time should a groomer brush aside a first come appointment to attend to a relative or friend’s pet. Unfairness and dishonesty in business may create dissatisfied customers who may hurt the company. Showing openness, integrity and honesty in customer relationships and addressing warranty in a transparent manner is an ethical way of conducting services. The second ethical issue is related to the environment where companies are expected to conduct business while sustaining the environment. Environment bodies don’t compromise with any company polluting and degrading the environment. They rally customers to boycott services and products provided by companies who don’t value the environment, which may bring down their profits and revenues (Ferrell & Pride, 2011). The pet grooming business will conduct its activities by using non-toxic and biodegradable cleaning supplies that are environmentally friendly and safe for animals. There will also be use of reused, biodegradable or recycled waste bags when cleaning pets. Since the pet grooming services will be mobile, there will be a lot of movement with the business vehicle which may cause air pollution. The business will thus use fuel efficient vehicles and lessen driving to minimize carbon by serving a relative small geographic area. Groomers will have to walk to homes where clients live in close proximity. On the other and fliers, brochures, and business cards need to be printed on recycled paper to conserve forests and office files will be computerized to create a paper-free environment. The third ethical issue is respecting animals and handling them with a lot of care. Pets are seen as part of family by owners and hurting them mean hurting a member of the family which the owners as the business customers may not be happy about. The mobile pet grooming business will thus keep concern for the safety, health and welfare of pets under its care the top priority of its groomers’ work. Pets will also be treated with utmost good care at all times with respect, kindness, vigilance and patience. This will delight customer as they enjoy pet grooming services with a business that respects their pets and make them feel comfortable. The third issue is employee welfare and health safety. An organization that doesn’t take care of its employees will face staff uprising, trade and labor unions. Organizations should respect employees work rights and should ensure that their working environment is clean and safe. In a mobile pet grooming business, employees will be required to wear protective eye wear, rubber gloves, earplugs or anything that will block out loud noise. Insurance cover will be provided to the employees by the company in case of pet bites, transferrable diseases from animal to human beings or any other work related accidents. Pet groomers will be provided with the support and encouragement they need to feel part of the professional community. They will be provided with training to improve on their skills and learn what their job requires. They will be provided with better remuneration and paid overtime as well as provided with flexible work schedule. Implications for staff recruitment and training The importance of staff qualifications for pet grooming services cannot be compromised but overemphasized in a growing industry. Each breed of dog has a its own type of coats which means having different grooming requirements and thus require specialist techniques and skills. Pet grooming involves trimming, drying, shampooing, and bathing, clipping, drying and brushing. One important qualification that dog groomers should have is good coordination of eye-to-hand and a great eye for detail. They also need to have great artistic flare, love of animals and patience when dealing with animals as well as gentleness in handling animals. Good customer service skills is also important for dog groomers as well as great communication skills to work effectively. Working for the mobile pet grooming business means the staff should be flexible in their work arrangements as customers have different timings when requesting for services. Knowing the right skills needed for the job will make it easier when recruitment staff. Recruitment is a key factor in the success of any kind of business and to be effective, the business needs the right personnel. Good groomers who enjoy their work make a business a success while unsuitable and uninterested ones bring down the business success. To ensure the right recruitment takes place, the business should be aware of the skills needed from a staff that will be useful for the business and be specific about it. Staff training and development is another aspect of a business that facilitates the productivity level and personnel development. Staff need knowledge, the skills, the information and understanding to effectively function and efficiently perform. Training and development increases staff productivity that helps the business achieve its long-term goals. It also inculcates team work sense, team spirit and collaborations at inter-team level that inculcates learning zeal within the staff. Training also improves quality of work and work-life, creates healthy working environment that build good staff relationships to align individual goals to the organizational goals. Training also develops better attitudes, leadership skills, loyalty and motivation for successful workers, and builds positive perception towards the organization. It also increases job skills and knowledge of employees at each level (Ojo & Olaniyan, 2008). The mobile pet grooming business will train its staff through induction for new staff members to create familiarity with rules and regulations, norms, values and ethics. Apprenticeship will also be used to skill up unskilled individuals. Demonstration is another method that will be used where teaching will be done by example where skilled groomers will perform the job while the unskilled ones observe closely. Formal education will also be done within and outside the company through seminars and workshops. References Ferrell, O.C & Pride, W. M. (2011). Marketing, 16th ed. Cengage Learning Ojo, L.B & Olaniyan, D.A. (2008). Staff Training and Development: A Vital Tool for Organisational Effectiveness. European Journal of Scientific Research, 24(3), 326-331 Payne, A., McDonald, M. & Frow, P (2011). Marketing Plans for Services: A Complete Guide, 3rd ed. John Wiley and Sons, pp 223-224. Primm, S & Roncevich, T. (2009). Mobile Pet Grooming Company. Steven Primm Tim Roncevich, pp 11 Sandlin, E. F, Kimball, C & Entrepreneur Press. (2009). Start Your Own Pet Business and More. Entrepreneur Press, pp 7-8 Tencati, A., and Perrini, F. (2011). Business Ethics and Corporate Sustainability. Elgar Publishing Read More