Customer Relations in an Organization - Essay Example

? Relations in an Organization Relations A relation is a wide term used to describe service and the overall interactions between an organization and its constituents. Many organizations proclaim to have a focus on positive customers relations, yet many companies still fall short in this area. Probably, this misinterpret the meaning or think they know what it is all about yet moss the whole point. A customer relation is a process by which organizations promote and enhance customer satisfaction as well as loyalty. The most basic elements of customer relations involve managing communications with customers, especially customer questions, complaints, and solving disputes amicably (Leebov, 2003). A customer relation is one primary feature of business that can allow a small company to outshine large business competitors without spending much money or time. Truthfully, customer relations will build a concrete reputation for an organization and earn repeat clientele. This paper will address customer relations as a congruent economic issue in an organization. In order for any organization to succeed, it must bear in mind that the ultimate goal of all customer relations programs is to establish and build long-term relationships- those in which customers keeps buying the product or service and recommending it to others- with customers. For an organization to achieve this objective, it may need to go to greater lengths to build strong reputation for lavishing their customers with special services, gifts, discounts or other benefits (Schulz, 2008). Nowadays, customer relations has become such a vital paradigm in modern business that people commonly refer to relations with an organization’s internal and external customers. This means that, people expect functional units of a large organization such as the management information systems department are formulate a service-oriented affinity with the people inside the business who needs assistance from that unit. In this sense, analysts link customer relations to stakeholder theory, which is an approach to business that emphasizes meeting the interests and needs of all the parties in a business relationship, including customers, outside vendors, shareholders, and many others. Nevertheless, acquiring clients and maintaining them is yet another challenge facing many organizations worldwide. The main aim for all businesses is to gain the most out of their activities. Therefore, customers and customer relations are essential factors that contribute to achievement of this goal (Bliss, 2006). Cognitively, it becomes vital to focus on customer loyalty in order to achieve an organization’s objectives. The main purpose of most well developed customer relations is to turn one time or occasional clients into loyal buyers. Customer relations specialists distinguish loyalty from satisfaction, putting across that, it is possible for an organization to satisfy customers but have no particular loyalty. Some customers claim to draw satisfaction from one company’s products but still buy competitor’s products as well. Indeed, what mostly drives the emphasis on loyalty is the bottom line (Kollin, 2011). Customer relations analysts assert that, by estimates, an organization can spend much higher amount of money in attracting new customers compared to that required in bringing back loyal customers. In addition, repeat customers are more likely to recommend the company to others and try to out the company’s latest products and services. The financial results are that a small percentage increase in customer loyalty can translate into significant rise in profits. Nonetheless, the opposite of customer loyalty- customer turnover- can deplete an organization’s marketing resources and signal weaknesses in the firm’s brand image or its competition position. However, it is worth noting that, high turnover does not necessarily depict that the company’s underlying products or services are at fault. Rather, it may be the negativity or simply neutral experiences and impressions of the customer that stand in the way of loyalty (Cook, 2010). As mentioned earlier, there are two types of customers namely, internal and external. As a matter of course, they both require attendance and sustainable relationship with an organization. The happiness of internal customers is determined by being alert and paying close on-going attention. For an organization to attain its objectives, it is important to set reasonable standards, offer people real carrier building tools, listen to problems and seek resolutions. Keeping a word builds trust, while on the other hand, broken promises results to turnover that can cost an organization huge sums of money (Goodman, 2009). Furthermore, for comprehensive customer care, it is vital for an organization to keep the internal customers informed of changes, get them involved in corporate vision, in short, let them have a real voice and know that the organization hears them. Additionally, it is importance for every company to show appreciation for good work. This is because, before the company notices it, there will be no need to hunt down resumes for openings because there will not be any. This means that, people always want to stay where they are happy and secure. As a result, when a company has happy and motivated staff members that fit and support the culture of the company, the company is strong with positive morale (Boone and Kurtz, 2011). Agreeably, this creates a positive work environment internally that eventually has an impact on external customers’ experience. On the other end, many of the keys to satisfied internal customers apply to external ones too. Communication, showing appreciation, courtesy, being timely with service, and generally getting the right product or service to the client for the first time all matters. Naturally, external customers show more interest in a company when things fall apart or problems arise (Leland and Bailey, 2006). However, in order for a company avoid such related drawbacks, it must be ready, willing, and able to attend to that problem without inconvenience to the customer as this could probably establish a long-term relationship with the customer. Moreover, another good way of building positive customer relationships is by keeping in touch with useful information that does not scream ‘sales material.’ Usually, all manner of media campaigns bombards external customers. Therefore, it is that rare piece of mail from a company that is truly useful sets an organization apart (Schulz, 2008). Going the extra mile to let your customers know that you value their input and experience makes the difference between success and failure, particularly in consumer markets. There are several tools necessary for crating a suitable customer rapport. They are listening, friendliness, provision of prompt and courteous complaint resolution, and quality. The process of complaint resolution requires an employee to possess incomparable listening techniques that will help understand the customer’s complaint and subsequently uncover a solution that will lead the customer leave happily (Bush, 2011). Organizations must listen to their customers to learn what is working and what is not. For clarification, it is advisable for an organization to carry out market research to establish the company’s ideal customer is thinking, so that they can be a better match for their needs. Some customer care specialists explain that, it is better to deal with a customer’s problem than with an employee who clearly hates his job. When customers encounter an employee who does not love what he does, they leave with a negative impression of the business in general. Therefore, the success or failure of an organization lies within the face of employees hence; each employee is a reflection of the organization. Organizations that treat their employees well and provide a positive working environment generally have more positive customer relations, because employees are happy to be at work (Fisk, 2007). The main goal of customer relations is to maintain the most positive customer relationships possible in order to gain referrals as well as repeat business. Customer care also involves tracking trends and opinions the make improvements on products and services. This helps business stay ahead of the competition in terms of creating innovative new products that meet the needs of evolving consumers (Gilles, 2011). Development of customer/company bonding drives the business to new levels of success. Customer rapport makers explain that the more the sophisticated strategies involved in implementing the customer relationship management, the more strong and fruitful is the business. Without customers, there is no business. In any successful business or organization, the commitment to customer service always begins at the top. Company leaders must buy into the fact that they do not only need to meet their customer’s expectations, they must strive to exceed them. Development of culture suitable for embracing and understanding customer concepts as well as executing them is vital. Employees must understand implicitly what the company expects of them when interacting with clients (Freemantle, 2004). In order to enhance performance, company leaders must consider asking themselves, is there an established uniform way to respond to a call? Are there established chains of command to ensure timely fashion handling of issues? Most importantly, every employee should have the relevant training to carry out these company procedures (Fisk, 2007). Actually, how to solve a problem is far more important than the problem itself. Evenson (2010) explains that it is always important to know your customers since it adds value to the products and services provided by the company. Adding value to the experience of a customer is not a difficult thing, but it may take some ingenuity. For instance, a manager can have a secretary gather small pieces of information shared by the client into a file. Then, the next time the customers calls, ask about anything personally significant (Evenson, 2010). In so doing, you transform the experience greatly and provide emotional value. At this instance, the client becomes a real person and keeps coming back for more purchases. Customer relationship is important in a company since it guides the essence of company management. All companies that require customers in order to realize a profit need to have a system on the ground that effectively and successfully manages customer relationship (Evenson, 2010). Nowadays, many companies are opting for employees who have a certificate in customer relationship management or contact management. This education prepares employees to interact with customers and potential customers in a positive manner that encourages future communication and after sale services (Kurtz, 2010). Customer care management teaches the tools suitable to reach a client in a way that instills trust and confidence. Some of the tools acquired through customer relationship management teach include methods in which to approach a customer. Documented evidence proves that, it is easier to draw a customer towards attractive customer management. When a confident well-dressed sales rep approaches a customer, the customer is more likely to listen from the beginning to the end. During contact management training, successful people exit the training institution while equipped with the necessary knowhow essential for maintain a company’s contacts. Commonly, developing customer contacts is a different thing from knowing how to use them. Through contact management, people acquire techniques that enable employees understand how to turn contacts into profits and sales. Cognitively, it becomes clear that contact management in conjunction with customer relations management are tools that are effective in helping firms generate profits (Spector and McCarthy, 2005). Nowadays, the level of competition among industries is high; companies need to equip themselves with up to-date customer relations knowhow. Customer rapport is a great tool for every business success. However, if an organization provides poor or ineffective customer service having many disgruntled customer is inevitable. Many companies are exiting the market die to poor customer relations. More than ever, clients need treatment with respect. Particularly, when businesses are in a position to cut costs, customer relations budget tends to reduce and technology replaces live associates on the phone (Gilles, 2011). Many large organizations require customers to navigate at least several levels of pushbutton choices prior reaching a human being on the phone. In person, at some points, customers encounter indifferent employees with poor attitudes. Presence of multitude options available today, customers are becoming fickle and poor or bad customer relations can negatively affect an organization’s bottom line. Word of mouth is a minimal effect when compared to the millions of people who visit sites related to customer service watchdog such as The Consumerist. Foremost, poor customer relations will automatically present a business with a negative reputation. Truthfully, if any organizations’ customer relations get on these sites, be sure to announce closure as that business will take a major hit from unhappy customers. Poor customer relations results to loss of revenue. A large of portion of bad customer service is a result of underpaid and unhappy employees in poor working conditions (Spector and McCarthy, 2005). This shows that money saved in payroll disappears when employee’s attitudes are sending the company’s customers to the competitor. Poor customer relations can too add up unexpected costs to the business in the case of lawsuits, discounts, and refunds. This happens because angry clients will frequently try to get the most of the situation. Poor customer relations can lead to loss of customers. Upset or unhappy customers prefer not to return to a business when he or she experiences bad customer service. Some people will go as far as convincing whoever they know to boycott that business. This indicates that while an organization is acquiring new customers, it is losing those it already had. A common knowledge among marketers is that it costs less to retain a customer that finding a new. Therefore, offering qualified customer service can really reduce a company’s cost of marketing, advertising, and customer retention initiatives (Leland and Bailey, 2006). Hence, trying to rectify a problem may cost more than having done it correctly in the first place. Poor customer relations results to loss of morale. If a company’s customer relations department looses morale, it will become inefficient and ineffective. They tend to spend most of valuable time on the phone arguing with customers. As a result, the company experiences low morale and high turnover, as there is no one interested in working for a company that is not top-notch. Additionally, bad customer relations can lead to change in management. Sometimes a new leader can exercise a certain degree of discipline, which might turn things around (Kurtz, 2010). Furthermore, bad customer relations increase training expenses since the company has to incur expenses in training employees on new techniques and procedures essential for customer service. The company will also have to train newly acquired employees due to turnover. Eventually, expenses will increase while sales will decrease. In conclusion, acquiring and maintaining customers is vital. Strategies involved in improving customer relations and building loyalty of customers range from opening up channels of communication to implementing elaborate point systems that award loyalty. Generally, enhanced customer communications approaches involve provision of customer feedback forms, training of call center staff to handle disputes and conflicts constructively and uniformly, and asking about customer needs in general whenever they call with problems or suggestions (Kollin, 2011). In addition, building a strong customer relationship involve encouraging a service culture throughout the organization and demonstrating how the firm listens and responds to customer feedback. Some policies in customer relations have significant impacts. General Motor’s customer friendly Saturn unit enjoyed high customer loyalty via simple measures such as an integrated computer system that stored customer vehicle history, free ca washes, and a one-price sales policy as well as an annual event at the company’s headquarters, Tennessee. References Bliss, J., (2006). Chief customer officer: getting past lip service to passionate action. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Boone, L. and Kurtz, D., (2011). Contemporary Marketing. Ohio: Cengage Learning Bush, J., (2011). Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Cook, S., (2010). Customer Care Excellence. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Evenson, R., (2010). Customer Service Training 101. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Fisk, R., et. al, (2007). Interactive Services Marketing. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Freemantle, D., (2004). The Buzz. Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Gilles, T., (2011). Automotive Service: Inspection, Maintenance, Repair. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Goodman, J., (2009). Strategic Customer Service: Managing the Customer Experience to Increase Positive Word of Mouth, Build Loyalty, and Maximize Profits. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Kollin, P., (2011). Successful Writing at Work. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Kurtz, D., (2010). Contemporary Marketing 2011. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Leebov, W., (2003). Service Excellence: The Customer Relations Strategy for Health Care. Bloomington: iUniverse. Leland, K. and Bailey, K., (2006). Customer service for dummies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Schulz, P. (2008). Customer Relationship Management: Lufthansa. Munich: GRIN Verlag. Spector, R. and McCarthy, P., (2005). The Nordstrom way to customer service excellence: a handbook for implementing great service in your organization. Ohio: John Wiley and Sons. Read More