Flaming Waters - Essay Example

Service and Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..4 a. Basic Information, Size, and Products and services offered………………………..4 2. Customer Service Philosophy…………………………………………………………...5 a. Service Mission……………………………………………………………………...5 b. Values and Philosophy of the organization…………………………………………5 c. RATER Factors……………………………………………………………………..6 3. Basics of the Customers…………………………………………………………………7 a. Meeting Customers’ needs and Expectations……………………………………….7 b. Description of Customers…………………………………………………………...8 4. Solving Problems………………………………………………………………………..8 a. How to Handle Complaints…………………………………………………………9 b. Application of GUEST Approach…………………………………………………..10 5. Research Tools and Strategic Planning…………………………………………………11 a. Setting up the plan…………………………………………………………………..11 b. Tools and techniques to be used……………………………………………………11 c. Implementing a service strategy…………………………………………………….11 6. Alcohol Management…………………………………………………………………...12 a. Implementing the ServeSafe program……………………………………………....12 b. Description of types of Alcohol operations………………………………………....12 c. Considerations and Policies of the Business………………………………………..13 7. Developing the Staffs…………………………………………………………………..13 a. Hiring staff plan and process used………………......................................................13 b. Training Staff……………………………………………………………………......14 c. Communication methods…………………………………………………………….14 d. Managing Staff………………………………………………………………….…...15 8. Leadership……………………………………………………………………………….15 a. Leadership Style……………………………………………………………………..15 b. Leadership Goals………………………………………………………………….…15 9. Marketing the Business……………………………………………………………….…16 a. Marketing Techniques…………………………………………………………….....16 b. Four Steps of Marketing………………………………………………………….…17 c. Building Customer Loyalty with the use of Technology…………………………....17 10. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………....18 11. Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….19 Flaming Waters Introduction Flaming Waters is a new wine and whisky manufacturing firm, which will operate in various cities within the UK, such as Manchester, London and Lancaster. The organization will place its effort in manufacturing award-winning quality wines and whisky, by specializing in fortified, bulky and valuable liquor. Flaming Waters Company is happy to join the league of leading wine-making firms in the UK and beyond. The company is starting a new and exhilarating phase for its small wine and whisky brands that will bring new opportunities and possibilities. The firm’s drinks will always come first, and its new winery will be well-designed and equipped for manufacturing quality artisanal wines. The process of launching the company is ongoing and the company is expected to commence its operation towards the end of the year 2015. Its purpose is to bring together like-minded wineries that are sufficiently developing their investments by creating a venue for business custom crush wine manufacturing, on and off premise wine sales and events in the UK that already house flourishing restaurants and nightlife sceneries. The collective will be made up of three wineries, which will operate as the incubator for future wine brands and upcoming industry ideas. The innovative infrastructures and equipment will also feature a tasting bar that has pours and flights from four resident wineries together with their inspirational wines and whisky. It will also provide a cheese platter, featuring Steve’s Cheese. The tasting bar will have the capacity to hold both large and small events, wine release parties and music dinners. Although Flaming Waters is likely to experience high profit as a UK- based organization, the company will, after a year, expand its operations worldwide. Customer Service Philosophy Service Mission, Values and Philosophy of the Company Service Mission Flaming Waters aims at manufacturing and distributing high quality wines and whisky that improve its enjoyment. The organization is also committed to maintain the highest degree of expertise and professionalism, so as to market and sell all its products, such as wines and whiskies, to the food and beverage industry. Further, the company aims at shipping and distributing the aforementioned products in the most responsible way. The company’s mission is to share its love for high-standard wines with individuals who like taking wine. All the brands of products manufactured by the Flaming Waters will be certified as made from organically grown grapes and healthy raw materials. Such products are backed by the organization with absolute satisfaction guarantee. Flaming Waters stocks a long list of wine and whisky brands. The company envisions having its customers come together with the many thousands of satisfied consumers who have for long been purchasing its products. Soon, the organization will expand its wine production plants to several countries across the world. Values and Philosophy of the Organization The primary value and philosophy of Flaming Waters is to model and agitate for wine as a platform for mindfully enjoying life. To this end, the organization will put much effort in ensuring that its work is done in a civilized, principled and compassionate component of people’s daily lives, where wine reminds them that an individual does not need to look far for a justification to be happy and contended. The ultimate price an individual seeks is an avenue to feel happy and satisfied. The wine enjoyment endeavor always goes hand-in-hand with food and fraternity, providing a very simple yet wonderful mysterious route. RATER Factors of Service Quality Dimensions The company is going to meet all the quality criteria that customers are likely to use to assess its competence in terms of service delivery. The company is going to pass reliability test. To this effect, Flaming Waters shall, at all times, deliver all the pledges it gives to clients within the stipulated time. In addition, the organization will undertake the promised service dependably and accurately so as to maintain customer satisfaction. Besides being reliable, the company will deliver all its mandate and responsibilities in a timely fashion. In this regard, Flaming Waters will ensure that the customers get their preferred products and services when they need them. To achieve this, the organization has embarked on a program geared towards improving the transport and distribution of its wine and whisky products efficiently and effectively to all its depots across the country (Riscinto-Kozab, 38). Flaming Waters will be a tangible organization, representing the service physically. Some of the physical facilities will include; state-of-the-art wineries, aesthetically appealing bottles and packaging materials, as well as friendly and sociable employees. The company will also show empathy to all its customers and stakeholders, whether rich or poor. It will have a serious, but customer-friendly care department, as well as a Public Relations section that establishes and maintains mutual understanding, and goodwill between it and its publics. Further, Flaming Waters will be involved in corporate social responsibility endeavors as a sign of solidarity and giving back to the community (Riscinto-Kozab, 38). In a bid to be a responsive company, Flaming Waters shall at all times exercise its readiness and willingness to help its clients and stakeholders in whichever way it can. This will be in line with the company’s goal of providing prompt service on an ad hoc basis, including; offering prompt attention to requests and needs, questions and solutions to customers’ queries. The organization will also have a proper channel through which all the complaints will be aired and addressed accordingly. For example, each department will have a confidential customer complaints box, as well as a complaints telephone number (Riscinto-Kozab, 38). Basics of the Customers/ Guest Service Meeting the needs of Customers Flaming Waters uses various brands to fulfill the purpose of meeting several needs of consumers, such as utilitarian (functional or performance), symbolic and emotive needs. For instance, increasing or reducing the alcohol contents of each brand of wine satisfies a functional form of consumer need. On the contrary, symbolic needs tap into a brand’s capability to meet psychological or emotional customer needs like self-expression and prestige. Packaging the various brands in a manner and fashion that is appealing to the target clients fulfills symbolic needs, since taking such drinks gives them a distinguished status symbol within the social context (Hollebeek and Roderick, 345). Hedonic needs represent a specific sub-set of emotive needs that reflect customers’ anticipated pleasure or experimental benefits drawn from utilizing a given brand. The type of wine or whisky, interestingly, might serve the purpose of meeting each of these three forms of customer needs in a single purchase. The degree of functional or emotive purchase intentions, however, may be different, depending on the extent of service needed from the wine vendors and may, therefore, be higher for purchase at a restaurant in comparison to the supermarket sales. Other factors, potentially having an impact on the consumers’ opinion on the benefits of specific functional or emotive purchase motives for wine, include specific situational features like the anticipated alcohol intake occasion. To demonstrate, in higher service channels, like restaurants, the purpose of hedonic motives may be weightier than that for conventional, lower-service channels like supermarkets (Hollebeek and Roderick, 345). Description of Customers Internal Customers The organization’s internal customers are the individuals who work within the company and depend on it for services, products, as well as crucial information needed for carrying out their tasks appropriately. Even within the wineries, there can still be customers: young and old, male and female, cutting across many ethnic, racial and religious affiliations. These individuals are active consumers of products and services manufactured and distributed by Flaming Waters. Within the organization, most customers include; the company’s administration from the top brass to the lowest level in the hierarchy, and casual and permanently employed employees. These individuals actively consume the company’s products and services, especially when they are out of duty in the evening hours, or during the organization’s ceremonial functions and events. Flaming Waters sells its products and services to these groups at a considerably lower price than the external clients as a way of appreciating their efforts towards carrying out their mandates in an efficient and effective way (Leland and Keith, 28). External Customers These are individuals outside the organization, who regularly buy the company’s products and services; they are the main customers in the traditional sense of the word. A good number of external customers buy the company’s products and services from bars, restaurants, supermarkets, and wine outlets. Most external customers are usually handled either face-to-face or via the phone and other channels of communication. Without these consumers, Flaming Waters will witness huge losses, since it will have no sales, no business, and worse yet, no paycheck. As a result, the organization has a wider picture of client groups (Leland and Keith 2011, p.28). Problem Solving How to handle Complaints Most clients today have a tendency of airing their complaints online via the social media platform. Over half of the customers aged between 18-24 years prefer to express their dissatisfaction towards an organization’s products or services through the social media and telephone line. Therefore, Flaming Waters will use the organization’s public Facebook and Twitter pages to gather unbiased public opinions and perceptions of the company’s products and services, and address them accordingly. This also enables the company to be more open and accommodative of the divergent views of the various types of customers it serves (Wylie, 45). Establishing a public forum ensures that the whole world can see what is happening, thus shaming the organization into undertaking an urgent corrective measure to curb the crisis at hand, instead of letting it escalate to an uncontrollable state. For instance, in the event that there emerges a series of complaints from customers who allege that the organization’s wines have been contaminated by poison, which poses danger to their lives, it is important to use both the mass media and social media to clarify and assure the customers, and the public, that a proper investigation will be carried out to establish the root cause of the matter, after which all the products affected will be recalled so as to prevent further harm to their lives (Wylie, 45). Maintaining an open channel of communication with the consumers gives them confidence that they feel heard, believe that they have been understood, and know that necessary measures will be taken to correct their problems. For that reason, Flaming Waters is already getting a huge difference in the response they are receiving. Proactively getting complaints and taking a corrective step to rectify them is more advantageous. Changing customer service models, within an organization, enhances dialogue to be exchanged in a proper and secure way, thereby enabling the business to develop in the best suited way to its consumers (Wylie, 45). The GUEST Approach to Customer Service While most business organizations have their internal sales model structures, Flaming Waters considers the GUEST model as one of the most appropriate way of handling its clients. This approach is designed to fit into most of the sales cycles, thus important to Flaming Waters. The five steps described in the model represent the major components of all fruitful retail selling. Salesmen and marketing agents in the organization follow this structure since they prefer to allow the sale to flow seamlessly in a natural way. Flaming Waters uses this approach to deal with their clients differently. The company labels its customers as guests, which has been the habit in the hotel industry. In the organization’s entrance, there is a banner that reads “Welcome, Guests.” This is because the company believes that a simple word, such as guest as opposed to customer, can make a dramatic difference in the way the customers perceive the individuals who serve them (Robertson, 1). The term GUEST stands as an acronym for a five-step process- Greeting your client; Uncovering the client’s needs; Explaining the product or service; Solving objections; and Telling them to buy. While the organization does not literally follow the aforementioned steps, its creative and innovative sales team follows this model in a more interesting and appealing way. Therefore, the company treats a customer not only as an individual who makes a purchase, but also as a friend, guest and partner. A guest is one who the organization welcomes with open arms and looks forward to sharing opinions and interacting with. At Flaming Waters, guests, irrespective of their socio-economic and racial backgrounds, are treated with respect and dignity (Robertson 1). Research Tools and Strategic Planning Setting up the Plan for Research The research plan will be set up with the sole purpose of getting a detailed understanding of the ways in which consumers interact and react to the company’s products or services. With that in mind, the company will use several research tools to come up with a thorough evaluation of the extent of consumer satisfaction, the product use, as well as the views and attitudes concerning the organization’s products. The mode of data collection will be through surveys and interviews. The process of gathering, analyzing and coming up with the research findings will take three months. Tools and Techniques used to gather Information Surveys The organization’s choice of survey, as a mode of collecting data, is informed by its ability to allow the researchers to collect large amounts of information concerning the organization’s market, clients, suppliers and distributors; their tastes and preferences; as well as their views on the company’s products and services. Surveys are normally very effective, especially when done face-to-face. They provide various channels through which they can be carried out. For instance, surveys can be completed via the phone, online, or through the postal address. The surveys are going to be kept as brief as possible so as to avoid asking many questions that will make the respondents inattentive. Interviews Apart from carrying out surveys, the organization’s researchers will use interview as a tool for gathering the stakeholders’ opinion regarding its products and services, as well as exploring the new markets. The interviews will offer a structured methodology of asking questions. These interviews will be done face-to-face or by way of telephone conversation. In some special cases, the company will make use of open or closed-ended questions, depending on the issues that will be under discussion from the respondents. For instance, open-ended questions will be employed to get the actual feelings, attitudes and perceptions of customers towards the company’s products or services, by enabling them to elaborate further on their position. Alcohol Management Implementing the ServSafe Program Flaming Waters will ensure that its operation and ways of handling alcoholic products are in line with the standards of ServSafe Food Handler program. To achieve this, the organization will provide a complete solution that delivers consistent food safety training to its employees, including; personal hygiene, cross-contamination and allergens, time and temperature, as well as cleaning and sanitation. Further, the company will enroll all its employees in training programs that will teach them the fundamentals of responsible alcohol service, as well as the best ways in which they can shield themselves, and their operations, from potential risks and liabilities with alcohol training and certification from the National Restaurant Association. Description of types of alcohol Operations Primarily, the organization will be engaged in the sale and manufacture of wines and whiskies. The types of wine that the company will process and distribute include Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. Apart from wines, the company will also manufacture and distribute various types of whiskies. Some of the whiskies that Flaming Waters will manufacture include malt whisky, derived from malted barley; grain whisky, extracted from a mixture of grains; as well as Single malt whisky, drawn from a single distillery. Considerations and Policies for the Business Flaming Waters Wine Company respects customers’ privacy. The firm shall only collect, keep and use consumers’ personal information for specific purposes stated in the agreements. The information is solely used for supporting and enhancing its relations with the clients. In addition, Flaming Waters Wine Co. processes refunds to the credit card used at the purchasing time after receiving clients’ returned shipment. Wines and whiskies are sold to customers in UK and the title is passed on to the buyer, in the UK. The buyer is solely responsible for the shipment of their alcoholic beverages. Finally, Flaming Waters Co. assures the quality of all the drinks and merchandise. Consumers’ satisfaction is the organization’s priority. If, for any reason, the customer is dissatisfied with the order, he or she is advised to contact the company within 15 days of receipt of the order for customer care assistance. Developing Staff Hiring Staff Plan and Process Used Flaming Waters always seeks to recruit motivated and talented individuals who express their interests in working for an organization with entrepreneurial spirit, as well as passion for offering the best services. The company has a long list of career opportunities for talented people just getting into the workforce, and for skilled professionals looking for their next job experiences. The hiring process is conducted in a manner that ensures that all the team members feel they are part of the organization, since they are important to the guests, fellow workers and the entire community. Flaming Waters is an equal opportunity employer. As such, the company will consider all the applicants without regard to racial background, creed, skin color or religious affiliation. In the stages of the hiring process, Flaming Waters makes logical accommodations, including the time of the interview process. Communication Methods The organization will make use of both formal and informal communication networks to interact and exchange information, internally and externally. Formal communication networks will be used to send and receive information or messages via official pathways such as newsletters, memos and press releases. This reflects the company’s hierarchy. Informal communication networks will mainly be used in cases where the company intends to send and receive messages from unofficial groups, hence the need for a communication channel that will be used to send messages through such paths. These will be employed in handling rumors and collecting public opinions. Types of formal Training that will be used Flaming Waters offers formal training to its employees since it believes that training is needed for providing skills that are specific to the organization. Other fundamental reasons for offering formal job skills is to keep up with the technological and wine-production methods, as well as to retain its most talented and important employees. The three major kinds of job skills that form part of the organization’s training curriculum include sales and customer relations, management and leadership skills, and ICT literacy skills. Further, the company will also sharpen employees’ skills in food, hygiene and personal services. Staff Motivation and Management The company motivates its employees by rewarding their exemplary performance and including them in the process of decision making. When employees perform extraordinarily, they are given both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards like extra pay, benefits or opportunities for promotion, or even gratitude and appreciation. Apart from rewarding them, Flaming Waters includes its employees in the decision-making process. Key organizational decisions are often made behind closed doors. However, this does not necessarily leave out the employees from the process. The organization makes hundreds of decisions on a daily basis involving the lowest level to the top organ by consulting everyone. Flaming Waters believes that introducing performance improvement plans is the best way to discipline its employees. Employers, who show concerns in assisting others improve, always come up with what is commonly known as performance improvement plans. These are comprehensive plans that lay bare areas that need improvement, and the guidelines that employees need to follow to score an acceptable performance rating. Discipline at Flaming Waters goes hand-in-hand with empowerment. The organization empowers its members mainly by presenting to them new challenges and opportunities. Employees are challenged with the primary reason of ensuring that they demonstrate and utilize their full potential. For example, Public Relations officers who over rely on email interactions can be challenged to make use of telephone conversation so as to get out of their comfort zone. Leadership Types of leaders we are and what we want to be Flaming Waters has always embraced transformational leadership style and it thrives to improve its characteristics. Apart from being company managers, directors and supervisors, the heads of the organization work to shape themselves into transformational leaders. Transformational leaders gradually receive confidence, respect and acceptance from their respective followers. The company’s leadership style also inspires its employees to find new platforms of performing their tasks and improve their skills. Additionally, transformational leaders provide help and motivation to staff members by maintaining the communication channels so as to enable the employees to share new ideas, and find ways of improving the company’s operational efficiency (Giltinane, p.35). Goals for developing leadership skills: 1. To work on my capability to think broadly by not limiting other people’s opinions. 2. To learn to listen and act more, talk less and show that I treasure what fellow employees have to say. 3. To change my leadership style from that of issuing orders, to that of learning and accommodating divergent views. Marketing the Business Customer/ Guest Service Marketing Techniques The main marketing techniques that will be used are print and broadcast media, advertising, and viral marketing. The organization will prepare regular publications in the form of newsletters, journals and periodicals that will be used as channels of communicating to the customers, and showcasing its products and services. Further, Flaming Waters will use both TV and radio as the main electronic media platform for advertizing their alcoholic products. Besides the aforementioned marketing strategies, the company will make use of the internet as a marketing tool. In this regard, the social media, owing to its nature of supporting viral communication, will be utilized for advertisements and marketing. The social media also offers an invaluable platform for applying seeding strategies. Seeding strategies have strong effects on the success of viral marketing endeavors (Hinz, et al., 55). Four Steps of Marketing 1. Defining the niche- This will involve determination of the market segment on which the company’s products will be focused. 2. Establishing the target internal and external audiences- These will be the particular group of individuals in the target market at which a given product or service will be aimed. 3. Consideration of the marketing channels- These are the specific practices or operations needed to transfer the ownership of products or services to consumers. 4. Creation of the marketing plan-This is a detailed blueprint that highlights the firm’s entire marketing endeavors (Buttel, 7). Building Customer Loyalty Using Technology In order to establish customer loyalty through technology, the company will commence its operations by creating an e-commerce website, and embarking on a program geared towards educating the users on how to conduct business transactions through them. Internet retailing is growing speedily in popularity among customers in all sectors of the economy. However, a major concern facing these e-commerce platforms is in the area of client loyalty or e-loyalty. To increase customer loyalty, the organization will establish and maintain personalized interactions that are aimed at evolving the traditional relationship between buyer and seller into a more interactive experience. Conclusion Experience working as a Group We carried out the research and data collection in groups. In the process, every member learnt ways of compromising and resolving petty arguments and making a lot of progress in the process. Individually, I found that working as a group promotes a sense of discipline and commitment, since every group member is assigned roles which must be completed within a specified timeline. As a result, I found that even the most undisciplined group member ended up being well-behaved and committed to meet the group’s expectations. Personally, group work made me more focused on my work, since the amount of thoughtful talks with fellow members increased more than I always do in class. In addition, the group assignment also simplified my workload, because of theaspect of division of labor. I was personally in charge of collective public opinion regarding customers’ views on the new organization’s products or services. Knowing that every member had a section of the assignment to take care of made me confident and more focused with my area since I was not worried about other sections. In the process of developing the project and moving to the target research areas in a bid to collect information, I realized that some respondents showed reluctance to open up and take part in the process of interview and filling the survey forms. As a researcher, I learnt that sometimes scholars go into other people’s lives, normally at a time of crisis and depression, asking them to talk in details concerning what they have undergone. Usually, this can be for a long duration, characterized by repetitive interviews, or it may be a one-off meeting. As a researcher I recognized that getting into the lives of other people is one of the features of this form of study, because I have to know the socio-economic status, tastes and preferences of the target audience before marketing. Discipline and self-disclosure was important for the successful process of data collection. In order to make sure that the relationship between the researcher and those who took part was not hierarchical, we ensured that researchers got involved in a reciprocal sharing of their personal stories based on experiences. This had the effect of fostering warm relations and easing the tension between the research team and all the participants. Personally, I saw the need to establish a form of level playing field, recognizing that self-disclosure would strengthen the rapport, show regard for the respondents and authenticate the participants’ stories. As a result, one of the respondents showed appreciation and welcomed me with a cup of coffee. At the project writing phase, I learned many things about marketing, and how to write proper marketing and business plans. Most significantly, I realized that many wine manufacturing and distribution firms operate with the sole purpose of maximizing profit. Unfortunately, little is done by these organizations when it comes to listening and caring for the needs of customers. Flaming Waters comes with a wholly different approach that will revolutionize the wine marketing industry, by taking customers at the helm of the organization’s decision-making organ. The firm will put much of its attention on meeting the customers’ needs, and proactively ironing out any challenges they face. Therefore, the organization is delighted to join the league of leading wine-making companies in the UK and beyond. Works Cited Buttell, Amy E. "4 Steps To An Effective Marketing Plan." Journal Of Financial Planning (2009): 6-8. Business Source Complete. Giltinane, Charlotte Louise. "Leadership Styles And Theories." Nursing Standard 27.41 (2013): 35-39. Academic Search Premier. Hollebeek, L. D., and Brodie, R. J., 2009. Wine service marketing, value co-creation and involvement: research issues. International Journal of Wine Business Research, 21(4), 339-353. Hinz, O., et al. "Seeding Strategies For Viral Marketing: An Empirical Comparison." Journal Of Marketing 75.6 (2011): 55-71. Business Source Complete. Leland, K, and Keith, B. Customer service for dummies.John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Riscinto-Kozub, K. The Effects of Service Recovery Satisfaction on Customer Loyalty and Future Behavioral Intentions: An Exploratory Study in the Luxury Hotel Industry. East Eisenhower Parkway: Proquest LLC, 2008. Rafiq, M., Heather, F. and Xiaoming L. "Building Customer Loyalty In Online Retailing: The Role Of Relationship Quality." Journal of Marketing Management 29.3/4 (2013): 494-517. Business Source Complete.. Robertson, K. Stop, Ask, And Listen : Proven Sales Techniques To Turn Browsers Into Buyers. Toronto: Wiley, 2004. Wylie, M. "A proactive approach to customer complaints: Mat Wylie sheds light on how Kiwis complain about poor service and how businesses should handle those complaints." NZ Business 2014: 45. Business Insights: Essentials. Read More