HOW TO IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS - Essay Example

? Identifying s Presented Identifying s s are central to the operations of any business. Identifying,targeting, and satisfying customers are the main principles behind business operations. This makes it important for any business to have an elaborate record that clearly indicates the customers of such a company at different levels depending on activity, geographical location, and persistence, volume of goods purchased, among other different criteria that may be used to group, rank, and classify customers. This would make it easy for a business to identify their potential customers and treat them according to their loyalty to the business. Below is a design structure that can be used in identifying and classifying customers in any business for better decision making as outlined by Peppers & Rogers (2011). Define The definition stage will involve the identity of the customers. In this stage the customers’ full names, phone numbers, emails, physical location, and distance from the business have to be recorded. Chverton (2002) asserts the importance of setting objectives in such key account management. The objective in the dry-cleaning business is to critically define the identity of the customer, which would help in understanding the geographic location of the main customers, and facilitate easy contact with such customers when need be. Collecting This stage involves the method to be used in collecting the customer details. Customer data will be collected from receipt books issued from the business, customer’s business cards, websites, and forms issued to all customers to fill their details after any transaction, emails, and calling the customer over the phone to inquire about such details. Once all the data about each and every customer is collected, the data is entered alongside the customer details, with each customer having being entered into the database with provisions for entering all the above data. Customer records in the dry-cleaning business will involve a carefully designed database that will show all the customer details once their names are keyed in. Link After all the details regarding the customers’ identity are exhausted, the details have to be linked to respective departments within the business to prevent multiple records of the same customers. Therefore, the dry-cleaning database defined above has to link the following departments; the manager, record keeping, the reception, cleaning, and home delivery departments. Linking the above departments will enable a customer to be identified immediately they get in touch with any of the departments, and the information updated across all departments. Therefore, if a customer gives any instructions to the receptionist section over the phone, all the above departments have to be aware of such instructions. Such instructions will be reflected across all departments, which amounts a SMART way in which the activities of each customer can be determined (Cherverton, 2002). Integrate All the above customers’ information has to be integrated and linked to their respective interactions and transactions. In the dry-cleaning business, all the clothes brought in have to be accurately identified through a specific number linked to the customer details entered above. In addition, when a customer brings in their clothes, keying in the name of the customer has to bring out all their details, which have to be updated automatically upon entering the new clothes brought in. This means the entire information system has to link all the departments in the business, with any transaction or interactions being updated automatically from the reception stage where clothes are received for cleaning with the update reflecting in the manager’s office and any other relevant office instantly. Integrating would mean customers’ activities are reflected in the entire enterprise through the information system in use. Recognize. In the dry-cleaning business, a customer’s identity has to be uniform across all sections. In case a customer does not call the reception but calls the manager or any other section, the information system in use will reflect the identity of the customer and the number of activities the customer registers in a week or a month. This avoids record duplication where customer records may be entered in multiple records by different department, making it hard to identify the customer’s details, and sometimes entering such details in multiple records. As Abraham (2006) noted, such customer recognition helps a business in classifying customers according to their levels of activities in the business. Store Once a customer brings their clothes or takes them after dry cleaning, all this information has to be entered and integrated across all the departments as indicated. The software in use will then save such updates on each customer’s page automatically. This will avoid errors and omissions that mainly occur when such details are first entered in hardcopies and then transferred to the databases later. The database has to have a reliable backup provision to ensure all the information and records of each customer are secure and readily available when any data is entered or updated. After a short period of about three months, the stored data of all customers will be printed in hardcopies and filed for storage and for making decisions regarding such customers later. Information from irregular customers will also be printed stored in one file alphabetically. Update In case a customer changes their locations, phone numbers, or any other detail that would be necessary to the dry-cleaning business, such has to be immediately entered in the database to reflect the most current information regarding every customer. Analyzing Abraham (2006) asserts that having enough information to classify your customers is essential in customers’ mapping. In the dry-cleaning business, customers will be analyzed according to the data in the database. Such mapping will reflect all customers with their level of loyalty and value to the business. Issues such as the number of clothes delivered to the business per month, consistency of the client in making payments, the level of service required by the client among others will be indicated in the database. The number of active clients will then be counted, their value worth to the company, dormant accounts deleted, and the analysis used to reward the most loyal customers by offering free home delivery and picking their clothes from their respective locations. Making data available Once the analysis of data is completed and the details of each client analyzed to portray their vela to the customer, the names of customers who warrant special attention and care from the business will be spread to the relevant departments. These may include the cleaning areas, reception, delivery section to facilitate home delivery, accounting sections to facilitate timely cleaning of the client’s clothes even before they settle their costs among others. Such clients will be treated as reliable and credit worth clients due to their longtime loyalty to the business. They may even be required to pay their costs per month rather than paying after each batch of clothes is cleaned. Giving out their data to all the above sections will facilitate such clients to be given special treatment over others. As Cheverton (2002) elaborates, to retain customers, a business will have to undertake key accounting management, which amounts to treating loyal customers in a special way than others. Secure There is a need to ensure the identities of customers are well protected due to the sensitivity of information that requires privacy. To facilitate high level security, despite integrating the database within several sections of the business, only a few individuals will have the password to sensitive information such as the physical address of the client, their phone numbers, and other sensitive details. This will involve designing a database that makes it possible to lock some customer information for security reasons, while only showing the non-sensitive information to other employees. The above stages in identifying customers of the dry-cleaning business will facilitate a holistic approach towards management of customer information. This will make it possible to map and identify loyal customers, in addition to having a database that can be critical in decision making process when configuring services to customers. Customer identification process is thus important in ensuring proper management of a business, and in considering customers to be at the center of all operations in the business. References Abraham K., (2006) Creating Loyal Profitable Customers, Melbourne: Passion Press Cheverton P., (2002) How Come You Can't Identify Your Key Customers? CT: Kogan Page Peppers D., & Rogers M., (2011) Managing Customer Relationships: A Strategic Framework, CA: Wiley & Sons Read More