Adding customer value to your financial organisation for competitive advantage - Essay Example

? ADDING VALUE FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Introduction Every company, no matter how competitive, minoror large, mainly relies on its reputation for success, existence and customer value. Clients, workforce, suppliers, investors, communication networks and regulators may have a fundamental effect; they all have crucial views concerning the companies they interact with every day. These perceptions extensively influence their decisions on their interests to purchase from, work with, and market or support these companies. In the present competitive market and unpredictable economic environment, customer value may be an organization’s greatest asset – an aspect that makes a company to survive and beat their competitors in the market. Therefore, effective customer value is crucial to aid the company manage its public image by communicating and establishing strong relationships with other companies and stakeholders. This paper will investigate how Deutsche financial company in Australia can add customer value and importance of customer value in maintaining the competitive advantage of an organization. Additionally, it will investigate different ways of enhancing customer value to enhance the profitability of an enterprise. Background Customer value is an effective concept of marketing and business that aims at analyzing the customer satisfaction from the products and services provided. Customer value attempts to analyze the tendency that clients will turn out to be a permanent customer offering an ongoing organizational business. Our organization analyzes the value of customers to strengthen the customer base, investigate performance of product and effectively market products. The value of customer is a crucial means in which the board has always wanted to attain satisfaction of customer. The competitive nature of the business and government policy is an external issue that brings the issue before the board to increase the repeated purchase and increase the competitive advantage of the organization. Satisfaction of customers has been the main aim of the organization because of market saturation (Barnes, Blake and Pinder, 2009, p. 37). The board agrees that growth is mainly possible through market share attainment, from rivals. In addition, when clients perceive the value of customer to be extensive, they always share the experience and spread the public image of the organization via a word of mouth, leading to increased sales. The value of customer has occurred since the business world inception and customer loyalty is significant factor of business in various industries. Various 1990s studies have revealed that organizations can utilize value of customer to enhance the margin of business. Similarly, applied market literature suggests increased expectations for strategies of building loyalty. The theory of expectations-confirmation of satisfaction of customer suggests that satisfaction of customer about a service and product is centered on the expectations of the clients for such products, together with the expected product performance. The value of customer exploration tries to measure clients’ satisfaction; methods entail investigations about satisfaction or customer disconfirmation. Disconfirmation happens when expectations of customer differ from the possible satisfaction that products can offer. Negative disconfirmation suggests that services do not satisfy the expectation of the customers, while positive disconfirmation indicates customer expectations are met. Discussion Financial services is an increasingly developing worldwide industry and entails various products and services types such as those related to insurance, management of funds, banking, trading of securities and superannuation. Irrespective of the form of market, marketing role has a crucial popular significant theme – that is to create critical value of customer which is more effective over the available alternatives whereas at the same time establishing organizational value. Marketing performs a critical function in reinforcing the entire growth of industry and creating a unique competitive advantage for the participants of the industry. Offering an effective, friendly customer service is crucial to product selling and building of strong and loyal customer base. Otherwise, if a business allows the service to slip, then the organizations ability to add customer value reduces. Customer service in this sense, cover all aspects that do not directly interact with clients in any way (Simchi-Levi, 2010, p.78). Purchasing, product quality and product manufacture may never interact or talk to clients directly, yet they are crucial aspects in meeting the needs of the customers and adding their value. If a business wants to deliver costly goods that, does not work and make late delivery, this affects consumer value in the same way as the effects of rude sales representative will do. The whole organization should focus its efforts to offer adequate and efficient customer service and value. In a bid to compete effectively in a real customer-driven way, a business must integrate its whole business operations around meeting the needs and wants if its customers – not marketing, selling and client service, but logistics of production and financial infrastructure and metrics. Business exceeds expectation of their clients by focusing innovation attempts in different areas such as creating friendly customer process, ensuring workers commitment to services of customers and client dialog, (Fox and Gregory, 2004, p.12). An organization achieves significant excellence in these sectors to attain effective customer value. Businesses with better customer services comprehend that providing a superior experience for clients’ triggers loyalty and enhance combine results. Valuable customer value tends to entail intensive training of workers and project of managing talent. They additionally seem to treat employees well by offering them motivation, effective career enhancement, motivation and related benefit. The image of the firm is as valuable as its customer value. The experience that clients have with an organization, and what information they hear from colleagues and family shape their view of the organization and their tendency to purchase from the company. Managers should understand and improve clients experience with their products and overall business transactions and services. Similarly, business should streamline its resources without compromising its essentials. The company should maintain close contact with its clients on a regular manner, update them with free product and service information and ensure client satisfaction. This is because mood and perception of customers truly matters in any business transaction. For instance, if one is operating a healthcare company, he should understand that his clients are dealing with emotional aspects such as medication and illness. Therefore, the employees should offer the client with emotional support and offer empathy dimensions to motivate and retain customers. Clientele model is an effective mechanism used by large-scale companies. It entails pairing a client with a representative or employee who signs in the customer’s actions into the company database and meets future customer services accordingly. This is effective in creating connections with profitable customers, (Simchi-Levi, 2010, p.89). A company can improve customer value using cost-cutting strategies that balance the budget without terminating fundamental service, for instances, acting on the terms of the clients. This will entail customer relation in appropriate ways. Instead of employing a customer greeter whom clients mainly dismiss, the managers can instruct workers throughout the company to welcome incoming customers. Establishing a firm customer value can be achieved by allocating resources appropriately. For instance, extensive businesses notoriously flood mailboxes with various catalogues, which go for waste and waste large sums of money, as a result. The company should utilize customer data to indicate the catalogue (kid’s toys and dolls, baggage and jewelry) every household should send and obtain. Similarly, offer various means to buy a product – online database, store and customer catalogues – to enhance the tendency of a sale. Companies should take time to employ appropriate employees and ensure that employees understand the company brands and customers. Positive attitudes towards customers – and the capacity to remain positive even under pressure – are crucial aspects of a better employee. In addition, the company managers should ensure that all employees are clear on their duties and tasks so that client concerns and problems are effectively addressed (Fox and Gregory, 2004, p.56). Effective customer service reduces delays, improves customer motivation, attracts, and retains customers. The business managers should ensure that products are well stored and arranged to facilitate easy shopping and time saving. Customers are attracted and enticed if the products are visible and well arranged - in shelves - to facilitate easy picking. Finally, offering unique treatments (discounts, subsidized prices, product information and promotions) to customers to make them feel appreciated and cared for will be effective in improving customer service (Hannam and Newman, 2001, p.74). This will also build a strong customer base for the business compared to competitors offering similar products. Recommendations Clients purchase what they consider valuable; therefore, given a chance they will only choose most valuable products. The value of customer captures event intangible positives such as staff morale improvements. Therefore, organizations should improve and enhance all aspects that concern customers in any way. Organizations should explore challenges that clients experience or possible issues that create requirements for change. Utilizing information concerning the value of customer, and how clients perceive the organization and its services, board members can attempt to enhance sales and retain customers. Companies should take additional steps and incorporate technological advancement in their customer value. For instance, online advertising, selling, and promotions are some of the factors of improving customer value. A manager should also ensure his customer services comprises of all channels - such as mobile phones, personal contact, websites, mobile promotions, social media such as Facebook, twitter and blogs – and record the companies achievements and failures to evaluate the working and non-working processes, (Simchi-levi, 2010, p.78). Business managers should ensure that all people involve in adding and improving customer value – ranging from front-line representatives to technical assistants and all people with extensive knowledge of the brand – should have regular meetings to discuss customer concerns and create effective relationships, (Barnes, Blake and Pinder, 2009, p. 37). Conclusion In conclusion, therefore, experts agree that effective and strong customer value entails attracting and bring clients back. It also involves sending clients away happy and satisfied – satisfied enough to share and create a positive image and feedback about the company along to friends. A positive reputation – created by customers – may attract more clients to try the company products and experience a healthy customer value preached about the company. Improving and adding customer value allow the business to retain customers, produce various positive advantages for the company, and attack customers. Bibliography Barnes, C., Blake, H., & Pinder, D. (2009). Creating & delivering your value proposition managing customer experience for profit. London, Kogan Page. Fox, J. J., & Gregory, R. C. (2004). The dollarization discipline how smart companies create customer value-- and profit from it. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. Hannam, M., & Newman, W. R. (2001). Integrated operations management: adding value for customers. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall. Simchi-Levi, D. (2010). Operations rules: delivering customer value through flexible operations. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press. Read More