Customer Service at Okavango Delta - Case Study Example

Heading: analysis of the customer service at Okavango Delta The Okavango Delta The Okavango Delta is a tourist attraction site. I noted labyrinth of lagoons, hidden channels and lakes which covers an area of about 17,000 square kilometres and is the largest inland delta in the world. The Okavango Delta is found in the republic of Botswana and sometimes referred to as a swamp by the people of Botswana. They also describe it as a Moving, puzzling, gentle, and attractive, starting from a broad and winding waterway then it spreads and creeps away behind a papyrus reed into an extensive network of small tributaries. The Okavango's water is amazingly very clean and pure, unlike water from other rivers in Africa. This is most likely due to the fact that Okavango river crosses a plain that is sparsely populated and therefore free from human interference. It was wonderful to note that, the same river despite having dirt free water, carries with it thousands of tonnes of sediments and sands along with it which is finally harvested by the people of Botswana. The length of the Delta from Thamalakane River is approximately 200 kilometres from one end to other end across the lagoon. Despite the Okavango Delta location on the semi-arid area, indigenous tree have nurture around the Delta therefore forming a cool environment for wildlife and varied ecosystem development. The delta has lead to a manmade national game reserve that host all types of wild animal including the Lions, elephants, wild dogs, buffalo, hippo, many varieties of antelopes, crocodiles and other smaller animals such as mongoose, warthog, spotted genets, bush babies, monkeys and tree squirrels all coexisting in single environment with the main survival point being the delta water which never dries up. Apart from the mainland wildlife, the delta has also invited a variety of birds, fish and insects that make the Okavango delta a unique tourism destination. Other than the nature of the delta, a wildlife rich game reserve has lead to a great influx of tourists from all continents thus increasing the revenue to the Botswana government. The presence of tourist is boosted by the tourism activities in the delta which include fishing, bird counting, photographing, game viewing, relaxation along the banks of river Okavango. The varied activities along the delta make the site an outstanding tourist destination that is evident by the number of tourist touring the lagoon per year. Apart from the wildlife, Okavango also has an extended range of cultural heritage like Bushman’s paintings around the Maun Region for example Savuti. Okavango is no doubt an important resource to the people of Botswana. This is apparent as the infrastructure development around the Okavango delta proves it. For example the high quality road and communication network that was constructed in a decade. . The development of roads, airports and private airstrips allow visitors to move around the Okavango Delta. The Okavango Delta River is also another exceptional experience of a real African drive through a local ‘Mokoro’ canoe which allows visitors to have a glimpse of the region. Tourists who visit this destination are given a rare opportunity of being driven along the river using the canoe and are shown beautiful sceneries along the river. Most probably the infrastructure was put in place to facilitate easy access to the delta by the tourist and to attract more tourists. The natural environment including ancient artefacts, the favourable climate and presence of modern facilities, activities that tourist engage in could be one of the reasons that leads to the ever increasing number of tourist coming to the game reserve. This has greatly impacted on the economic, social and cultural prospects of the republic of Botswana and is being discussed in order to shade more light on tourism implication to the country’s future. The tourism around the Okavango has led me to analyse the marketing strategies applied in the creating awareness to the customer by Okavango management which has seen the tourism industry advance and prosper. My preference to Okavango was influenced by the knowledge I got on my visit to Okavango last summer. My aim is to critically study the application of the 7Ps and the customer’s services component as a marketing strategy after which I intend to give my view and finally give my recommendation and observation. Analysis customer service component as applied in Okavango Delta A lot of Companies are competing to be strategically placed in the market via the use of service quality which allows them to outperform their competitors in the current competitive marketplace. Victorious companies focus on the services dominant paradigm with extensive venture in technology, people, man power production, and reimbursement linked to service performance of each worker. To achieve this, the company must invest in offering quality services to the customer. Most firms find it worth to model a customer care unit that deals directly with the customers. As Baker points out (2006, pp. 199) that”the distinction between success and failure in competitive markets may be reduced to two basic issues, first, an understanding of customer needs, and, second, the ability to deliver added value...” Upon arrival to the Okavango entrance, I noticed an office where I was ushered in by the gatemen. While in the office I encountered several employees a special dress code suggesting that they were customer care officials designated the task of interacting and introducing visitors to the Delta. Apart from that, they are given the task of briefing the visitors accordingly and provide both guidance and assistance where necessary. After interrogation, I noted several qualities and character that a good customer care must have which includes; organisational efficiency that enable them to perform their tasks without hiccups, speed and accuracy of service thus making them not to consume a lot time in a single task, consistency in handling issues that may arise from the customers thus enabling them to demonstrate excellence proficiency and confidence in handling their work, they also demonstrated having full knowledge of the their products and services at their disposal which includes catering services and tours, they are also proficient in handling of customers needs in its entirety and confidently leaving the visitors of the park to be contented, contribute information and advice to visitors by offering amicable solution to tourist who encounter problems while on their tour, handling of complaints decisively thus eliminates fears of visiting the Okavango apart from building trust among them, solving problems that sprout in the tour exploration and finally handle all issues that relate to the tourist to the expectation of the client. The customer care employees also seems to understand that keeping record of visitors is vital because this will help them to identify existing customers who frequent visit the touring point and also to uncover those visitors who are loyal and therefore must be accorded special treatment and discount. Apart from that, they also records visitors’ views and comments which enable them to indentify visitors’ focal point that necessitate further upgrade. This also allows them to discover an area that receives less concentration from the visitor enabling them to suggest improve it. Customer care is a very important organ that offers a great deal in marketing strategy since it promotes the organisation’s image, offer the best strategy for outperforming the competitors because the workers interact directly with the customers, escalate the sale and usage through the improvement of organisation image. It is also of paramount importance that, issues relating to the customers are handled with exception and to the expectation of the customer. That is, provide a sense of secure environment to the visitors and assure them that security is optimal and that they have nothing to fear when touring around the reserved national park (Brookes & Roger 2004, p.35) I also noted a wonderful organisation of the customer’s service strategy that is intended to improve services delivery to the customer and how the Okavango tourist destination adapt to the customer services to achieve the personal needs of each customers and diverse types of consumers. For example, individual tourist taking part in leisure activities or business trips and group tourist visiting a specific destination for purpose of studying or leisure. A close glance at the service rendered to the customers at Okavango Delta revealed that, there are two categories of services that include; individual service that is offered to the sole tourist who visit the park singly and group service that is meant for a group of individual who travel in groups. Services rendered are tailored according to each tourist depending on several factors such as; customers with special need such as medication is also factor in at Okavango Delta, varied cultural and social needs such as the elderly, gender, family issues and social-economic and related issues tourists have different treatment all together. I also noted highly improved communication skills by the different employees that are trained to handle different language across the globe to cater for non-native tourist. The communication skills include different skills such as; ability to answer telephone conversation without any limitation, conduct a face to face conversation with the tourist from different cultures and languages to cater for all the tourists, ability to establish a dialogue with the visitors and listen and follow the conversation to the later, use of non-verbal communication such as body movement, eye contacts and written communication. The other aspect of customer services revolves around the presentation of one self, teamwork among the employees and use of modern business skills. The format through which a worker present himself to the customers exposes the inner organisation of the company, it is therefore necessary for an employee to observe the dressing mode, hygiene and cleanliness, and appearance to the customers and being able to apply etiquette at all times in their working environment. Teamwork is the ability to interact with workmate in a working environment to achieve a common goal. This entails the work motivation, taking work responsibilities as a priority, delegation of duties among the different staff members, lines of power and to understand the benefits of cooperation to the fellow workers, customers and the organisation. The use modern Business skills that facilitate efficient documentation via modern technology such as; use of IT in email communication, initiating a content management system called computerised reservations system, utilizing the internet services and maintain proper business business standards, for example legibility, accuracy and business conventions. Analyse the service company using each of the 7P's If a company intend to take charge of the marketing strategy and succeed in the competition, then using a simple formula of the 7Ps is worthy. When developing the marketing strategy, the Seven P Formula must be used to persistently in evaluating and re-evaluating the business performance. The 7P is an acronym that represent, product, positioning, promotion, price, packaging, place and people. As the products or services, markets, customers and requirements evolve rapidly, the entire business should be constantly revisited against the 7Ps to ascertain that the business is taking the right track and gaining the ultimate desired results in the current marketplace. A wide range of services offered to the market by various businesses and that on every occasion a company opt to promote its product, there is a considerable marketing involved in it. Keen observation of the application of the 7Ps at Okavango Delta, I noted the following: Product To begin with, product or services is the core business of an organization. Okavango has a number of services that is intended for both local and international tourist. Through asking themselves questions that are geared toward the improvement of the service delivery to the tourist, stakeholders at Okavango try to find out whether the services given to the clients are appropriate and suitable for marketing as per the current market trends. Okavango finds it necessary to invite qualified consultants to assess and determine quality of service in relation to the current tourism market trends. The expert will point out the loopholes by comparing the services offered at Okavango with those of other tourism industry especially from the competitors. The consultant may provide solution to questions such as the rating of services offered in the market in relation to other competitors, the comparison with the competitors and their superiority, how to solve a market crisis in case their services are turned down by the clients and their uniqueness in terms of services (Grönroos, 2007, p 398). Prices The second P in the 7Ps formula as applied by the Okavango Delta is the price. This is entails the habits of frequently examining and re-examining the cost of the services rendered to the visitors of Okavango so that clients can afford and attract attention in the market. This is the case in Okavango where sometimes, prices of all the services are dropped by a given percentage so that the tourists can be motivated to visit the site in large numbers. Revision of price is done to promote domestic tourism in Okavango to allow the local residence to visit the resource at subsidised prices and a sometime a complete waiver is allowed to young students and pupils. In case of foreign tourist, a discount is given to clients according to their numbers or size of the group and also as per the loyalty and frequency of the visits by the tourists. Therefore, develop a sense of appreciation to the tourists. It also wise to lower the rate during non-peak hour to encourage more visitors so that the tourism industry in Okavango can maintain consistence visits while at some point during the peak hours, they find it necessary to hike charges. However, by raising the cost of the services, they can lose their customers very easily and therefore the hiking must be done wisely. Promotion The third marketing service is the promotion at all time. Promotion entails all the means used in creating awareness to the tourists about the availability of your services and how outstanding the services are compared to other competitor’s services. Continuous advertising, promoting, and selling of the products and services, need to be done repeatedly since the technique of marketing and sales employed currently, sooner or later, will be obsolete. Therefore the methods used in marketing and sales, advertisement or promotion, will in the long run stop working, and a company will have to redesign new sales, marketing and advertising mechanism, aid, and strategies. Place The fourth P in the marketing mix is the place where your product or service is actually sold or the location of the market. The Okavango tourism can explore new places to sell their service both within Botswana and overseas. Constant reviewing and unfolding new place of sale will adversely have a positive projection in the growth of the market. Apart from that, Okavango can organise the location of various similar classes of wildlife in designated location for easy access by the tourists. It must also be arranged in a consistent order in such a way that the customers begins at the entrance, he or she should be systematically driven from the small wildlife such as insects, birds, and gradually to the large game and finally to the lagoon then to the exit Packaging The fifth component of the marketing mix is the packaging. Diminutive improvements in the packaging or external appearance service frequently lead to different reactions from the tourists. The appearance of the service in terms of everything that the tourists come in contact from the main all the way to the exit will greatly influence the customer’s opinion about the delta. Therefore the dress codes of the caretakers, offices formalities in payment of tourism charges, tourist waiting room, your communication skills and every single visual component around national game park and Delta will count to customers. Positioning The next P is positioning which describes how positioned is you services from the customers point of view. Positioning as, the observation and opinion about you by the customer is the crucial determinant of the success of any company participating in a competitive market. (Constantinides, 2006, p.411.) Customers think of company in terms of single attribute, either positive or negative. To achieve best position, the Okavango delta is advertised on the news paper and weekly periodicals on regular and weekly bases explaining to the customers why their services are worth their cost and that they offer exceptional services that cannot be found anywhere. People The final P of the marketing mix is people involved in the tourism industry at Okavango and it include all the stakeholders. Not only stakeholders, but people element will comprise external forces that are responsible for every sale that is achieved through the growth of the tourism industry. Attention to the fact that every single decision and policy has to be carried out by a specific person, in a specific way. The ability to recruit, select, hire and maintain the proper experts, with the skills and experiences to perform the tasks required in the tourism industry. Bruhn (2002, p.79.) found that, the most significant factor applied by the companies is that get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus. Once a successful recruitment is conducted, the next step is to conduct training to the recruited workers to familiarise them with the environment and how to handle the tourism problem. After training the following step is to assign each employee a specific responsibility to expertise on. Choosing the right man power will be a boost to the service delivery and therefore the tourism controllers must critically reassign who is going to carry out each task and responsibility along the tourism industry. Adjustments to the marketing of that service Marketing through the mass media and electronic mail is supported by public relations with the main objective of generate a upbeat image of the Okavango tourism in the market preferably through editorial text, weekly magazines and documentaries so that create a industry that stand out as more credible compare to other industries. A lot is done through branding and loading offer that go alongside the advertisement to entice the public and customers about the goodness of the tour to Okavango. Not only that, but Okavango can secure themselves a willing sponsor to assist them in the advertisement of the tourism service. Other than getting a sponsor, Okavango tourist destination can decide to sponsors several cultural events and thus getting an opportunity to expose themselves to the market locally via the interaction with the customers directly during the events. Through the investment of IT, Okavango can increase the market and be able to reach to all corners globally. IT has provided a call centres where by a tourist industry like Okavango can utilize such as contacts and help desks or subcontract to specialised companies. Telemarketing is now emerging into the market which allows many individual to participate in dialog irrespective of the time zones. Use of electronic mail and web sites can be use to advertise and publish information about the Okavango site including the site maps using internet web pages, mobile phones and text messaging have shaped the marketing scene completely. The termination of the international boundaries between telephones communication, TV broadcasting and computers application is spawning a new globe for marketers and clients. However, the Internet structural design is not built to guard against fraudulent and today 30% of the price of a fully conditional computer and its software may easily lead to patching insecure systems and endlessly development of new security strategies to curb the effect of the vice. Review component of 4p components The 4Ps marketing mix which include People, Product, Pricing and Promotion, have been widely used as a model for product and service marketing. It highlights the company that is ready to conduct marketing through product and price, with an integrated promotion mix to reach the main customers through a particular distribution channels. The 4Ps of marketing are the key areas where marketing administrators must apportion required corporate resources to accomplish the business goal. Goods and services have distinctive characteristics that comprise of intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparable and perishable. The following are the major 4Ps that must be accorded major focus during marketing People As stated by McDonald (2007, p. 275) 7Ps services marketing skeleton, people are all human entities that directly or indirectly participate in the service delivery to the consumer. People may comprise of firm’s contact employees, personnel and other consumers. Due to the fixed nature of the manufacture and utilization of services which entails concurrent production and use of services, service firms is majorly dependent on the ability and experience of contact employees to deliver the service. In essence contact employees are the people component that interact mostly with the customers as applicable in Okavango Delta where the employee are fully engage and interact heavily with the tourists. Contact employees contribute to service quality by creating a favourable image for the firm, collecting vital feedback from the visitors and report back to the management, and by through rendering better services than the competitors, then the tourist industry will definitely expand to higher levels. Service providers and employees are engaged in real time delivery of services. Tourism services should unearth ways in which it can successfully run the contact employees to guarantee that the attitudes and behaviours of the same employees are conducive for the delivery of service to the visiting tourist. This is particularly significant in services since workers tend to be unpredictable when it comes to performance, thus leading to variable quality. For example, heterogeneity in the delivery of tours and catering services. The superiority of a service can differ from one tourism service to the other and customers and many other factors. This lack of homogeneity toward the delivery of services forms a stampede in the delivery of tourism services. As interaction between contact employees and customers can extensively affect clients perceptions to the service offered to the tourists. This is vital, since clients perceptions of service worth and its value can persuade customer contentment, and in turn, boost the marketing strategy. Promotion Promotion encompasses advertising, personal selling and sales promotion. However the forms of promotions have changed to include more sophisticated promotions. Advertising has now gotten a new shape where bill boards are erected by the roadsides, pops in our electronic equipments such as television screens, radio and computers. Through investment in this advertisement mechanism, Okavango is anticipated to strategically secure and control the vast tourist industry. Product Originally a product was goods but services was added to make meaning to the marketing process because both good and service are entities that can be subjected to trade. A service delivery by the tourism industry must be explicitly elaborated and clearly brought out to inform the customer and to remove speculations. To achieve this, Okavango must embrace exhibition and fully participate through sending participant to demonstrate to the local and international market about their services. The product/services currently are also referred to as information as we get into the digital age and Okavango must fully utilize the IT infrastructure in its marketing. Prices Sometimes there is a necessity to revise the terms and conditions of sale. For example, dissemination prices over a series of weeks, months or years, the rates of charges will translate to immense sales. Free bonus items that cost less to purchase can make services emerge attractive to the customers. For example design exclusive calendar with photo of the wildlife and catering services then distribute it to the customers who visit the park. Recommendations for these four areas based of the 4Ps The unique 4Ps of services marketing, People, price, product and Promotion are within the mandate of the industry and its contact workers. They influence the customer’s initial decision to purchase goods and services, the clients’ level of happiness and redemption decisions. Service firms heavily depend on their contact workers to enhance the rendering of quality services which enables them to acquire and retain their customers. The services delivery translates into a desired interaction between providers and customers. It is often put forward in the mainstream literature as the core of services marketing. There are plentiful degrees and variations strength between the no encounter and the close encounter. Gummesson (2002, p. 68) explained the interactive model in the service encounter that depicts different roles and interactions that are essential in marketing with the main focus to the customer. He further clarified that, the service encounter is not only about marketing, but also entails complaints, production, innovation, delivery and administration. The same contact worker regularly fulfils several of these responsibilities. References Baker, MJ, 2006, ”Editorial”, Journal of Customer Behaviour, vol.5, no.3, pp. 197-200. Brookes, R & Roger, AP 2004, The new global marketing reality, Palgrave Macmillan, Melbourne. PP. 34-39. Bruhn, M 2002, Relationship Marketing, Pearson Education, Harlow. Buttle, F 2004, Customer Relationship Management, Elesevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Constantinides, E 2006, “The Marketing Mix Revisted: Towards the 21st Century Marketing”, Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 22, no.4, pp. 407-438. 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