Customers Satisfaction and Marketing - Essay Example

It is believed that s are the life-source of every corporation, and that focus on marketing is very essential. Marketing is the management process which identifies, anticipates and supplies customers’ requirements efficiently and profitably. (AP 101 Marketing: the Fundamentals. 2004). There is that natural desire in all customers to satisfy their complex needs, and this should give a starting point for marketing, which aims to assist the customers in attaining their hearts’ desires. As the saying goes, “the customer is always right.” Any company will be on the road to success, if this adage will be adopted as part of the company’s mission statement. The customers can stir the direction of the growth of an organization, and so it is up to the management and how the employees’ commitment to satisfy the customers, are being stressed and practiced that can ensure the upward direction in the progress of the company. Customer’s satisfaction is best achieved when there is conscious effort on the part of management to deliver the quality of service that the customers would expect. On the other hand, management should be well aware, that there are various kinds of customers. Naturally, they should cater only to the kind of customers who can bring about profit to the company. Those are the customers who have the capacity to pay the price of the services or products that will be made available to them and at the same time, they should look for the customers who are in need of the products that a company can provide. There are customers who go about complaining, but in reality, have no intention of letting go of their hard-earned money, unless they can haggle for the cheapest price. In this instance, it would be best that management is convinced that they are proud of the services that they can provide, and also best to remember that he who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away . The most splendid achievement of all is the constant striving to surpass oneself and to be worthy of personal approval. Many times, management fails to satisfy the customers. This is where customers’ expectations come into play. The customers usually know what they desire in the services that they expect, and the perception of the quality of service that one company provides is relative, because customers differ from one another, and no matter how a company would try, it is simply impossible to please everyone. The customers would normally compare the products or services, based on past experiences, and the selling price also plays a substantial factor in the willingness of a customer to patronize the service of a company. What can help the company assess whether a customer is satisfied or not, is when the company can determine that there is a gap between what the customer desired to enjoyed in comparison to the service actually delivered. A survey or a questionnaire explicitly asking for the feedback from the consumers or end-users, after the delivery of the services can help management attain this objective. In this process, management can ascertain that perhaps the customer was not that satisfied, and yet considered the actual delivery as merely adequate. With this tool, it can help management assess the zone of tolerance within which the customer is able to assume, inasmuch as a zone of tolerance separates desired service from adequate service and it varies across customers (Zeithaml, et al. 1993). Having this information at hand, management can start getting attuned with what really do their customers want. It is vital that the leaders of a service-provider, after collecting information from their customers, should listen to them as well. If a company would insist on their way of delivering their services, because of cost constraint and past experience, despite the fact that their profit picture is not positive, then there is a problem that, along the way, the employees themselves would sense. How internal affairs are managed can provide a glimpse of the strength and weaknesses of a company. The involvement of the employees must always be encouraged. The employees, especially the sales people of any business entity, play a very vital role in promoting customer satisfaction. It is possible that the services being provided by a company that is being promised through advertising may not come to par with the customer’s satisfaction. If, however, the employee or a sales person is very knowledgeable about what the company is offering to its prospective buyers or users, the employee can convince the clients to overlook the poorness in quality, mainly because of the personalized or professional service that the customer can enjoy. Therefore, seminars and orientations about the services that a company will make available in the market, should not be limited to the sales supervisors or sales personnel only, but should include everybody. Reading materials about the products or services should be accessible electronically for all to browse around. In this way, nobody can wash off their hands and say its not their job every time a company will receive complaints from the customers. It is natural for any business organization to receive complaints. It is the ability to pacify the customers and turn their dissatisfaction to happiness, that can be of value to the company. A company can do well to review the sales people on a regular basis, because they can promise the customers what the company cannot deliver, and this can spread to other prospective clients very fast, that this can turn out to be negative for the company. The sales people are very eager to close a sale that sometimes they see the need of promising more than they can deliver, and this is dangerous for a company, because this can compromise their credibility, trust and reliability. Of course, the best determinant of clients’ satisfaction is when they keep coming back or when they keep on placing repeat orders. This is now a positive feedback, and management should not miss out on this. The customer should still be interviewed or made to fill up a reaction form in order for the company to know which part of their service delivery they should maintain and enhance. Regular monthly meetings within the marketing department is a must, to discuss customers’ feedback, problems in the field, market share in relation to the perceived competition, and the price range within which the customers are willing to accept. Monthly meetings among company officers will be very helpful to discuss quality control, and the effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of the services to the end-users. When there are extra incentives being offered to the front-liners, with the clear criteria of how they can be availed of, it can serve as a driving force for the employees and sales personnel to work towards the goals and objectives of the company. When the customers of a real estate company keep referring prospective buyers, a small token can be given for the referral, such as a plant for their house or a useful gadget for the kitchen. This can make them feel appreciated and will never hesitate to promote the residential subdivision wherein they are also residing. The best part, is because they feel like they have contributed something in the company of the developer, they can easily overlook trivial matters, that for some can prove to be irritants, but which they can forego complaining about it. Another feature of a real estate company is the sales of memorial park lots. The clients for this product and service are very sensitive, because they are in grief when they transact for a burial plot and for the actual interment of their loved one, They should be comforted and pampered with all the services that they need, at the same time show them sympathies, in order that, in their helpless state, they can trust they are in good hands. They are to be given a giveaway, such as an umbrella or flowers, a family car for the day and an after-sale service by checking up on them after the burial, would surely seal the deal, that the next time around, when there will be another death in the family, they will gladly refer their relatives to the company who cared for them. When the customers are conscious that management is after their welfare, they do not have to focus on the price and there will be no need to compare the price with other service provider. There are numerous tell-tale signs to depict management as marketing-oriented, and that their focus is customer satisfaction. There are minor details that for others can be insignificant or irrelevant, but as far as the customers are concerned, they will feel valued and important. One best example, is that every time a company receives a complaint, the customers should not be passed around from one officer to another to address the situation. Immediate solution at hand is the best course of action. Opening time and office hours should be adjusted to the clientele of the company, for example, in the Philippines, wherein not all payments are processed through banks or credit cards, but through personal remittance to the office of the service provider. If most of the customers belong to the working group, instead of closing at 5:30 P.M., it should be moved to 6:00 P.M., to give more time for the customers to personally remit their payment to the company’s office. When there is a need to bend back a little on company rules and policies to please a customer, it should be accommodated on the condition that it cannot compromise company’s profitability, especially when there is a looming threat of losing a customer to a competition. An organization must have a thorough understanding of its target buyers so that it can create product of superior value for them. Remember that value can be defined only by customers themselves, and can be created by increasing the benefits to the buyer in relation to the buyer’s costs or by decreasing the buyer’s costs in relation to the buyer’s benefits (Marketing: the Fundamentals 2004). Advertising can help convince the prospective buyers what services or products to choose, but in this day and age, when advertising had become so complex, and the products have become impossibly numerous to choose from, sometimes, other approaches are needed aside from advertising. This is where the listening skills should come in. There is no need to bombard customers with countless advertising lines. What is needed is to listen to the customers about what they need. If they are uncertain about what they need, then by effective open communications with the customers, a need can be created. In any which way, when the desires of the customers can be pinpointed, then it would be easy to develop a winning sales pitch. A responsible seller must consult with his customer and keep the channels of communication open. The successful seller oversees customer policies and division of tasks and makes sound and timely decisions. A corporate leader recognizes and encourages them to make use of his employees gifts and talents and capabilities, and management should have no difficulty delegating tasks, and should not be intimidated when the capabilities of the employees overlap theirs or when the lower ranks’ earning capacity exceed their own. They should want their staff to improve. Management should keep in mind not to give in at all times to customers’ demands, on the premise that without the customers, the business will not flourish, because it can altogether work the other way around. It is also the company who is doing a favor for its customers. Based on experience, the best way to satisfy customers and become a successful businessman, is to nurture a right attitude toward work and life, because it is believed that both performance and skill come as poor second to having the right attitude. Works Cited: AP101. Marketing: the fundamentals. 26 Feb 2004. 3, 6. Retrieved from http://www.oup.com/uk /orc/bin/9780199266272/palmerch.01. Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L.L., Parasuraman, A. “The Nature and Determinants of Customer Expectations of Service,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1993. 1 – 12. Read More