How to Build Brands - Research Paper Example

The critical aspects to capture in customer relations are quality of product or service and customer satisfaction relative to buyer behavior and decisions (Kerin, et al. 2006).

Apple, Inc. is one of the best companies in customer relations. The company, a leading PC and mobile handsets vendor focuses on product innovation and merges this pursuit to consumer needs, tastes, and preferences (Grant, 2011). Successful customer relations are realized from functional practices that seek to address customer satisfaction. In a world that is highly driven by technological advancement, Apple has taken a leading position in making PC and mobile handsets consumers a part of the company’s system. In other words, the company’s business activities and operations integrate and involve the consumers in the design and development of new products.

The company employs customer feedback to better company-customer interaction. In doing so, Apple’s customers have been involved developing new products that carry their individual specifications and features. This means that Apple’s potential customers express what they would like to have in their products, and the company designs and develops products that meet the qualities highlighted by these customers. Apple understands that customer relations are primarily based on customer satisfaction in terms of product or service quality and pricing.

Apple employs creativity and innovativeness in developing new and improved products for consumers. This allows the company to dominate the market in the industry within which it operates and at the same time capture a significant market share that subsequently improves its business portfolio. Based on this factor, maintaining close and constant contact with customers is vital. This is a practice that Apple highly values and observes. Programs like GE Six Sigma black belts and management experts foster Apple’s customer relations (Stanton, 2011).

On the other hand, Kudler Fine Foods Company performs at a less than perfect scale in relation to customer service. Although the company is a successful grocery store that offers diverse and dynamic products and services, its customer relations aspect is not fully developed. The needs, tastes, and preferences of consumers of perishable goods highly vary from time to time and from one region to another. In this respect, all customers cannot be equally accounted for in terms of satisfaction. However, this diversity in meeting customer demands is not fully integrated into the operations of Kudler Fine Foods.

Although the company has designed, formulated, and implemented functional programs that target its customers, not all customers have been accounted for. In fact, only regular and heavy consumers are targeted by the implemented programs like specialty food programs and Frequent Shopper Programs (Kudler Fine Foods, 2004). Such and other programs in the company lock out a substantial percentage of customers, and the company cannot, therefore, be said to successfully realize effective customer relations at all customer levels.

Apple’s actions to enhance its customer relations result in numerous achievements, all of which are deeply rooted in the company’s operations and business aspects. Improving customer relations has improved Apple’s financial performance. This is in line with broadening its customer base, offering high-quality products and services, meeting customer expectations, and competitive product pricing. The company’s relationship with the public has successfully developed over time, more especially in relation to corporate social responsibility. The company’s employees exhibit a mindset that is diverse and dynamic, thus encompassing customer interests within their duties and responsibilities.

On the other hand, Kudler Fine Foods’ actions have segmented the company’s customers. The enforced customer programs do not account for the entire customer base but partially accounts for different segments of customers at one point in time (Kerin, et al. 2006). While the company has successfully established its operations, its full potential remains unutilized. On the same note, the employees have taken up this segmentation, treating regular and heavy consumers with utmost regard, unlike their one-time counterparts. Amid this, the company has significantly worked towards meeting consumer grocery demands.

Apple should trail on the same ground in a bid to capture more market share and maintain close relations with its customers. The creativity and innovativeness of the company should continue to be technology-based since this makes the company outperform close competitors in the industry. On the other hand, Kudler Fine Foods should move towards accounting for its entire customer base. Concentrating on regular buyers curtails its full potential. The already existing programs should be redesigned or new programs developed to provide customer services that enhance all-round relations between the company and the customers.