Approaches to Customer Relations Management - Essay Example

Customer relations management Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Executive summary 3 Introduction 4 Active listening 4 Approaches to Negotiation 6 Appropriate strategies for dealing with customer complaints 7 Conclusion 9 Recommendations 10 Executive summary Customer relations management concepts are very important for the development of Sydney, Hobart Perth and partners. The concepts are aimed at streamlining the operation of the company when it comes to customer-relations. Active listening is a concept that needs to be adopted by the employees and more especially the ones at the front office. They represent the image of the company. Negotiations skills are also important for the purpose of ensuring the company and the clients benefits from the relationship. Negotiations are essential for the company and are a daily experience. The complaints made by the customers are also important as they portray the manifestation of the company in terms of service delivery. Appropriate means should be used when handling the complaints. The strategies used by the company determine how well it values its customers. It is thus recommended that the staff members should undergo further training on the concepts of customer relations as well as empowerment in order for them to handle the customers appropriately. Introduction Customer relations management is an important aspect of success in a business enterprise (Doug, 2001). Sydney, Hobart Perth and partners requires a proper customer relations management for the purpose of solving the complaints raised by the customers as well as retaining the customers. Poor customer relations management may easily lead to losses for the company as the customers may opt to seek the services elsewhere. Interaction with the customers is very vital as it gives them the picture or image of the company. The staff members at the front office require adequate training on customer relations management. This is mainly because they are the first people to interact with the customers. Any form of poor interaction may lead to development of negative attitudes towards the whole company. In order to ensure that the company is able to meet its goals and objectives, customer care is very imperative. The paper discusses how the company may improve its image through proper handling of complaints by customers, active listening of the front staff members and proper negotiation skills. Active listening The members of the front staff require active listening skills whenever they are dealing with the customers. The impression of the customer depends on how they are treated by the front office staff. Active listening will also enable the customer to be confident about the company which translates to proper services. The first step of the conversation with the customers should involve an eye contact. This ensures that the staff member fully concentrations on the conversation with the customer. Eye contact is important in creating the required attention. Any form of distraction should be avoided during the conversation. This may include mobile phones or the computer. Interruptions break the listening cycle and hence leading to a poor conversation with the client (Mineyama, 2007). During the conversation with the client, it is important to interact with them by sharing their feelings and trying to read their mind. This is important s the client will know that the problem or issues being presented are taken seriously. It is also important to ask questions regarding issues that are not clear. This is to ensure that the customer fully presents the problems or issues facing them. Special attention should be accorded to the client during the main points and if possible, the staff members should take short notes concerning the important points. The clients should not be interrupted whenever he or she is making an important point. Active listening also involves the posture that the member of staff takes during the conversation with the client. This is because a poor posture distracts active listening (Grabill, 2008). The staff member should ensure that distance with the client is reasonable to enable proper hearing. A relaxation posture is not god as it distracts active listening. Instead a little stressful posture enables the member of staff to be active and hence active listening. Concentration is also very important as it ensures that the requirements of the client are well taken care of (Pachet, 2010). Once the staff member is fully concentrates on the conversation, it becomes easy to solve the problems being presented by the client. This in turn ensures that the staff member wins the confidence of the client. Day dreaming during the conversation should be totally avoided by the members of staff at the front office. The company thus stands to benefit a lot if the active listening procedures are adopted by the members of staff at the front office. This builds the confidence of the customers as they will know that their issues are given a special attention. The problems being witnessed at the company will also reduce greatly once the active listening procedures are adopted. Approaches to Negotiation The approaches used during negotiations are very important as it determines the outcome of the process (DeGregor, 2011). The company needs to adopt negotiation skills that are fruitful and not only benefit the company but also the client. This s important for the purpose of retaining the client for future business deals. During the negotiation process, the members of staff need to ensure that the goals of the negotiation are clear. The goals of the negotiators should be in line with the objectives of the company which is customer satisfaction. It is important to ensure that no personal issues are involved in the negotiations. Separation of people from business is important at this point as it ensures that the negotiators target specific goals. The negotiation process requires good communication strategies so as to ensure both parties are satisfied. The mode of language used during the negotiation is very important as it may make a difference in the process (Greenberg, 2009). The use of a convincing language is very important as the negotiation is all about convincing the clients about the capabilities and competency of the company. The use of aggressive language should be avoided at all costs as it may break the negotiation. Appropriate speech is thus important as no party would want to be losers. Listening is also an important aspect of negotiation. The company must ensure that its negotiators have good listening skills. Poor listening skills may not yield any success during the process. Carefully listening to the clients ensures that the process goes on smoothly without much arguments or any misunderstanding. The negotiator should allow the client to share their thoughts freely during the process so as to come up with a common solution. Good listening skills generate a lot of interest towards the process and thus making proper judgments (Gefen, 2002). Understanding the client is also very important. The negotiator must pt into consideration that the client may have different view or different aims and objectives. It is thus important for the negotiator to make statements that encourages the communication process. Once the client knows that the negotiator understand the concerns he or she is presenting during the process, then a common solution will be adopted. Flexibility is also important during the negotiation process and it determines its success. The issue of having fixed minds should not arise. The negotiator should instead be in a position to offer alternative solutions to the problem or issues being presented. The company should thus ensure that it has good negotiators for the purpose of retaining and wining new clients. Appropriate strategies for dealing with customer complaints The company should be in a position to understand that the customer complains are as a result of dissatisfaction. The manner in which the complaints are handled can lead to serious consequences to the company (Shaw, 2000). If the complains are poorly handled, then the chances of loosing the customers are very high. However, if the complains are well handled, then the chances of retaining the customers are high. The customers may be very frustrated while presenting the complaint and may sometimes be emotional. This requires an appropriate means to solve the problem amicably. Listening to the complaints carefully and attentively should be the first step. Incase the customer becomes unruly, it is important to be firm but concerned. No defensive moves should be made at the initial stage. Questions should then be asked after carefully listening to the complaints presented by the customer. It should however be asked in a concerned and caring manner for the purpose of getting more information from the client. Arguments should be totally avoided as it does not solve the problem but it worsens it. It is thus important to fully understand the situation facing the customer but a lot of care should be taken during the process. Taking sides should not be the case whenever a complaint is about the services offered by an employee of the company (Dickie, 2006). Apologies should then be made for the purpose of calming down the customer. It is important to note that the customer relaxes when he or she feels that the company is apologetic of her problem. No one should be blamed as this may worsen the situation by creating another conflict. It is important to form partnership with the customer for the purpose of solving the problem. It is thus advisable to ask the customer what he or she thinks should be dome to solve the problem. This is an important point in wining the loyalty and understanding of the customer and thus making it easy to solve the problem being presented. The problem should then be solved at this point by the person handling the complaints. Moving the problem to someone else or to another chain of command may impact the customer negatively. Most customers prefer that their problems and complains be solved by the person handling it. When handling the customer complains it is important to note that time is an important aspect and most of the customers prefer that their complaints be solved immediately (Lior, 2005). Incase the problem may take long before it is sorted out, it is important to provide an alternative solution to the problem. Proper handling of customer complains is thus very important and should be done in a proper manner for the purpose of benefiting the company as well as retaining the customers. Conclusion In conclusion, it is worth noting that matters regarding customer relations management are very critical and requires a lot of attention. The participation of the front office employees is very important as they are the first people to attend to the customers. This plays an important role in building the image of the company. Active listening is the most important aspect of customer relations management since it gives the impression of the employees in the company. Active listening promotes confidence of the customers towards the company. Good negotiation skills are also important as it determines how the company relates with the clients. This process requires a lot of understanding and proper communication. If it is not handled well, it may lead to loss of customers or clients. The complaints made by the customers also require a lot of attention. Proper mechanisms should be used to handle the complaints so as to find a proper solution to the problem. The complaints by the customers may also result to loss of revenue and clients if it is not handled well. Recommendations In order for the company to win the trust of the clients and adequately solve their problems, a major operation should be launched for the purpose of improving customer relations. The staff members at the front office should be thoroughly trained on the aspects of customer relations. This should include the area of active listening when dealing with the customers. The staff members should be trained on all the concepts of active listening. The training should be conducted from time to time with only the best active listeners being recruited at the department. Any member of the department who is not an active listener should be redeployed to other sections. A feedback mechanism from the customer should also be put in place for the purpose of monitoring the performance of the employees in the department. Appropriate action should be taken against any employee found to be contravening the aid out procedures. The members who negotiate with the clients should also be trained further on negotiation skills. Only the experienced negotiators should handle the area to avoid loosing clients. The employees in this department should be assessed depending on their performance and how well they deal with the clients. Poor negotiators should undergo further training to improve their skills. The complaints presented by the clients should also be given special attention. The customers should be satisfied individually for the purpose of reducing complains. This should be done by well trained personnel in the department. A customer care department that handles complains should also be established to deal with the issues conclusively. The employees at the department should be empowered to solve the problems presented by the employees to reduce the time taken to solve complains. The causes of recurring complain should also be established so as to eliminate the problem and avoid tarnishing the image of the company. Alternative means of solving the customers complains should also be devised to enable customer satisfaction. The decisions made when handling the customers’ complaints should be the best for both the company and the customer. It is also important for the company to ensure that it puts the needs of the customers first by ensuring good customer relations skills are adopted. References DeGregor, D. (2011). Customer-Transparent Enterprise: Beyond 20th Century CRM. Motivational Press Dickie, J. (2006). Demystifying CRM Adoption Rates. CSO Insights Doug, L. (2001).The Great Enterprise Balancing Act: Extended Relationship Management (XRM), META Group publication Gefen, D. et al (2002).Implementation Team Responsiveness and User Evaluation of Customer Relationship Management: A Quasi-Experimental Design Study of Social Exchange Theory. Journal of Management Information Systems 19, no. 1, 47-69. Grabill, T. et al (2008). Coming to Content Management: Inventing Infrastructure for Organizational Knowledge Work. Technical Communication Quarterly 17, no. 1: 10-34 Greenberg, P. (2009). CRM at the Speed of Light (4th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 7.  Lior A. (2005). Understanding the Fatal Mistakes: Passionate and Profitable. 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