There is a 100 word minimum for Part 1. For Part 2, Read the abstract below. Answer the CHALLENGE questions in detail. Your final written answers for part 2 will have a minimum of 400 words (all answers combined).
Part 1
Identify a business or sports leader who you think is highly effective, and explain why you think they are effective.
Answer
Apple Inc. is a good example of an effective company. Apple’s achievement emanates from its customer oriented policies which seeks to provide the customer with unique products. This explains the reason why the company enjoys an unmatched level of customer loyalty. Apple products stand out as the main aim of the company is to produce extraordinary products that will easily beat competition in the market. For that reason, the company escapes price wars and ensure customer retention. Establishing customer loyalty also reduces the cost of competition such as increased advertisements. Apple Inc. also deals with lots of products which increases the revenue and customer satisfaction avenues.
Part 2
“The simplest (and often most overlooked) way to encourage customer loyalty is through excellent and thorough customer service. From the moment customers make contact with your business or store--whether it is by telephone, through your web site, or by actually walking in to a physical address--they should be treated well by helpful, informed, interested employees. This piece of the service delivery pie cannot be stressed enough. If customers have good (make that "great") experiences with your business, they will be much more likely to return. Good customer service includes prompt attention, etiquette and manners, and the ability of each employee to help, make decisions and solve problems. Make sure you follow up and follow through on any customer complaints or requests. Dropping the ball means losing customers you've already attracted.” (Sumonova, 2006)
E. (2006, September 28). Editor. Retrieved January 13, 2017, from http://sumonova.com/building-and-encouraging-customer-loyalty/
CHALLENGE Questions:
1. The author of this article states that the way to encourage customer loyalty is through excellent and thorough service. Describe the provider’s responsibility for establishing and maintaining positive customer relationships.
Customer relationship is about understanding the customers’ needs, establishing trust in the customers, and delivering the customers’ needs. The provider cannot know the customer’s needs and know what is important to the customer. Therefore, one of the responsibilities of the provider is to find out the needs and priorities of the customer through asking and other ethical and efficient means. It also involves meeting the customer expectations by understanding the factors that affect the customer relation to the company. These factors include competitors’ strategies, customer demographics, education standards, economic status and experience. The provider has the responsibility to ensure that the established relationship with the customer is reliable, timely, safe, accessible, courteous, competent, and responsive.
2. The author of this article states that the way to encourage customer loyalty is through excellent and thorough service. How can this be accomplished with their very first visit to your website?
In order to ensure that the customer experience is of high quality, it is important to create a website that is interactive, accessible, and easy to understand. One can achieve this through the establishment of an easy to use graphical user interface that provide the customer with all the information she or he may require about the company and the products the company offers. The website should also provide the company with a chance to ask questions and leave comments.
3. The author of this article states that the way to encourage customer loyalty is through excellent and thorough service. How can that be established by the way your phone is answered?
The provider should observe etiquette and politeness during a phone conversation and ensure that the customer gets the chance to present their problem, question, or enquiry. This involves answering the phone in a polite, professional, and respectful way. This also includes listening to the customer in order to understand their request. In addition, the provider can provide the customer with several options such as languages through which the customer can present their request effectively and with ease.
4. The author of this article states that the way to encourage customer loyalty is through excellent and thorough service. How can that be established when a customer walks into the physical address of your store or business?
The provider can achieve this through proper communication while observing etiquette, politeness, and professionalism. The provider should listen to the customer and offer the customer all the necessary assistance and information they may require about the business and company products. The customer should always be treated as the boss by ensuring that their needs are fully satisfied. According the customer the right help in accessing the products they need and comparing them with other available products can also be effective.
5. Describe how you can ensure that your employees remain helpful, informed, interested employees.
This can be done by educating the employees about the importance of customer relations and service. If possible, employee should be taken through training where they learn the methods and means to achieve excellent customer relations. Through training, the employee will learn the different means of acquiring information about the customer and different methods of service delivery. The employee will also be able to evaluate customer satisfaction and establish customer expectations in order to provider him/her with the right services based on their expectations and needs.
