Customer-Driven Strategies To Increase Revenue

Examples of Successful Customer-Driven Companies

Answer 1: Businesses these days have changed drastically, companies have moved from providing quality products to providing excellent customer service. The business is tuff, and the competition is rising like anything, hence with little differentiation in products, companies these days are designing customer driven strategies to increase the revenue. Customer being the king is taken more seriously now than ever. Some examples of what makes a company customer driven are:

• Apple creates products keeping the customers in mind, it does a good marketing research understanding the need, wants and demand of the customers thus comes up with a product which will be accepted by its Target audience.
• Lego is into the business of co –creating the products with its customers, LEGO ideas is an online community which lets members discover cool creation by other fans and even submit their own designs for new sets.
• IKEA, a Scottish firm, believes that furniture is the foundation of the home, thus it allows customers to build their own furniture in their natural surroundings, driving customer centricity.
• Businesses these days are focussing more on managing online reputation on social platforms, because more than half of the world’s business is online, thus it addresses the concern and query of the customers in a bid to make them loyal towards a brand.
• Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, understood that customer focus on quick delivery of product and thus came out with prime services for 1 day delivery of products. Certainly a game changer in the e-commerce business.
• Google, is doing the best it can , by inducing algorithms which helps the customers to refine their searches, it does not let the brand control its pages, it controls the algorithm and shows the results according to the customer query, based on the relevancy and context of the content.

Answer 2:  Amazon, the world largest e-commerce business is offering products to billions of its customers across the globe. It basically acts like a marketplace connecting the sellers with its buyers, and it does that effectively, taking care of all the customer’s touch points. The audience of Amazon is ranges from the age group of 14-65 years; it basically caters to every customer segment.

Amazon Prime	It provides a day assured delivery to the customers. Physiological needs of the customers are fulfilled knowing that the product will be delivered just in time or in some cases before time
Prime video Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Amazon realized that there is a gap in providing content to the audience and thus came with its own online library, it curates content from different creators and also comes up with original content keeping the customers taste in mind, satisfying both his physical and physiological needs
Product offering	Amazon has beautifully curated almost every type of product on its website; it is the one stop shop for all the needs of the customers. Hence, satisfying both the physical and physiological needs of the customers.

Answer 3:  Customer feedback or complaints are extremely important for a business to understand where it is exactly going and what is that the customers are liking or not liking in the product or the service delivery. Customer’s complaint plays an important role in the ecosystem of customer driven companies (Celuch, Robinson & Walsh, 2015). Some of the reasons why customer complaints are welcome are:

• Complaints identify faulty products: Customer mostly complains when the product they bought for the use was not up to the standard, and hence they complaint to the company. Company now gets to know what the customer perceived in the product and what he actually received. This helps the company to design better products in the future and customers gets relieved knowing his complaint had been addressed
• Complaints are friends: It is a general physic, only friends and family complaints. A person who does not have any interest in a person does not bother to complaint about the negative things. Customers too behave in the similar fashion, they make complaint only when they trust the brand and are big brand loyalist and they want well for the company. It makes them feel, if they complaint, company could take measures to improve the quality of product or services and not disappoint new customers, hence acting like friends(Olsen, 2015)
• Complaints provide a window for service recovery: Complaint’s provide an excellent platform for service recovery. A brand on knowing that a customer is dissatisfied with the product or the service goes to the best of his capability to make the customer happy. The company by offering exchange of product, loyalty points, big discount etc. try to win the customer back.

Answer 4: Handling customer is both a skill and an art, some people have it inherently and some have to acquire it with the help of good training programs. Either of the cases, customer handling is extremely important for the business. Customer experience training is crucial for any organization which works with customers or clients. Interaction between customer and the employee can either take business to new heights or hit the business onto the ground. A great sense of engagement and conversation building is required for good customer service training. Some of the modules which will come handy in training the employees are:

• Complaint resolution
• Cross selling
• Customer follow through
• Internal customer service
• Service to Sales
• Telephone skills-Inbound and outbound
• Managing customer expectation

On getting the training the employee feels confident and knows how to handle customer complaints or manage a dissatisfied customer. He can effectively deal with them without losing his patience as now he knows the importance of customer for the business.

Answer 5: In customer service business, problems are sure to arise and hence it becomes really important to take care of such issue. Improper handling of customer service issues might lead to negative impact on the organization and loss of revenue. Hence it’s always best to listen to the customer about the issue, acknowledge the issue, find the solution to the problem and in the end thank the customer for reporting the issue. The process can be further broken down into the following steps:

• Understand the customer’s point of view- Before investigating the issue, it is essential to do a good listening exercise, 40% of the problem is solved by effective listening to customer complaint
• Identifying the problem- On listening to the customer issue, it is advised to investigate internally the reason for the issue, have a word with the team and discuss amongst them the reason behind the issue.
• Find a solution- On establishing that the fault is on the side of the company, think of possible solution to turn the tables and find a set of alternate solution for the clients. It’s better to have options in solution, so that the client knows that company has done its study
• Fixing the problem and follow up on the solution- Recommend the solution to the client and follow up with him on the proposed solution

The Importance of Customer Feedback and Complaints

Answer 6: A) Setting of customer standards is not the only thing which the organization has to do in order to establish good customer service. Thorough monitoring is required as well to ensure the smooth process of customer service. Some of the ways in which the monitoring of customer standards can be done are:

• Listen to the customers by monitoring the interaction/ barge calls/ ask customers to rate the customer services.
• Capture all the customer feedback channels, applying the same standards for email, text messaging and chat to ensure consistency in the feedback process.
• Always ask the customer how he perceives the customer service standard of the company, and if they would like to recommend some changes.
• Providing regular training to the employees so that they know the current trends to handle the customers.
• Measuring the result and keeping a track of continuous feedback and evaluation to monitor and measure the progress.

1. B) Reviewing the standard is equally important as setting up the standards. The review can be done by asking customers how they perceive the standards of the customer service, and rate them on a scale of 0-10, ask the customers for recommendation and any changes in the current standard. Find for self the current best practices in the system and try to implement some of them in the system. Take the feedback from the employees as they know it better.

Answer 7:  Investigating the customer information

What customer information Is held and where is it stored	Personal information like name, age, DOB, SEX, address, product he bought with the company, family details, his workplace, his interest, his working hours, his online behaviour and so on. All the information is stored in customer databases in CRM
How is the information currently used	The information is current used to show him the product he would be interested in and also to greet him on his special days. The information helps to do a better profiling which later serves in better targeting of the content to the customer
Other uses of the information to ensure better quality of products and services	The information can be broken down into further components, likes and dislikes of the customer can help the organization to focus on what content is absolutely relevant to him and what is not.
Additional information that can be gathered from customers that would assist in providing quality product and service	Additional information to be gathered from the customers can be his feedback of the product, his suggestion and recommendation. Giving him an option to describe his ideal product, its design, colour, shape and all. This way customer relationship is built and even the organization benefits.

Answer 8: Aspect of legislative requirement impacting customer service operation

Anti-discrimination legislation	Fair trade practices
Consumer protection legislation	Rights of consumers will be protected, fair trade practices
Privacy laws	Confidentiality of the information to be kept and not sold out to other companies.
Work health and safety regulation	Ensure healthy working environment
Ethical principles	Ensure morally correct and ethical practices in business operations

Answer 9: Customer service operation is not as easy as it sounds; the customer’s being highly unique makes it difficult to come up with one resolute strategy which results into best practices. But there are still certain things which should be there in the customer service representative, the attributes which makes the service operations resolute are:

• Personable-Complexity of customer requires the customer service representative to be personable. He must and should have the attribute of making the customer comfortable in the first go itself.
• Adaptable-Not all customers are same and the same can be said about the day of the customer service representative. One day he might get angry, frustrated customers, the other he might get easy going customers. Hence it is highly required attribute in the customer handling skill to be adaptable according to the situation.
• Ambitious-Employee retention is difficult in customer service department; this is due to multiple different challenges faced by the representative on a daily basis. Hence it is required for them to be highly ambitious so that they can learn and grow in the organization while successfully managing the customer challenges.
• Patient- It is very important attribute which is must and should in the representative, giving cool off time to the customer or time to make the customer feel comfortable before bombarding him with the product or services is extremely desired attribute.
• Knowledgeable- With knowledge comes confident and with confident comes better handling of customers. A knowledgeable employee knows how to play around with the information and put it to good use.
• Organized-An average day of customer service representative goes by in flash; he is boggled with customer concerns and queries all the time. Thus the representative has to be really organized so that he can effectively manage his time and give excellent customer service.

Answer 10:  Define the following and describe the techniques involved in gathering data on each

Customer behaviour- A consumer is a person who buys product or services from the market for his/her end use. Consumer behaviour is a branch which deals with various stages a consumer goes through before purchasing product or services for his end use. Study of consumer behaviour explains:

• Why and why not a consumer buys a product
• When a consumer buys a product
• How a consumer buys the product

Study of consumer behaviour makes a lot of sense for managing customer service as it also helps to understand the pain points of customers and addressing the same would lead to loyal customers. Some of the methods of gaining data on the consumer behaviour apart from analysing the online behaviour of the customers are:

• Interviewing
• Projective techniques
• Questionnaires
• Agent based modelling
• Observation with a check list

Customer need research-Customer needs research helps researchers, product developers, service representatives understand the needs, wants and expectation of the customers. It helps in the following ways:

• Identify the unmet demands of the customers
• Refine segmentation
• Disprove false assumptions and correct mistaken internal beliefs
• Drive growth via customer adoption, loyalty and advocacy
• Improve the ROI

Some of the techniques which can be used for data collection are:

• Observation
• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Focus group sessions.

Customer relation-Any business benefits from good customer relations, whether it’s a small shop or a big corporation. Customer relation can be understood as the way business interacts or communicates with its customers. It is really essential for business to cultivate good relation with the customers and in the process get a good count of loyal customers. Customer relations also lay the foundation of referring the product or service to other people, thus spreading positive word of mouth is like a free publicity for the company. Customer relation not only serves as platform for creating a loyal customer base, but it gives rise to positive relationship ensuring sustained revenues for the company. The techniques used for collecting data on customer relation are:

• Customer contact form
• Transaction history
• Customer profile
• Surveys
• Online behaviour
• Online feedback
• Marketing research

Customer Service Training: The Key to Good Customer Handling

Survey Outcomes

1	Customers who come at ACME are big lovers of book, although they find the range of book quite detailed, but at the same time they wish if ACME could have a presence online, and they can easily shop for books in their natural surroundings. Hence, ACME can put opening an online store for its book lovers in its business plan
2	Customers at ACME value time, but they felt that after selecting the book it takes a lot of time to check out of the store, the process is slow, it has less representative helping in the billing process. A major source of dissatisfaction.
3	ACME customers although are avid book readers, but they would really respect and appreciate if the store could be of much help to them. They wish they had store representative who can assist them in providing information about the different genre of book available and the new arrivals, the best sellers and so on.
4	ACME customers appreciate when the store gives them store credit or loyalty points.

Activity 2: Identify 2 business goals and 2 KPI associated with the business goals

ACME is a book store which has a diverse range of books for all ages of its customers. The store has made a reputation for itself, and in one of the recent surveys conducted, people gave some positive and negatives of the organization:

• They appreciated the wide range of books
• Liked the store layout and the signage
• Loved the loyalty program and staff friendliness

Dislikes

• The waiting time to purchase the books
• Not having an option to buy book online
• Difficulty in having a staff member to assist them

Business Goals and KPI Identified for the customers for sustained business growth:

• Open up an online store for its customers so that they can shop of books at an ease in their natural surroundings. It would also reduce the cost of getting additional place to cater more customers
  • The traffic on the website (.5 Million in the first 3 months)
  • The sale to reach .25 Million USD in the first three months
• Improve the business operation process, create a detailed layout plan with less time required for buying a book
  • Reduction in the waiting time by half, than compared to the earlier times
  • At any time number of customers in a queue to be not more than 3

The scenario described is of a chain of speciality fast food restaurant, they recently found out in one of the surveys that they are losing onto the business from return customers. Customer is not loyal and they don’t prefer to return to the restaurant. On its online portal, they realized that on one hand the customers were happy with the table and bar services, friendly staff contributed to enriched experiences, on the other hand the hostess stand, reservation and check in processes were severely lacking. A customer service plan has to be made to improve the current practices and take the bar high of customer services.

Customer service is a very important factor creating a large and loyal customer base. If cards are played right an excellent customer service can drive unimaginable result for an organization. A customer service plan carefully identifies customer’s perceptions and expectation about the company and guides company through the process of putting in customer service activities in sync with the customer needs .Creation of a customer service plan can help in serving the customers effectively. Below are some of the steps which fast food chain has to undergo in order to develop a comprehensive customer service plan:

• Interviewing customers and gain insights them about the customer service pain points and the points which gives them a delighted experience
• Create a detailed analysis of business operation, as to how the services are rendered to the customers, how they interact with the staff and what is the time in delivering complete services.
• Create a list that showcases the most important factors in customer service factors as identified in the interview
• Create a number of strategies to bring the operation in line with the customers; the strategies should be such which will help in improving the delivery of the services.
• Implementing the chosen strategies and conduct more interviews to further measure the outcome

Above mentioned points will help in developing a cohesive customer service plan, which will help the fast food chain in eliminating the time waster activities and focus on the aspect about which customer cares the most.

Customer requirement as pointed in the service- Lagging features in service delivery

• The hostess stand outside the restaurant is highly ineffective, the customers feel that the waiting time is too much and there is no system of keeping a tab of who has come first and who has come later. The hostess does not have a proper experience in maintaining the queue for the customers. She sends people on the basis of strong arguments they put and not on the basis of their actual turn in the waiting list. Hence the process has to be improved tremendously.
• Reservation and check in processes are at serious troubles. There is no set process of somebody showing in the seats to the guest, taking orders according to the turn, clearing tables before the guest arrives, hence it can be said that its absolute haphazard system in the reservation and check in process. Even if the customer calls a day before and book a table for reservation, the table is not booked and he has to wait in the line for almost 30-45 minutes to get a table he booked in advance.

To ensure the delivery of quality product and services , the entire business operation has to be revised and Service level agreements has to be created internally to define the time in which the guest has to be greeted, orders to be taken, order to be handed out, billing process and so on. Improvements in all these activities will help in building a formidable strategy to retain the customers.

RATER Model

RATER model also popularly called as SERVQUAL model is a multi-dimensional research instrument which is designed to capture the customer expectations and perceptions of a service along with the five dimensions which represent service quality. It is one of the dominant models measuring the service quality, relevant for both the customer and the business.

Handling Customer Service Issues: Best Practices

RATER model application in the Customer Service Plan

R-Reliability (Takes into consideration Timeliness, Consistency/Accuracy and Regularity.	The restaurant can apply reliability in services by ensuring that the phone and internet booking for the hotel are done instantly and the time, date and the number of table has to be sent to the customer for reconfirmation. Details have to be taken correctly in the first go and the same has to be acknowledged by sending in a system generated mail to the customer about his reservation confirmation. The mail had to be sent in time duration of 1 hour post keeping the phone.
A-Assurance (Also stand for competency of the staff, respecting the customers and the credibility they hold in front of the customers by delivering what has been promised to them)	The staff at the restaurant should be well trained and must and should have knowledge of the specials as well as the regulars. He must be in a position to educate the customers on the ingredient in the dishes and how it would soothe their taste palate. He should also be forthcoming to ask for any food allergies the customer has so that he can avoid that particular ingredient in the food item. He should also ensure that the table is clean and the environment is warm and hygienic.
T-Tangibility (Physical facilities, the equipment’s, uniform and employee communication)	Tangibility can be ensured in the restaurant , by making sure that the uniform of the employees are neat and clean, they are dressed in proper attire with neat stubble or clean shaved. They should know how to make the customers feel warm and welcomed. They need to ensure that the dishes are neat, clean and dried properly before bringing them to the table, the guest have to be served in a proper fashion. Additional responsibility arises by keeping the environment neat and clean. The surroundings should be attractive, and friendly staff should be placed at the reservation counter, order taking, billing station. Basically all the front end staff should be friendly in communication and knows the basic etiquette of conversing with the customers.
E-Empathy (It encompasses staff, services information, clear cut communication to the customers, timely information to be handed out in case of delay, basically they have to put themselves in the shoes of the customers to understand them in a better manner.	The staffs at restaurant have to be highly empathetic in understanding the special need and request of the customers. For example if it is a birthday party, he has to ensure that there are props for the kids, and enough table and chair and a provision to accommodate more guest. They should keep informing the guest about the time for the food to come on the table, and also keep them inform on any delays in the food service. In the similar manner, if the guest is waiting outside for his turn, it is advisable to have a proper arrangement for them to sit down and water should be served to them.
R-Responsiveness (It is the willingness of the staff to provide prompt services and also quick resolution of problems)	Staff should be really proactive in informing the customers in any kind of delay whatsoever. In service industry providing more information works best for the guest. An SLA has to be developed to adhere to the timeline. Answering the phone- In less than 7 Bells Greeting the customer- As soon as he gets in the restaurant. Arranging the table-in a minute after he enters the restaurant. Food order- Give him 10 minutes to settle down and decide on the food. Order time-Inform him that the order will take approximately 15-20 minutes of time Provide water- The moment he sits on his seat. Such SLA’s will help in keeping up with the standards and timeliness the restaurant wants to adhere to.

Policies and Procedures set in for the Restaurant

Reservation	Policy for reservation has to be designed for better management of the customers. · Order for table booking to be done for two days in advance and should be closed 4 hours before the actual time. · A confirmation mail to be sent to the customer in an hour after the phone call/internet booking · Call an hour before about the arrival of the guest. · Ensure that the table is neat and clean 15 minutes before the arrival time, if the customer comes in early, if the table is free, allow him, if not serve him with a beverage in the meantime. · Greet the customer by name
Hostess Stand	Hostess stand to be made digital with a Public address system installed in it. · The system to be digitised and all the information has to be fed on the system, take down customer’s name, phone number and number of people. · A message to be sent to the customer 10 minutes before his waiting time to get over. · Display the name of the entire waiting list along with the expected timeline (±10 minutes of time gap) · The hostess should be warm enough to ask if they can help the customers in easing their waiting time. · Occasionally go around the waiting queue and speak to the customers. · Extremely friendly nature with great communication skill is must require.
Check -in	Once the customer crosses the hostess stand, the gate should be opened for him, as soon as the gatekeeper spots him. Following which these steps have to be ensured in accordance to the SERVQUAL model · Greet the customer and take his name. · Name calling and guiding him towards the table and make him sit in a comfortable way · Leave the customer after serving him water and handing out the menus for 10 minutes · Come back and inform him on the specials for tonight, take his orders, entertain any query and suggest him food based on his likes, appreciate the customer’s food choice. · Inform him that the food will take approx. 15-20 minutes to arrive at the table, if getting late informs him in advance. · After the food is done, thank him for giving the opportunity to serve, hand him out a feedback form and ask him to rate the services so that they can serve them well in the future. · Ask him to ring the bell at the entrance of gate if he is delighted by the service.

SMART goals and the KPI to monitor them

SMART	Goals	KPI
Specific	· Expedite the process of customer check in process. · Ensure that the reservation process is in line with the customer requirement. · The Hostess stand should be welcoming and follow a procedure to allow the guest inside. · It has to be ensured that while the customer is waiting for the bill, a feedback form is provided to him	· SLA has to be monitored timely and the manager should ensure that not more than 15 people are waiting in the queue. · The confirmation mail to be sent out to the customers within an hour. · The waiting list should be displayed on plasma with approximate timelines. · Ensure that the customer is greeted after the feedback and a system generated thank you mail to be sent out to him.
Measurable	The goals are measurable and can be tracked easily	· Ensure that the SLA is met.
Attainable	The goals are highly attainable and in sync with the goals of the organization	· Monitoring should be done every month
Realistic	The goals are in accordance with the earlier feedback	· Improvement in the customer feedback rating.
Timeline	Goals should be ensured in a time duration of 3 months	· The factors mentioned earlier should be removed. · The rating to be between 80-100%

Strategies to obtain the feedback

• A detailed customer survey will be conducted in the restaurant, online and via mails.
• Customer survey forms to be sent out in the mail
• Tele callers to call the repeated customers and ask them specific targeted question
• Ask them if they would recommend the restaurant to other people

Review and monitoring the plan

The plan has to be reviewed according to the goals identified, and hence after every quarter the same goals have to be reviewed, it the rating has gone up in the earlier identified gap areas, they are on the track. In case they are behind their goals, they have to change their existing strategy and come up with a revised strategy for fulfilment of the goals.

Role Play

Manager: Dear All, I hope all of you are doing really well in your job and in your personal life. The purpose of this discussion is to ensure that you understand restaurant’s rationale in implementing new policies and procedures, so are you guys ready for a quick follow through?

Colleague: Yes Sir, Please go ahead, we are ready for the follow up

Manager: As you guys know the basis of our business is to provide outstanding customer service, make them feel special and ensure the timely delivery of the services. Are you guys clear on that.

Colleague: Yes Sir, we understand the importance of delighting the customers and are doing best to satisfy them.

Manager: Very well then, moving forward, from now on, we are establishing some guidelines, which will help us in understanding the how the business process will go on, starting tomorrow.

Some of the things which all of you have to keep in mind are:

• Ensure that no customer is waiting after entering the restaurant looking for a table, as soon as the customer enters, somebody has to attend him. Attending him guide him to his table and make him feel comfortable
• The guest should be served water as soon they sit, name calling after taking their names, give the menu and move away for 10 mins.
• Once the client is ready to order, educate him on the specials for the day, and ask him for any of his food allergies.
• Confirm the order and inform him that the food will take between 15-20 mins, inform him if the food is taking longer than the usual.
• DO not unnecessarily disturb the customer while he is enjoying his food.
• Once the customer is done eating, clean utensils and pushes the dessert to him.
• Provide the customer with a feedback form while he is waiting for the order.
• Request him if he liked the service, to ring the bell at the entrance of the restaurant.
• Thank him for giving us the opportunity to serve him and escort him till outside.

The entire detailed process has been printed in a manual and you will get it after the meeting.DO you guys have any questions.

Colleague: No Sir, we are clear with the outlined process, and if he has any doubts, I am sure the manual will clear it out. I am extremely happy that you gave us some good customer points to treat the customer well.

Manager: Yes, thank you team for understanding the reason for the detailed outline and the change in business process. You must also know that the need for change arose because after studying the feedback of the customers, it was pointed out that we have long waiting hours and the reservation process is lengthy.

Colleague: Yes sir we do understand the logic behind bringing the change in the policies. I also have a point to make, if the entire team can sing happy birthday song when the customer is celebrating his birthday, it will be fantastic.

Manager: Brilliant idea, I absolutely like it, let me make a note of it. Team any such ideas are welcomed and you guys can either tell me in person or mail me any suggestions from your side. I am already feeling great that you guys have quite welcomed the change and are appreciating it. Great work team. Moving forward, all you guys will be monitored according to the KPI set up for you. I will personally sit with each one of you and give you an understanding of your KPI.

Colleague: That would be lovely sir, but could you please tell us how we will be monitored in the process.

Manager: Good questions. All of you guys will be monitored according to the feedback given by the customer and the inspection manager who will be on the floor at all times, keenly observing the customer journey in and out of the restaurant. Every staff is assigned a specific duty, and the customer will rate the services in accordance with the specialization, hence it will be understood as to which part of service they liked the most, which was average and which needs considerable improvement. An SLA has to be followed at all times. Is it clear?

Colleague: Yes Sir, rest I hope that I will get clear cut KPI during my meeting with the HR manager. Apart from this everything is clear and we are with you in this. We will do our best to increase the standard of the services we provide to the customers and delight them with our services.

Manager: WOW!!! It seems all of you have got a hang of it. I am thankful to you guys for being so cooperative. Let the bells be ringing and let us make customer happy. Thank you for your time and let the excellent customer service begin. CHeerz!!!

Colleague: Cheerz Sir!!!

References

Celuch, K., Robinson, N. M., & Walsh, A. M. (2015). A framework for encouraging retail customer feedback. Journal of Services Marketing, 29(4), 280-292.

Olsen, D. (2015). The lean product playbook: How to innovate with minimum viable products and rapid customer feedback. John Wiley & Sons.