THE IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

How is Good Customer Service Achieved?

MARKET RESEARCH

LEARNING INTENTIONS:

• I understand the role of market research in keeping customers satisfied.

SUCCESS CRITERIA:• I can explain why

businesses would carry out market research

• I can describe the different types of market research that businesses may use

WHAT MAKES GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE?

• Keeping customers well informed of progress and changes.

• Under-promise and over-deliver – do not set expectations too high so that customers will not be upset if they are not met, however, if you can deliver more than what they are expecting customers will be pleased.

• Go the extra mile to ensure customer’s needs/expectations are always met.

WHAT AFFECTS WHETHER CUSTOMERS’ EXPECTATIONS ARE

MET?• Reliability/quality of the product/service;• Consistency over a period of time – how does it match

up to the last good/service purchased?• The speed and flexibility of delivery – can the

organisation accommodate the customer’s needs, for example, can they deliver within 24 hours?

• Courtesy and attitude of staff – from those on the shop floor to the delivery drivers;

• The information given about the product – was it accurate? Did it do all the business claimed it would do?

• How did the organisation react if help was needed? Were staff happy to assist the customer?

HOW CAN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION BE MEASURED?

ANSWER: BY MARKET RESEARCH

Organisations often survey customers or ask for feedback to ensure that high standards of customer service are being met or to find out if there is any way things can be made better.

Can you think of any methods a business coulduse to get this information?

HOW MANY OF THESE DID YOU GET?

• a written survey or questionnaire is posted out to customers;

• telephoning customers to ask pre-set questions;• e-mailing customer questionnaires;• holding a meeting of invited customers to answer

questions/give opinions;• face to face interviews given at point of sale or on

entry and exit from the business;• mystery shoppers – who act as customers to

experience the service given by the organisation.• suggestion boxes/schemes for customers to leave

anonymous suggestions/opinions.

FIELD RESEARCH

The methods of market research we have just

discussed are all methods of FIELD RESEARCH.

This involves collecting information from

customers or potential customers first-hand. This

is PRIMARY INFORMATION and has the benefit

of being up-to-date and reliable. However, it has

the disadvantage of being time-consuming and

expensive to collect.

DESK RESEARCH

Another method of market research which can be

used is DESK RESEARCH. In this method

SECONDARY INFORMATION is collected. This is

information which has already been collected for

another purpose but which can be used for a

different purpose eg Census. This information is

much quicker and cheaper to gather but the data

may be out-of-date or inaccurate.

USES OF MARKET RESEARCH DATA

Results of market research can be useful forfinding out:• if there is a market for the product/service• the price that customers are willing to pay• the amount of competition there is• customers shopping habits• new ideas for the product/service from

what customers say they want

TASK

Complete the customer satisfaction task for

the school canteen.

PRODUCT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

LEARNING INTENTION:

I understand the role of

product research and

development in keeping

customers satisfied.

SUCCESS CRITERIA:

I can describe how new

products are created from

the initial idea to product

launch.

Product development is about trying to satisfy customers by being enterprising and coming up with NEW products for them. This can involve the following activities:

• Coming up with new ideas from enterprise or market research• Deciding what is the best idea to try• Designing the features of the new product• CREATING A PROTOTYPE (a working first version of the product)

• Testing the prototype on some customers• Identifying improvements that could be made to the prototype• Changing the prototype in light of testing results

• Deciding where to sell the product• Deciding what price to sell the product for• Deciding how to promote the product• Making and launching the final product

TASK

Now try Worksheet 21

THE MARKETING MIX

LEARNING INTENTIONS:

I understand the role of the

marketing mix in keeping

customers satisfied.

SUCCESS CRITERIA:

I can describe the marketing

mix for a range of products

and services

THE 4 Ps!

If a business wishes to meet the needs of its

customers and sell its products successfully

it must develop a strategy based on the 4

P’s – Product, Price, Promotion and

Place. How these 4 elements are combined

is referred to as the MARKETING MIX and

will determine how well a product will sell.

PRODUCT

The good or service that the customer

purchases.

The product includes:

• quality

• packaging

• guarantee and after-sales service

PRICE

The actual amount paid for the product or

service by the customer to the seller.

PROMOTION

The way in which the customer is made

aware of a product or service and

persuaded to buy it. Promotion includes

Advertising and sales promotions.

PROMOTION CONT’D

ADVERTISING – this can be done vianewspapers, magazines, leaflets, billboards, television and radio depending on the budget available.SPECIAL PROMOTIONS – these can be discounts, eg 25% off or BOGOF to encourage new sales, free Samples for new customers,money off vouchers to encourage anotherpurchase, for example.

PLACE

Where the customer can purchase the good

or service – how easy it is to buy.

TASK

The task for the seller is to: Promote the

right Product at the right Price in the right

Place!

Open up Worksheet 22 for a task on the

Marketing Mix.

QUALITY

LEARNING INTENTION:

I understand the role that

quality goods and services

can play in keeping

customers satisfied.

SUCCESS CRITERIA:• I can explain what is meant

by the term ‘quality’ and why businesses should focus on this.

• I can explain how using quality resources, quality control, quality assurance and quality management can contribute to product quality.

What is Quality

Imagine you are buying a new mobile phone. What would be quality for this product in your opinion?

Quality means different things to different people, but businesses need to make sure they are keeping all their customerssatisfied.

Video Clip

Good quality is a difficult process for businesses to

maintain as high quality output often means high costs.

How can they balance quality and cost?

Let’s here what some business experts think:

www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/quality-vs-cost-cutting/10968.html

The Importance of Good Quality Products and Services

Businesses need to make sure that they produce qualityproducts that do what customers expect and are reliable.

Quality is a very important issue for a business because if finished products do not satisfy customers then the business could fail. This is because customers will stopbuying from the business and it could face court action and fines if Government quality laws have been broken.

How can Quality be Achieved?

USING HIGH QUALITY RESOURCESThe stock and factors of production used should be of a high enough standard toproduce quality finished products. This canbe achieved through using QUALITYSUPPLIERS, providing TRAINING for staffand repairing and MAINTAINING equipment regularly.

How can Quality be Achieved?

USING A SYSTEM OF QUALITY CONTROL

Quality control is about checking at the END OF

PRODUCTION that products are of a high enough

quality. Any poor quality products that are found

are scrapped or sent back to be fixed. Quality

control helps improve quality because poor quality

products can be found and so are prevented from

leaving the business and going to customers.

How can Quality be Achieved?

USING A SYSTEM OF QUALITY ASSURANCEQuality assurance is about setting quality standards, making them clear to staff before they start work and thenchecking that products meet these standards at EACHSTAGE OF PRODUCTION.

Any mistakes found at each stage of production will be fixed before the product moves on. Quality assurance helpsimprove quality because staff are actively working to high quality standards and so mistakes are less likely to happen.

MOTIVATING STAFF

There are many methods that management can use tomotivate staff to perform their jobs well and keep standardsand quality of work high.

QUALITY CIRCLES are where members of theorganisation meet regularly to discuss any quality issuesand ways of improving quality. They then put their ideasinto practice and are hopefully able to see their ideas succeed giving them satisfaction and motivation in theirjobs.

MOTIVATING STAFF

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) is

where all employees in the organisation are

trained to achieve the highest standards and

always look for ways of improving the

production of the product. All employees

take pride in the work that they do for their

colleagues and for the final customer.

Task

BMW cars are known world-wide as cars produced to the highest standard. Visit the website addressshown below:

www.bmweducation.co.uk/coFacts/view.asp?docID=54

Study the website and list in your jotters some of the measures that BMW employ to ensure the production of high quality cars that maximise customer satisfaction.

CONSOLIDATION

Produce a poster, Powerpoint or 4-page

booklet on the importance of Customer

Service and how a business of your choice

attempts to achieve this.

The business you choose should not be one

we have already studied in this topic area.