Service Soliloquy – 14/8/2012

Significant issues in Customer Satisfaction 

Sue Barrett authored an article featured by the Customer Care Institute; she reiterated how everyone sells something consciously or unconsciously. Her submission reminded me that customers actually buy from salespeople who carefully prepare to meet their needs. The increasing number of salespeople in the world does not allow anyone to just launch a product without first planning for it. All the products being purchased today have one alternative or the other, yet customers must continue to buy. It is the active involvement of all stakeholders in the roll out of a product that counts towards how the customers would receive it. Going by the events of proactive organizations today, remarkable businesses first research what the customers wants by aligning strategic goals properly and ensuring that they fulfill the customer needs. The business is there to meet the needs of its customers, who when well served becomes a free way to advertise to others.  

The creation of a new product starts from the field where customer views and behaviours are collected, analyzed, reviewed and turned into a useful basis for customer satisfaction. Projects to launch new products should rely on what an organization gathered from the market without forgetting that the inputs from all stakeholders are very significant. Employees from operations, marketing and other support groups should be carried along in the creation of a new product. Customer observations from the front end should never be neglected as it determines how the new product would be accepted. Support from the management is a must for the success of a new product that will satisfy a most customers. As patronage increases, it influences profitability and eventually puts the meticulous organization ahead of the competition.

Businesses will continue to be in great need for excellent relationship amongst its stakeholders. This means that organizational policies should focus at all those things that would improve such relationships. This can be done by considering the people factor that would include both customers and employees. Neglecting the employees and their welfare is not only counterproductive; it can be suicidal for any corporation. Employees should have opportunities to be responsible. The system should encourage them to be nice to customers. According to Kano model as developed by Professor Noriaki Kano in the 80s, certain factors known as “Must be” should be taken into consideration to achieve remarkable satisfaction of stakeholders. The theory just like Hezberg’s theory of Hygiene factors described that dissatisfaction ensues when certain attributes that are ordinarily taken for granted in a product are neglected. Hence, the theory of holistic marketing comes to play here. Everything matters and must be well considered to satisfy the customers. It is only by satisfying the customers that business goals also become realizable.