A business exists to create a customer

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A customer (also known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services. However, in certain contexts, the term customer also includes by extension any entity that uses or experiences the services of another. A customer may also be a viewer of the product or service that is being sold despite deciding not to buy them. The general distinction between a customer and a client is that a customer purchases products, whereas a client purchases services.

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Ministry of education, science, youth and sports of Ukraine

Ternopil National Economic University

Faculty of accounting and auditing

 

 

Department of foreign language

 

 

« A business exists to create a customer»

 

 

 

 

 

 

Performed: Oksana Boyko

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ternopil – 2011  
A business exists to create a customer

 

A customer (also known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services. However, in certain contexts, the term customer also includes by extension any entity that uses or experiences the services of another. A customer may also be a viewer of the product or service that is being sold despite deciding not to buy them. The general distinction between a customer and a client is that a customer purchases products, whereas a client purchases services.

The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. If a business successfully creates and keeps customers in a cost-effective way, it will make a profit while continuing to survive and thrive. If, for any reason, a business fails to attract or sustain a sufficient number of customers, it will experience losses. Too many losses will lead to the demise of the enterprise.

The two most important words to keep in mind in developing a successful customer base are Positioning and Differentiation.

Positioning refers to the way your customers think and talk about you and your company when you are not there. The position that you hold in the customer’s mind determines all of his reactions and interactions with you. Your position determines whether or not your customer buys, whether he buys again and whether he refers others to you. Everything that you do with regard to your customer affects the way your customer thinks about you.

Differentiation refers to your ability to separate yourself and your product or service from that of your competitors. And it is the key to building and maintaining a competitive advantage. This is the advantage that you and your company have over your competitors in the same marketplace – the unique and special benefits that no one else can give your customer.

When you begin to think about acquiring and keeping customers for life, you need to think about the particular types of customers for whom your competitive advantage is so important that they would be poorly served by using anyone else’s product. You need to then emphasize again and again that the special features and benefits you offer are so important that they should not even think of going somewhere else. If, for any reason, you fail to do this, you may lose the customer and all the work you’ve done in building that relationship in the first place.

A survey of several thousand customers conducted by the Service Quality Institute at Texas A&M University revealed the following five dimensions to quality customer care:

  • Reliability
  • Responsiveness
  • A Feeling of Being Valued
  • Empathy
  • Competency

However good your product or service is, the simple truth is that no-one will buy it if they don't want it or believe they don't need it. And you won't persuade anyone that they want or need to buy what you're offering unless you clearly understand what it is your customers really want.

Knowing and understanding customer needs is at the centre of every successful business, whether it sells directly to individuals or other businesses. Once you have this knowledge, you can use it to persuade potential and existing customers that buying from you is in their best interests.

This guide tells you what you need to know about your customers, how to use this information to sell more effectively, and how to win business from your competitors.

Part of having a successful business is having the ability to deal with customers effectively. It is not just enough to have products or services which work. This is because consumers like to feel pampered and important, and they will not hesitate to take their business elsewhere if they feel like they aren’t being treated well enough. Great thing that there are only five strategies that separate so-so from award-winning customer service.

1. Keep in Touch

The most basic of all pieces of advice, it is extremely important to keep in touch with your customers. There are a myriad of ways to do so from newsletters to emails. However, it is crucial that you obtain your customers’ explicit permission to receive any written content from you or else they will just be bummed rather than thrilled. Make sure that your newsletters and emails contain information that will help your customers solve frequent problems.

2. Aim for Great Service

You, as an entrepreneur, might put premium on great service but your staff might not. This is why a whole segment on customer service should be dedicated when training your employees. Don’t underestimate the simple gestures of greeting customers.

3. Have a System of Responding to Customers

What customers hate the most is when employees are not able to help them well enough when it comes to queries and disputes. For this reason, your company should have a system for providing solutions to the most common customer complaints.

It is crucial to have disputes solved during the first contact with the customers in question and as-much-as-possible during the same business day. You can keep a notebook which will guide employees throughout the entire situation or a searchable text file.

4. Trust Your Staff

In the absence of a manager or the proprietor, employees should be able to make the right choices and appropriate calls. If you’re confident enough to trust your employees, simply instruct them to document any special cases or designate someone as the problem-solver. For instance, every dental office usually has a front office worker who tries to resolve disputes when the dentist is out.

 

 

5. Know Your Customers

In order for any business to solve their customers better, they need to know who they are dealing with first. Businesses can do so by keeping track of their interactions with customers whether that is through a piece of software or through old-school index cards.

A steady customer base is the key to business survival. In fact, successful companies normally see 80 percent of their business come from 20 percent of their customers. And since the cost to draw new customers is generally higher than to keep your relationship with existing ones, your hard work and effort in building customer loyalty are certainly not without fruition.

Treat our customers as we would wish to be treated ourselves:

  • Keep our promises
  • Keep you informed when things go wrong
  • Act in a professional and courteous manner at all times
  • Train our staff so that they are best able to help you
  • Treat everyone the same, irrespective of personal circumstances, language preferences or disabilities Investigate any complaints made about our services, and provide a fully considered response
  • Regularly seek and listen to your views
  • Make our services as accessible to everyone as possible

We ask you to:

  • Give us the information we need to help you
  • Inform us of any changes to your circumstances that could affect the services that we provide to you
  • Notify us if you are unable to make an appointment on time
  • Treat all our staff with respect and dignity
  • Help us to improve by giving us your views and suggestions
  • Let us know if we have exceeded your expectations so that we can thank our staff



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