However the term customer also includes by extension anyone who uses or experiences the services of another. The word derives from “custom,” meaning “habit”; a customer was someone who frequented a particular shop, who made it a habit to purchase goods of the sort the shop sold there rather than elsewhere, and with whom the shopkeeper had to maintain a relationship to keep his or her “custom,” meaning expected purchases in the future. The clicks “customer is king” or “customer is god” or “the customer is always right” are most frequently used in the marketing world and also indicate the importance of customers to businesses.
The importance of the customers for any business can be understood by looking at the huge expenditures that are being incurred by various companies for satisfying and retaining their customers. Before discussing further about customer and customer satisfaction we should first try and understand the meaning of the word “Customer”. 1. 2 Customer Profiling: Customer profile may be defined as customer description that includes demographic, geographic and cryptographic characteristics, buying pattern, creditworthiness, purchase history etc.
This description may include information pertaining to the income level, Occupation, level of education, age, gender, hobbies, and/or area of residence. For example, magazine advertising salespeople provide advertisers with customer profiles describing the type of person who will be exposed to the advertisements in that magazine. The description may include income, occupation, level of income, occupation, level of education, age, gender, hobbies, area of residence etc. These customer profiles which are built by the companies help them to understand their customers better.
Using this customer profile the companies are able to identify and segment their potential customers. 1. 3 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: The word “satisfaction” comes from the Latin words ‘stats’ (enough) and facer’ (to do Managerially, fulfillment usually translates to solving problem & satisfying the customer is not enough. To produce high level of customer loyalty, businesses need to move beyond more satisfaction, to customer delight. According to K. Keller- Customer satisfaction is the perception of the customer that the outcome of a business transaction is equal to or greater than his/her expectation. . 3. 3 Measuring customer satisfaction: There are several ways to gather input from customers. The easiest way to find out how customers feels and what they want is to ask them. If you have only 20 customers, you can talk to each one personally. The advantage of this approach is that you’ll get a personal “feel” for each customer. The disadvantage is that you’ll gather different information from each customer depending on how the conversation goes. Some of the ways in which you can approach the customer are listed below: 1st.
Customer Survey Customer surveys with standardized survey questions insure that you will collect the same information from everyone. Remember that few of your customers will be interested in “filling out a questionnaire”. It’s work for them without much reward. By launching a customer survey as an attempt to find out “how we can serve you better” your customers will feel less put upon. Here are a few of the possible dimensions you could measure: Quality of service. Speed of service. Pricing. Complaints or problems. Trust in your employees. The closeness of the relationship with contacts in your firm. Types of other services needed.
One’s own position in clients’ minds. 2nd. Focus Groups Focus groups are good ways to get informal input from a group of customers or prospects. You bring in 5-10 customers or prospects and ask them questions or have them react to material. You can pay a professional facilitator and videotape the whole session, or Just lead an informal discussion yourself. In either case, you have a chance to gather ideas about customer needs, reactions to your company, suggestions for new services, and so forth. In addition to individual responses, you get ideas that develop as the group reacts to each other’s responses. 3rd.
Client Advisory Groups One way to get regular input from customers is to put together an advisory group. This can act like a focus group, but is set up to provide input over time. You may pay members, or simply buy them dinner every quarter. There are many benefits to such sounding board for specific questions. They enhance your relationship with good customers who become more committed to your success. And they can move relationships with prospects ahead. 1. 3. 4 Importance of customer satisfaction: Why Customer Satisfaction? A customer is satisfied only when he is getting quality product and quality service which he perceives.
If a company is able to provide both, this will lead to customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer will develop loyalty towards the company and will buy product of same company again and again. At the same time he will recommend company’s product to others. This will help company in getting new customers. As a exult company’s sale will increase and profits will rise. Dissatisfied customer on an average will tell 12 others not to buy a product of the company. With internet and other information technology tools this number could go up to 10,000.
