Custom «Customer Satisfaction» Essay Paper

Introduction

Due to the high supply of goods and services and less demand for the same product in the market, there has been a great need for the companies to put more focus on customer satisfaction.  Customer satisfaction has been proved to be a highly demanding task as it takes a lot of efforts and money to keep the regular customers and also to recruit more into the company. There are various factors that may have a great impact on reaching the level of the customers needs.

Factors that determine the level of customer satisfaction

First, the product that the company sells in the market may be facing stiff competition from the other related products that are manufactured in the rival companies. The final product of the company also determines the levels of customers’ satisfaction. This is in the case where the customer does not focus much on the price of the product but the quality of that product. The other factor to be considered is the kind of service that the product offers to the customer and the ability to avail the customer with several products (Vavra, 2002).

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Putting a lot of emphasis in the marketing strategies which are focused on retention of the current customers is the most important activity. It has the main aim of retaining the current customers that the company has. When young people are not satisfied they find it hard to complain to the company but instead they take the matter to their peers and may decide to build up a business which will heighten the level of competition for the company’s products. A company therefore should be ready to take complains from the customers and use them for the growth of the business.

Customer satisfaction may also be obtained through the ability to retain employees in a company who are able to interact with the customers during their sales process. The queuing process so as to be served can also be used to avoid specificity of the customers by the sales people as this will make some of the customers to create a negative attitude towards the company. This attitude will then be spread all over the place and the probability is that the company will not get new customers and those who are there may now start speculating the kind of services that they are given (Hayes, 1998).

Building customer satisfaction

It is clearly shown that companies should try all means to obtain customer satisfaction. This is because when customers are satisfied they come back to the company for the same product or its related products and bring in more customers. It has been proofed that the cost of maintaining the current customers in a company is less than the cost of looking for new customers. It is then a very crucial thing to try all means of keeping the customer in a company other than looking for more customers.

Unsatisfied customers always remember their dissatisfaction and are tempted to use them for the fall of the business while on the other hand; those who become satisfied tend to forget the services they were given in the company. This fact has been explained in various ways. First, on purchasing a product there are very high expectations that the customer places on its quality. That is the reason why a customer may be willing to pay as much money for the product in a company. To achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction has continued to be complicated especially in the technological world. This is because, as time goes by our lives become more and more complicated. Sometimes when the customers are satisfied with the product, the fear comes in when the same customer goes out and starts a company which manufactures a similar product as yours and hence causing a lot of competition in the market. A person who does marketing has his or her focus on customer satisfaction always. Due to the day to day mingling with the customers a trader is able to rate customers satisfaction. He will be able to know the right and the wrongs that he has engaged in. The kind of feedback that the trader gets in the field is of great help to the company but may not be easy to implement in a big company. There should be well established surveys used to keep a record of customer satisfaction.

To build up customer satisfaction may not only involve carrying out surveys. This is mainly because surveys may only help to identify an area that requires to be looked into carefully which may be a very simple task. Permanent solutions that bring about customer satisfaction starts from the changes that are important being made in the company. These new innovations may range from putting the staff under various forms of training to adoption of different cultures. The outcomes of these changes will at long last proof to be beneficial to the company in that there will be less complains obtained from the customers, high reputation of the company and overall satisfaction of the entire staff. For this kind of change to be met in a company a lot of efforts have to be put. There will be the need to fund the innovations so as to be fruitful. There will be need to set aside some time to carry on these changes. Education will be required so as to better the services offered to the customers. For customer satisfaction to be obtained there is need for support from the top management (McNealy,1994).

Measuring customer satisfaction

When carrying out a program on customer satisfaction there are various factors to be put into consideration. First, the people to be interviewed are to be chosen according to the product being offered. For example, if the product for a company is mostly consumed by the youths the choice of individuals to be interviewed depends on the group that consumes the product. The consumer of the product of a company has to be interviewed while measuring customer satisfaction. Another factor to be considered while carrying out customer satisfaction is to think about what issues should be measured. The issues should be those that will determine the level of satisfaction of customers and show the level of performance of a company together with what needs to be improved.

The satisfaction of the customers may be shown in many varied ways. When a customer is satisfied he or she might not talk about their levels of satisfaction. They may express this satisfaction through various ways which include returning for the product once more and even bringing in more customers. If they are questioned concerning the level of satisfaction that they got from the company they may use some terms like: satisfied or highly satisfied. When carrying out large surveys it is important to use numbers or verbal scales to gauge the level of customer satisfaction. The youths are used to rating of their satisfaction using numbers. Once they are given a numeric scale they can easily rate their level of satisfaction. When using a scale, the lower the number in the scale  the higher the level of satisfaction while the higher the number in the scale the lower the level of satisfaction.

It is also very essential to find out what the customers need or the quality of the resources that the customers require. This is because a company may waste a lot of resources while trying to raise the standards of the products that may not be important to the customers. This task of measuring the expectations of the customers may prove to be the most tedious as compared to that of measuring the level of satisfaction. In the case of peer groups this task may be challenging since these group of individuals have needs that vary with time. Most of the people might not be able to tell what they expect from a product. Therefore while they are purchasing an item, they may not be able to tell some of the major features they are looking for in a product (Szwarc, 2005).

Customer satisfaction rates may be captured in various ways. The amount of sales made on daily basis may not reflect the rate of customer satisfaction; this is because it can be determined by various other reasons other than customer satisfaction. At the same time the objections from the customer may not be used to rate dissatisfaction since they may be forwarded by only few individuals. There are various ways that customers may use to show their satisfaction rate, some of these are use of letters to thank the company for the product and use of feedback through the sales personnel. For the peers their rate of customer satisfaction may be obtained by conducting interviews or giving questionnaires which may be followed by telephone interviews. The scores that are got from the interviews and surveys are useful in gauging the level of customer satisfaction (Allen & Rao 2000).

Steps to reaching customers satisfaction

It is very clear that for any business to perform there is need for it to establish a customer base. It is important to establish some close relationships with your customers so as to find out whether the services that are offered to them are of great value. There are various steps through which customer satisfaction can be obtained. First, it is important to deal with the customers face to face. This experience can be challenging but it can be very easy. It is shown that a customer finds it easy to do business with a person that they have met in person as compared to the person that they do not know.

It is also very crucial to act in response to the complaints and create awareness in them on the new products and services. A company might experience problems while trying to deal with the complaints of the customers. When one has pressure of meeting customer’s needs, it is important to let them know that their needs are being taken care of. It is also important to be friendly and accessible to your customers. This attitude towards them will make them feel that they are your associates and that your main mission is to meet them at the points of their needs. For example, when dealing with peers it is important to get to their levels and understand them. This is because they will be open to you and tell you their tastes and preferences.

Having a clearly spelt out service policy for your customers plays a major role in helping one to meet the customers demands. This is mainly because when a customer is in a crisis he or she will be able to know the protocol to be followed in finding a solution to the problems that he or she is facing. It is annoying for customers to move from place to place looking for an individual or a solution to their problems. The procedures that are to be followed in dealing with an issue should be clear to them. A company should also give great attention to the small details of the clients. This includes their birthdays or even sending mails to their clients either to confirm or clarify issues. All these services may be costly and takes a lot of time but they should be put into consideration. These services show that you are concerned with your customers needs and that they are dealing with real people who see them as worth (Scott, 2000).

Customers wants to purchase a product which might be expensive and of lower quality as compared to others as long as they are receiving the best services. The decision to purchase a product does not lie on the amount one will spend on the product but the way the client feels when he or she goes into business with us.

Conclusion

Offering good customer care is the most preferred option for the companies in there move to acquire high levels of customer satisfaction. It is therefore important for the companies to train their personnel on good customer care so as to be able to retain and win more customers. Training should entail helping the employee to understand the role that he plays in the company and the expectations that he has in retaining the current clients in the company. It is therefore important to have good customer care service in a business for it to thrive. This is mainly because good customer care service is beneficial to both the company and the client. When a customer is satisfied he or she may show this through the return for the same product or a related one in the company. This will enable the company to build its customer base while increasing its sales. A company’s objectives should start with achieving customer satisfaction even before aiming to make profits.