Customer Relations Essay

In the contemporary business world today, there are competitive forces possessed by various business entities, each seeking to acquire a larger market share at the expense of other businesses. Due to this, there is a need to come up with a rating of customers’ loyalty to an individual firm. Net promoter score is thus a term used in business today to refer to a tool used to assess the loyalty of a customer to a business entity. It is based on a score obtained by asking a customer to rate their likelihood of recommending a business entity to a friend; on a scale of 0 to 10 (Michael, 2007).

Data on this is then collected and used to come up with three categories of customers based on the rating viz: Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8) and Detractors (0-6) (Michael, 2007). When you subtract the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters, we obtain a Net Promoter Score. A score of 75% and above is considered high. The importance of this score is that it helps to gauge the general performance of the business in light of the customers’ perspective (McDaniel, & Gitman, 2009). In addition, the trend of the business seen: a high score indicating a favorable trend while a low score indicating an adverse one.

It can be used in turn by the management to follow up customers to provide more information regarding their satisfaction or otherwise concerning the firm’s products and services (Michael, 2007). Customers who were rated promoters in the survey can be asked to discuss the reasons as to this forming the strengths of the firm which the managers can capitalize on. Detractors on the other hand can provide information on the weaknesses of the firm and thus corrective action can be taken to gain the confidence and thus loyalty of these customers e. g. improvement of the products and services.
This would in turn translate to higher sales volume and hence greater profitability of the firm. Q2. What are some of the telltale signs of a chronic complainer? What special customer care techniques can be used when you are faced with a chronic complainer? A customer is arguably the most important person in a business entity. Regardless of the quality, and prices of products, there would still be no business without customers to buy them. It’s no wonder therefore that many efforts are put in place to reach out to potential customers in terms of advertisements in the media.
Need arises to sustain these customers and thus in the contemporary business world, most organizations have a specific department to deal with customers queries on any product/ service offered known as the customer service. There are different kinds of customers in an organization depending on the behavior in terms of complaints. Some customers will rarely complain and are so termed as meek. Some will actively engage in complaints referred to as aggressive However, there are customers are referred to as the chronic complainers.
These appear to be never satisfied. These customers can be identified in that they will raise issues all the time citing things they perceive as wrong (Timm, 2002). This kind of customers can easily frustrate people with their seemingly endless list of inadequacies in products and services. The aim of chronic complainers is basically that: to complain. Time after time, regardless of the nature of transaction, they will still complain. Chronic complainers are not necessarily aggressive but are constant complainers.
They have the highest number and frequency of complaints. However, these customers are still needed by the business. Due to these characteristics listed above, this nature of customers have been said to be nagging. In dealing with them therefore, a great deal of patience is required to be exercised. One should listen to them attentively and follow up this with a genuine apology and a promise to look into their complaints, taking appropriate corrective action; thus gaining confidence and securing their loyalty (Timm, 2002).
This in turn translates to better business performance. References McDaniel, C. , & Gitman, L. (2009). The Future of Business: The Essentials. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Michael, N. (2007). Customer Loyalty: Elusive, but Critical: To Create a Cadre of Customer Advocates; Focus Your Efforts on “The Three Rs”. ABA Banking Journal, 99, 12-21. Timm, P. (2002). Fifty Powerful Ideas You Can Use to Keep Your Customers. Franklin Lakes, NJ: The Career Press.