Customer Response Systems / Process - 1

Ian Caruthers
ENC 4931, Senior Seminar in Prof & Tech Writing
Instructor: Prof. T. Roberts
Final Submission: Apr. 25, 2010

Customer Response Systems/Process:
5 Steps to Improve Customer Loyalty and Improve Costs
Prepared by: Ian Caruthers

April 25, 2010
Executive Summary

Customers are the most important aspect of any enterprise, and keeping them both pleased and loyal
should be a major focus for any organization. However, in order to ensure customer loyalty, progressive
companies should recognize that the only method of securing their success is to guarantee that every
interaction creates a unique and exceptional customer experience. This goal can be achieved by
applying five structured steps in the customer response process to ensure customer loyalty.
Step #1- Commitment to Customer Service Policy
Step #2- Customer Profiling
Step #3- Ensuring Customer Satisfaction
Step #4- Customer Data Organization and Processing
Step #5- Customizable Customer Supply Chain Design
When applying each of these elements together a cohesive solution is created to provide a lifetime
value of organizations customers and build an enticing referral platform for future business.
Commitment to a Customer Service Policy
An effective customer service policy has to be produced with genuine commitment from every
employee within the company. Simply providing the best customer experience possible in one sector of
a company is not enough. Whether the company has thousands of employees or twenty-five, genuine
commitment to providing exemplary customer service and maintaining customer loyalty has to be an
aspect of a companys culture and part of that companys daily operations. Commitment has to begin
with the executives of a company and extend to every other employee within the organization, including
management employees, technicians, writers, and front office staff.
Commitment to a genuine customer service policy can be demonstrated in a variety of ways:
Customer Response Systems / Process - 2
Executive employee commitment is important. Once employees see that their boss is
committed to ensuring above the line customer service protocols, it will be important to them
as well.
The corporation must be willing to allocate resources including time, funds and personnel to
customer service interests.
Clear Communication of the importance of these new protocols must be put into place.
Creating genuine employee interest and action taken to customer feedback and analysis data.
Creating a work environment where each employee plays a significant role in the customer
service process and linking incentives such as pay raises, bonuses, and promotions to employees
encourage success in customer service activities.
A committed company to its customer service goals leads to many lucrative triumphs; however, in order
to provide exceptional customer service, companies have to maintain concrete dedication by
communicating with their customers. Communication with customers connects the company to the
clients individual needs. Communicating that the clients feedback regarding your company is greatly
appreciated and that their feedback has been incorporated into daily operations motivates the client to
maintain their business relationship with the company. This occurs primarily because they now have a
feeling of importance knowing that their individual feedback has helped improve operations. Facilities
can establish direct one-on-one communication with customers via telephone, E-mail, or even on a
wider scale through special features on company websites releasing messages via the websites
homepage or newsletter.
A company should never over look their opportunity to communicate. As the company establishes these
policies certain objectives will change immediately and can be implemented right away while others
may take more time come turn into policy.
The chart below provides a broad chain of command analysis of a customer policy design.
Figure 1.1


Customer Response Systems / Process - 3
Customer Profiling
Complete, accurate and impartial data regarding customers is imperative in the construction of an
effective customer response system. With a consistent and reliable method of obtaining customer
information, personnel can identify and resolve customer issues and improves areas of weakness. There
are various methods in collecting data to create customer profiles; however, the two that are used the
most are customer surveys conducted by the company via phone, e-mail, postcard or website feature
and third party market research firms. Most companies utilize both methods by creating and employing
a survey through the company using various mediums while also participating in a third party research
program. Generally, a third party is preferred among corporations for two primary reasons
Impartiality Customers often feel more comfortable giving honest feedback to a third party so
responses are more reliable
Third parties provide consistency in procedures to guarantee accuracy
In some cases, companies already have a substantial amount of customer data and statistics that have
simply not been organized, evaluated concisely or correctly to improve customer relationships. A
consulting firm would not only take the research data collected from the surveys that have been
distributed; they would also organize and use the data the company has already obtained to create a
usable customer profile database.
Using the information gathered through research, companies can asses which are high cost and low
profitability customers, establish who these clients are, and manage how improvements can be made to
create more profit from low profit customers by creating different environments or procedures to lower
logistical and production cost.
With this information, a consulting firm and company would together analyze each individual client
according to their specific needs; in turn improving efficiency and customer loyalty.
Customer Satisfaction Monitoring
In addition to obtaining usable customer data and deciphering each individual customers needs, a
company needs to ensure that every customer specification is met within customer service objectives
and guidelines. Examples include:
Order capture accuracy ensuring that what the customer ordered is what systems
recorded, were orders delivered in time and good quality,
Records indicating the time orders were shipped and times the order arrived to the
customer
Customizable order services including specialized packaging and line item pallet
placement to endure order stock efficiency
Updating clients on incoming shipments
Billing accuracy
Companies should not create a generalized customer response policy to ensure individual clients receive
a service that makes them feel valued to guarantee loyalty. A primary goal for any company should be
Customer Response Systems / Process - 4
not to expend a large amount of company resources to an individual customer if profitability of that
customer is extraordinarily low. Evaluating feedback and implementing it into daily operations is a key
way to prevent this from happening and learning new methods of maintain low profit customers loyalty.
Above all accuracy is imperative within all areas of monitoring along with resolving any issues that might
go against customer order specifications.
Companies that maintain a consistent and accurate monitoring of customer satisfaction reap many
rewards.
Customer Data Organization and Processing
To effectively demonstrate a customer response system the data obtained from surveying, research and
day to day feedback must be implemented within order tracking, capturing, billing, and distribution
systems to guarantee a positive customer reaction. The more organization and accuracy employed
within a companys data processing systems the more positive response a company will enjoy from their
customers.
To achieve order accuracy and inventory control a company must have a state of the art system for
entering and receiving data that checks and double checks orders placed and distributed, along with
where, when and how long the order will take to be delivered. Proper training of employees in the area
of billing and processing are just as critical as having updated technology to guarantee accuracy. As
wonderful as technology is in society it is only as useful as those that know how to operate the
technology.
As accuracy and team attentiveness to clients needs increase, so do profits and loyal customers.
Customizable Customer Supply Chain Design
A tailored approach to a companys clients regarding supply chain is pivotal in an effective customer
response system. Customer profiling is imperative within this step of the process because a company
has to determine how to best serve more profitable clients and establish a method of making low profit
clients more profitable.
There are many methods of catering to high priority clients by specific product pricing:
Item to pallet placement
Distribution center locations
Outsourcing
Collaboration between customers and suppliers.
In regards to Item to pallet placement, CPG companies can utilize this particular organization feature to
provide an incredibly efficient and structured method of product distribution. For example, Sweet Bay
Supermarkets places an order with their primary distribution center which happens to be in an ideally
close location to the store; they have a large amount of dry storage and refrigerated food that needs to
be organized on the pallets in the exact numerical order of the isles within the grocery store. Sweet Bay
Customer Response Systems / Process - 5
would prefer to have this method of organization because this method of distribution does three
important things
Decreases load out, and shelf stocking times
Decreases the supermarkets labor costs
Decreases product loss and damage
These three aspects save Sweet Bay money and therefore return to the distribution company to
continue business.
Analyzing data and resolving supply chain issues to create greater efficiency and productivity can greatly
increase a companys revenue and ensure customer loyalty. By catering to the clients needs and
remaining within budget, clients will remain loyal to the services offered.
Conclusion
Developing a successful customer response system is not an easy task and takes a great deal of time and
effort to obtain the resources and information required to achieve optimum results.
Creating a genuine and committed customer service policy as part of the culture of your
corporation
Obtaining customer profiling statistics through surveying and research
Monitoring and incorporating customer feedback
Tailoring your companies processing systems and supply chain to be more efficient, accurate,
and unique for each client
These are all important steps in creating a successful customer response system that will be quite
profitable and rewarding to the company that utilizes these steps.

Works Cited

Bertellotti, Jason. "Building an Action-Based Customer Loyalty program." 01/10/2008: 12. Web. 15 Apr
2010.
Miller, John. "John Miller E-Mail." N.p., 02 Feb 2009. Web. 21 Mar 2010.