Dealing with Poor Customer Service
Positive customer experience is instrumental in keeping clients satisfied which directly correlates to loyal customers and increased wallet shares from these clients. However, it is very hard for a company to ensure customer service that coincides with the set expectations because the personnel that makes customer-service decisions should think pragmatically and maintain a balance between the needs of their company and the requirements of their new and loyal customers. Thus, companies’ managers are now on the look for methods of enhancing the customer service experience for providing better customer service that goes along with the goals of the business.
The outsourced “outside” sales employees are mostly self-employed individuals that work based on the commissions they get from selling the product. Since this portion of sales employees greatly contributes to the revenue of the business, so poor customer service equals poor sales. In this case, training should be provided for employees that show low levels of performance. Moreover, it can be beneficial to introduce policies that benefit the customers since they are often perceived as the main source of complaints (Drummond, 2014, p. 8).
Business Restoration
Restoring a business can be complicated, especially in a scenario of getting back attractiveness to the brand on the part of customers. It is important to keep in mind that if a company receives negative reviews from customers, there is no reason to panic. On the contrary, this is an opportunity to analyze the performance based on the reviews and get better instead of defending the business and staying blind to criticism. Rebranding might be a good idea in such a case because at times a company rarely thinks what its brand represents, what are its ideas and targets. Rebranding can be seen as “putting on a fresh coat of paint” in both literal and figurative meanings (Bhasin, n.d., para. 2).
To restore the attractiveness of a brand and gain support from potential customers in an atmosphere of strict competitiveness, Tea and More can look into organizing community events and other parties that can be an opportunity to put the brand’s name out there as well as boost the employees’ morale. Creating events can be an inexpensive solution that will bring the company closer to the public. As building new bonds with the community is important, creating a focus group to get insights into what customers think about the business can also be instrumental in rebuilding the attractiveness of a company.
The business likely has some issues that are under the surface, or a company can be doing an array of useful things for the business without putting enough focus on them. Thus, a focus group is the best way to get any answers a business might have (Bhasin, n.d., para. 11).
Stock Outages Reduction
For ensuring effective purchasing, a business should stop paying attention only to the numbers. To find the balance between stock outages and the problem of having too many items in stock, the usual buying plan should be implemented on the basis on the demand for the product as well as the uniqueness of the most popular product so that the stock never runs out. According to the 80-20 demand rule, it is crucial to outline the top 20% of the most in-demand items as the ones that must never be out of stock. Then, to this list, the stock manager should add the next 40% of the stock that is in moderate demand, and that is unique enough so that the customers cannot find an alternative to the product from another supplier (Everitt, 2008, para. 16).
Another aspect of stock outage reduction is the minimization of the frustration of customers when a stock outage does occur. Even the biggest companies like Target can occasionally run out of some items. Thus, a business should develop a strategic plan to manage customer dissatisfaction. Employees should be trained to apologize for the inconveniences and offer a close substitute for the desired product and inform about the time the item is coming back in stock. Furthermore, a pre-order system can be also helpful as a way to calm customer dissatisfaction (Everitt, 2008, para. 22).
Reducing Collection Time and New Varieties of Experiments
It is important to note that seasonality is crucial when it comes to tea collection; some tea sorts are being collected only at a particular time of year (Tea Harvesting Timeline, 2011, para. 1). In order not to alienate customers while the tea is being collected and shipped, the company should go back to the reduction of stock outages. Thus, if any issues prolong the tea harvesting time, business is sure that the most popular tea varieties are always in stock.
By ordering more stock of the most popular items, the tea collection time will not be as important. However, the process of handling sales can be improved. The invoices can be sent to customers by fax as well as the interest on balances to target less than ninety days. For keeping good customer relationships, keeping the most sold products in stock can be instrumental. By gradually implementing the changes, Tea and More will be able to steadily decrease the collection period to meet the optimum.
Because of the increased awareness of health, the demand for new varieties of tea will continue to increase. Moreover, small tea manufacturers are becoming known nationwide thanks to their innovative and specialized teas (Tea Production in the US: Market Research Report, 2016, para. 2). Thus, Tea and More should continue experiments with new tea varieties on a smaller scale. If successful, new tea varieties should be gradually introduced into the regular stock of products for reducing any risks.
Strategic Innovation for Business Growth
Business improvement and growth are closely linked to strategic innovation that relates to the creation of new products or business models able to offer new value to customers. Strategic innovation is a framework that combines an array of creative approaches towards a business that includes consumer research, development of new perspectives on the existing strategy as well as new research (Palmer & Kaplan, n.d., p. 1).
The strategic innovation framework implies a holistic approach towards a business that has a practical use on any level. Furthermore, the approach combines the exploration of possibilities that have a short-term impact on the business with opportunities that can potentially have a long-term effect. Tea and More should look into the strategic innovation framework that will challenge the company to focus on an open-minded development process that forces them to look and think far beyond the set rules and limits.
References
Bhasin, H. (n.d.). 10 Easy Ways to Rebuild and Market Your Business Image. Web.
Drummond, K. (2014). How to Achieve Customer Service Excellence. Web.
Everitt, L. (2008). Eight Smart Ways to Reduce Out-of-Stocks. Web.
Palmer, D., & Kaplan, S. (n.d.). A Framework for Strategic Innovation. Web.
Tea Harvesting Timeline. (2011). Web.
Tea Production in the US: Market Research Report. (2016). Web.