Regular and loyal consumers keep a company's revenue flowing. McMurrian and Matulich (2016) observed that loyal buyers made purchases 65 percent times more than occasional buyers. Given the proportion of loyal buyers the significance of focusing on developing repeat business cannot be overlooked. Hassan, Parvez, and Ekiz (2019) found about 60 percent of small business owners to attribute customer loyalty to the kind of relationship existing between the business and its customers. A good relationship inspires customers towards making repeat purchases.
Ways of Developing Customer Loyalty
Prioritizing Customer Service
Amazing customer service plays a major role in creating loyalty among the customers. According to Alafi (2018), about 75 percent of customers strongly believe that the kind of customer service offered by a business organization reflects the value they accord to their customers. A customer tends to assess each interaction with the company's staff to judge the service offered. Sulphey and George (2017) further maintain that customers always make their score any time they queue for the services, call about broken items, or when they ask questions about the availability of products. A company’s staffs need to be efficient, helpful and friendly to all customers at all times. Similarly, the customer support team must be easily accessible and able to provide timely solutions to customers' problems both on-site and on social media.
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Rewarding Customers
Giving rewards to the customers advances their loyalty as it keeps the customers coming to get more gifts. A company can develop a customer reward system with loyalty programs that grant discounts, exclusive offers as well as gifts. Meesala and Paul (2018) found more than 70 percent of customers to be more likely to shop at a company with loyalty programs. According to Meesala and colleague, loyalty programs work well as the buyers feel more appreciated.
Ask for customers’ views and listen to their opinions
It is important not only for business to make deliberate efforts to gather information from their customers, but also to listen to their sentiments. Complaints about the quality of products, layout of stores, and quality of service provision should be listened to and fixed. Once the problem has been fixed, it is also crucial to inform the customers about the adjustments made. The information can be sent to the customers through their emails.
Provide conveniences
Making work easier for the customers will make them want to come back. A company can make customer experiences faster by stream streamlining the checkout processes, responding to customers' concerns rather than directing them to an automated maze, as well as delivering the products among others.
Providing More Information To The Customers
McMurrian and Matulich (2016) regard transparency and information as crucial in developing a more pleasant relationship between the customers and a business organization. Customers who feel deprived of information are more likely to become confused and distrustful, and might feel neglected.
Recommendations
It is more likely that the medical equipment supplies company is facing market I would recommend the company to consider ensuring that the goods sold by the company are of superior quality. According to Hassan, Parvez, and Ekiz (2019), offering products of good quality inspires customers into returning for future purchases. Similarly, the company could consider improving its customer services. Alafi (2018) correlates customer loyalty to customer satisfaction and attributes customer satisfaction to the quality, efficiency, and convenience of the service provision. Effective customer service would include following up on the customers' experience with the product purchased, providing fast services, grating customers adequate attention as well as the creation of feedback platform in which customer comments are quickly addressed. The company should, therefore, ensure that they highly competent task force, who are frequently trained for effective service provision.
Similarly, the company could consider creating a social media platform to post general information about the company, provide details of their existing and new products as well as to respond to customers' queries and concerns in good time. The platform should also provide the customer with the space to comment on every aspect of products posted; consequently, improving the relationship between the customers and the company as well as their trust in the organization's products and services.
Staff Training Plan for Customer Service
The impression the staff left in the customers determines their probability of making a purchase or returning to make more purchases. McMurrian and Matulich (2016) describe the staff on the site as the face of the company's brand who is solely relied on by the clients to provide the necessary assistance. A good training plan relative to customer service to improve customer loyalty would include the definition of quality customer service, enlightening the staff on the benefits of a good customer service, training to impart the skills needed by the staff, conduction of regular training, application of the acquired knowledge in scenarios, as well as the consistent evaluation of the company's customer service.
Step One: Definition of Quality Customer Service
It is important to be sure that the employee understands the meaning of the phrase quality customer service before they are taken through the training. Khadka and Maharjan (2017) assert that defining the term is crucial in ensuring that all the members of the company are at par since it might have employed someone who might not have had direct experience with the customers before. Alafi (2018) maintains that a demonstration of other people in action when handling clients not only gives the members of staff a glimpse of what they are expected to do but also enables them to practice good customer service more easily.
Step Two: Enlightening the staff on good customer service
According to Sulphey and George (2017), great customer service extends beyond just smiling at the client to include assisting them with their concerns, queries, and sentiments. As such, the manager in charge needs to educate and ensure that the staff handling the products have detailed knowledge of the product they are selling. Having knowledgeable staff handling product eliminate the probability that the staff would reply to the customer that they don't know if they were asked about a product. Meesala and Paul (2018) emphasize the need to train staff on promotions, pricing and specials to make them experts of the products they are handling so they can feel that their questions are well addressed.
Step three: Identification and development of the skills needed by the staff
The management needs to develop a consistent training programmed on good customer service skills. A good strategy would include the manager outlining the list of skills they desire their staff to have. According to Sulphey and George (2017), examples of such skills would include; greeting, having positive body language, as well as smiling among others. similarly, members of staff need to have patience and be able to control their temperaments when dealing with difficult clients; consequent, demonstrating confidence and empathy under all circumstances. Khadka and Maharjan (2017) encourage managers to motivate members of staff by improving their working conditions, granting them clean and comfortable uniforms and footwear; thus keeping them in good moods that ultimately translate to good customer relations.
Step Four: Implementation of Regular Training Program
Once the skills and knowledge to be taught to the members of the staff have been outlined, it is important to develop a regular training schedule. The program purposes to ensure that the skills taught to the staff remain fresh in their minds. Similarly, the program will provide a room for the training of new skills that might be necessary with the development of the company. Meesala and Paul (2018) emphasize the need to develop a flexible training program that can be changed modified as the situation calls for.
Step Five: Application of the Acquired knowledge in Scenarios
Alafi (2018) recommends the testing of staff in scenarios that are close to reality. According to Sulphey and George (2017), members of the staff should not be aware that they are being tested. Planting clients to act in certain ways can reveal how they would respond when the manager is not around. The strategy reveals whether or not the members of staff had acquired the knowledge they had been trained on.
Step Six: Regular Evaluation of Customer Service
Evaluation of the quality of customer service provided by members of staff significantly informs the training needs. Similarly, evaluation provides feedback to workers as to whether or not they are doing a great job. Hassan, Parvez, and Ekiz (2019) maintain that aspects of unidentified poor customer service could be fatal to the operation of a business organization as it might not only grow but also ruing customer relations as well as the reputation of the company. Evaluation can also be done by involving customers in company surveys to experts their thoughts and feelings about their experiences.
In a nutshell, customer loyalty is crucial to a business organization as it assures the return of customers after the first encounter. As a result, the company is more likely to repeat business with its customers; thus, sealing constant revenue from the customers. Effective, efficient, and reliable relationships between customers and the company not only develop trust among a company's customers but also increase the chance of an organization to sell more to its loyal customers.
References
Alafi, K. K. (2018). Customer Awareness of Social Responsibility and its Relation to Loyalty. International Journal of Business and Management , 13 (6), 144-155.
Hassan, A., Parvez, M., &Ekiz, E. (2019, July). Technology Induced Loyalty Schemes for Customer Relationship Management and Positive Purchase Decisions. In 9th ADVANCES IN HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS (p. 241).
Khadka, K., &Maharjan, S. (2017). Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Centria University of Applied Sciences, Business Management .
McMurrian, R. C., &Matulich, E. (2016). Building customer value and profitability with business ethics. Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER) , 14 (3), 83-90.
Meesala, A., & Paul, J. (2018). Service quality, consumer satisfaction and loyalty in hospitals: Thinking for the future. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services , 40 , 261-269.
Sulphey, M. M., & George, S. (2017). A Study on the Relationship between Customer Satisfaction, Business Ethics, and Certain Related Variables. Journal of Applied Management and Investments , 6 (1), 67-75.
