Winning customers over<\/p>\n
By Tjipto Ramuni<\/p>\n
The quality of goods and services are measured by how well
\nthey satisfy customers. Satisfaction keeps customers loyal and
\nreturning for more.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Seafood restaurant Kedai Selera on Jl. Kebayoran
\nLama in South Jakarta has only nine serving tables, and in
\naddition to vegetables, lists only four main ingredients: meat,
\npoultry, prawn and squid.<\/p>\n
Patrons, however, are spoilt for choice because the restaurant
\nturns the ingredients into almost 100 entrees.<\/p>\n
The owner, who has never taken any marketing courses, explains
\nthat what he is selling is his ability to satisfy customers. This
\nhe does by meeting customers' expectations of taste, service and
\nambience.<\/p>\n
Food is served in a relatively short time -- even if one has
\nto wait, one would not get impatient as the owner has provided
\neach table with magazines and other reading material. "Our
\ncustomers have stopped complaining about waiting for their
\norders," the owner said.<\/p>\n
In addition, when a customer orders nasi goreng (fried rice),
\nthat's just what he gets. The owner watches the expression of the
\ncustomers when they taste the food -- if displeasure is noted, a
\nreplacement would be offered.<\/p>\n
How does the owner know if his customers are satisfied? When
\npatrons return to the restaurant the next week, the next month or
\neven after three months?<\/p>\n
When they do, the proprietor knows his food and service have
\nsatisfied them.<\/p>\n
"Even if only 3 percent of the guests return, I would consider
\nmy business a success," the owner said. If he had a 100 customers
\na day, three of the guests were expected to return for a second
\nvisit. Therefore in a month, the number of returning customers
\nwould be 90.<\/p>\n
It has been two years since the restaurant was set up.
\nAccording to the owner, if he failed to maintain the 3 percent
\nreturn visits, he would take that as a sign that he was incapable
\nof satisfying the patrons and would close the outlet.<\/p>\n
Light example<\/p>\n
The restaurant cited above may be small, but it is committed
\nto the principle of total customer satisfaction. It emphasizes
\nthe importance of keeping its customers by ensuring customer
\nsatisfaction.<\/p>\n
The customer is either pleased or disappointed, which
\naccording to marketing literature is the result of customers
\ncomparing their impression of a service or product with that of
\ntheir expectations. If they returned for more, it shows they were
\nsatisfied with the service or goods.<\/p>\n
Marketers believe keeping customers cost less than attracting
\nnew ones. And books and manuals have presented convincing data on
\nhow much cheaper it was to maintain customers than to seek new
\nones.<\/p>\n
Marketing guru Philip Kotler has even calculated that if a
\ncompany is able to prevent a mere 7 percent of its clients from
\ngoing over to a competitor, its profit margin will increase by 25
\npercent. In some companies, the increase may even reach 85
\npercent.<\/p>\n
'Solutions'<\/p>\n
A deeper look, however, would tell us that customers were also
\nseeking solutions to their problems.<\/p>\n
One would not be satisfied with the purchase of a commodity
\nunless it solved one's problems too. For instance, a luxury car
\nmight please its new owner because of its comfort. However, the
\nowner would not be satisfied if he discovered there was a
\nscarcity of the car's spare parts.<\/p>\n
There is a long list of companies that failed to provide total
\ncustomer satisfaction in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
For example, companies that offered the AMPS cellular system
\ninitially had a good market, but later its insecure system caused
\nduplication of numbers. Customers were soon flocking over to
\ncompanies that offered GSM service. Besides, the GSM operators
\nfurther satisfied customers as clients could replace their
\nhandsets anytime they wanted -- something that could not be done
\nwith the AMPS system.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's newspaper and magazine publishers have long known
\nhow difficult it is to satisfy customers in terms of content,
\naccess or distribution of their publications.<\/p>\n
The publications may have good content, but what good are they
\nif they are not available when the readers want them? If they
\ncould be easily accessed, but had poor content, readers would not
\nwant them either. Besides, in the media business, customer
\nloyalty is usually high -- which is why no national publication
\nhas been able to break Kompas' domination of the market.<\/p>\n
Another example is the warung tenda (tent cafes) business that
\nflourished following the economic crisis in 1997 as they used
\ncelebrities to attract customers.<\/p>\n
However, the business had a very low level of customer
\nsatisfaction in terms of product quality and service. Not many of
\nthe cafes exist today as they had failed to satisfy customers on
\ntheir first visit.<\/p>\n
In the PC business in Indonesia, large companies prefer
\nbranded imported computers over cheaper, locally assembled ones.
\nThis is because the branded PCs, which have a clearly defined
\nquality standard, solve companies' problems. So when companies
\nneed new computers, it is likely they will buy the same brand.<\/p>\n
The locally assembled computers, on the other hand, do not
\noften stay in the market for long. Those which do, survive
\nbecause its traders imitate the service provided by the imported
\nPC traders.<\/p>\n
Local producers, in fact, should provide even better service
\nif they wished to steal the market from traders of imported PC.
\nThat would mean giving a higher level of customer satisfaction,
\nfor example, by offering a three-year warranty where traders of
\nimported PCs only give between six and 12 months warranty. Or by
\nproviding higher specifications at lower prices. Only then can
\nthey compete with imported PCs.<\/p>\n
Customers generally do not purchase any product on offer. They
\nbuy goods and services that satisfy their needs and solve their
\nproblems. This is why in marketing, the term "quality" no longer
\npoints to how a product is produced, but more on how a commodity
\nor service satisfies customers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/winning-customers-over-1447893297",
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