1 A Summer Internship Project Report on Importance of Customer Feedback and Customer Retention from Employees’ Perspective Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Marketing) by Vikramaditya Mishra (Roll No – 1012 – C 32) Under the guidance of Mr. Yogesh Baviskar A Study Conducted for Larsen &Toubro Integrated Engineering Services at
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A Summer Internship Project Report on
Importance of Customer Feedback and Customer Retention from Employees’ Perspective
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Marketing)
by
Vikramaditya Mishra
(Roll No – 1012 – C 32)
Under the guidance of
Mr. Yogesh Baviskar
A Study Conducted for Larsen &Toubro Integrated Engineering Services
atIndira School of Business Studies,
Tathawade, Pune 411033
(2010-12)
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Acknowledgement
This special thank goes to my helpful supervisor, Mr. Rajnikant Sangani. The supervision
and support that he gave truly helped the progression and smoothness of the internship
program. The co-operation is much indeed appreciated.
My grateful thanks also go to both Mr. Ronak Soni and Miss Priyanka Soni. The amount
of patience and the deep insight provided by them made the internship worthwhile and
very informative. All projects during the program would be nothing without the
enthusiasm and imagination from both of you. Besides, this internship program made me
realize the value of working together as a team and was a new experience in a working
environment, which challenged me every minute. Not to forget, great amount of
appreciation go to the rest of L&T staff which helped me from time to time during the
project. The whole program really brought us together to appreciate the true value of
friendship and respect of each other.
I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of my college faculty and my mentor
Mr. Yogesh Baviskar who was in constant touch with me and dispelled all my doubts
regarding the project.
Last but not least I would like to thank my friends especially those who work together as
interns at L&T for all their help and out of the box ideas!
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What is the Project?
The project is titled Importance of Customer Feedback and Customer Retention
from Employees’ Perspective.
Definition and purpose of the project
The project may be defined as an attempt to find out as to how much importance
employees actually attach to customer feedback and whether they feel that the feedback
of the customer should be considered and acted upon or not.
Do they feel it has any bearing whatsoever on the future relations with the organization?
Is customer retention a priority for the employees?
Do they find it profitable?
Are they fully aware of the ramifications if a loyal customer ends all future ties with the
company?
And finally Are the employees personally motivated to retain and satisfy the customers?
These questions summarize the purpose for which this particular project was taken up
and answers them satisfactorily.
Scope of the Project
The scope of this particular project is highly advantageous to understanding the behavior
of those who are in direct contact with the clients and the recognition of this behavior and
attitude may be used as a yardstick to gauge and shape my own future performance in an
organization.
By revealing what is important from their own point of view, the employees of a
successful organization have in their own way set the benchmarks of performance and
attitude which should be adopted towards the clients.
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The project also brings forth the current trends being followed by the employees in terms
of their beliefs towards their work and give an in depth understanding of the functioning
of the organization.
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Executive Summary
As a part of my Summer Internship Project I conducted a survey on the employees of the
organization in which I was interning i.e. L&T IES. The purpose of the survey was to
seek out the significance of customer satisfaction and customer retention in the minds of
the employees who are in direct contact with the clients.
In this survey I mainly focussed on the reasons as to how dedicated the employees are
towards the implementation of engineering services as per the specifications of the clients
and if they are willing to take extra measures for their clients knowing that the
competitors are close at their heels. Another important aspect of the project is whether the
employees consider customer feedback, study it and implement it in their future
transactions with them.
To know this I primarily focussed on the employees from the domestic sales and
distribution department and the business development team. The reason was that I had to
only focus on those employees who were in direct contact with the clients since they
were the only sample units who would be relevant to my survey.
In order to conduct the survey the Sampling Methodology used by me was Snowball
Sampling. This method essentially required me to ask the respondent of one
questionnaire to recommend another employee who would have the same characteristics
as the current respondent, i.e. be in direct contact with the customer. This was also done
because of the sheer size of the organization and so it would be difficult to compile a list
from any single source of the employees, so I decided to ask the employees themselves.
The tool used for the survey was a simple questionnaire consisting of 14 questions and
targeting the 35 employees.
As a conclusion of the project it was revealed that the employees indeed are aware of the
implications of client satisfaction and retention. They realize that customer feedback is
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indeed important and should be studied to uncover patterns which should be used for
future transactions with the clients.
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Index
S N Contents Pg No
1 Industry / Company overview
2 Review of Literature/ Theoretical
Background
3 Objectives
4 Research Methodology
5 Data Analysis , Results and
Interpretation
6 Conclusions
7 Limitations of the project
8 Contribution
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Company Overview
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L&T IES L&T Integrated Engineering Services (L&T IES) is a Strategic Business Unit of Larsen
& Toubro Limited, an 9.37 Billion USD engineering conglomerate from India. L&T IES
provides end-to-end engineering services including Product Design, Engineering
Analysis, Application Development, Asset Information Management, Plant Engineering
and Engineering Process Support using cutting-edge CAD/CAM/CAE technology.
Backed by seven decades of rich engineering pedigree, L&T IES engineers possess
relevant domain expertise in various industry verticals.
L&T IES operates from dedicated off-shore engineering centers at Vadodara, Mysore,
Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore in tandem with onsite teams to cater to engineering
requirements of global clients, many of them Fortune 500 Companies.
L&T IES quality and IT security management systems comply with various international
standards, our various centers are certified for CMMI Level 5 and ISO 9001.
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Introduction
L&T Integrated Engineering Services (L&T IES) is the Strategic Business Unit of
Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) that offers end-to-end design and engineering solutions
to global manufacturers.
Mission
"To provide engineering solutions using cutting edge PLM technologies to help our
customers achieve their objectives of innovation, cost reduction and faster time-to-
market."
Our Roots
The evolution of L&T into the country's largest engineering and construction
organizations is among the most remarkable success stories in Indian industry. The
company was founded in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1938 by two Danish engineers, Henning
Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro - both of whom were strongly committed to
creating L&T as a showcase of India's engineering talent and enabling it to meet the
demands of industry. Beginning with the import of machinery from Europe, L&T rapidly
took on engineering and construction assignments of increasing sophistication. Today,
the company sets engineering benchmarks in terms of scale and complexity.
Inheriting the engineering sapience of L&T group and preserving its tradition of
harnessing the best engineering talent in the country, L&T IES has nurtured a vibrant
multi-disciplinary workforce of engineers who work with strong focus on quality to
provide innovative solutions to a wide range of industries.
L&T IES offers solutions ranging from engineering support across all phases of a Product
Life Cycle to specialized engineering consultancy support for programmes like “Costs
Take Out” or “New Product Introduction” in new geographical markets.
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L&T IES helps its clients to solve technical and operational problems by employing
innovative engineering concepts. Clients benefit from the overall impact on their product
design, manufacturing costs and acceleration of efforts to get quality products to market
before their competitors.
Successful projects require more than just technical expertise and L&T IES possesses the
experience of effectively planning and executing, complex, long term projects to
conclusion within the limitations of real-life schedules and budgets of clients. L&T IES’
track record with working with clients around the world speaks of its technical, project
management and people management strengths and commitment to consistently add
value to clients’ businesses.
Larsen & Toubro Limited is a multinational conglomerate with interests in Design &
Manufacturing for Process, Defence, Aerospace and Ship Building Industries,
Lumpsum Turnkey Projects on EPC basis for industries in the Process, Power, Cement
and Mineral Sectors, Electrical and Electronics Products and Systems, Machinery and
Industrial Products apart from its strong focus on the IT & Technology Services Sector.
This breathtaking panorama of manufacturing and services offerings are made possible
by the vast reserves of engineering talent that constitute Larsen & Toubro Limited. Thus
it is this pedigree and core competence in all things that engineers at L&T IES can draw
upon to deliver well researched engineering solutions each time.
The people at L&T IES are leaders in their areas of responsibility, sharply focused on
fostering synergy with clients to deliver value not just to them but also to their end-
customers.
L&T IES attracts and recruits the finest engineers in several disciplines to provide
solutions in varied engineering domains ranging from Automotive to Plant Engineering
and Aerospace to Ship Design as well as everything else in between. L&T IES takes
onboard engineers straight out of college as also engineers with 2 to 5 years of work
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experience and builds on their strengths by rewarding and propelling them to leadership
positions. L&T IES also welcomes domain specialists who have put in 15 years or more
in core engineering functions to complement existing skill sets in design with the right
blend of manufacturing and technological know-why and know-how.
L&T IES’ engineers are driven by a passion to deliver, solutions that are just right as per
client requirements. With this aim in mind, engineers at L&T IES value individualism
while working in teams, think creatively while working to exacting international design
standards and specifications, take on tough deadlines without compromising on stringent
quality norms.
To cut a long story short, the people at L&T IES are highly motivated to make a
difference – to clients and through their products to the whole world.
IES Quality Management System (QMS)
IES Quality Management System is a repository of best practices adopted from
various standards, applicable quality assurance models & learning’s / best
practices drawn from our own implementation experience over the years.
QMS provides a robust framework for delivery considering different types of
projects undertaken in various areas like
•Engineering solutions for CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM/AIM & other customizations
in application
•Engineering services for design, consultancy, project engineering management
in the areas of Architectural, Civil, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical,
Automation & Instrumentation
•Embedded Systems & Software design / development, Maintenance, Porting &
testing services including Firmware, Hardware, Product Engineering,
Application Software, Independent testing & test automation, test systems
development & other verification & validation services
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» Key Quality & Process practices
QMS at IES ensures that all the activities necessary to design, develop and
implement the product or service are done effectively & efficiently considering
the overall scope of the activity. It assists the organization in continuously
working towards
•Increased productivity
• Reduced rework
• Bringing greater visibility
• Reduced Cycle time
• Improved Employee satisfaction
• Improved Customer satisfaction
To facilitate institutionalization, our QMS has been deployed on the intranet in
the respective centers. The structure of the QMS is shown below:
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Some of the key practices followed in the projects are explained below:
• Well defined systems to guide the teams, right from Estimation / proposal
making to delivery
• Integrated Project Management
• Quantitative risk management
• Reviews at intermediate stages to uncover internal defects closest to the stage
in which they are injected
• Periodic measurements done in every project facilitating root cause analysis &
continuous improvement
• Organizational metrics analysis by metrics teams with focus on defect
prevention
• Knowledge management – Capturing learning’s & best practices and utilizing
them for improvement
• Dedicated Quality team in each center driving the quality movement as a
mentor, guide & facilitator
• Engineering process groups continuously working towards refining /
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redefining the practices for improvement in respective areas
• Formal introduction to processes & systems right from induction to all new
joiners
• Extensive usage of tools in various stages of the project
» The Pillars of Quality Movement in IES
• Our people, who are the practitioners of process committed to delight the
customer
• Visible support from Senior Management
» The Key factors which drive our Quality Movement
• Our aspirations to meet & surpass the expectations of our customers
• Our urge to continuously improve upon our performance
• Our focus on improvement through quantitative measurement & analysis
» Certifications
•IES centers located in Bangalore, Chennai, Vadodara & Mysore are certified
to comply with ISO 9001:2008 requirements.
•Embedded Systems & Software activities of IES undertaken from its centers
located in Mysore, Bangalore & Mumbai are assessed & benchmarked at
CMMI ® – Dev + IPPD, Ver 1.2 Maturity level 5.
» Awards & Accolades
• In recognition of the process improvement initiatives undertaken in Embedded
centers of IES, We were awarded “CSI & QAI National award for Process
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Excellence” award in the Asia SEPG conference held in 2003.
Automotive The automotive industry is facing several challenges today – intense competition, rising
labor costs, pressures on profitability and declining customer loyalty. In addition, this
consumer-focused industry faces the challenge of constant reductions in the time it takes
to bring a new vehicle to market and the need to standardize while still maintaining a
large portfolio to meet the customer expectations.
Vehicle manufacturers and suppliers are component suppliers alike aim to have a global
presence, expanding through acquisitions and partnerships in target countries.
L&T IES understands that the automotive process requires rapid adaptability and
concurrency of all phases of design. On account of L&T IES’s proven inter-disciplinary
engineering knowledge, expertise on emerging engineering tools and experience of large
business engagements, we are strongly positioned to offer end-to-end design and
engineering solutions to the Automotive OEMs and suppliers. L&T IES’s strong financial
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standing and brand equity as an engineering leader enables us to constantly build new
capabilities, attract and retain the best talent in the industry.
At the concept and product planning stages, L&T helps its clients in styling and
visualization. Our engineers also contribute manufacturing advice to designers, where
manufacturing might influence the aesthetics. At the product engineering stage, we
collaborate with our clients to achieve optimum component and sub-systems design with
respect to their functionalities. Further, into the process engineering stage, where
manufacturing knowledge is paramount, we substantiate production processes by
working closely with our clients and conforming to the most rigorous manufacturing
standards. Our tool design and mold design services take the product a step closer to
reality by substantiating the product features that can influence its final design and enable
the improvement of designs developed further upstream in concept and product
engineering stages.
Automotive Product Design
For any product manufacturer, the design of the product has significant bearing upon
nearly every aspect of the company's business. Most crucially, for an Automobile
manufacturer, the design of vehicle is invariably the single most important manifestation
of its brand.
At L&T IES, we believe that Innovation is a natural part of the design process and we
help our clients strike the right balance between functionality and appearance while
meeting twin challenges of cost and time. Our automotive group has expertise in various
kinds of passenger and commercial vehicles as well as special purpose vehicles.
Automotive Engineering Analysis
In the highly competitive and fast driven automotive market, L&T IES works closely,
with OEMs, Tier 1 and Tier 2 companies, in carrying out Engineering Analysis for
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various requirements. We aid customers in reducing product development cycle time by
providing design and validation analyses which translate as building prototypes close to
the final product.
L&T IES depth of Design Analysis experience and knowledge of vehicular testing and
standards in various markets help execute aggressive schedules in a timely fashion.
The usage of wide range of analysis softwares such as ANSYS, NASTRAN, ABAQUS,
LS Dyna enable the delivery of results in the software of the customer's preference. An
outline of the different areas in the automotive area are given below.
• Finite element modeling / Meshing• Bore distortion Analysis• Thermal Analysis• Structural Analysis• CFD Analysis for Intake and Exhaust systems• Dynamic Analysis
» Body Structures
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• Body/Closure Interface stiffness• Body Global stiffness• Body-In-White modal analysis• Fully trimmed body modal analysis• Durability• Roof crush - Quasi-static analysis• Rollover Protection Devices
» Exterior/Interior
• Static stiffness• Normal modes• Gravity sag analysis• Durability with G-loads from road inputs
» Safety and Crash worthiness
• 90 degree Barrier Full Front Impact• 30 degree Angle Barrier Front Impact• Offset Barrier impact• Side impact• Side Pole test• Roof Crush• Analysis as per FMVSS Standards
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Aerospace
L&T Integrated Engineering Services Aerospace business group is specialist in offering
Engineering Services to global Aerospace and Defence OEMs and their suppliers. With
our ability to offer comprehensive service offering, we have evolved as a unique player in
the Engineering Services space.
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Our Engineering Service offering spans entire product life cycle right from Concept
design, virtual testing, prototyping, Physical testing certification support and
manufacturing.
With our domain experts, experience & values, we have orchestrated the right value in
our customers thereby enhancing our relationship to a strategic partnership.
Off-Highway Vehicles
The Off-Highway Vehicles group at L&T IES represents a major strength area. The
group since its inception has been working with prestigious global customers on critical
design and engineering projects.
The group has designed not only individual components e.g. chassis, boom, bucket etc.,
but also successfully developed and integrated structural, mechanical, hydraulic,
electrical and electronic systems, etc for complete vehicles. The array of off highway
vehicles that we have experience in includes:
• Wheel Loaders
• Skid Steer Loaders
• Graders
• Dozers
• Backhoe Loaders
• Excavators
• Fork Lifts
• Tractors
• Cranes & Tele-
Handlers
• Scrapers
• Vibratory Soil Compactors
• Rigid, Articulated & Bottom
Dumpers
• Material Handling Equipment
• Combine Harvesters
• Round & Square Balers
• Hay & Forage Equipment
• Sprayers & Spreaders
• Special Purpose Machines
• Mobile crushers & screening
equipment
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Off-Highway Vechicles Product DesignL&T IES has been successfully supporting its clients in their “New Product Innovation”
programs and helping them realise benefits like faster time to market and cost reduction.
People at L&T IES are capable of designing integrated products in the Off-Highway
Domain from back of the envelope sketches through manufacturing drawings and
prototyping.
L&T IES has capabilities in following equipment:
• Wheel Loaders
• Dozers
• Backhoe Loaders
• Excavators
• Vibratory soil Compacters
• Fork Lifts
• Rigid Articulate Dumpers
• Underground Mining Equipment
• Tractors
• Combine harvesters
• Round & Square Balers
• Hay & forage Equipments
• Sprayers & Spreaders
• Material Handling Equipments
• Special Purpose Machine
• Shovels
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• Cranes & Tele-handlers
• Dumpers
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Industrial Products The Industrial Products group of L&T IES supports manufacturers across the globe from
diverse industries such as electrical & electronics equipment instruments, process plant
machinery, industrial machinery, rotating machinery, hydraulic equipment and consumer
goods. It is adept at handling wide-range designing and engineering requirements right
from concept development stage to prototype development.
The team undertakes product design & development process, right from concept design,
product layout/assembly planning, component design, to assembly design, assembly
analysis and product / package designing. It has successfully executed large projects
using top-down approach and relational assembly management.
Well acquainted with UL, CE & FDA standards, the team ensures that designs fulfill the
appropriate regulations. L&T IES specializes in the design of medical equipment,
electrical equipment and accessories, food and other process plant machinery, industrial
and optimization of a range of industrial valves that conform to international standards
such as NACE, API, ASME, BS, PED, ASTM, ISA, and AWWA.
Products Range » Industrial valves Design
• Conceptual Design for valves and pumps• Re-design to accommodate material, stress and weight
changes• Design Optimization for better range, control and
reliability• Determination of Valve Characteristics• Actuator Design Calculation (diaphragm, rotary,
electrical and cylinder)• Extreme Condition Design (Cryogenic, High Pressure
and Nuclear Applications)• Trim Design for anti-cavitations and low-noise• Micro Flow Valve Design• Valves Design for Engineering Offshore Application• Complete range creation using calculation and modeling
templates
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Plant EngineeringToday's process & manufacturing industry, as a part of the Global Restructuring
Initiative, is aggressively looking for Strategic Partners who can become a Single Point
Solution for all their Engineering Services needs. This phenomenal Initiative is being
implemented to bring about cost, engineering and administrative efficiencies across the
portfolio of the capital projects.
L&T IES Plant Engineering Group has both the skill and experience to be the Strategic
Engineering Partner that clients seek, with an ability to work as an integrated extension of
client's internal engineering organization.
We are a full service consulting firm offering end-to-end PLANT CHANGE
MANAGEMENT SERVICES for our Client’s facility from Process Change Management
to Information Change Management to Product/Machine Change Management.
We have long term engineering service partnership with major North American CPG
companies for their global operations and provide to them the Plant Change Management
Services on an annuity basis.
Focus Industries
• Food & Beverages
• Dairy
• Pharmaceutical
• Home Care
• Personal Care
• Brewery
• Specialty & Agro Chemical
• Minerals, Metal & others
L&T-IES is engaged in providing Engineering Design services to a wide variety of
overseas clients in the areas of Civil, Architectural and Building services (MEP) for
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general buildings like office complexes, multiuse buildings, commercial buildings,
residential buildings, hospitals, institutional buildings, factories, etc.
POWAI WORKS(385,000 sq.m )
COIMBATORE WORKS
RANOLI WORKS(Special Equipment)
HAZIRA WORKS
(900,000 sq.m )
Strategic System Complex - Talegaon
Sohar, Oman
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» Industrial Structures
L&T IES has a long and established history in the design and delivery of industrial structures like: • Automobile Manufacturing Facilities• Balance of Plant for Petrochemical Plants• Cement Plants• Fertilizer Plants• Glass Plants• Power Plants• Water Supply & Treatment Plants
» Utility Systems
L&T IES provides a comprehensive range of solutions for the following systems : • HVAC• Fire Protection Systems• Plumbing• Building Electricals• Building Automation
» Infrastructure
L&T applies its multidisciplinary approach to provide the best solutions for a range of projects: • Bridges & Roads• Ports & Marine Projects• Airports & Hangars• Substations
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Review of
Literature/
Theoretical
Background
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Customer Retention
Customer Retention is the activity that a selling organisation undertakes in order to
reduce customer defections. Successful customer retention starts with the first contact an
organisation has with a customer and continues throughout the entire lifetime of a
relationship. A company’s ability to attract and retain new customers, is not only related
to its product or services, but strongly related to the way it services its existing customers
and the reputation it creates within and across the marketplace.
Customer retention is more than giving the customer what they expect, it’s about
exceeding their expectations so that they become loyal advocates for your brand.
Creating customer loyalty puts ‘customer value rather than maximizing profits and
shareholder value at the center of business strategy’. The key differentiator in a
competitive environment is more often than not the delivery of a consistently high
standard of customer service.
Customer retention has a direct impact on profitability. Research by John Fleming and
Jim Asplund indicates that engaged customers generate 1.7 times more revenue than
normal customers, while having engaged employees and engaged customers returns a
revenue gain of 3.4 times the norm.
Customer retention is not only a cost effective and profitable strategy, but in today's
business world it's necessary. This is especially true when you remember that 80% of
your sales come from 20% of your customer and clients. With these statistics I am
wondering why most marketing and sales campaigns are designed for the new customer.
Sophisticated technology and database equipment has made it possible for specialized
firms to make attempts at customer retention through database marketing programs.
Establishing a detailed client database will allow these companies to keep track of
personal information and individual preferences of all their customers.
CUSTOMER RETENTION TACTICS Monitor the service delivery process
Properly install products and train customers
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Be there when you are needed the most
Provide discretionary effort
TYPES OF SERVICE GUARANTEES Implicit Guarantees
o An unwritten, unspoken guarantee that establishes an understanding between the firm and its customer
Specific Result Guarantees
o Guarantees that apply only to specific steps or outputs in the service delivery process
Unconditional Guarantee
o A guarantee that promises complete customer satisfaction
THE BENEFITS OF GUARANTEES Customer-directed Benefits:
o customers perceive a better value
o perceived risk is lower
o the firm is perceived as more reliable
o helps consumers decide among alternatives
o helps consumers overcome resistance
o helps to overcome negative word-of-mouth
THE BENEFITS OF GUARANTEES Organization-directed Benefits:
o forces the firm to focus on the customer’s definition of good service
o the guarantee states a goal that is communicated to employees and customers
o invoked guarantees provides a measurable means of performance
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There are many reasons a customer or client may leave you, but the ones you will hear most often are:
They felt your pricing was too high or unfair. They had an unresolved complaint. They took a competitors offer. They left because they felt you didn't care.
When you consider that the last two make up the majority of why a client or customer
will no longer use your service or buy your products - it can be a hard pill to swallow.
After all it means they are an inactive client because they felt you didn't care about them
and your competitor did.
This makes sense when you consider that customers often purchase your service or
product because they have developed a relationship with you, they owned another
product or yours, or they were referred to you by a friend or associate.
Before you spend your time and money going after new customers and clients you do not
currently have a relationship with consider the following statistics:
Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.
Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.
It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing
to a customer
Top 5 Customer Retention Marketing Tactics1. Regular Communication with Customized Content and Special Offers – This
is the cornerstone of any good customer retention program and careful attention
should be paid here. Most companies have some sort of newsletter to
communicate with existing customers but fewer are actively making offers to
their current install base that are customized according to what is already known