Why do we need to focus on Customer Relations?
It’s because a coop business exists because there are customers.
Thus objectives are to: Differentiate from competitors, Improve our image in the eyes of our customers , Improve profitability, Increase customer satisfaction and retention, Achieve a maximum number of advocates for our coop, Enhance our reputation , Improve staff morale , Increase employee satisfaction and retention, Increase productivity, Encourage employee participation, Create a reputation for being caring, customer-oriented coop, Foster internal customer/supplier relationships and Bring about continuous improvements to the operation of the coop BECAUSE IF THESE ARE NOT MEET, the business may fail.
There are however challenges to achieve Customer Care Excellence which includes external and internal issues. As the human resource officer, common internal challenges or challenges that arises from within the cooperative are: cooperative politics instead of active and involved Board of Directors, delayed and often fragmented decision making process, serious lack of information about members-owners, an equally serious lack of knowledge of sales culture, Lack of policies and procedures for the prudent management, and communication gaps.
One thing which highlighted the presentation is the first step in achieving Customer Care excellence: Make your strategic vision into reality wherefore one strategy is to develop a service oriented cooperative.
Customer Excellence means the value of Customer Relationship. One example was that a dissatisfied member will tell 8-10 people that they are not satisfied with services. However, if the same customer is well-assured and satisfied with the cooperative’s services and customer relations and will tell the same number of persons how pleased they are, customers will grow in numbers.
The higher the level of service we deliver,
the more our members want to do business with us,
and the higher the profits are likely to be.
