Customer Relations Principles

Customer Relations

• Core Principles: Positive customer relations hinge on courteous, respectful, and positive interactions. Showing appreciation, timely service, well-trained staff, and addressing concerns are vital.
• Building Rapport: Develop a positive relationship with customers through active listening, empathy, finding common ground, and following up to ensure satisfaction.
• Responding to Inquiries: Clear, prompt, friendly responses to customer questions build positive relationships and trust.
• Handling Difficult Customers: Remain calm and controlled; acknowledge concerns, maintain eye contact, demonstrate compassion and try to resolve the issue or guide the customer to the correct resource; offer choices whenever possible.
• Complaints as Opportunities: View complaints as chances to learn and improve customer service.
• Consistent Expectations: Clearly defining and delivering what customers can expect fosters trust and strengthens the brand.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): CRM involves attracting and retaining satisfied customers through various methods, including finding new customers and keeping existing ones happy.

Ethics in CRM

• Foundation of Trust: Transparency, fairness, and accountability foster trust and long-term success in business.

Technology in CRM

• Essential Tool: Technology plays a pivotal role, particularly through tools like email surveys and social media, enabling businesses to stay updated on customer needs and preferences.

Law and Business

• Legal Systems: The US judicial system (district, circuit, supreme courts) interprets laws and applies them to real cases, ensuring constitutionality.
• Business Torts: Torts relevant to business include tortious interference, restraint of trade, injurious falsehood, unfair competition, and fraudulent misrepresentation.
• Contracts: Legally binding contracts require a clear agreement, defined terms, consideration (both parties agree), and enforceability in a court of law.
• Legal Procedure: Standardized procedures for legal cases ensure fairness and order in legal proceedings.
• Agency Relationships: An agent acts on behalf of a principal to create legal relations, subject to the principal's control and agreement, as is the case with real estate agents.
• Environmental Law: Environmental legislation regulates the impact of human activity on the environment to safeguard human health and ecological balance.
• Administrative Law: Administrative law determines the powers and scope of government agencies and their procedures.
• Business Ownership Structures: Common business structures include sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations, with varying levels of liability protection and tax implications.
• Import/Export Law: Customs and border protection authorities regulate imports and exports to protect national economies and environments; taxes might be imposed on imported goods.
• Customs Regulations: US Customs and Border Protection agency enforces customs regulations to manage the flow of goods across international borders. Regulations aim to safeguard the country's interests.

Communication

• Verbal Directions: Provide clear, concise, and initiating verbal instructions; address questions thoroughly.
• Formal vs. Informal Communication: Formal communication in the workplace involves professional behavior and a respectful tone, while informal communication (e.g., asking a coworker for an opinion) is acceptable in appropriate contexts. Informal communication (e.g., gossip) should be avoided.
• Written Communication: Clearly labeled documents convey information efficiently; maintain appropriate grammar and structure, with an evident purpose behind communications.
  • Letters: Formal communication to clients, including date, addressing, and a format appropriate for professionalism;
  • Reports: Formal summaries or analyses for informed decision-making, including title pages, tables of contents, executive summaries, headings, and conclusions.
  • Emails: Clear subject lines, personalized greetings, concise body paragraphs, and appropriate closings.
  • Executive Summaries: Concise overviews of reports, highlighting key insights, findings, and conclusions to support decision making.
• Adapting to Audiences: Tailoring writing to specific readers (e.g., CEO vs production line supervisor) using appropriate language and terminology.
• Data Visualization: Using charts, graphs, and maps to effectively present data.

Economic Principles

• Economic Goods and Services: Tangible goods have monetary value and satisfy needs/wants (e.g., cars, clothing), while intangible services involve tasks and have monetary value (e.g., cooking, repairing).
• Factors of Production: Labor, land, capital, and entrepreneurship are crucial elements for economic production.
• Laws of Supply and Demand: Higher prices lead to lower demand (negative correlation) and higher prices correlate positively with higher supply.
• Operations: Improving quality, efficiency, and productivity in manufacturing and service production.
• Marketing: Improving product appeal to consumers, understanding their needs, and selecting effective distribution and promotion channels.
• Finance: Receiving funds, recording transactions, forecasting, reporting, and managing business funds.
• Retailers: Businesses selling products to consumers.
• Franchises: Expanding businesses by granting the right to operate in a specific style.
• Organizational Design: Aligning structure, processes, and culture to business objectives.

Business Ethics

• Ethical Guidelines: Behaving ethically hinges on honesty, fairness, openness, and adherence to legal boundaries. This comprises essential elements in marketing and product development (e.g., protecting consumers).
• Business Adaptation: Using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and environmental scans to adapt to changing market conditions.
• Private Enterprise: Privately owned and operated business units functioning for profit in a capitalist system.
• Competition: Rivalry amongst companies offering similar products/services.
• Government Regulations: Rules set in place by governing bodies, balancing economic growth and stability with business profitability.
• Taxes: Government payments for services, income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes.

Economics

• Consumer Spending: Major driver of economic growth, representing approximately 70% of US GDP.
• Inflation: Increased input costs reducing profit margins and affecting pricing strategies.
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): Total monetary value of all goods/services produced within a country; measures wealth and productivity.
• Nominal vs. Real GDP: GDP measured in actual prices (nominal) vs. adjusted for inflation (real).
• GDP Calculation: Private investment, government spending, personal spending, net exports, and inventory changes.
• Unemployment Rates: High unemployment signifies poor economic conditions.
• Specialization and Division of Labor: Increasing productivity by specializing tasks.
• Law of Diminishing Returns: Increased inputs lead to decreased output per unit of input unless other factors are improved/manipulated.