Importance of customer relations
Happy customers equal returning customers
The FedEx customer Relations has built a strong customer relationship to give a lot of thanks to as a result of its growth. Most of its business come from relations. That is, most of their customers come from their current pool of customers.
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The art of customer relations to the FedEx is an avenue to making customers happy and this comes with lots of benefits that do stretch beyond merely having satisfied patrons. When your customers are happy with the services and the products you provide unto them, they are more likely to refer your product, business or service to their colleagues, friends and family –and this creates a grapevine effect which is invaluable (Goodman, 2009).
On the other hand, a robust customer relations management creates brand loyalty thereby improving the business’ reputation. When a business’ customers are satisfied and feel as if their needs are met or virtually, exceeded –they become more likely to speak positively of the business, or possibly review and rate it highly on the online platform.
Handling problems
Most often customers’ inquiries involve some form of complaints that the customer relations representatives ought to handle according to the business’ policies and guidelines. Sometimes, the customer relations representative attempts to solve the problems or at least propose for some solutions. Some among the representatives are authorized to send the customers their replacement products or even reverse erroneous transactions. Some of the representatives function like gatekeepers, that is, acquiring information on the problem then transferring it to someone else for solutions (Basch, 2002). The customer service representatives makes sure that the complains raised by the customers are valid and thus they must do all they can – in the context of their authority –in making sure that the customer is finally satisfied.
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Customer service issues
Lack of proper training
Inappropriate or lack of proper training on matters pertaining to customer relations upon the officers tasked with the responsibility of tendering the customer services leads to ineffectiveness. An organization that fails to spend time and resources to fully train their customer service personalities most of the times do not meet the expectations of their customers. The business should dedicate resources (money and time) in undertaking reinforcement and training. The customer service agents should fully be informed about the business’ goals, services and products. Training and emphasis should be given to the importance of listening and then responding to their customer’s concerns. When individuals are given the right tools, resources and objectives they perform their tasks appropriately. Of course this costs money, but it costs more if the business decides to ignore it.
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Sabotage
When the organization’s employees are frustrated or angry they can work to destroy and sabotage the image of the organization. The business should keep open and honest communications with its employees, especially its customer service personnel. Formally and informally review their goals, performance, feelings and objectives to bar potential problems from reaching customers.
Failure to provide correct solutions
A customer get irritated when they feel like that the customer agent haven’t provided him with satisfactory solutions to the problems he presented. Customers feel uneasy dealing with a customer agent who listens to his problem, then shrugs then says that they have to ask another colleague in the organization to intervene and provide the solution.
Current Business Trends in the Courier Industry
The FedEx Corporation, a global courier organization provides delivery services to its customers. The company operates in the courier industry which is highly dynamic and diversified (Collier, 2011). The industry currently face varied business trends which significantly impact on the organization’s customer service relations as identified in this research paper:
Drop-off and collection services
The drop-off and collection points enable customers to send and receive their parcels more conveniently –this is particularly aimed at serving customers who aren’t at home during the working hours to await a collection or delivery (Murley, 2011). This has led to growth of leading drop-off and collection brands like the Collect+ and ParcelShop drop-off service.
Self-service parcel lockers are among the recent innovations in this industry. Parcels are delivered to the automated lockers from which they can be collected by the respective customers 24/7, providing added convenience to those customers who have got no time to wait for deliveries (Cook, 2011). The industry’s suppliers of parcel lockers has rolled from agents like InPost and ByBox to the Amazon rolling out its own Amazon Lockers too.
Technological advancement
Physical mail volume has been in the decreasing end in line with the rise of digital communication. The Royal Mail reported a 6% decrease in the year 2012 of the traditional letter volume. The increased use mobile technology, for instance, smartphones, tablet devices, in combination with a recession-led search for advanced cost-effective methods, have been in continuous move to boost digital communication. OFCOM research deduced that the use of e-mail has increased by 39% in the UK in a period of two years to September 2012 (Murley, 2011). The advancement in the use of social networking platforms and the text messaging increased by 27% and 20% respectively over the same period. This continuing trend is likely to create of impact on the couriers and express document carriers and their customers’ relations platform.
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