HOW TO IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

HOW TO IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS - Essay Example Customers are central to the operations of any business. Identifying, targeting, and satisfying customers are the main principles behind business operations. This makes it important for any business to have an elaborate record that clearly indicates the customers of such a company at different levels depending on activity, geographical location, and persistence, volume of goods purchased, among other different criteria that may be used to group, rank, and classify customers. This would make it easy for a business to identify their potential customers and treat them according to their loyalty to the business. Below is a design structure that can be used in identifying and classifying customers in any business for better decision making as outlined by Peppers & Rogers (2011). Define The definition stage will involve the identity of the customers. In this stage the customers’ full names, phone numbers, emails, physical location, and distance from the business have to be recorded. Chverton (2002) asserts the importance of setting objectives in such key account management. The objective in the dry-cleaning business is to critically define the identity of the customer, which would help in understanding the geographic location of the main customers, and facilitate easy contact with such customers when need be.This stage involves the method to be used in collecting the customer details. Customer data will be collected from receipt books issued from the business, customer’s business cards, websites, and forms issued to all customers to fill their details after any transaction, emails, and calling the customer over the phone to inquire about such details. Once all the data about each and every customer is collected, the data is entered alongside the custom er details, with each customer having being entered into the database with provisions for entering all the above data. Customer records in the dry-cleaning business will involve a carefully designed database that will show all the customer details once their names are keyed in. Link After all the details regarding the customers’ identity are exhausted, the details have to be linked to respective departments within the business to prevent multiple records of the same customers. Therefore, the dry-cleaning database defined above has to link the following departments; the manager, record keeping, the reception, cleaning, and home delivery departments. Linking the above departments will enable a customer to be identified immediately they get in touch with any of the departments, and the information updated across all departments. Therefore, if a customer gives any instructions to the receptionist section over the phone, all the above departments have to be aware of such instructi ons. Such instructions will be reflected across all departments, which amounts a SMART way in which the activities of each customer can be determined (Cherverton, 2002). Integrate All the above customers’ information has to be integrated and linked to their respective interactions and transactions. In the dry-cleaning business, all the clothes brought in have to be accurately identified through a specific number linked to the customer details entered above. In addition, when a customer brings in their clothes, keying in the name of the customer has to bring out all their details, which have to be updated automatically upon entering the new clothes brought in. This means the entire information system has to link all the departments in the business, with any transaction or interactions being updated automatically from the reception stage where clothes are received for cleaning with the update reflecting in the manager’s office and any other relevant office instantly. Int egrating would mean customers’ activities are reflected in the entire enterprise through the information system in use. Recognize. In the dry-cleaning business, a customer’s identity has to be uniform across all sections. In