The Customer Care of the McDonalds - Term Paper Example

 Table of Contents Abstract 1 Chapter 1: Introduction to Customer Care 5 Chapter 2: CRM 8 Chapter 3: Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty and Retention 10 Chapter 4: The McDonald’s UK 12 4.1.The McDonald’s UK Customers Care 13 4.2.Summary 17 Chapter 5: Conclusions 19 REFERENCES 20 Abstract The report is aimed to investigate the impact of Customer Care practice of multi-national business. More specifically, this dissertation looks at the Customer Care of the McDonald in the United Kingdom. It investigated the level of customer satisfaction and the quality of service that is provided by the Customer Care representatives of the McDonald’s franchises. The first part of this report reviews the general definitions and importance of the Customer Care Service, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Customer Retention, Customer Satisfaction and the Customer Loyalty. The Customer Care Service is the integral and important part of any organization. It involves the system to maximize the Customer Satisfaction with company’s own business. The importance of customer care is varied by products and customers. It is an activity of service to customer before, during and after the purchase. The report discusses the importance of CRM. It also aims to increase the company’s sales by managing and promoting the good relationship with customers. The key essentials of CRM are: To understand the needs of customers. To communicate the valid information. To answer the queries comprehensively. To suggest and introduce new products that can attract customers. To come up with valuable services. To sustain first-class affiliation with the clients. It is important for any organization to maintain its existing customers and to gain customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is the activity of finding and attracting your regular customers while, the customer satisfaction is about the customer’s expectations for a product or service when exceeded or met. Customers can be retained by giving importance to them. It has been done through many strategies; free gifts, special promotions, newsletters, free coupons, etc. The factors for building the customer loyalty, satisfaction and retention include: Be reliable. Be friendly and easy to deal with. Show your concern and empathy. Be quick to respond. Always solve the difficulties and problem that a customer is facing. In the later part of this paper, we have discussed the customer care service of the McDonald’s UK. In 1974, McDonalds opened its first restaurant in the UK, and now it serves over 2.5 million customers each day. The chain has a very strong image in the UK. They aim to provide tasty foods to their customers. It also places an emphasis on the training and development of its employees. The CRM strategies of the McDonald’s UK will also be discussed. This paper also investigates the level of customer satisfaction with the service quality of the company. For the McDonald’s UK, the enquiries, feedback; positive or negative, are the important piece of information. At McDonald’s UK customer care and the customer satisfaction is more important than any other thing. The McDonald’s UK established a free wireless internet to the customers who visit the UK. The customers are loyal because they know their requirements will consistently be met. The McDonald’s UK concentrates on attracting new customers but also concentrate on retaining the older ones. The last part of the report summarizes the aims and objectives of their Customer Care. The McDonald’s UK tends to: Provide the efficient services. Serve tasty food in a friendly environment. Provide quick services and value for money. Give the proper response to the queries. Try resolving customers’ problems as soon as they arise. Chapter 1: Introduction to Customer Care Customer care embodies a mantra to assist and serve the customers above and beyond. There are many definitions to define customer services or customer care. But it has been seen that these definitions take the company or organization as their focus point except for their emphasis on customers as the foremost focus of the customer cares should be on the customers. According to the Ron Kaufman, customer services guru and the best-selling author of the “UP your Service” customer care books, the function of an organization to meet the needs of its customers is the real definition of the customer care. The importance of customer care is varied by products and customers (CustomerServicePoint.com, n.d). The Customer care is an activity of service to customer before, during and after the purchase. In simple words, customer care is a service of an organization that supplies their customers’ needs and wants. Jamier L. Scott argues that a series of activities designed to enhance the level of the customer satisfaction; their feelings about the products and services provided to them, is the basic concern of customer care service. Customer care includes billings, inquiries, tech support and statuses, etc. It can be of various kinds. It may be provided by a person or by automated means, for example, internet. According to Micah Solomon, it is easy to deal with online customers as they are invisible to the customer care agents, but it is more crucial in terms of human-to-human connection due to lack of visual presence. It has been said that the key of your business is your relationship with your customers, if you do not have customers, you do not have anything. The integral part of an organization’s customer value proposition is the customer care. Don Peppers and Martha Rogers stated in their book “Rules to break and laws to follow” that the customers have very sharp memories, they remember the person who provides service to them, and it is not necessary that the provider also remembers the customers. It’s a common observation that a satisfied customer tells one other person about his pleasant experience of the Customer Care Service while an unhappy customer tells more people about his bad experience. Satisfying your customers before and after the inquiry or sale will attract new customers and keep them coming back for more (Frances & Roland Bee, 1995). It is an ability of an organization to constantly and consistently exceed the customer expectation. With an excellent Customer Service, a small business can differentiate itself from the competition of other businesses (Ward, n.d). Customer Care plays an important role in a company’s ability to generate revenue and income. It is an overall approach to the systematic improvement. It maximizes your customers with business. The sales and profitability of any organization depend on keeping the customers satisfied and happy. Due to the tough competitions, customers are now become subject to any business as they emphasize organizations products and services on values and interests that are based on the available opinions and references from their own experience. According to a survey, many companies and even the biggest names in the market have a very bad and inefficient Customer Care. When a customer calls their customer care to buy a product, they greet with pleasure and make the customer feel special. Their answers were very detailed and authentic. However, as s customer calls to log his complaint, they argue with lame reasons. Mostly, they assure the customer that they would get back as soon as they can but they hardly call, even if they call, they tend to close the complaint by argument. Customers hardly come across any technical employee who actually can resolve the issue. Apart from these bad services, there are some companies that are providing efficient and excellent Customer Cares. Although, receptionists or sales representatives have direct interaction with customers in comparison to the Warehouse or Dispatch department but the Customer Care should be an important element of their job description and training because when they fulfill orders, their performance impacts the customers’ satisfaction. Chapter 2: CRM The widely-implemented strategy for managing company’s’ interaction with customers is known as the Customer Relationship Management. It has to do with policies, procedures and methods that are used by an organization to provide a satisfactory and high quality customer care to its clients. The purposes and the principal aim of CRM are to attract and win new clients, nurture the existing customers, retention of clients and to reduce the cost of customer service and marketing. It has also been used in a number of training manuals, seminars and in in-house trainings that help companies to develop a healthy relationship with their customers. Customer relationship management usually involves a variety of levels to help customers (Dyché, 2002). They are commonly known as: Sales force automation: this allows the sales representatives to pursue more customers in a short period of time. It minimizes their time which they spend in data entry and administration while providing them an array of capabilities to maximize all phases of the sale process. Operational aspects: it involves the direct interaction between the customer and the customer care agent. It may be through emails or telephones, audio or video conferencing, site visit with the customer, and letter and other printed matter. Analytics: it has to do with the systematic analysis of clients’ information and data. It is also used by the finance and marketing departments to assess the value of different programs. It does not involve direct interactions with the customer as it is an internal kind of process. Integrated/Collaborative: although, it allows the direct interaction with the clients but the visible presence of customer in not necessary. It involves online access of the client to his information. It is used 24/7 to make it possible for the customers to manage relationship or business according to their convenience. The CRM strategies of both, the large and small organizations are the important parts of managing the customer relationships. These methods may vary from business to business. It helps an organization to ensure an ongoing repot with the customer base. Chapter 3: Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty and Retention It has been said that being loyal and devoted to your customers, can make your business more profitable and can create long lasting relationships. Although, customer loyalty is the activity of finding and attracting your regular customers, it is very much different from the customer satisfaction. It is easy to maintain the satisfaction and loyalty of the existing customer than to attract a new customer. In simple words, the customers’ loyalty is the level or degree of customer staying with a particular company or brand. It is used to describe as the behavior of permanent customers, and also those customers who pass good ratings and reviews. The key element of gaining customer loyalty is the excellent customer care. It can be achieved by offering the high quality service to your existing customers. More so, by solving customers’ problem, loyalty can be gained. The customers’ satisfaction can be gained by fulfilling customers’ expectations about a product or service. The customers’ satisfaction leads to customers’ loyalty. According to Venor Zelmer, it is a race to satisfy a customer, but it has no end. To deal with problems as they arise is the key factor to success (Kotelnikov, n.d). Moreover, that is correct. It is important for an organization’s customer care to satisfy its customer by providing them the best of the best service and to welcome them every time they visit; call, mail, email (Sturdy, 1998). High retention makes your company grow faster. Customer retention is the indicator of customer satisfaction with effective services and good complaint handling. When customers feel satisfied, they remain loyal to the company. The most important factor of retention is trust. Customer retention can be gained through trust and consistency. Customers can be retained by solving their problems as soon as they arise. Many organizations have adopted a number of strategies to retain its customers. The main purpose of these strategies is the better and reliable customer service, customer marketing and also the relationship marketing. By introducing unique technologies, a company attracts its customers and offers them products that competitors don’t offer. These strategies also include newsletters, database marketing, discounts, free gifts, special promotions, members club, etc (BNET Business Dictionary, n.d). Chapter 4: The McDonald’s UK McDonald’s is the largest fast food chain all around the world. It has 30,000 restaurants around the globe, serving 52 million people in over 100 countries each day. It was the largest global chain few years back but due to the strong competitors, like KFC and Subway, the brand has been surpassed. According to the rough estimation, more than 70% of the McDonalds restaurants are owned and operated by the local nationals. The primary sales of the chain are the hamburgers, chicken products, French fries, drinks, shakes, and deserts. They included salads and wraps in their menu in response to the obesity trends of Western nations and also to protect themselves from the criticism over the healthiness of its products (Love, 1995). In 1974, McDonalds opened its first restaurant in the UK, and now it serves over 2.5 million people every day. The chain has a very strong image in the UK. It aims to be the best fast food chain in the UK, giving hard time to Burger King. Burger King had been enjoying a vital place since long (Reiter, 1996). McDonald’s has become a symbol of globalization with its expansion into international markets. It has the credit to spread the American way of living in the world. Due to this reason, McDonald’s often become the first target of any anti American sentiments. Moreover, the brand has, often, been accused for its non-healthy food (bized.co.uk, n.d).  Apart from all the accusation and criticism, the restaurants are also concern about the environmental issues and recycling. In the UK, more specifically, McDonald’s started to make biodiesel from its own waste cooking oil, which is further used by its entire truck fleet. According to the vice president of the UK McDonald’s, this step was taken in order to save 1675 tons of carbon each year, which is naturally good for the environment (Blanco, 2007).  Furthermore, McDonald’s also aims for sustainable packaging in coming years. According to the report of Global Best of Green 2009, McDonald’s want its network to become more sustainable. The primary focus of the company is to minimize the amount of chemicals, which is used in production, oversight the recycling possibilities, reduction of CO2, and also to minimize weight. More so, the company also started “Just bin it” campaign to educate schools, communities and authorities about the recycling and combat litter (Go Green, 2009). It has always an emphasis on the training and development of its employees, which results in 42,982 staff in 836 restaurants in the UK. Till today, it has increased 41.6% in outlets, whereas its workforce had risen up to 11.1% (Best Franchise Advice, 2010). The restaurant aims to provide tasty foods to their clients to make money and as well as to gain recognition. They have well trained employees who greet with pleasure while putting a smile on their customers’ faces. 4.1. The McDonald’s UK Customers Care The mantra of McDonald’s customer care is to be helpful, courteous, and friendly. They also believe in providing quick and accurate service, showing their care and concern. Each member of the restaurant has the resources; they need to fulfill their jobs (Mcdonald’s UK, n.d). They believe that customers are the most important ambassadors of any brand and by listening to them any company can strive to be a progressive market leader. They not only take care of food, dealing, cash, cleaning or stocking but also work on the front counter dealing with the customers. McDonald’s UK delivers high quality of service and cleanliness to its customers. It is important for the company to hear the complaints and needs of the customers because if the company is not dealing with the bad experiences then customers will walk out and their business will go down. It also consistently monitors and acts on the feedback of its customers. When a customer walks in the restaurant, he experiences an attractive and well maintained environment. Then, the fresh testing food delivered by a polite and well organized employee please him. The employees at McDonald’s prepare meals quickly but carefully, to avoid mistakes (StudentCentral, 2004).  The duties of Customer care agents include dealing with the customers, looking after their needs, keeping the standard of the dining area, well maintained and also to make children feel welcome. Government of the UK also encouraged McDonald’s employees to take a basic shift manager course to train the customer service in everything they need to know to run McDonald’s Customer Care. The government has given the right to Ronald & Co. to give credit awards to those employees who have completed their training courses (WordPress, 2008). This not only helps the company to improve its progress but also makes its customer service more reliable and effective. For McDonald’s UK, the enquiries, feedback; positive or negative, are the important piece of information. Through which, the company tunes its policies and standard of its business to meet the needs of clients. Moreover, it helps the company to remove its faults. The services of company’s customer care involve to work behind the counter and as well as to look out in the dining areas to fulfill customer needs. McDonald’s receives the feedback of customers in many ways; which include telephone, internet, letters and also face-to-face compliments of customers when they visit the franchise. The “Contact us” option on the website of the McDonald’s UK allows the customers to give their feedback. It has been observed that on average 48% of customer feedbacks are generated through emails and website. Whereas, there are 25% of another means of contact; which include letters and telephones (McDonald's Corporation, 2010). The Chief Executive of the UK McDonald’s asserts that this move will boost the customer experience of the company as the company can be accessible to customers through internet and laptops. For some critics, the decision of Wi-Fi internet is a risky one but according to the spokeswoman of the company, it is generating good reviews, and it is a good way to get connected with the company while you were travelling (Schneider, 2003). McDonald’s is also running a self-service pilot program using the touch screen at the counters. According to the sources, this technique increases the capacity of the company to take more customers’. Moreover, it makes easy for the customers’ to punch in their orders, pay cash in the machine and get their change back once the order is done. The most important challenge for the company is the retention of customers and it begins with trust. Customers can be retained by several methods. The best way is to develop the passion of your brand in the customer, resolve their problems as they arise, make them feel special, and to built trust. McDonald’s UK concentrates its energy to add new customers but also tried to keep its older ones satisfied and happy. The company believes that adding new customers are far more difficult and costs more than maintaining the older ones. It is not easy to maximize the existing customers year after year, but it is easy to make them happy and loyal, develop exciting services for them. McDonalds incorporated well rounded strategies for building customer loyalty (Timm, n.d). Customer Care is all about maintaining a good environment and fixing problems of customers. At the McDonald’s UK, customer satisfaction is more important than any other thing. If you carefully listen and manage the complaint of your customer, he will like to come several times back. The company has been trying to maintain its credibility and reliability as these are the key ingredients in getting the customer loyalty. Furthermore, strong brand awareness and trust are the key factors that make the customers of McDonald’s UK loyal and satisfied. The company provides consistent food and a more attractive and consistent advertising. It assures the customers that they will get the top quality service every time they visit or do business with McDonald’s. The Customer Care agents are responsive, show empathy, well organized, well trained, credible and reliable. They make things easier for customers and create a friendly and excellent atmosphere. 4.2. Summary The key essentials of McDonald’s Customer Care are: To keep its customers’ happy and loyal. To be an accountable and caring company. To provide high quality food, quick service and value for money to all its customers. To serve in a friendly and cozy environment. To help its customers in resolving their problems and complaints as soon as possible. To design strategies which help the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to entail effective Customer Care. Answer the quarries of customers promptly and comprehensively. Making deliveries on time and also make sure that they are delivering the exact order to the customer. To introduce new products, this can attract the customers. To be consistent and to built trust of the customer. To incorporate well rounded strategies for building customer loyalty. To build the customs and environment of customer focus. Chapter 5: Conclusions The main aim of McDonald’s Customer Cares is to focus on the taste and service. According to the spokeswomen of the company, the three big achievements of McDonald’s are the value, taste and service (Royle & Towers, 2002). The company also raises its bar by providing efficient services to its customers, particularly, at the drive-through window. Moreover, due to its consistent quality, the McDonalds’ UK was voted for the McDonald's Advertiser for the Year in 1999 by the Campaign magazine. For the employees, the McDonald’s “Training for Dummies” program not only adds valuable training to the career but also provides great attitude, Customer Service skills, work ethics and knowledge of the industry. McDonald’s is also committed to the development of its employees as the customer satisfaction and loyalty are dependent on the motivated and well-trained representatives. The company has been nationally recognized as it achieved the Investor in People accreditation, awarded to the leading employers of the UK. Whereas, for the customers of the McDonald’s UK, it is a special treat. Despite all the controversies and criticism about the unhealthy food, McDonald’s is still going strong. 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