Leadership assessment 4 - Essay Example

As the name of the business suggests, our Unique Selling Point is competitive pricing where we try to offer products to our customers at lowest possible rates. Retaining this price advantage in the long run is unfeasible as operating costs have to be maintained at the lowest level at all times. Expansion has increased the operating costs which renders the business unprofitable with the current low profit margin. Also competing on price is unhealthy as we remain vulnerable to new entrants that can offer better prices and customer service.

Hence, as the CEO of Cheap as Chips, I will raise the current profit margin by 10% and provide extra to the customers in terms of utility and customer care through investing in our human resource capital. This will also help us to improve our reputation in the competitive market as customers are not just looking for a place to buy products of their need but a complete shopping experience where convenience and long term customer relationships is the winning factor. In order to elevate our image, we will move from being price-centric to being customer centric.

The first step towards customer satisfaction is a staff force that is ever ready to assist the customer, anticipate their problems beforehand and come up with solutions in minimum time. Performance criteria will be developed for each job description so that every employee knows what is expected of him. Performance appraisals will be done monthly in the beginning, especially for the sales force as they are the company’s face for the customers. For the sales staff, performance will not only be judged by the sales made in a department but also the ability of the salesperson to maintain favorable customer relationships.

Any gap between threshold performance and current performance of personnel will be filled by training sessions which will be an on-going