Lesson 1: customer orientation as a marketing basis

Reading:

The purpose of any business is to create and maintain profitable customers. Customers are attracted and retained when their needs are met, and they also talk favorably to others about their satisfaction. That is why the customer's satisfaction leading to profit is the central goal of hospitality marketing. And what about profits? Hospitality managers sometimes act as if today's profits are primary, and customer satisfaction is secondary. This attitude eventually sinks a firm as it finds fewer repeat customers and faces increasingly negative reputation. Good managers understand that profits are best seen as the result of running a business well, rather than as its sole purpose. Managers who try to maximize short-run profits are short-selling both the customer and the company. Consider the following episode, which is rather typical for a restaurant business. A customer arrived at a restaurant before closing time and was greeted with "What do you want?" Somewhat surprised, the customer replied that he would like to get a bite to eat. A surly voice informed him that the restaurant was closed. The customer pointed to a sign on the door stating that the restaurant was open until nine. "Yeah, but the time I clean up and put the food away it'll be nine, so we're closed." The customer left and went to another restaurant a block away.

Let's think for a moment. Why was the customer treated so shabbily? Perhaps the employee wanted to leave early, or she suffered from a headache, or she had personal or family problems. Consider these reasons and others. How many are really valid? All of us have aches and family problems, and places to go. So does the customer, and as long as we depend on customers for our livelihood, their needs come first.

What really happened in this episode is that the employee once served a customer right before closing time, resulting in the employee working until ten thirty. Instead of being thanked for staying late, she was reprimanded for putting in extra time. The managers wanted to keep down overtime expenses. But they don't realize that they are losing customers and hundreds of dollars of future business. Service falls short when employees are trying to please their immediate boss forgetting about the needs of the customer. People employed in hospitality industry are part of the product their company is selling. How they answer the phone, greet customers, and solve customer's problems is very important. Marketing calls upon everyone in the company to be customer-oriented, not only the personnel of the marketing department. Everyone in the organization has to make decisions based on the impact on the customer. Satisfying his needs is a priority in any business.

 

 

Exercises:

1. Find in the text the following topical words and phrases, make sure that you are able to explain in English what they mean, and add them to your working vocabulary:

to retain a customer, to run a business, short-run profit, to be reprimanded, overtime expenses.

 

2. Write out from the text the sentences or their parts which contain the words and phrases given below and translate them into Russian:

primary, to sink a firm, closing time, a surly voice, to clean up, to treat smb shabbily, a valid reason, livelihood, to fall short, to short-sell a company.

 

3. Answer the following questions using the topical words and phrases:

1. Why should the company's profits be secondary to the customer's satisfaction?

2. Why do short-run profits short-sell the company?

3. When did the customer arrive at the restaurant?

4. Why did he insist on being served?

5. How did the waiter explain her unwillingness to serve the customer?

6. What did the customer do?

7. Why was the waiter rude?

8. Do you agree that the customer's problems should have priority over the employee's?

9. Why is it necessary for everyone employed in a hospitality company to be engaged in marketing operations?