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1. CRM initiatives
The overall strategic business objective of CRM is to build loyal customer
relationships, where companies can anticipate their customers’ needs and use
information to personalize relationships, providing customers with confidence and
trust in their dealings with the organization. Under this overall strategy, CRM
translates into a multitude of specific projects or tactics, ranging from introducing
new, diverse distribution channels aligned with people’s changing lifestyles, to
understanding customer value and using this to prioritize marketing and service
resources. CRM initiatives can result in reduced costs and increased profits. Loyal
customers are typically less sensitive to price and therefore drive yields upwards
rather than diminishing them. Marketing to loyal customers is also far more cost-
effective than acquiring new ones. Research has shown that identifying and
developing new customers is between four and ten times more costly than retaining
existing ones. Distribution costs may also fall as distributing and marketing products
through the optimal channel mix for the individual will optimize returns compared
with promoting and using inappropriate and ineffective means.
CRM focuses on three imperatives of customer relationships:
• Customer acquisition –Who are the profitable customers and how do we attract
them?
• Customer development – How do we deliver what the customer wants, how they
want it, when they want it to optimize profits and revenue?
• Customer retention – How do we build and sustain customer loyalty?
There are many means of achieving these goals, including:
• Understanding customer value and lifecycle to prioritize marketing and service
resources
• Using customer information to target promotional offers and cross-selling activities
effectively
• Using customer information in the design and development of products and services
• Recognizing customers as individuals at all customer-contact points
• Offering personalized or mass-customized service
• Utilizing multiple alternate channels for marketing, sales and service transactions in
order to improve service and reduce cost
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• Increasing the “share of customer” through greater penetration.
Within this report you will find that I have chosen 3 organisations(Air mauritius,
Naïade Resorts, Garden of Love Hair Saloon) from different business lines and have
discussed a little about their customer approach, how far have they been successful in
managing their customer, what customer oriented strategies they use, and finally how
they can improve customer loyalty, value added/new customers.
2. Brief description of each company:
2.1.1. Air Mauritius Limited
Air Mauritius Limited is the national airline of Mauritius, based in the Air
Mauritius Centre in Port Louis. It operates regional and international services to over
30 destinations with 80 flights per week.
2.1.2. Vision
“Your Preferred Leisure Airline”
2.1.3. Mission Statement
We are committed to delighting our customers by providing a unique travel
experience in genuine mauritian style.
We do this by improving our products and service levels in line with changing
customer expectations.
We aim to be recognised as a rewarding performance-driven organisation and a great
place to work for our employees.
2.2. Naïade Resorts
2007 sees the dawn of an exciting new era for Naïade Resorts, the Mauritian hotel
group renowned for its exclusive service and warm hospitality. Founded in 1990,
Naïade Resorts is now the second largest Mauritian hotel company, with an
undisputed reputation in the Indian Ocean. Naiade is upgrading all of its current
properties to provide state-of-the-art new luxury facilities and increased levels of
service and raised star ratings. This will make Naiade one of the most luxurious
Resort companies in the Indian Ocean.
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2.2.1. Mission Statement
Naïade Resorts is committed to realising our guest’s dreams. We achieve this by
developing and providing innovative, daring and excellent hospitality products served
by devoted, committed, highly trained, vibrant people: our Key Asset. In so doing, we
always strive to create and sustain outstanding returns and value for our shareholders,
and to honour our social and environmental responsibilities to the fullest.
2.2.2. Core Values
Our Guests
We put our guests at the forefront of everything with a view to always being their first
choice and making their happiness, desires and feeling of peace our philosophy.
2.3. Garden of Love Hair Salon
In business 15 years, the owner(Sebastien) has seen many faces and many hairstyles,
which allowed him to see women/men differently. Similarly, it takes time to listen to
the client before beginning to comb, to understand what she wants.
2.3.1. Vision
Garden of Love Hair Salon be recognised by the Mauritian public and the
hairdressing industry as pioneers and experts in hair extensions and dreadlocks and
excellence in hairdressing.
2.3.2. Mission Statement
Every person that has contact with Garden of Love Salon enters a unique hairdressing
experience.
A hairdressing experience that not only transforms the external look but invigorates
the soul within.
A hairdressing experience that imparts true friendship, inspiration and beauty.
3. Strategies used by each organisation:
Air Mauritius, Naïade Resorts and Garden of Love are said to adopt a customer
centric approach which is an approach of doing business in which they focus on
creating consumer experience at the point of sale and post-sale. A customer-centric
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approach can add value to a company by differentiating themselves from competitors
who do not offer the same experience. But actually is not really the case. These 3
companies focus more on marketing their products and services rather than
developing and retaining their customer through customer loyalty programs.
4. Customer Approach of each organisation:
4.1. Garden of Love
Strategy Pyramids
The single objective is to position GoL as the premier, full service, family salon in the
area of Port Louis. The marketing strategy will seek to first create customer
awareness regarding the services offered, then develop the customer base, and
finally work toward building customer loyalty and referrals.
The message that GoL seeks to communicate is that the entire family can be served
quickly, professionally, with superior customer service at reasonable rates. The
message is communicated through various methods. The first is in-store and
storefront displays. This is a convenient method to attract people that walk past
GoL’s store front.
The other method of communication is advertisements in local newspapers. These
newspapers are widely read and will reach a large base of people.
Marketing Mix
GoL's marketing mix is comprised of the following approaches to pricing,
distribution, advertising and promotion, and customer service.
Pricing: GoL's pricing scheme will be based on a competitive pricing model
with other similar service providers.
Distribution: All of Garden of Love's services and products are dispensed
from its centrally located store.
Advertising and Promotion: Locating the store in a high traffic mall
increases visibility significantly. A targeted advertising campaign like magazines,
television and radio advertissements also communicates GoL's desired messages.
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Customer Service: All of GoL's employees have been trained in exceptional
customer service. All employees have discretion to remedy any problems
encountered on their own without having to first receive permission from a
supervisor.
Video Approach
Sebastien makes use of videos which he records himself to promote his products and
services. He posts these videos on Youtube and gets the word out about the business.
The videos comprise of himself and introductions of other hairdressers in the saloon,
outside shots of the building, he makes the hairdressers say a few words and smile for
the camera. This does not only help potential customers find the saloon, but it also
build a good reputation and it puts the saloon in a position of authority.
4.2. Naïade Resorts
There are many issues affecting the delivery of customer service and how the guests
selects Naïade. Thanks to web sites such as TripAdvisor, among many others, a
potential guest has an opportunity to preview the service delivery at any hotel through
the eyes of past guests. Guest Comment Cards, many hotels’ primary measurement
of service delivery, tend to be skewed by those guests who had a problem or those
guests who had an extraordinary experience (and the goal is for all of them to have
extraordinary experiences). It is safe to assume that the ‘rating web sites’ have the
same skew, discounting any attempts to seed the reviews by the hotel staff.
Advertisements: Naïade make use of newspaper, bill boards, magazines to advertise
special discounts and holiday packages.
Price: Naïade usually makes use of price skimming as it aims to be on top of the
market by setting high price and selling to those customers who are less price
sensitive. During vacation periods, it lowers its prices to make it more affordable for
low income earners.
4.3. Air Mauritius
Air Mauritius has made several investments directed at improving the customer
experience with the Company. These include products and services which have been
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outlined on our website www.airmauritius.com, which has also been upgraded and
enhanced. Air Mauritius has introduced new systems to make passenger travel
simpler and more convenient. In line with IATA’s ‘Simplifying the Business’
programme, it has implemented the Bar Coded Boarding Pass (BCBP) system at SSR
International airport in Mauritius and at Sir Gaetan Duval airport in Rodrigues. The
rollout of BCBP in other airports where Air Mauritius operates is also on-going so
that the Company can reap the benefits of reduction of check-in related operation
costs and improved use of airport space. A new online Internet Check-in service has
also been offered to passengers since July 2008. This service is available in
Mauritius, Rodrigues, Paris, London and Reunion and will be gradually extended to
other countries where the airline flies to. With this facility, passengers can check-in
online through the Air Mauritius web site, select their seats and print their boarding
pass before they proceed to the airport. Baggage drop off counters have also been set
up, thereby offering fast track access for web check-in passengers. Furthermore, as
part of the Company’s strategy to develop an enterprise wide CRM platform to better
serve its customers, Air Mauritius has carried out the implementation of the Oracle
Siebel system during the year. This encompasses the Sales, Marketing, Loyalty,
Contact Centre, Complaint Management, and Help Desk activities of the Company.
This CRM system is the enabler for the Company’s Loyalty programme and assists
the Company to enhance customer loyalty, better service corporate business, improve
sales and manage customer recovery whilst optimising its service relationships with
its important customers.
Advertisements: Air Mauritius also makes use of media, magazines, bill boards to
advertise its services.
Sales Promotion: For holiday seasons, it reduces freight charges so as to encourage
more people to travel abroad.
5. Are they successful in managing their customers:
5.1. Air mauritius
Customer experience
It places the needs of passengers first, and offers service above and beyond the
ordinary. Even in economy class, the experience is unforgettable. Pillows and
blankets are carefully placed on every seat. Once in the air, smiling attendants offer
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champagne or orange juice, and carefully avoid smashing passenger's body parts with
their carts! Passengers receive a kit containing a toothbrush, toothpaste and special
socks for the trip. At the beginning and the end of each flight, passengers receive hot
towels to freshen up.
“All classes enjoy first-class treatment. I don't think I ever saw a peanut or pretzel on
this flight” Passengers are presented with a menu with meal choices. The food in
economy is better than other carriers' first class flights. After meals, attendants bring
alcoholic beverages, juice or anything else you want--no charge”
On the other hand, Air Mauritius is not always perfect, it does have its negative part
also. Here are some frequent flyers reviews:
“Crew kept the AC on Heat at 100 degrees for first 3 hours of a flight. Had to take
shirt off! The free TV they boast about did not work and half the airplane passengers
were sweating all the way. Why they keep flying aircraft without a working ac and
subjecting passengers to this torture on long flights is beyond me. This is the third
time they cook me. I had to continuously soak my t shirt to survive! The AC blasted
us with HOT AIR all the way”
“The steward was just being irritated when he was being called by a passenger and
was showing rude attitudes”
“Flights are delayed frequently and passengers have to wait for hours”
“1st time flyers are usually stressed during their flight and the hostesses don’t even
care when they are called. If they would care for the passenger comfort, they would
have come to ask the latter if they need something or talk to them to make them feel
more at ease”
An ongoing passenger satisfaction survey was implemented in May 2008 on board by
means of a questionnaire in four languages: English, French, German and Italian.
This was complemented with qualitative study in the form of face to face interview
and focus groups with passengers. The survey reflected the performance of service
areas, and corrective actions as well as necessary improvements are in the process of
being implemented.
Customer reviews show that Air Mauritius is successful, but only to some extent.
Customer Management needs to be improved even more so as to keep customers
satisfied of the service they are being provided with.
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5.2. Garden of Love
Customers visiting Garden of Love on a regular basis were interviewed and the
results showed that more than 80% of the customers were satisfied of the products
and services.
One of the clients responded in the following ways:
“When you are in their salon, you just feel at home. Each customer who walks
in is greeted warmly and by name. New customers also receive the same level
of welcome and attention. If I have not been to the salon in a long time,
Annette(one the hair dressers) will pick up her phone and call me just to say
hello.
Annette even remembers the names of my family members and asks after their
health. If I am too busy to have my hair done during working hours, she offers
to either come to my home after hours or suggests that I go to her residence.
If another customer comes in while she is attending to me, she politely greets
them and assigns a hair dresser to them or offers them a seat and apologises if
they have to wait.
If her cell phone rings while she is attending to me, she excuses herself and
answers the phone quickly, telling the caller that she will call them back later.
If she notices that I am in a hurry and her cell phone rings while she is
attending to me, she ignores it totally and gives me her full attention.”
When their is a long queue, Annette asks her clients who are in a hurry and
who can wait. The ones who can wait, they are provided with magazines and
a cup of coffee and in the meanwhile she attends to those in a hurry first.
Some clients who are 1st time clients do feel irritated to wait because they don’t know
the potentials of the hairdressers yet. Sometimes GoL gives more priorities to its
existing clients only and ignores the new ones.
1st time customer experience: “I asked Sebastien if I can get an appointment for
doing facial and hair cut but frankly refused me and said that he only gives
appointment to his frequent clients”.
Customer care in places like hair salons should be personalised. Each customer
should be treated as a unique individual and given maximum attention to encourage
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them to come back. A customer should be treated as queen and served to the best of
saloon staff’s ability. Anyone visiting Garden of Love will find a pleasant
atmosphere, in-store decoration, background music, a relaxed environment, friendly
and attentive staffs, and get the feeling of being part of the group but on the other
hand it does have its bad part also. So, The above scenario shows that Garden of
Love is able to manage its customers sucessfully to some extent. It must continue
with this trend and give similar treatment to his new clients also.
5.3. Naïade Resorts
Guests Reviews from Guest Books
“My kids enjoyed the stay. It’s a home away from home for us. Premier
Executive is worth staying in. This is my 2nd stay at Naïade and wouldn’t be
the last. Staff at the Lounge were FANTASTIC!!”
“This is my 3rd time staying in your hotel, but this time I managed to book
using online system and thankfully the online internet rates is cheaper than
published rates. (will recommend my company staff to stay here using
internet/online booking).”
“This is in regards to the service given by you and your piers. We visited your
restaurant for my brother’s wedding ceremony on the 29th of May 2010 and
would like to compliment you and your piers for the excellent service that all
of you have offered us. All of you had helped us in arranging the ceremony
and were very polite and helpful to the guest. It was very impressive on how
you managed to pull the ceremony off and handled the whole function. The
food served was delightful and all the guests were praising the service and the
food. Everyone were satisfied by the service and taken by surprise by the level
of service satisfaction offered by your team. They were even deciding that
they would choose your restaurant as one of the top choices for any of their
functions in future.”
“Very good hotel. Staff very efficient & friendly. The gym is excellent &
modern. Staff very helpful. Highly recommended & would come back
again.”
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Bad Exprience Reviews:
“On one particular vacation the maid stole our liquor, medical supplies and baby
food. We contacted the room manager and they in turn contacted her.. she admitted
she stole the items.. I asked her to return the prescription medication as it was for my
children. She never returned any of it., and there was one of those digital
thermometers in the tote bag. So I lost about Rs75000 worth of stuff. This was at a
very high priced hotel. And to make this vacation really bad, my son got extremely
ill and was hospitalized”
“I sat on the bed, and it collapsed. When the maintenance guy came, he lifted the bed
and sat the bricks holding the bed back up. Fortunately, we were only there one night
and went on to another hotel the next night”.
By analysing these reviews, it can be concluded that Naïade Resorts have been
successful in managing its customers.
6. What can these organisations do to improve customer loyalty+value added or new
customers:
6.1. Air Mauritius
Training programmes for new employees and refresher courses must be carried out.
To increase the visibility of complaints, Air Mauritius should:
Add people-loving people to its team. This may sound too simple, but
employees who are outgoing and friendly tend to be nice to customers and
empathetic concerning their problems. Intelligence and problem solving skills
are a plus, too.
Offer periodic customer service training programs. These programs often
provide role plays of various scenarios which mimic a range of customer
interactions. Ongoing training like this will encourage customer-oriented
behaviors and practices.
Give employees the authority to make some difficult decisions on their own.
Well defined customer service guidelines will provide a basis for this
authority. When employees make good decisions they must be congratulated
and, in turn, encourage further customer-oriented decision making.
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Allow customers to give feedback. Surveys may be issued or randomly call
customers to get their opinions. The customers will usually be glad to share
this information. Be sure to act on any feedback that can show how to
improve customer service.
Air hostesses must smile atleast twice to each passenger.
They must always consider passengers as thier friends and family members
and accordingly, always do their best to fulfill passengers’requirements with
care even if they are exhausted.
Each time the call button rings, especially that of the first-class cabin, air
hostesses must feel guilty and blame themselves for not having anticipated
everything the passenger might need.
They must perform variety of personal services conducive to safety and
comfort of passengers during flight.
Passengers must be properly greeted, and directed to their assigned seats.
Air hostesses must assist passengers to store carry-on luggage in overhead,
garment, or under seat storage.
They must explain use of safety equipment, such as seat belts, oxygen masks,
and life jackets.
Hostesses and stewards must walks aisle of plane to verify that passengers
have complied with Federal regulations prior to take off.
They must serve previously prepared meals and beverages.
They must observe passengers to detect signs of discomfort, and issues
palliatives to relieve passenger ailments, such as airsickness and insomnia.
Adopt a positive attitude and be nice to the passengers so that the latter does
not complain at the end of the flight and the flight becomes a memorable one
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for the passengers as well as for the hostesses and automatically for the
organisation also.
6.2. Naïade Resorts
Guest contact rule: Eye contact, smile, greeting. Guest name should be used.
Giving directions: Take first five steps with guest, and escort them whenever
possible. Avoid short answers and pointing.
Answering telephone: Greeting (Good morning, afternoon, evening). Use
guest name display, Department name, Associate name. "How may I assist
you?"
Name tag and uniforms: Must be clean and pressed since this is the first
communication to the guest.
Eliminate "reality intrusions," such as associate conversations, internal
problems, personal phone calls, etc., in the presence of the guest.
Guest problems: Take complete ownership until resolution.
Positive attitude: Use positive words -- "I'll be happy to," "Certainly," "My
pleasure," "Yes," "Of course." Always have an alternative to the answer "no."
Always speak positively of the hotel and be a good ambassador.
Guest names: Learn and use each guest's surname.
Be proactive: Take care of people by showing initiative to anticipate and
fulfill their needs.
Be knowledgeable: Staff must understand all parts of their job so that they
always contribute 100 percent to servicing guests. For that, proper training
programs must be carried out.
Environment: Uncompromising levels of cleanliness are the responsibility of
every associate. Clean as you go and maintain a safe, clean and neat area.
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Fond farewell: Use phrases like "Thank you for staying with us," "We
appreciate your business," or "Thank you for having breakfast, lunch, dinner
with us today."
Customers want a smiling face.
Personnel experts say that you have only eight seconds to make a good first
impression. The person who greets customers as they enter the restaurant sets
the pace for the entire experience. Select your hosts and hostesses as if they
are representing the attitude of every person on your team -- in fact, they are.
Customers want available staff members.
Few guests want servers who hover at the table, but a server should be
available within a minute or two of a customer needing something.
Experienced servers continually make the rounds of each table in their station
to make sure that all is well.
When you listen to complaints of people about restaurants, one that is often
voiced is that the staff congregated in a clump, chatting away, while the
customer did everything but stand on his chair to get their attention. Being
available doesn't have to mean instantaneous service -- in fact, all but the most
demanding customer will be reasonable and voice their request in "When you
have time, could you...?" or "We just need one more fork..."
Customers want choices.
Show the customer that you are flexible and you can work around their diets
and tastes. Don't get so tied into "efficiency" that you can't provide
substitutions or other choices. Whether it's including a no- or low-fat salad
dressing in your selection or allowing a customer to have the sauce on the
side, it's good business sense to let your customers customize their order, if
possible. While meal customization and flexibility can add to the expense of
your service, if you need a stronger business rationalization to encourage your
servers and kitchen staff to cater to specific tastes and dietary needs, take a
longer view. Your efforts will be rewarded in repeat business and word-of-
mouth advertising.
Customers want a smooth relationship.
Cultivating a good relationship with your customers can be a process that
develops over years. When a customer has a pleasant experience at your hotel
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the first time, your relationship is not over. It has just begun. You've set the
customer's expectations at a certain point, and that customer will expect as
good -- or better -- experience the next time they come to your place. Naïade
must accomplish this by providing high-quality service and food product
while continuing to communicate and listen to its customers.
Customers want knowledgeable staff members.
The servers, housekeepers can be bombarded with questions -- all of which
seem reasonable to the customers. To them the server is an "expert" who is
expected to have all the answers to their questions at their fingertips. Make
sure the servers understand the components of the various dishes and how
they are prepared. Naïade must post and review "frequently asked questions"
at their lineups, so that customers' questions can be easily answered.
6.3. Garden Of Love
Greet the customers by their name.
Ask them about their choice and preferences.
Treatments, products, styling and appointment times must be personalised for
each customer.
At every interaction, the customers must be made not only special but perhaps
the most special and valued customer the organisation has.
The stylists must know which of their customers like to talk and which topics
they like to talk about. They must remember important things about each
customer’s life and lifestyle e.g how many children they have, information
about their career, their favourite sports. Each topic they talk must be
carefully remembered and on customers’ next visit, conversations must be
continued from where they left off.
Customers must be provided with brochures and catalogues.
Some customers must be contacted by phone, email, depending on their
preferences.
Provide a children corner in the saloon. Many women have little kids and
whenever they have to visit a saloon, they have to take their children with
them. So, while the children will be occupied in the children corner, the
ladies in the mean time can enjoy their pampering.
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Free Haircut on the Fifth Visit:
The loyal customers must be rewarded. When someone returns to GoL for the
fifth time, it means something: she/he is more than a repeat customer, that
person is now a loyal patron. The hairdresser must let his clients know that he
rewards loyalty with a free hair cut on the fifth booking.
Bring a Friend:
The owner can not only ask for referrals but also reward his clients for
bringing a new business through the door. Both of them must be given a
reason to come together. Customers must be encouraged to spread the word
through on their MySpace/Facebook page or by email.
Free Haircut with Color Service on First Visit:
A haircut is fast and easy so why not give it away with the purchase of a more
expensive beauty service. In this way, new clients will have the opportunity
to see if really the stylists possess required skills and if they are satisfied, they
will surely come back to them.
7. Conclusion
Customer Relationship Management is essential to compete effectively in
today’s marketplace. The more effectively you can use the information about
your customers to meet their needs, the more profitable you will be. The root
to a successful business requires that you understand your customers and their
requirements. From the above analysis, the organisations have been able to
suceed in their respective businesses but only to some extent and thats why
they still exist. If proper customer relationship management programs will be
carried out, they will suceed even further as they will be able to acquire,
develop and retain customers. Though Garden of Love is a small organisation
compared to Air Mauritius and Naïade resorts, it has been able to gain
customer confidence which is a plus point for the organisation.
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References:
http://fliiby.com/file
http://naiade.com/en/the_group/company_profile
http://www.lemauritien.org/wes/
http://www.expertbase.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
http://www.airmauritius.com/investors/MKAnnualReport08-09
http://customerservicezone.com
http://www.adhp.org/pdf
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