Expanding Customer Relations.

Expanding Customer Relations at Naturally Beautiful, INC.

Your relationship with your customers is directly tied to the financial well-being of your

business. Building strong customer relations will develop customer loyalty and retain valuable,

long-term clients, increasing revenue from repeat purchases (Fontanella, 2020). Developing an

amazing product is one of the hardest challenges that a company can overcome and it is one of

the best ways to succeed but strong customer relations are what will truly determine the success

of a business.

Dealing with customer concerns at Naturally Beautiful, INC.

 Incorrect Delivery

The frequency of wrong orders being delivered is higher in the case of online purchases. The

mistake can be from the warehouse picker who gets confused when the products are similar. This

is only evident when the product is unboxed where the mismatch in size and style is visible. The

most important thing is to determine the source of the problem and understand it from the

customers’ point of view. Now Jill and the team can work towards actually solving the issue at

hand. After the team fully understands what the customer wants or is upset about, they can

brainstorm the solutions. They should consider different solutions to offer to Ricks’s company

and come up with the best one for both parties involved. After apologizing for the

inconvenience, they should ensure that the customer is satisfied with the service by trying to

offer a replacement, store credit, or a refund. Any customer service incident is an excellent

learning opportunity for the future and for it not to be repeated it should be recorded.
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 Late Delivery

Nearly half of customers (45%) say that they are unlikely to continue ordering from a company

even after just one instance of late delivery. On-time deliveries though are not always within a

business’s control and avoiding customer concerns and complaints when they question you about

late delivery only worsens the situation. The first solution to this problem is being honest about

your capabilities to the customer in this case Rick. Jill and the team should not put the company

in a situation where late deliveries are common because of logistical reasons. They should

provide the customer with a realistic shipping time, even if that means their competitors can

deliver quicker. Quick delivery is an attractive benefit to the customers but knowing when to

expect their products is far more important. The other solution to this problem is being

transparent about delays. Customers are more forgiving when you are transparent about the

reasons for the delays of their products or even services in some instances. The third solution to

dealing with customers in instances of late delivery is being generous with your time and

compensation. Many businesses ask their unsatisfied clients to message them privately, and

frequently this means they offer some compensation for their inconvenience.

 Delayed Customer Training

Customer training helps customers use a company’s product the way you intend them to use it to

the fullest, often, and seamlessly. Your product brings value to customers because it makes their

lives easier in some way. Customer satisfaction increases, and this is just the first of many

benefits to follow. Just like in delayed delivery and late delivery, Jill and the team should first

apologize to Sarah and her team for the delay in conducting the training as promised. The next

step would be to make an arrangement for a training session as soon as possible. Not many

companies bother to develop a custom training program and by offering customers something
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that your competitors do not customer loyalty surges. Apart from catching their attention, a

customer-training program also shows customers you want them to get the most out of your

product. Modern customers have more power in their buying decisions than before. Customer

training takes it one step further and helps them gain the maximum value from your product

(Zoe, 2021).

Long-Term Implications of Poor Customer Relations In a Company

Customer service is arguably the most important thing for a business to get right. Great customer

service can overcome poor marketing, but very difficult to replace poor customer service with

the most exceptional marketing. It is normal for small mistakes to happen or to encounter

customers that are impossible to deal with. These are generally small bumps in the road and do

not constitute bad customer service however they are considered universally unacceptable. There

are several side effects to a business due to poor customer relations and they are highlighted

below.

 A damaged reputation: The modern customer is quick to write negative reviews online

when they have a bad experience with a company. In addition to leaving critical reviews,

customers also vent their frustrations on social media for their friends, family, colleagues,

and the entire world to see. The key solution to this is to have a key or senior figure

within the company reach out to those aggrieved to make amends.

 Leads Don’t Convert: Although the term customer service implies current customers, all

interactions with prospects, leads, and anyone else can fall into this category. Great

customer service upfront leaves an awesome first impression and gets leads excited about

doing business with your company. The solution to this problem can be solved by having

a good customer relations system (CRM) which can help sales reps respond to leads
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quickly, with all information they need at their disposal, and help the company keep track

of every engagement that the company has had with the company.

 Your Customer Lifetime Value Drops: Acquiring new customers is usually more

expensive than keeping your current customers. That is one of the key reasons why

delivering great customer service is so important in a business. While bad customer

service can destroy a business’s average customer lifetime value, putting more strain on

your marketing budget to attract more customers, good customer service can actually

save these relationships.

The best way to solve bad customer service at Naturally Beautiful, INC is to prevent it, but

the second-best way is to get it corrected before it gets out of hand.

Ensuring Long-Term Customer Relationships

There is a strong correlation between long-term business success and long-term customer

relationships. Successful companies capitalize on every stage of the customer life circle, from

customer selection to customer acquisition, customer retention, and customer growth.

The following are just a few customer touchpoints that can be used to strengthen relationships

and keep customers informed and engaged at Naturally Beautiful, INC:

 Feedback: Ask for, capture and act on your customer’s input. Customer surveys are a

very important part of improving relationships with customers. Create surveys with an

incentive to gather feedback on what your brand is doing right and wrong.

 Newsletters, Email messages, and Surveys: Provide product updates, promote goods

and services, and communicate news/ events. Create awareness of what’s happening at

your company and why they should know about it.

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 Customer Loyalty: Implement loyalty, affinity, and rewards programs. Build brand

loyalty with programs that give discounts and freebies to those who use your company

frequently.

 Insight: Do research on your customers’ markets, strategies and goals. Data analysis

tools should be part of your sales team planning. Market trends shift often and you need

to know what strategies to increase shares or enter new markets.

 Be accessible: Make it easy for clients to reach you. When customers reach out, make it a

point to return calls and emails promptly.

References
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Bolton, R., Lemon, K., & Verhoef, P. (2008). Expanding Business-to-Business Customer

Relationships: Modeling the Customer's Upgrade Decision, 5.

Brooks, C. (April 2020). How Do You Sustain and Grow Your Customer Relationships?, 2.

DiScipio, T. (2022). 5 Worst Side Effects of Bad Customer Service (and How To Avoid Them),

2,3.

Fontanella, C. ( June 2020). What is Customer Relations? Everything You Need to Know, 2.

Galle, N. (October 2019). Customer Service 101: How to Respond to an Order Complaint and

Keep the Customer, 1.

Malende, M., Samusenko, K., & Tootmaa, K. (2015). CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP. A tool for

consumer relationship Development, 12.

Panko, R. (August 2021). POST-PURCHASE RETAIL SHIPPING SHOPPER EXPERIENCE.

How to Respond to Customers After a Late Delivery.

Saarijarvi, H., Karjaluoto, K., & Kuusela, H. (April 2013). Extending customer relationship

management: From empowering firms to empowering customers, 1.

Zoe, E. (2021). Why you need a customer training program, and how to do it right, 1.

(Brooks, April 2020) (Saarijarvi, Karjaluoto, & Kuusela, April 2013) (Bolton, Lemon, &

Verhoef, 2008) (Malende, Samusenko, & Tootmaa, 2015) (Fontanella, June 2020) (Galle,

October 2019) (Panko, August 2021) (Zoe E. , 2021) (DiScipio, 2022)