Unit 11: Customer Relations in Business

P1: In this task of assignment I am going to describe three different types of customers and their needs and expectation

1. Loyal Customers: These types of customers are less in numbers but promote more sales and profit as compared to other customers as these are the ones that are completely satisfied. These customers revisit the organization/business over times hence it is crucial to interact and keep in touch with them on a regular basis and invest much time and effort with them. Loyal customers want individual attention and that demands polite and respectful responses from supplier. 

  2. Discount Customers: Discount customers are also frequent visitors but they are only a part of business when offered with discounts on regular products and brands or they buy only low cost products. More is the discount the more they tend towards buying. These customers are mostly related to small industries or the industries that focus on low or marginal investments on products. Focus on these types of customers is also important as they also promote distinguished part of profit into business.

  3. Impulsive Customers: These customers are difficult to convince, as they want to do the business in urge. They don’t have any specific item into their product list but urge to buy what they find good and productive at that point of time. Handling these customers is a challenge as they are not particularly looking for a product and want the supplier to display.

 P2: In this task of assignment I am going to identify the benefits of good customer service in a selected organisation

In general, all business organisations' aim is to meet customers' needs and expectations it is important to have a good customer service in an organisation because it benefits everyone; customers and the business because delivering good customer service to customers it helps the business to build relationship between the customer and the business that creates customer loyalty which is good for the business because of the positive word of mouth of customers that they share tot heir friends or relatives will help the business to have repeat and new customers which transforms into higher sales for the business and positive reputation in public.

When business gets higher sales it benefits all the staffs, they may get a reward or bonuses from the company which is doing well and getting better every year which means employees job are safe and secure. There is also a possibility that staffs may increase their salaries/wages, health benefits, more training.

It also benefits the staff who worked really hard to deliver great customer service and also to achieve the company goal. However, I am going to use an example to demonstrate what is this all about. For an example: if there's two company opened next to each other; one name A COMPANY and the other one is B COMPANY. A Company is only doing normal customer service and B Company is doing their best to deliver an excellent customer service. The company who only does "normal" customer service will close sooner.

P3: In this chapter of assignment I am going to demonstrate presentation, communication and interpersonal skills in different customer service situation. I am going to have a play role with Zainab Kah and we are going to cover 3 scenarios of customer services. (Phone, Face-to-Face and responding a complaint e-mail from customer).

This is an e-mail that I have made to respond a customer who complaint about A's Fashion Clothing customer service.

P4: In this task of assignment I am going to explain what contributes to consistent and reliable customer service.

Job role: It is important for staff to know what they can and cannot do as part of their job, they shouldn't overstep their limits by making promises that are outside authority.

Knowledge of product and service: it is important for staff to know about the product and service available in order to provide customers with right information or advice them about the best option to suit their needs.

Staff attitude: Customer service staff should behave in acceptable manners, always polite and willing to help. Positive attitude is very important because it has influences on others.

Meeting specific customer needs: Staff should be able identify specific customer needs by talking to them and then matching their needs to the range of products or service.

Working under pressure: Busy time in a store can be really difficult for staff due to the fact that they have to serve a lot of customers. It Is important for staff to know to deal with situations like this. There are four rules to follow:

-Stay calm and don't panic.

-Do one thing at once.

-Deal with the most urgent things first.

-Work as fast as you can.

Dealing with problems: Customers have different problems and staff should be prepared to deal with them in different situations. There are a few rules to follow whilst dealing with a customer.

-Let them talk without interrupting.

-Check that you have the facts right.

-Do your best to help.

-Refer the problem to a supervisor if it is serious.

P5: In this unit of assignment I am going to describe how customer service can be monitored and evaluated.

Businesses monitor and evaluate their customer service so that they can solve problems and make an improvement on them. This can be done in many ways. The methods used usually depend on the size and type of the business. 

I am going to choose 1 business to be able to explain more on how to monitor and evaluate customer service. I chose Petrichor Restaurant for Informal Feedback and Westminster Kingsway College for Questionnaires.

Informal Feedback: Staffs need to do satisfaction check with all customers during their meal; asking how was the food? if they would like more drinks? etc. If there's anything wrong with the food go to the chef straight away to be able to change it and will give new one but if there's anything wrong with the service you need to tell to the managers and they will be the one who will deal with it.

Any customers complaints will be noted in a log book. In this way, it will help the business to identify and try to solve all complaints/problems and which things are need to improve and which things are need to stop. The team will give suggestions or any ideas on how to make customers happy because their feed backs are very important because this is the common way to monitor customer satisfaction and customer service too.


Questionnaires: Questionnaires are the same as survey which means all students are going to answer the questions and they can also write their opinion about the college and what the things that you to change/improve and then all results will be collected by teachers and teachers will pass all of it to managers. In this way teachers and managers will help them identify if students are happy and if they are receiving a good teaching service.

Formal Customer Feedback: this is when customers are making comments with  especially mention a name of the staff who gave them an excellent customer service which customers appreciate.

Informal customer feedback: this is when for an example a waiter asks a customer how their meal is when they are eating. Which is to see what's customers reaction or comments.

Customer questionnaires/comment cards are normally issued by a lot of businesses such as restaurants; these give the business an idea of how effective their customer service is. 

Mystery customers: they are employed to visit stores to assess staff. They may also check competitor's stores to compare service levels. 

Complaints and compliment letters: encouraged by many organisations as a form of feedback; If several similar complaints are received, there is obviously a problem that needs immediate attention. This is why organisations record the complaints they receive and then check to see if there are any common factors.

P6: In this task of assignment I will identify the outline of how improvements to the customer service in an organization could be made.

There are many different easy ways to improve the customer service of each company business or an organization. These are the most common tips that company should do.

1.) Hire someone who will play the role as a "mystery shopper" and the send that person to visit the shop of your competitors to experience their customer service. In this way you can get new ideas that you can apply to your business to improve your customer service.

2.) Analyse customer feed backs (surveys, questionnaires etc.) use the chance to find out what customers think about the company/organisation and what customers want. Always be practical- provide them discounts to encourage them to help you to identify what you could do better for your company.

3.) Motivate the staff by setting up customer service awards. You can use this award to motivate the staff to work hard and deliver the high standard of customer service.

4.) Treat staff as you treat your customers. Make your staff feel valued because happy staffs lead to happy customers and get positive feedback from them.

5.) Set measurable objectives around improved customer service.

6.) Review and do individual performance of each staff regularly, weekly or monthly.

7.) Have regular customer service meeting with the staff to encourage them to create and use the creativity of the group to brainstorm for the company to provide the "wow factor".

M1: In this task of assignment I am going to identify and explain how different customers' need and expectation can differ.

Now a days, customers needs and expectations can be differ in many ways because different customers have got a lot of different needs and expectations from the business/organisations. Such as loyal customers, discount customers and impulsive customers.

•Loyal Customers: This is an example of external customers.These types of customers are less in numbers but promote more sales and profit as compared to other customers as these are the ones that are completely satisfied. These customers revisit the organization/business over times hence it is crucial to interact and keep in touch with them on a regular basis and invest much time and effort with them. Loyal customers want individual attention and that demands polite and respectful responses from supplier. 

Loyal customers have a lot of expectations and needs from the company because they are repeating business with you and your business. For an example: if you are selling electronics, customers will always expect that if they buy your product it will work properly and it will last which means people always expect a good quality based on the price that they are willing to pay for your product.Therefore, when it comes to customer service, loyal customers always expect the friendliness of the staffs and their patient to help them choose products that they are looking for. On the other hand when it comes to the company, customers expect that they may have discount for being loyal to you business, for an example: the business can give customers a card which can help them to gain points everytime they buy something in store and then can able to exchange those points to a product.

Loyal customers only need few basic things. For example in the restaurant. If customers go to a restaurant they need enough toilets for all customers "only", so they won't need to queue up. 

As a conclusion, it is important to always keep in touch with your loyal customers by sending them a catalog, sending e-mails/text messages, and others to show them how much you value your relationship with them. In this way it also helps your company to have a good image to public and you have the chance that they will recommend your business to others such as to their friends and relatives.

•Discount Customers: This is another example of an external customer. Discount customers are also frequent visitors but they are only a part of business when offered with discounts on regular products and brands or they buy only low cost products. More is the discount the more they tend towards buying. These customers are mostly related to small industries or the industries that focus on low or marginal investments on products. Focus on these types of customers is also important as they also promote distinguished part of profit into business.

Discount customers are the people who frequently go to the shop and always expect to see discounted products or any other offer to save money. They always  expect more sizes and more stocks of clothes on sale. When it comes to online shopping, discounted customers expect that they get free delivery for their purchased and received the parcel as soon as possible.

On the other hand, discount customers need enough fitting room in store to avoid long queue and to save more time.

As a conclusion, discount customers have also a big impact in the business because they help the business to ensure the business' stock are turning over and it could be the key contributor to cash flow but it can also affects the business because of the customers who return the product.

•Impulsive Customers: This is another example of an external customer. These customers are difficult to convince, as they want to do the business in urge. They don’t have any specific item into their product list but urge to buy what they find good and productive at that point of time. Handling these customers is a challenge as they are not particularly looking for a product and want the supplier to display.

Impulsive customers don't expect too much and don't have specific needs because they don't have specific items to purchase in short, they  do have "To Do" list, but they go to the shop and just buy whatever they like without thinking the price.

As a conclusion, In business society, impulsive customers are the people who are everyone's like to serve and value. Helping and assisting an impulsive shopper is one of the challenging things to do. This is also the the best specific target for the clothing business because they are willing to spend high amount of money just to get what they want to buy.

M2: In this task of assignment I am going to produce a role play to be able to show my confident presentation, communication and interpersonal skills when demonstrating customer service in different customer service situations. 1 is face-to-face, 2nd is phone call and the 3rd is responding to customer's complaint.

M3: In this task of assignment I am going to analyse the importance of customer service to different businesses (In store and an online business). I am also going to explain the good and bad benefits of customer service. 

Each business has different way on how they promote or on how they introduce their products to customers. Some people decided to open their own store in the high street and some of them decided to open their business online. There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages of in store business and online business these are:

In store Businesses (Clothing)

-Advantages for customers: 

1) Customers can see all the products personally.
2) Customers can ask the staff some questions about the products that they are selling.
3) Customers can try the clothes that they like to see if they are suitable to them

-Disadvantages:

1) If the shop is busy, it is hard to find staffs to ask for help.
2) Sometimes you need to queue to pay for your things.
3) Prices are higher than online.

Online Businesses (Clothing)

-Advantages

1) Save Time: Customers don’t have to go to the shop, they can just relax at home and go to the company's website where they can make order and within 3-5 working days it will get delivered in their house. This is very convenient for everyone especially for all disabled customers because they do not need to carry heavy shopping bags. All they need to do is to make order through online and wait.

2) Able to order anytime: Online shopping are available 24/7 which means you can make orders anytime and anywhere. You do not need to wait in a long queue and waste your time. All you need to do is choose your things that you want to buy and when you checked out you all you need to do is enter your card details and it is done.

3) Different type of payment methods: Customers can choose different type of payment methods they can choose paying through Credit/Debit Cards, Payslips, Paypal, etc. It is also  keep your details safe and confidential  especially when you register at online website.

4) Discounts: Online websites offer massive discounts. It can be much cheaper buying things online instead of in store products.

-Disadvantages:

1) You cannot try the clothes that you want to purchase.
2) You have to wait 3-5 working days to receive your order.
3) You cannot easily return the product that you purchased online.

I have already identified the advantages and disadvantages of each different business (in store and online business. Therefore, both of the business has the same goal this is to deliver high standard of customer service. I am going to identify what are the benefits of good customer service and what are the effects of bad customer service. These are:

Benefits of good customer service: The benefits that you and your business may receive from delivering high standard of customer are:

-The chance to increased sales which means they may try and buy your other products or service.

-The chance to get customers' loyalty which means you have the possibility to make a deal with them again or they may also suggest your business to other people such as their family, friends and relatives.

-It helps you to create your own brand which helps you to stay secure from slip-up in customer service.

-If customers are happy with your service it helps you to build up relationships with customers and it also helps your business to create positive relationship with other staffs.

The points that I have used are related to the following benefits of customer service. These are:

• If customers are happy and satisfied of your customer service this will help the business to sell more products from repeat customers and from the new customers because of repeat customers' recommendations.

• A positive reputation of the business will help the business to increase more sales by encouraging and persuading new customers.

•The staff who provide an excellent customer service will receive their customer's appreciation reward to motivate other staffs to do the same.

Effects of bad customer service: Delivering poor customer service can have a big impact in business especially to all small businesses which they only rely on their repeat customers and positive word-of-mouth advertising which helps their business to survive and keep on trading. Therefore, poor customer service can:

-Loss their current and future customers: If their current customers have experienced a poor quality of customer service they will never come back to your store and they may spread the bad experienced to other people which other people will never try to go to your store.

-Bad Reputation: If your business is having a bad image to the public it has a big impact to you and to your business because people will think that if customers are treated poorly, then maybe employees are treated badly which can be the reason of why staffs are not delivering high quality of customer service.

-Loss of Profits: If your staffs are not delivering an excellent customer service customers will move to another business to receive a good customer service where they feel more appreciated, this situation translates into lower sales which means no enough profit for your business. If the business is not gaining enough profit the business will close down.

M4/D2: In this task of assignment I am going to explain how monitoring and evaluating can improve customer service for the customer, business organisation and for all the employee. 

Firstly, I am going to link the value of monitoring and evaluating to the improvements that organisations might make to customer service. The business can survive and can be successful by monitoring and evaluating the business which helps the business to make changes for better and make improvements to meet customers' needs and expectations which they can experience high standard of customer service and buy the products that are suitable/match to their needs.

These are the things that business can change:

• Provide the proper and high standard of customer service training for all the staffs.
• Prices should be appropriate depending on the quality of the products/service that they offer/provide.
• Different products to sell and services to offer/provide to increase sales.
• Get the right equipment for staffs to make their duties easy and convenient.
• Staffs behavior is very important, they should not bring their personal problem at work. They must be professional.
• Benefit Packages for all the staffs to motivated them to work hard and meet the business goal.
• The most important thing is that the business should always monitor and evaluate the products that they sell, update information through online websites, return policy and more. 

Secondly, I am going to explain on how an organisation can make improvements to customer service for customers. 

There's a lot of things to do to make customers' happy and contented. All you have to do is to deal with the customers, make them feel that they are important and that you are willing to help them with anything which is to deliver high standard of customer service. If they are satisfied from your service, they are willing to recommend your service to their other family member, relatives and friends.

There's a few that customers can change. These are:

-The quality of products/service and reliability.
-Prices
-Packaging
-Different products
-Speed of shipping

Thirdly, I am going to explain on how an organisation can make improvements to customer service for employees. I am going to use Frederick Herzberg's management theory to achieve employee job satisfaction.

In business, Frederick Herzberg's management theory is the right example to use to help the staffs to achieve success and job satisfaction because he made a list in order of importance that can do satisfaction and dissatisfaction of staffs. These are:

Determination (leading to satisfaction)

-Responsibility: It is very important in business that each and everyone know their own responsibility to meet the aim.
-Achievement: It is important that all the staffs clearly understand their goal to achieve success.
-Growth
-Recognition
-Advancement

Other Factors (leading to dissatisfaction):

-Salary/Wages
-Company Policies
-Work Rules and Regulations
-Relationship with Peers

If staffs are determined and motivates with their jobs they may feel the happiness of achieving things such as closing a deal with customers, if they love what they are doing which means it recognizes the things that they have done properly. There is also a possibility that they may receive because of the advancement and growth, staffs may get promoted or get a higher salary/wage.

Managers should also listen to their staffs suggestions, ideas or problems because if there is something that staffs don't like or something wrong with anything. Both side need to talk and compromise to fix the problem and staffs will have a better relation with their managers. Having a good relationship with people who you work with is one of the best way to reduce the number of turnover. 

Lastly, I am going to explain on how an organisation can make improvements to customer service to benefit the business. (Improve the way they train their employees).

There's a lot of things that the business can improve such as proper training for staffs on how to handle customers' compalaint, on how to deliver high standard of customer service.

Having a good relationship of employers to employees is important in business because if both of them are open to each other that means it is easy for the both side to solve the problem if there's any.

If all the staffs are doing their job properly and customers are satisfied the business will benefit from their staffs which means customers will talk to others about their experience from your business this means that the word of mouth of peopler are powerful it also helps the business to promote and advertise the company by providing an excellent customer service. It also help the company to increase sales and get feed backs froms customers to make changes to make the business better and to improve the products and service and also the way on how to run a business to be succesful

D1: In this task of assignment I am going to anticipate and meet the needs and expectations of different customers in three contrasting situations(face-to-face, phone call and responding to a customer complaint. 

This task of assignment is also part of the role play that I have done with my partner Zainab Kah. In the video I demonstrate how confident I am to meet my customer's needs and expectations from my business.

Unit 16

P1: In this chapter of  assignment, I am going to define my personal strengths  weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

 

Strengths (Internal):

-I am an organised person, I always meet my deadlines. I am also cheerful, bubbly and a hardworking person.

-I am good at ICT and Numeracy.

-I have got a job (at the moment, I am working as a F&B assistant in a 4 star hotel).

-I can speak Spanish fluently (It is my first language).

Weaknesses (Internal):

-English is not my first language.

-I am shy (I often socialize with other people).

-I don't have self-confidence (Sometimes, I am not confident to make my own decisions).

Opportunities:

-To go to University to study Business and Administration/Management. (after my 1 year business access course this coming September). 

-Get an apprentice to work for another company.

-Get a better part time job and wage .

-Gain more knowledges from my classmates/colleagues from work.

Threats:

-My progression to an access course (I need to get high grades and pass all my exams).

-People are more qualified and have more experience.

-People are more confident.

-Lack of work experience.

P2:I am going to analysis of  three different aspects (Regulations and Laws, Marketing and Sales & Financial Issues) that will affect business.

Regulations and Laws

Distance Selling Act (DSA): this is one of very well-known policy that have been made in business. The main purpose of the Distance Selling Act is to protect customers’ rights and keep their details safe and confidential   from shopping online or making a contract from distance supplier. This happens when customers don’t meet personally. (Source)

This policy provide customers the right to..

- Get proper and honest information about the products/goods from the supplier.

- An order cancellation period of 7 working days in which means pull out the contract from the supplier/customer.

- Protection of credit card payment which is to avoid identity fraud.

Employees’ Minimum Wage: this law helps the employees to get the right amount of payments from their employers and it helps all the employers to have ideas on how much do they need to pay their employees depending on their ages, working hours, etc. (Source)

The Current National Minimum Wage Rates 

There are currently aged based national minimum wage rates and an apprentice rate, which is always updated every month of October every year. The rates have been applied from 1^st October 2012. These are.. 

-21 years old and above: £6.19 per hour

-18 years old to 20 years old: £4.98 per hour

-Under 18 years old: £3.68 per hour

-Apprentices: £2.65 per hour

Partnership: are two or more people own the company and share the risk, cost, profits and business responsibilities. They have equal rights on making decisions. Therefore, partners are both in the risk once the business fails. (Source)

-Business set-up: Each person who involves in this business partnership needs to sign a partnership agreement/contract and also need to register with the Inland Revenue as self-employed.

-Management and raising finance: The people who are involve in this partnership should invest large amount of money for the business and they should also always be ready to face all the problems that they may have, including financial problems.

-Tax and National Insurance: As partners are self-employed, they will be taxed based on their profit share. Each of them needs to pay fixed-rate Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs) and Class 4 NICs.

-Profits: Partners share the money they gained.

Private Limited Company: Control and own by directors and shareholder. If the business fails, they only loose the money they invested and they are not responsible for any debts of the company. The worst part is they can't sell their shares to the public (stock exchange). (Source)

-Business Set-up: Private Limited Company must be legally registered (incorporated) at Companies House.

-Management and Finance: Board of directors or shareholders, depends who is the majority make the management decisions. Finance comes from shareholders, borrowing and retained profits.

*Public Limited Companies raise money by selling shares on the stock market, but private limited companies cannot.

-Profits: Their profits are divided to shareholders.

-Tax and National Insurance: The company pays the corporation tax and must make an annual return to the Inland Revenue.

*Company directors are employees of the company and they should pay Class 1 NI contributions as well as income tax on their salaries. 

Payment of Taxes: Any business should go to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to enquire about being self-employed. (Source)

There are two different types of corporation taxes rates that business should pay on time with the right amount. These are:

- Small company business rate of 19% on profits of £0 to £300,000

- Main rate of 30% of profits over £11.5 million

Income Tax: As a sole trader they will need to submit an annual self-assessment form to the Inland Revenue and keep accurate and up-to-date records of all business transactions and accounts. They will also need to pay income tax and National Insurance contribution any on profits. Losses can be offset against tax on other income.

National Insurance: The contributions are collected by HMRC from employed people and are linked to contributory benefits such as the state pension. There are various classes of contributions payable over a certain earnings which can affect the entitlement to benefits at later stage.

P3: In this task of assignment I am going to identify and  talk about marketing and sales.

Marketing and Sales

Online Marketing Campaign: There are a lot of different ways for marketing online such as Social Networks: It is very effective way to advertise your business and your products too because the adverts fee is very cheap and it is tailored and the targeted marketing is very specify this is very effective and efficient to use because it saves your time and money. Joining in social networks doesn't cost you anything; it is free to make your own profile/page.

Adverts in a Major Newspaper: This is another way to advertise the business you may catch a lot of peoples’ attention but on the other hand this kind of advert may cost you a lot of money it may be expensive or not depending the size you want; it should be eye-catching but simple. 

How to encourage repeat customer? (Source)

Business can be successful because of repeated sales or repeated customers to make it happens you must be devoted to your customers, making them come to you than other businesses that might offer the same service or products of yours. Make sure you stand out and you offer something more or different to set you apart from your other competitor, it maybe by your great customer service, competitive prices range or quality of your products or service.

You can offer them loyalty card by giving them good discount every time they spend more £75 buying your product or they can also collect points that they can use in the future to get extra discount when they purchase stuff, this might help you to encourage them to keep them coming back and even expand the number of customers with the word of mouth referral.

Make sure to have a good business reputation, so you can attract and encourage customer to buy your products and the most important is that your employees should be also polite, friendly and always willing to help. Gain your customers trust is very important and also make sure you do satisfaction survey/check to all the customers to make sure that they are happy with your products or service and if they have any problem don’t get scared, be polite and try to be friendly and  ask them if is it everything alright or what/how can you help them?

What I would do if sales were low?

If the business sales are low, there’s might be something going wrong with the products/goods or services. Business may need some changes on advertising or new different marketing strategy.

At the moment, I am going to research every detail that can possible affects the business. I am also going to research about my competitors in that way I can get ideas on how to improve the products/sells or services that I provide. I think I should try online marketing, because now a days a lot of people do online shopping, I can also do some offers such us 30% discount on selected items or buy 1 get 1 half price. Therefore, the most important thing is I will try to reduce my costs as possible as I can.

P4: In this task of assignment I am going to describe the financial issues that can affect preparation for the business.

-Borrowing money from family and friends: This is a good way of getting money because you don’t need to pay them straight away. You only need to pay them when you are ready; when you have your money and when you pay them back you don’t pay extra which means no interest. Therefore, the money that you borrowed from your family can also invest in your business if they want to be part of your business and it can be a successful business but on the other hand, they can be very disappointed and they may think that they just threw their money once the business fails.

-Borrowing money from the bank: When you borrow from the bank they ask you a lot of requirements that you may need to present to see if you are able to pay them back when they give you the money. However, you will have to pay the bank monthly and the worst part is paying them back with interest.  They will also ask you to give them a copy of your business plan so, they know where or in what will you spend your money. This this is a good thing for some reason because once they grant your request, you have the chance to change your lifestyle and your future.

-Costs greater than profits: Meaning of this is that you can be in debts and you might not be able to cover your next operating cost (for stock and other monthly costs). To ensure that you balance this out you should increase the number of sales and research about your other business competitor and start doing some changes that will help you to improve your business for better.

-Not maintaining accurate financial records: for not maintaining accurate financial records could possible affects your business because of all inaccurate figures; if your business costs aren't calculated properly you may lose money and the risk that you won’t have enough sales to cover up and because of the wrong calculation of profits you won’t able to do your break-even which means, will cause you in trouble.

The financial report/record is very important to see if your business is doing better or not and also to get information about your yearly cost budget. 

P5: In this unit of assignment I am going to analyze my business via SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats) Analysis

SWOT Analysis and Critical Success Factors:

Strengths (Internal):
•I have passion in fashion (clothing).
•I have enough money to open a new business.
•Another strength of my business would be if my factory manufacture and produce good quality clothing this may satisfy customers and there would be a chance that they will tell others about my products and this will help my business to get more customers and this might be the start to get a good reputation/image of my own business.

Weaknesses (Internal):
•I don't have any experience running a business.
•Time: It will takes time to finish and produce all my products.
•High rent, when I pay high rent the less chance I gain profits.
•Another weakness of my business is when I decided to expand and when my business starts getting bigger, is the harder to maintain quality control. The more of each product I produce, there will be some clothing that is damaged through the process of production and if it gets in the hands of a customer they might complain and spread the word that the quality of my clothes are not that great as they expect.

Opportunities (External):
•I might do Products offers (student discounts, buy one get one 1/2 price).
•Another business opportunity is that my business may get a chance to network with other business people and get the chance to expand the business to other places/countries it could be nationwide or worldwide.

Threats (External):
•Competitions with other brands this include the prices of my products, it should be the right price of each clothes to encourage people to buy my clothes.
•Location: I have to be careful and think wisely where to open my business. I must choose the place where the population is big and the rent is low.
•Legal changes make it hard for me to open a new business.
•Business Failure: I may be bankrupt and ends up losing all my savings.

P6: I will be describing the sources of advice when starting a business. These are:

-Solicitor/Lawyer
-Accountant
-B.I.S (Department for Business Innovation and Skills)
-C.A.B (Citizen Advice Bureau)
-Local Authority
-Mentor
-Family

I will also be explaining who they are? What they do? and How can they help me in starting a new business?

-Solicitor/Lawyer: is the person who gives you advice about legal matters in setting up your business. The business process should be proper and legal because this helps your business to avoid crises. A solicitor/lawyer can also help you to identify the possible problems and helps you to take actions to prevent them- protecting your business from risk and saving your money.

The solicitor/lawyer can help you about the company structure of your business by explaining all the different options and advise which the best one for your business and also a solicitor/can also set up the option you have choosen and when it comes about choosing your business premises a solicitor can help you to apply for your business license and also help you to fully understand the terms of the lease such as: increasing the rent, service charges, restrictions.

Therefore, a solicitor/lawyer is very important in business society because if someone sues you and your business, a solicitor/lawyer will help you find solutions to solve the problems or complaints.

-Accountant: an accountant is the right person to ask for help when it comes to money matters because a good accountant will help you to avoid paying unneccesary tax. She/He knows all the allowances and legitimate expenses and will make sure that you can claim all the money back. An accountant gives me advices about tax.

You should talk to an accountant before you open a new business because it is not good waiting for a long time (a year later) to discover tips that would have saved your money.

An accountant can give you advice whether or not you are better off to launch as a limited company or to operate as a sole trader. They will also advise on partnership issues and should generally steer you in the right direction.

-Family: Setting up a new business with my family advice gives you self-confidence of what you are doing because of their support. It also helps you a lot because it would be easy and convinient for you to get ideas on how to encourage customers/clients. It also presents unique challenges over and above the usual problems a startup phases. 

Family advice is very useful because you can use them to help the next generation to survive their business.

-Local Authority: The local authority can led you money and gives you low interest rates to encourage you to set up your own business by helping you and your business to learn what kind of services you may need to use and know about. These include collecting business rates and approving planning applications, enforcing health and safety, environment and trading standards requirements and issuing parking permits. 

-Mentor: A mentor is the person who provides advice base on her/his experience and expertees on how to survive and prosper your business in business society.

A mentor can help you on how you should run your business properly by giving ideas and advices and she/he also helps you to make decisions for your business to be successful and not to fail.

-B.I.S (Department for Business Innovation and Skills): is the department who gives you ideas about the economic growth by investing in skills and education to advertise/promote trade and bosst innovation and they can also help you and other people to start and grow a business. They also protect all the consumers and reduce the impact of regulation.

B.I.S can help you to gain new skills that you may need to compete the global employment market. They can help you to research about the business industry , which is very important to help economic growth of your business. They also provide you a lot of information about the consumer law, which is you can get ideas how to use the consumers/customers right.

The most important about B.I.S is that they can help you to get better regulation by reducing the amount of regulation and they can also help your business about the businesses cut time, save money and to be more efficient.

-C.A.B (Citizen Advice Bureau): is the department who can help you to resolve your financial issues such as debts, benefits, employment, and housing. They can also help you to resolve your emotional problem such us being descriminated against by somebody else.

You can get advice from CAB by phoning them or face to face.
 

"As a conclusion, I would use both individual and organisational (formal and informal) advice for starting up my business.

The first step I would do is to go to consult a solicitor/lawyer to get information about all legal matters and legal processes in business and then, I am going to consult an accountant to get information about money matters which is can help me to avoid paying unneccesary tax and get some ideas how on to manage the money.

After consulting a solicitor/lawyer and an accountant, I am going to a mentor who has got the same business as me and has got an excellent experience of running a business to ask for help, advice and train me on how to be a succesful businesswoman. Secondly, I am going to ask my family, relatives and friends about their opinions, ideas and advises in running a business.

Therefore, I would also go to consult other organisation such as: BIS, CAB and Local Authority because these organisations can give me the right advice with all the bases of my business including terms and regulations, financial issues, location for my business and more."

M1: In this task of assignment I am going to talk about the benefits of starting your own business. I am also going to give an example of someone who started their own business. (Bill Gates)

Now a days, people have chosen to become self-employed because their jobs are not secured. Therefore, there are a lot of advantages of being self-employed such as:

-Be your own boss which means you can make your own decisions without asking anyone but on the other hand, it also brings its own responsibilities and challenges.

-Making money/profit: Having your own business means you can make money by selling your products or providing services. You should put back some of your profit into your business to survive and the rest you can keep it for yourself. It is your decision how to manage your money; it is either use it to expand your business or merge with other company.

-Create your own success which means your business success is in your hand and it is in your decision; you do not have anyone to blame but yourself, So think twice before you decision and also always be prepared to take the risk.

-Gain new experience in life which means being in business society is a good experience because its improve your self-confident to solve problems which can be your strength too.

All of these are just few examples of being self-employed. Therefore, you need to research about your competitors and make a clear plan for your target market such as: which strategies you may need to encourage customers to buy your products.

Starting up in a business is not easy, but it is challenging for everyone; especially for those people who have passion in business.

Bill Gates is one of examples of successful businessmen in the world, he is the CEO of Microsoft (the largest computer software in the world). He is ranked as the world's wealthiest people from 1995 to 2009; except year 2008 which he was third. In year 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the second wealthiest in the world.

"He didn't have a proper study plan and he also spent plenty of time using the school's facilities such as computers. Bill Gates remained in touch with Paul Allen. Then, the following year they both saw the release of the MITS Altair 88 00 based on the Intel 8080 CPU and both of them saw the chance to start their own computer software company."

Conclusion: Everyone have got opportunity to be successful in life like other successful businessmen/businesswomen, all we need to do is to work hard and be wise.

M2: In this task of assignment I am going to make a list and explain all the possible benefits for customers and business in developing an online business.

Customer's Benefits:

-Save Time: Customers don’t have to go to the shop, they can just relax at home and go to the company's website where they can make order and within 3-5 working days it will get delivered in their house. This is very convenient for everyone especially for all disabled customers because they do not need to carry heavy shopping bags. All they need to do is to make order through online and wait.

-Able to order anytime: Online shopping are available 24/7 which means you can make orders anytime and anywhere. You do not need to wait in a long queue and waste your time. All you need to do is choose your things that you want to buy and when you checked out you all you need to do is enter your card details and it is done.

-Different type of payment methods: Customers can choose different type of payment methods they can choose paying through Credit/Debit Cards, Payslips, Paypal, etc. It is also  keep your details safe and confidential  especially when you register at online website.

-Discounts: Online websites offer massive discounts. It can be much cheaper buying things online instead of in store products.

Businesses' Benefits:

Having your own website is very convenient for you and for your business because it has 24/7 presence for customers; they can still check and order something anytime from your website. It is also very helpful and useful because you can control all the contents of your products such as changing the prices, adding new products, etc.

Unit 10: Personal Selling in Business

Introduction:

In this unit of assignment I am going to talk about "Personal Selling in Business", covered topics: The Role of Sale Staff and Selling Skills and Processes.

P1: In this task of assignment I am going to describe the role of sales staff of The Cavendish Hotel (4 star hotel).

First of all, sale staff  works in different kind of business; it could be in a shop in high street, hotel, etc. A sale staff should be polite and friendly to all customers because if not, the business will be in trouble and may not even survive in its first year.

The main role of a sale staff is to promote or sell the goods/products of the company including; making the product look very interesting to encourage people to buy and it is also important to have knowledge about the product that the company sells or to provide service too such as to do customer satisfaction including; help the customers. It is also part of sale staff's role to help customers to match the products/services depending on their 
requirements which means a good sales staff will link the product surround to the customer's lifestyle and needs.

As a sale staff it is also important to build up relationship with customers to get ideas of what they want and need that's the reason why sale staff should establish customers needs/requirements such as:

-Price: it could be crucial for most of the customer but they do not really mind for others.
-Availability: it is a hard time for some who needs the product/service urgently.
-Appearance: it could be vary depending on the customer and the product.
-Specific Needs: a customer could need a blazer with a bigger size to fit for her/his daughter.
-Benefits: a customer can have a guarantee to exchange the product or a free delivery when they purchased a lot.

For example:

"As a staff of The Cavendish Hotel my main role in this company is to serve customers with respect and to make it happen I always do the right things to show that I care about them and I am happy to help them at all times.

It is also part of my role to promote our  new promotions for example: afternoon teas; the prize could be cheaper or same price but including a glass of champagne, dinner; encourage the guest to buy/order other side dishes, cold and hot drinks or try to up sell other things that they might interest.

As a conclusion, it is important for me to have knowledge about the place where I work because most of the guests ask questions such as the prices for breakfasts, what are the promotions we have for the month of June, how many rooms do we have and more. If I am able to answer all of these basic questions of guests, they will have a good impression about the hotel and staffs; there's also a chance that they will come back again and share their experienced with their families, friends and relatives."

P2: In this task of assignment I am going to identify and explain the techniques that sale staff used when making personal sales and I am also going to identify whom and when they might be used.

-Cold Calling: is the call that recipient doesn't expect but this is the way to contact a firm or to communicate to people privately and individually just to get a new business.

It can be use in different business situations, especially when they have new product released and new offer. For example: Three mobile network. 

Three mobile network call all three customers to inform them that for this month they are having this promotion for example: SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 for only £25/m and upfront cost is only £19. They will always try to persuade you to close a deal with them.

-Face-to-Face Selling: is the way to call customers by appointment just to promote the new products, provide information about the products and get feedback from customers.

It can happen to all in store. Why? because people go to the store to buy their needs and this is also an opportunity for salespeople to show their customer service and also the chance for them to make customers' happy and satisfied. If customers are happy and satisfied there is a possibility that they will come back again which is good for your business.

-Drop-in-Visit: is made by casual sellers who may call on small shops and house holders to sell their wares/product.

Drop-in-visit happens when casual sellers come to you or visit your business to promote their products and inform you about their new promotions. It happens more often in small businesses such as kiosks

-Inward Calls: is the way to respond to all customers inquiries.

-Telemarketing: is use to contact potential customers by phone (often calls from call centre).

Telemarketing is almost like the same as cold-calling. It can be use in different business situations, especially when they have new product released and new offer. For example: Three mobile network. 

Three mobile network call all three customers to inform them that for this month they are having this promotion for example: SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 for only £25/m and upfront cost is only £19. They will always try to persuade you to close a deal with them.

P3: In this task of assignment I am going to explain the knowledge and skills that sale staff used when making personal sales and about The Legislation Affecting Personal Selling.

-Good Sales Habits: As a sales staff it is important to have a good sales habits to help you to promote your products.  I have researched and I found out a lot of ways of Good Sales Habits.

-Good Sales Techniques: Never trick customers because it is very important to always be honest to make a sale because you can build a relation with customers and there's a possibility that they're coming back and buy your products, it is also important for the company if a sale staff is continually focused on the needs and expectations of the customer.

-Product Knowledge: It would be an advantage for you and for the company that you know the products that you sell because most of the customers ask about the products and it would look so impressive if you answer their queries without reading the paper. This kind of technique will build up a good image/reputation of your company.

-Inwardly Motivated to Sell: When you are happy on what you doing/working. This motivates you to achieve the company goals such as increasing sales, deliver high standard of customer service, etc.

-Ability to Close a Sale: It is really a big help and it benefits you and the company if you have/build up your self-confidence because it gives you the ability to promote the products and make customers want to buy the goods/products that you offer to them.

-Rewarding and Motivating Staffs: Organisations should motivate staffs and gives rewards too because this help them to motivated themselves to do their job properly.

The Legislation Affecting Personal Selling.

The Legislation affects personal selling when customers purchase a products or asking for service they have to make a contract with the seller/company or an organisation.

The customers can contact the seller/company by:

-Writing them an e-mail or a letter.

• A sales contract from mobile company such as Three, O2,etc.
• Using an order form from the company catalog.
• Credit agreement. (When customer agrees to pay monthly for the goods, the seller/company need to have an agreement contract.)

-Phoning them and have a verbal agreement.

• Having a verbal agreement it can happened when a sales staff call the customer to offer any new products that they have and if the customer agrees to buy it, the seller accepts the payment through phone.

There's a lot of different ways to close a deal/contract, these are:

a) Performance: which is the customer/s accepted and paid the goods and services that they get.

b) Agreement:It usually happens when customer/s return the product and claim a refund.

c) Breach of contract: It happens when the terms and conditions of the deal (contract) have not been close. (For example: The products that the seller sells are faulty and customers do not pay for what they buy.)

Different types law that customers should know to protect themselves from the sellers.

-Consumer Protection (Distance Selling Regulations Act 2005): This law is important because it protects the costumer against products or services sold by catalogs (mail order), telephone, fax or e-mail. This law has been passed in year 2000 and it has been amended in year 2005. Therefore, some B2B transactions are not included from the  Distance Selling Regulations Act 2005.

-Consumer Protection (Distance Selling Regulations Act 2005): This law gives ideas and provide information to everyone as customer/s that they should get the proper product/service information. They should also get a confirmation e-mail or SMS after they purchase and the most important thing is customer will have a full refund when their order are not delivered.

-Sale of Goods Act 1994 /Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 / Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002: These laws are all stating that the new or secondhand products should be proper and clearly describe, make sure that the product has got high satisfactory quality and it is fit on purpose.

-Consumer Protection Act 1987: This law covers about the product/service prices and their safety uses. It also states that it is an offence to: Trick customer/s about the prices of products or services this include exaggerate discounts, sell/provide bad quality and unsafe products (General Product Safety Regulation 2005). 

-Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982: This law relates customers against selling products especially about providing services because according to the law services should be completed within a reasonable in time, care & skills and also should be completed using proper and durable materials Therefore, customer/s should only pay for reasonable charge.

-Consumer Credit Act 1974: This law protects all the customers from credit loan agreements. Organisations that offer loan agreements should have licensed to do. (For example: protects customers against interest rates.)

-Trade Description Act 1968: This law covers the offence by selling goods or providing services which have been wrongly describe by the producer/manufacturer and also by making fake claims for services.

P4: In this task of assignment I am going to talk about how to prepare to make personal sales it is also part of the role play that I have made. Therefore, I have made a list to show what do's you have to apply to make customers' happy and what don'ts you need to stop to improve your selling skills.

Most of the companies spend a lot of money on advertising their business and products online, newspapers, billboards, etc. They're doing this to attract customers and encourage them to buy your products. Therefore, sales people must have these skills and abilities to be able to impress customers. These are:

-Job satisfaction
-Product knowledge
-Determined, hardworking, friendly and patience
-Up-to-date sales training for everyone
-The ability to meet customers needs and expectations.
-The ability to fit the product to the customer based on their age.
-The ability to solve customers problems/complaints.
-The ability to close a deal with customers.
-Lastly, as a salesperson it's important your cleanliness and your appearance.

There are also few things to remember as a salesperson these are:

-Do not be aggressive to customers, stay calm and be more patience with them.
-Never talk about your life, customers have no interest to know about your life.
-Never go to work and approach customers smelling of alcohol or cigarettes because they may find disrespectful.
-Do not argue with customers, stay calm and simply ask questions or their needs.
-Never criticise other brands, just tell them what's the difference of your products and theirs.
 
P5: In this task of assignment I am going to use selling skills and processes to make sales. I am going to make a role play video to cover these following topics.

• Approach a customer
• Identify their needs
• Promote your products
• Respond to objections
• Conclude the transaction 

Therefore, I am going to use AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action) to be able a close a deal with customers.

AIDA  is the way which salesperson should be focus with customers to reach successful sale and be able to close a deal.

Attention: As a sales staff it is important to allow enough time for yourself to talk to the customer to show interest  that you are willing to help them.However always remember that spending too much time with the customer may feel annoyed and it may lead the customer to leave the shop right away.

Interest: It's important to meet the customer's needs because it shows your interest and willingness to help them looking for what customer's want and need, to make it happen, you need to make conversation with the customer asking for what is she/he looking for. For example if you are working in clothing you have to ask the customer such as:

-What size are you looking for?
-What color are you looking for?

This questions will help the salesperson to ensure that the customer will get the right product that they are looking for. If they are happy of what they bought and they are happy with your service there's a possibility that they may come again.

Desire: The desire for the customer to love the product as the sales staff engaged with the features of the product to meet customer's needs and expectations.

Action: As a salesperson it is important to make sure that the customer purchase the right product that they want this way you can avoid returning product because one simple mistake can ruin the sale.

M1: In this of assignment I am going to explain the role of sales staff and also to find out how and why sales people are important to an organisation and then, I am going explain the sales techniques who used by personal sellers.

As a sale staff, you should be always polite and friendly to all the customers, even they give you a hard time you should be patient with them to encourage them to buy your products because if not the business will struggle and may not even survive. 

Why sales people are important?

The people who work in sales play the most important role in all the business organisations because they are the public face of business who deal with the customers wants and needs. Their attitude and performance will automatically affects the business' revenue and profits, which means, they are directly helping and contributing to meet all goals of the business. These are:

-First point of contact: The first point of contact with customers is a big challenge for sales people because they need to deliver great customer service to impress customers because customers' first impression is very important for the business because there will be a possibility that they will come back again and spread their experience with their family, friends and relatives which means there will be a chance that they will visit your store and buy some of your products.
-Provide Information: This is one of the common ways to get customers interest because in this way you have the chance to talk to them and there's a possibility to meet their needs/expectations.
-Developing Customer Care: It's important for all sales staff to identify their clients to be able to help them and it shows that they care about them and always willing to build up relationship with their customers.
-Gathering Feed backs: Gathering feed backs from customers are such a good thing for the business because it helps the business to know what things they need to improve and work out to deliver an excellent customer service.

There are also different sales techniques that sale staff used to get customer's attention and try to encourage them. These are:

-Cold Calling: is the call that recipient doesn't expect but this is the way to contact a firm or to communicate to people privately and individually just to get a new business.
-Face-to-Face Selling: is the way to call customers by appointment just to promote the new products, provide information about the products and get feedback from customers.
-Drop-in-Visit: is made by casual sellers who may call on small shops and house holders to sell their wares/product.
-Inward Calls: is the way to respond to all customers inquiries.
-Telemarketing: is use to contact potential customers by phone (often calls from call centre).

"As a conclusion, every company/organisation has got different way to make money especially how to promote their products/goods and also being a sale staff has got the most important role in the retail because they are the one who face and encourage the customer to buy the products".

M2: In this chapter of assignment I am going to compare the selling skills and processes used in different situations. I am going to choose 2 different situations one is face-to-face (selling your products in store for example: Cars/Motorbike) and the second one is phone call (promoting your product via phone call for example: Talk talk broadband). I am also going to identify their similarities and differences.

One of the similarities between the two selling situations I have identified is to build up relationship between the salesperson and customers to get the opportunity to get their trust and to be able always keep them in touch including to get feed backs from customers to find out in which area does the business need to improve to be able meet customers need and expectations.

Face-to-face selling technique is easier to use to encourage customers. This technique can be actually used when customers go to shop, where a salesperson can encourage and to help customers to make sure that they buy what exactly they want or if they are interested in any. I choose KFC as an example of Face-to-face selling technique. KFC uses this selling technique because they are the first who usually communicate with customers. KFC's customer service is very simple when you analyse it. It is like this:

1) Greet customers
2) Ask for their order/meal
3) Ask customers if they want anything else
4) Take the payment
5)Prepare customers' meal and give it to them
6) Say "Thank you, enjoy your meal"

Telemarketing technique is the other way to promote new products or offers through calling specific target. They always call their potential customers at the right time and place when/where they are not busy and have time to talk to them and have time to listen. I am going to use Carphone Warehouse (Mobile and Network seller: 02, Orange, etc). This company use this kind of technique to be able to promote/advertise their new offer to catch customers' attention. Now a days they randomly called you just to inform you about the new things they have. Telemarketing processes is long because they will need to wait until people pick up their phones before they start talking about the product and offers. These are few steps to be a good telemarketer:

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Good-Telemarketer

This is face-to-face and telemarketing selling  techniques have similarities when it comes to selling because both of them have got the same goal which is to make money by selling the product to public. They have same sales skills to be able sell products and make more money for the company. Another similarity I have identified is the way how they handle customers' complaints.This is another similarities of face-to-face and phone call selling because if they get customers' complaints both of them will try their best to resolve the problem as soon as possible to make customers' happy and not lose their trust. 


One of their differences between the two selling situations I have identified is face-to-face selling is easier for the salesperson to encourage and persuade the customer to buy the products because salesperson can show the product personally which means it is easier for you to sell your products. In this way there's a possibility that the customer will buy the product that you offer to the customer. However, phone call selling doesn't work all the time because most of the customers don't give a chance the salesperson who's on the phone to explain the reason why they are calling because most of the customers are not bothered to listen and they can easily say to the salesperson that on the phone that they are not interested and they are busy so, they just hang up the phone.

D1: In this chapter of assignment Zainab (customer) and me (salesperson) made a video of different type of selling situations as an evidence to be able to demonstrate the confident use of personal selling skills when making sales.

D2: In this task of assignment I made video as an evidence where I was acting as a salesperson  and my partner Zainab was acting as a customer. I am also going to evaluate the preparation, skills and processes used in different situations.

In my role play, I made three scenarios which are phone calling (to take an order from customer), face-to-face (to make a refund for the customer) and sending an e-mail (to solve the problem with the customer's complaint). I think I showed my confidence in our role play even though, my partner (Zainab) and I didn't have enough time to practice. Therefore, we practiced before we started the role play to make sure that we were both aware of what we need to do in the role play. 

In the first part of the scenario which is phone calling, where Zainab called me to make an order that she saw online. I greeted her, I asked her how could I help? and when she gave me the details, I was patient to check the product for her to be able to meet her expectations and needs and also to make her feel satisfied, after a 2 minutes, I found the jeans the she was looking for, I also tried to up sell with her by asking her is she would like to add anything else because if she will order more than £40.00 she will get a free delivery but she said "NO" to me, so, I just took her details to be able to complete her purchased. In the second part of scenario which is face-to-face, when she walked in store, I approached her on how could I help her? She said wants to return the product that she bought online so, I asked if she wants a new one instead or to exchange it to another but she told me that she wants a refund so, I did the refund for her and after that, I asked her if there was anything else I could help? and she said nothing else and she was happy and satisfied because she got what she wanted. Last scenario which is replying to customer's complaint, I used formal language to show that I was serious and sincere to apologies for what happened and I assured them that it ill never going to happen again. I also offer them discounts whenever they buy something from in store and a free delivery for a month when they order anything from online.

This is the example of replying to a customer's complaint an-email:

In my opinion, my partner (Zainab) and I did really a good job with our role play because both of us gave our very best to be able to meet one of the important criteria in this unit covering: to demonstrate my confidence of being a salesperson, to be able to up sell other products and I also gave my best to be able to demonstrate of good customer service, for example:  asking her of what is she looking for (designs, size, colors) to be able meet her needs and expectations. I also explained to her about the policy of our delivery just in case she wants to order through online. However, there are  things to improve for the next transaction with customers. These are:

-Offer the customer for more selection. In  this way, it helps you to increase sales of the business.
-Give or send them feed back card after they purchase in store or online.