Customer Focus for Strategic Advantage Report - Business Strategy

This report delves into the critical importance of customer focus for achieving strategic advantage in a competitive business environment. It examines the relationship between customer focus, organizational value, and objectives, using Crabtree Company as a case study. The report analyzes customer expectations, market positioning, financial performance impacts, and the significance of customer retention and satisfaction. It explores the concept of a 'listening organization,' highlighting the value of customer and employee feedback. Furthermore, it assesses methods for measuring the effectiveness of people development approaches, the role of leadership in empowerment, and the relationship between people development and customer service. The report also covers the utilization of recognition and reward systems, communication with stakeholders, and the design of customer service procedures. Finally, it compares different approaches, analyzes the challenges of maintaining customer focus, and emphasizes the importance of a feedback loop for continuous improvement.

Customer Focus for Strategic
Advantage

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................4
Critical analysis of relationship between customer focus, organisational value and objectives 4
Analysing the customer expectation and services in context of services offered by an
organisation.................................................................................................................................5
Identifying the relationship between customer service strategy and market positioning of
product by firm ...........................................................................................................................5
Analysing the way financial performance and business growth imperatives impact on
customer service strategies..........................................................................................................5
Significance of customer retention and one-off customer satisfaction when sustaining and
developing competitive advantage..............................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
Concept of listening organisation ...............................................................................................6
Significance of customers as well as employee feedback in context of achieving a customer
service vision ..............................................................................................................................6
Benefits of utilising different listening methods ........................................................................7
Evaluating the methods which can be utilised for analysing the information gathered .............7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Measuring the effectiveness of approaches related to development of people ..........................8
Assessing actions of leaders which contributes to empowerment in customer service.............8
Identifying the relationship between development of people, empowerment and services
related to customer service .........................................................................................................8
Significance of empowerment in context of improvement in customer service.........................8
SECTION 2 .....................................................................................................................................9
Determining the way manager utilises recognition and reward of staff to support customer
service strategy............................................................................................................................9
Analysing the way motivation and performance model can contribute to the accomplishment
of objective related to customer service......................................................................................9
Evaluating the options available that can be utilised for communicating with stakeholders ....9

Determining the reason for presenting customer service strategy to stakeholders.....................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
Analysing the way customer service strategy and objectives lead to the design of customer
service procedure......................................................................................................................10
Analysing the contribution of technology in making customer driven procedure effective.....10
Significance of continuous improvement as well as services ..................................................10
TASK 5..........................................................................................................................................10
Comparing two different approaches.......................................................................................10
Evaluating the role of manager and other employees in developing, implementing and
promoting continuous improvement in customer services .......................................................11
Analysing the challenges which might arise in maintaining customer focus...........................11
Demonstrating the way feedback loop is crucial for continuous improvement ......................11
Identification of the factor which determines the speed at which customer service
improvements can be made.......................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
In present highly competitive business environment focusing on the needs and demands
of customers has become very much important for business entities. It very much crucial for
companies to fulfil the needs of customers, as this will help them in maintaining the
sustainability in the market.
The report will include critical analysis of relationship between customer focus and
organisational value as well as objectives. Crabtree Company will be taken into consideration in
present study. Some approaches to people development in relation to customer service strategies
will be highlighted in the assignment.
TASK 1
Critical analysis of relationship between customer focus, organisational value and objectives
The main purpose of adoption of customer focus strategy of Crabtree Company is to
develop strong relationship with client and to retain them for long time. It is required by the firm
to integrate all their business plans and strategies, as this tactic will assist organisation in meeting
the expectation of customers. It is required by manager in Crabtree to develop execute the
detailed analysis of their strategy as this will support them in identifying the area as well as need
for improvement. In addition, to this, detailed analysis of customer focus will also support
management in setting the relevant objectives (Quirke, 2017). The vision of is Crabtree
Company is to achieve leadership position in an industry. Objectives of an organisation to
provide memorable experience to its clients. Value of Crabtree Company is that it has focus on
quality services at reasonable cost to customers. Fairness and integrity are two principles which
represents the value of an enterprise.
In context of British telecom, vision of business entity is to be a leading organisation in
telecommunication sector. The vision of British telecom, reflects e effectiveness in the services
provided by an enterprise. On the other hand , the vision of Crabtree also indicate customer
service, as business entity wants to achieve leadership position by delivering the quality services
to its clients.

Analysing the customer expectation and services in context of services offered by an
organisation.
Customer expectation can be defined as the total perceived benefit which an individual
expects which an individual expects while purchasing or consuming the goods or services
offered by an organisation. Organisation’s main objective is to enhance the customer
telecommunication sales. This is the effectiveness process in order to grab the customer focus..
Crabtrees Ltd. offering telephone service to the customer. Crabtres by conducting the market
research can easily analyse the need as well as expectation of customers. In addition to this,
company can directly seek feedback from customers. Both the strategy will help business entity
in identifying the ways to fulfil customer needs (Kull, Mena and Korschun, 2016). The
disadvantage of market research is that it can be costly as well as time consuming.
Identifying the relationship between customer service strategy and market positioning of
product by firm
Market positioning is a strategy which is utilised by companies for selecting the suitable
market for positioning their products or services. The purpose of market positioning strategy is to
provide good experience to customers. Crabtrees Ltd. Is providing quality services at low cost
which has assisted business entity in providing high level of satisfaction to customers. It is
required by an enterprise to develop an effective customer service strategy before entering into
new market (Couper, Crawford and Young, 2017). As this strategy will help Crabtrees Ltd. In
gaining competitive advantage. Market research strategy will assist an organisation in identifying
the needs and analysing the expectation of customers. It will also help an enterprise ion
improving business performance.
Analysing the way financial performance and business growth imperatives impact on customer
service strategies
According to (Rothaermel, 2015 ) financial performance and desired to foster business
growth is considered to be as two important factors which encourages firm to develop effective
strategies for improving customer service. It is required by Crabtrees Ltd. To implement
different strategies for increasing sales as this will help them in improving financial performance.
Business entity can adopt market entry strategy, as this will assist business entity in increasing
sale. In addition to this, Crabtrees Ltd. Need to concentrate on delivering quality service , as this
is very much crucial in context of fostering growth.

Significance of customer retention and one-off customer satisfaction when sustaining and
developing competitive advantage.
Customer retention is an essential part for the organisations. Customer satisfaction is the
key aspect for the company which helps them in maintain the sustainability (Demil and et.al.,
2015). Customer retention is important for company’s in context of increasing sales and revenue.
Besides, customer satisfaction is necessary to gain the competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage helps Crabtrees to sustain the leading position in the market by
providing satisfactory services to the customers. With the growth of marketing strategies,
company always require taking the further steps to give better satisfaction to customers. In
addition to this,Crabtrees can provide high level of satisfaction to its clients by providing them
with quality services at reasonable cost.
TASK 2
Concept of listening organisation
Organisation listening can be defined as a procedure of deploying listening techniques in
order to effectively capture sentiments of workers. In context of Crabtrees, business entity is
considered to be have effective listening skills, management in an enterprise allows its
employees to participate in the decision making procedure related to bringing improvement in
customer services. Manager in Crabtrees, by developing the reward system encourages workers
to share their view or ideas related to improvement of customer services. In context of business,
an effective listening can be helpful in developing strong relationship with employees. Listening
skills by an organisation has direct as well as significant influence on the way business entity
interact with customers and other companies.
Significance of customers as well as employee feedback in context of achieving a customer
service vision
Customer and employee’s feedback may give new ideas and strategies to improve the
customer service. Collecting the customer feedback will support Crabtrees, in demonstrating that
an organisation value the opinion provided by their clients. Taking feedback is considered to be
as an effective strategy for engaging the customers in business. The author (Bryson, 2017), states

that seeking suggestion or feedback directly from consumers might assist firm in offering
services which are nearest to the expectation of clients. Collecting the feedback from customers
is considered to be as effective strategy which can support Crabtrees, in identifying the needs and
demand of customers related to services. It is required by manager to motivate workers to share
their ideas related to the ways through which improvement can be done in customer service.
Benefits of utilising different listening methods
Crabtrees can adopt different methods for listening to the suggestion from customers.
Few methods of listening to the suggestion or queries of customers which can be adopted by
Crabtrees are :
Social media: It is considered to be as an effective method of seeking suggestion or feedback
from customers. The major advantage of utilising this method is that Crabtrees take advice and
can solve queries of large number of customers. Other advantage is that an enterprise can provide
quick response to the queries of customers. Drawback of using social media is that negative
feedback or comment from single client can have negative effect on the reputation of firm.
Survey : It is considered to as other effective method of seeking advice or feedback directly
from customers. The major drawback of survey is that the procedure can be quite time as well as
cost consuming.
Using communication device such as telephone : It provides management an ease in getting
the quick response from the customers. This method involves high cost.
Evaluating the methods which can be utilised for analysing the information gathered
The two commonly utilised technique which are used for analysing the information
collected related to customer service. These methods are :
Dundas BI
An organisation can utilise Dundas BI for analysing the facts or information related to
customer service. Dundas BI is considered to be as an effective tool which can be utilised by
Crabtrees as it can assist an enterprise in detecting the customer preferences and expectations.
Sisense
It is also considered to be as an appropriate method which can be used by Crabtrees for
analysing the collected information. Sisense enables business entity to visualise customer
opinions and reviews.

TASK 3
Measuring the effectiveness of approaches related to development of people
Training : it is considered to be as the best approach which can be adopted by Crabtrees
providing development opportunities to its employees. Manager should provide training to its
workers in order to make them capable of providing suitable responses to customer queries.
Training can be considered to be as the best approach which can assist Crabtrees in meeting
expectation of customers. It will allow firm to deliver professional services to client.
Reward and recognition : Management in Crabtrees should develop an effective reward system
for rewarding those employees those who have made significant contribution in bringing
improvement in customer service. As this strategy will help management in encouraging other
employees to participate in particular process.
Assessing actions of leaders which contributes to empowerment in customer service
Actions of leader action such as motivating workers to increase their participation in
improvement of customer services participatory decision making that is crucial for achieving
desired results. It is required by leaders in Crabtrees to seek feedback from workers or
customers, as this will help business entity in identifying the area which requires improvement.
Leader review and monitor the whole procedure which is very much important in order to deliver
consistent and quality services to customers.
Identifying the relationship between development of people, empowerment and services related
to customer service
People development can be considered to be as promotion of employees in order to
reward them for their good performance at workplace. Empowerment can be referred to as
independence or freedom provided to employees in context of completion of specific task. It is
required by management in Crabtrees to include incentive scheme in its customer improvement
strategies, as this will help manager in encouraging workers to increase their participation in
improvement of service (Banerjee, 2017). Reward system will also support manager in inspiring
people to develop the skills which are required for delivering services to customer.
Significance of empowerment in context of improvement in customer service
According to the author (Saeid and et.al., 2015), empowerment is important in order to
develop creative environment. It is also crucial for promoting innovation at workplace. Both

creativity and innovation is very much crucial in order to bring improvement in customer
services. Lack of empowerment to workers can lead to high level of dissatisfaction among
employees. It also gives rise to high staff turnover rate which might have adverse effect on
customer service.
SECTION 2
Determining the way manager utilises recognition and reward of staff to support customer
service strategy
Management in Crabtrees has developed reward system for motivating employees to
increase their contribution in successful implementation of customer service improvement
strategy. It is required by manager or leader in Crabtrees to provide reward or bonus to
employees.
Analysing the way motivation and performance model can contribute to the accomplishment of
objective related to customer service
The objective of Crabtrees is to provide an excellent service to its clients. It is required
by manager in an organisation to develop the understanding about the Maslow’s Hierarchy of
needs. According to the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs hypothesis, management should fulfil
needs as well as demands of workers, as this will enable them to deliver quality services to
customers (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015). Performance appraisal is other effective model
utilising which manager in Crabtrees can analyse the performance of employees.
Evaluating the options available that can be utilised for communicating with stakeholders
An effective communication between stakeholders is very much crucial in order to
deliver good services to customers. There are different options which can be utilised by
management in Crabtrees for communicating with internal and stakeholder. These are direct
meeting, Through Email or news letter. Among all the alternative options, direct meeting is
considered to be as the best way to communicate with stakeholders.
Determining the reason for presenting customer service strategy to stakeholders
As by communicating with stakeholder, management in Crabtrees can seek support from
employees and can get valuable suggestions for bringing improvement in customer service. It
will also help business entity in gaining the trust of employees as well other stakeholders.

TASK 4
Analysing the way customer service strategy and objectives lead to the design of customer
service procedure
The business objective of Crabtrees is to provide quality services to customer. According
to the opinion of (Wuyts, Rindfleisch and Citrin, 2015), it is required manager in an enterprise to
consider expectation of consumers while designing the customer service strategy. Management
in an enterprise should incorporate customer service strategy into customer service procedure.
Analysing the contribution of technology in making customer driven procedure effective
Technology provides flexibility and time saving tool or process. It gives company
objectives and provides the best effective outputs. It has been critically evaluated that
Technology enhances the knowledge and way of doing otherwise company cannot meet out the
current market challenges and issues.
Besides, technology also give confusion and ineffective process to the customers.
Technology needs high investment and long process to understand (Demil and et.al., 2015). On
the other sides, technology reduce the time effective method which gives higher and quality
output. Besides, due to lack of knowledge technology has no use. This leads to ineffective and
effective customer driven processes.
Significance of continuous improvement as well as services
Continuous improvement is very much crucial in order to provide an appropriate
responses to changes in external business environment. Changes are also important in order to
cater the unique demands of customers. It is also very much essential in order to retain profitable
customers for long time. Crabtrees provided with suggestion to ensure the continuous
improvement. An organisation is required to maintain effective service chains.
TASK 5
Comparing two different approaches
Feedback from employees and customers are considered to as the two best approaches
which can be implemented for ensuring continuous improvement. These approaches helps to
develop the business growth and opportunities. It also helps to enhance the customer service and
satisfaction which is important in order to accomplish desired objective.

Evaluating the role of manager and other employees in developing, implementing and promoting
continuous improvement in customer services
Manager , leaders and other employees in an organisation has significant role to play in
developing as well as implementing continuous improvement in customer services. Roles of
managers is to manage the work within team members, team members' role is to accomplish the
task which was given. Besides, quality controller main work is to maintained the work quality of
the company (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). It has been critically compared that leader role is far
innovative and creative other than manager. Although, comparatively with others manager role is
quite challenging and taught in order to manage the whole work of the organisation.
Analysing the challenges which might arise in maintaining customer focus
In order to instant changes and dynamic environment it becomes very difficult to resist
risk (Bettencourt, Lusch and Vargo, 2014). It provides the best effective task in order to
improvise the best performance level. The major challenge for the company is customer
behaviour in order to maintained customer focus and another is employee performance in order
to stable the improvement programmes.
Demonstrating the way feedback loop is crucial for continuous improvement
Customer feedback and employees feedback gives suggestions and ideas to Crabtrees Ltd
to get the best effective process of working and for customer service. It also may apply on the
behalf of effective performance (Quirke, 2017). Customers are better source to getting customer
feedback which help to identify new improvements and ideas which company needs to amend. It
helps to company to adopt new customer service approach.
Identification of the factor which determines the speed at which customer service improvements
can be made.
Regular feedback from employees and customers will enable Crabtrees Ltd. to introduce
customer service improvements quickly. In the same manner, other factor is the utilization of
advanced technology that will assist business entity in the implementation of a speedy Customer
Service Improvement Process (Yip and McKern, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above section it can be concluded that, customer service is the foremost task for
the company. It helps to make the better environment and relationship with stakeholders. Present

report based on customer service of Crabtrees Ltd in order to enhance the telephone services. It
provides the best effective approach in terms of better achievement. Company needs to adopt
better customer strategies and employee empowerment to introduce effective working approach.