Customer Service Assignment

                                 

INTRODUCTION

To complete this assignment I have to investigate customer service by writing a report on a chosen business.  The business I have chosen for this is Mc Donald’s.

In 1974, McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the UK. Today, more than 2.7 million people in this country place their trust in McDonald's every day - trusting the Company to provide them with food of a high standard, quick service and value for money.

Customer service is very important to the McDonald's because it says that they care about their customers.  Customer service very important and vital part of any organisation, which is selling goods, or service because it exists to satisfy customers...  Good customer service will bring you new and keep old customers but if you have bad customer service this will make customers unhappy and they will stop visiting you and the business will not have new customers.  

McDonald's operates in a very competitive market.  It generally keeps its prices within a compatible range to its competition.  What McDonald's can do to is to makes its self-different from its competitors (in a better way) is to exceed customer service.  The customer service and food preparation areas contain original equipment used in the days when fresh potatoes were peeled, sliced, blanched and fried; milkshake mix and syrup were whipped up on the Multi-mixers; Coca-Cola and root beer were drawn from a barrel, and orangeade from the orange bowl.

The company employed just under 49 000 people and over 19 000 more were employed by the McDonald's franchise. (I copied this information from McDonalds fact file 2001).  By the end of 2000 there was 1, 232 McDonalds restaurants operating in UK, representing a total investment in property and equipment of over £1.4 billion.

McDonald's Corporation, fast-food Restaurant Company based in Oak Brook, Illinois. Since the 1950s, McDonald’s family-oriented restaurants have revolutionized the fast-food business and the company has become one of the best known in the world. Thousands of McDonald’s restaurants in countries around the world serve millions of customers a day. McDonald’s restaurants, which offer toy promotions and often feature playgrounds, are especially popular with children. One of Mc Donald’s most important principles has always been to support the communities in which it operates. McDonald's restaurants are, by their nature, sociable places, intrinsically linked to local community life.

As such, the Company supports community programmes, which operate at the grassroots level, usually focused on family- and local environment-related issues.

All of the initiatives undertaken by McDonald's reflect the Company's strong social stance and desire to put something back into the community of which it is an integral part. Good corporate citizenship through social and environmental responsibility is important values underpinning the McDonald's approach to business.

In 1948 brothers Dick and Mac McDonald remodelled their McDonald’s drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, creating the prototype for the modern fast-food restaurant. The menu was limited to nine items: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and three types of soft drinks, milk, coffee, potato chips, and pies. French fries and milkshakes were soon added. By focusing on efficient production and service, McDonald’s cut the price of their hamburgers from 40 cents to 20 cents.

McDonald’s also began to establish high-profile charities. The company opened the first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1974. Ronald McDonald Houses provide temporary housing near hospitals for the families of seriously ill children. Today, Ronald McDonald House Charities operate more than 170 Ronald McDonald Houses in 13 countries.

International expansion also became an important part of the company’s business strategy. McDonald’s opened its first restaurant outside the United States in 1967. In 1988 McDonald’s operated 2600 stores outside the United States, generating $1.8 billion in annual revenues. By 1994 the company had 4700 international franchises, producing $3.4 billion in annual revenues. The first McDonald’s in Moscow, Russia, served more than 30,000 customers on its first day of operation in 1990, setting the record for the most people served by one restaurant in a single day. In 1992 McDonald’s opened a restaurant in Beijing, China. The Beijing McDonald’s—-which featured 700 seats, 2 kitchens, 29 cash registers, and 850 employees—is the company’s largest. The Beijing McDonald’s attracted 40,000 customers on its first day, breaking the record established by the Moscow McDonald’s two years earlier.  McDonald’s has attempted to accommodate increasing customer demand for healthier food. In 1986 McDonald’s began offering nutritional information about the items on its menu. The company also began to offer lighter entrées, such as salads and frozen yoghurts. McDonald’s Arch Deluxe, a hamburger marketed to adults, generated disappointing sales when it was introduced in 1996.

E1)  AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DIFFERENT CUSTOMERS AND THEIR NEEDS AND AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT IS MEANT BY CUSTOMER SERVICE IN THE CONTEXT OF YOUR CHOSEN ORGANISATION.

Customer service is very important and vital part of any organisation, by selling goods or service.  When a customer buys’s goods it does so to satisfy a need.

If someone buys’s a hamburger from McDonalds they will buy it because they are hungry.

Customer service is very important to the McDonald's or any other business, good customer service will keep customers happy and they (customers) will gain confidence in the company.  If people see that you business is organised, has a good customer service, staff looks happy, always has a smile, etc they will think that business s secure they will have this image of your company in their head and they will visit you business.   But if your business has a bad customer service, staff is unfriendly then people will think that your business is unorganised and they will have a bad image of you business in their heads and they will not visit your business.

The person who bought the burger will probably consume it or buy it for someone else who will probably consume it.

When a customer buys a burger they will except that the product is of satisfactory quality, eatable condition, nice taste and made out of 100% quality.

But if the customer finds strange object or that the product is not eatable for any reason (E.g. there is a fly in the burger).  They will get replacement and be able to complain (even go to the court if a major problem is in order).

 

In October 2000 a young man bought visited his local Mc Donald’s, he then brought an Extra Value Meal, and discovered in his burger was one of the employees plaster with blood on it.  That man was terrified he phoned and contacted the customer service making a complaint and he also took McDonalds to court I don’t know how the story ended because newspapers have stopped writing about the story. That customer will want to complain and this is where customers use customer service.

The customer service should make sure that that customer gets the things on which he or he is entitled (i.e. replacement). If Mc Donald’s does this they will get new customers because word of mouth will not be bad.

Word of mouth is a consumer’s word. If you as a consumer got a bad after sale service you would say to your friend what happened and he would say this to his friends and this would make people not to buy products from that company, there can be good or bad word of mouth and all companies prefer good word of mouth. Debenhams have very good customer service and this company is famous for it after sale service, because of this, this is why companies try to satisfy as many customers as they can.

Market share of McDonald's restaurant in UK.

Market share is a percentage share of the market held by one business (in this case McDonald’s) compare to average share of other businesses or alternatively the proportion of the total sales of product held by one brand.

These are activities of customer service:

  1. Providing information to the customer (this would include face to face and    over the phone it could be about opening times, product information, etc)
  2. Giving advice
  3. Providing credit facilities
  4. Delivering goods
  5. After sale service 

A customer service member should always remember to have friendly smile, a promise that he/she will find out quickly whatever they want.

The customers may ask various questions about:

  1. A technical query about product or service?
  2. A general query about the organisation?
  3. The range of products or services supplied?
  4.  The location of another store?
  5. The location of somewhere else in the area?
  6.  The general facilities available?

A customer service also deals with deliveries.  Customer service has huge impact on consumers, if an organisation has good customer service then consumers will have confidence to come and buy your goods especially if they are expensive things like cars, because when you buy something what is very expensive you would expect good after sale service. When you have good customer service this will attract new customers. The customer service can help company to achieve its objectives.

One of the objectives of McDonalds Company was to improve their service towards the customer (customer service) because they know if they do this then they will probably have more new customers and keep old ones.

Over 1.9 million people visit every day in UK McDonalds and McDonalds will try to satisfy every single one. Those people would obviously vary from different ages.

But over 60% of its customers are 11 to 45 year of age.

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An average McDonalds customer will except a reasonably hot food which is in consumable state, without any foreign object (E.g. plasters etc) in it and to get it in reasonable time which is five minutes queuing.  

If someone sales something to you, you are banding a contract and because of this everyone should know what a contract is and what right they have.  

The basics needs of customers are the minimum needs which customer expects from a business.  But businesses are obligated by law to give (consumers have legal rights which every business has to obey) ...

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