Essay Sample on Adapting Sales and Service Models for Changing Needs and Higher Expectations

Introduction

There have been changes in sales and services in the recent past, causing a need for companies to develop better models to meet higher customer expectations as potential customers expect more for the money they spend. Also, competition is on the rise, forcing farther development and the need to use better the most promising sales and service models (Sinfield et al., 2012). The best value of a company product means high quality of services, best customer service, and delivering goods on time to customers. Today, companies build service and sales models by evaluating whether the current models in use fit the changing behavior, preferences, and tastes of customers. With the growing use of technology in society, companies will need to redesign service and sales models more rapidly (Wang et al., 2015). The paper will compare and contrast three sales and service models, such as the self-service model, relationship model, and suggestive model, with the focus of how each model is utilized to meet customer expectations. Also, the process of selling or service in each model is explained with emphasis on the elements of every model that can be combined to establish a better service or sales model. Lastly, the paper will present recommendations that will enhance the sales and service of a company.

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Suggestive model is a sales model where an employee recommends a particular product to a customer or asks them if they like to include an additional product that might suit the customer. It is utilized to increase the amount of purchase of a customer and, at the same improve company revenue. Mostly, the additional sale from the product that was suggested to a customer is much smaller compared to the actual purchase (Jasmand et al., 2012). The other model, which is a relationship model, refers to a strategy aimed at building a long-term relationship with customers. The sales representatives get to understand the needs and wants of a customer before they try to make a sale. Companies that use relationship models to sell a higher competitive edge over competitors, and they often see substantial growth in sales revenue and decrease in expenses as it is cheaper to keep existing clients than establishing new clients with each sale.

In comparison, all three models are utilized to achieve a common goal, which is to increase company revenues with an increase in sales and improvement in service delivery. Suggestive, relationship and self-service models are all connected (Jasmand et al., 2012). They are used closely with each other as it is in a self-service model where the suggestive model easily comes in, where an employee can move around a store and show a customer more products, especially the ones that are new to the store. Then in that process relationship model is applied in building a relationship between the customer and the employee.

The difference between the models is that the relationship model looks at retaining customers to reduce the cost of searching for customers for every sale. It builds trust and continually evaluates the relationship to ensure it remains stable. The Self-Service model, on the other hand, is intentioned to enable customers to choose goods for themselves to save time and ease operations. Then, the suggestive model is more of offering additional services to customers as the product sold through this model is less costly than the original purchase by the customer (Jasmand et al., 2012).

The self-service model has four essential steps to be followed to attain the goals of the model. The first step is the identification of the Use Case of the model; here, the current systems and where service falls short are identified through thinking about the immediate customer satisfaction and how to successfully implement the model (Kallweit et al., 2014). The second step is defining the model channels and strategy; a focus is on investing in channels that suit the company goals of service delivery. The third step is seeking customer feedback on the model, if possible, as a company should implement useful customer surveys. The last step is the measurement of customer experience metrics through monitoring the trends and tracks any changes in customer behavior from the strategy employed.

On the other hand, the relationship model involves six steps that are vital for a company to follow in formulating this technique. The steps start with the addition of value to the products and services being offered to customers to build trust and gain credibility (Pryor et al., 2013). The second step is learning about customer's situations to make a lasting relationship better. Then give recommendations to customers that are personalized through combining the knowledge of a buyer and expertise in the industry to deliver good suggestions to the customer. The next step is to resolve objections that might arise in the process of offering suggestions. Then five is finding a win-win situation that will build trust by coming with the best outcome from the relationship where both the company and buyer wins. The last step is maintaining the relationship by continuing to add value. The suggestive model starts with the training of the company staff on ways of carrying out a successful suggestion to customers (Jasmand et al., 2012). Then identification of the goods that are prioritized in the process, which is mostly new products in the company that is needed to be known by the customers.

The issue that can occur with suggestive models is high charges that can reduce at its first phase sales. This is an issue which businesses struggle with when training staff about the model, all that matters in this model has a sales team that is friendly, and that offers care and observations that are genuinely outgoing (Pryor et al., 2013). An issue arises in the self-service model when it is poorly implemented, as it can frustrate and irritate customers. When the strategy is not done well, customers might get the wrong goods and services, thus confusing them. In industries that self-service is done via online portal navigation, if the portal is not well programmed, it can confuse customers and result in frustration. For the relationship model, the possible issue that might occur is over-saturation of the approach, which has made it evident to customers, and they are more used with sales representatives up to a point where the customers have grown weary and tired of sales representatives trying to build relationships with then.

The significant elements of the three models can be combined to develop a better model for sales and services in a retail store. The elements to be connected are the element of product-driven strategy in a self-service model where customers help themselves to the product or select the products they want in the retail store on their own. In the relationship model, the element is identifying a common ground that is getting to know the customer well and focus on retaining the potential customer by building trust and adding higher value to the products and service delivery in the retail store. The element to be taken from the suggestive model is the technique of welcoming customers with a focus and hook on new products and the connection of customers with statements that are personalized and contain product knowledge (Pryor et al., 2013). When the elements from the three models are combined, a retail sales model which is very powerful will be developed that will improve sales by building a strong relationship with customers, suggesting new products and other products such as accessories to the customers, and empowering of the customer through allowing them to choose products at their own.

The best that a company can do to improve its sales and service model is the identification of changes that have occurred in customer's behavior, tastes, and preferences. This will assist in developing more than one model. Identifying modifications on the side of customers through tacking buying trends will help in the switching of models that will suit the changes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, with growing diversity in customers buying trends and emergence of new technologies and competition. Companies should be in a position to adopt the most appropriate model or take elements from each model then develop a more profound sales and service model that suits its operations. The three models' suggestive model, self-service model, and relationship model are vital to a company's success, and they have some comparison as all of them are used to increase sales and deliver the best service to customers.

References

Jasmand, C., Blazevic, V., & De Ruyter, K. (2012). Generating sales while providing service: A study of customer service representatives' ambidextrous behavior. Journal of Marketing, 76(1), 20-37. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.10.0448

Kallweit, K., Spreer, P., & Toporowski, W. (2014). Why do customers use self-service information technologies in retail? The mediating effect of perceived service quality. Journal of retailing and consumer services, 21(3), 268-276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2014.02.002

Pryor, S., Malshe, A., & Paradise, K. (2013). Salesperson listening in the extended sales relationship: An exploration of cognitive, affective, and temporal dimensions. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 33(2), 185-196. https://doi.org/10.2753/PSS0885-3134330203

Sinfield, J. V., Calder, E., McConnell, B., & Colson, S. (2012). How to identify new business models. MIT Sloan management review, 53(2), 85-90. Retrieved from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jhm/Readings/How%20to%20Identify%20New%20Business%20Models.pdf

Wang, Y., Wallace, S. W., Shen, B., & Choi, T. M. (2015). Service supply chain management: A review of operational models. European Journal of Operational Research, 247(3), 685-698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2015.05.053