MTU Cork Library Catalogue

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Meeting customer needs / Ian Smith.

By: Smith, Ian, 1953-.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookSeries: Chartered Management Institute series.Publisher: Oxford : Butterworth/Heinemann ; 2003Edition: 3rd ed.Description: xiii, 218 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. + pbk.ISBN: 075065984X.Subject(s): Marketing | Customer services | Consumer satisfactionDDC classification: 658.812
Contents:
Introduction -- First, know yourself -- Customers: who do they think they are? -- The route to your customers -- Competitors and how to make the most of them -- Starting the planning process - where do you want to be? -- Marketing - the tools for understanding and analysing -- Marketing - conversing with customers -- Marketing - measuring all that is important -- Virtuous cycles -- Revisiting your plans.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This is a third edition of Meeting Customer Needs, a diploma level book in the Chartered Management of Institute series. This particular title meets the specific requirements of those taking the Unit DM45 entitled Customer Focus, Marketing and Planning. A new website available for use with the text to provide revision notes and lecturers' notes. This book is ideal for managers seeking to establish or improve customer service and customer focus standards. It includes action plans, sample communications and checklists for managers to adapt for their own purposes. Real examples and new case studies are used throughout to illustrate points in a practical context.

Previous ed.: 1997.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- First, know yourself -- Customers: who do they think they are? -- The route to your customers -- Competitors and how to make the most of them -- Starting the planning process - where do you want to be? -- Marketing - the tools for understanding and analysing -- Marketing - conversing with customers -- Marketing - measuring all that is important -- Virtuous cycles -- Revisiting your plans.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Series adviser's preface (p. ix)
  • Introduction (p. 1)
  • Every book needs a mission statement (p. 1)
  • What has changed since the last edition? (p. 2)
  • How different is this book? (p. 3)
  • How can you use this book? (p. 3)
  • 1 First, know yourself (p. 5)
  • Customers? Who are they? (p. 6)
  • You are a stakeholder (p. 7)
  • Barriers to understanding your customers (p. 8)
  • How organizations relate to customers (p. 9)
  • Routes to the customer (p. 11)
  • Customer interfaces (p. 14)
  • Communications (p. 15)
  • Information sources (p. 16)
  • Competitors (p. 17)
  • Players in the game (p. 19)
  • Plans, objectives and other good intentions (p. 20)
  • The spotlight is on you (p. 21)
  • 2 Customers: who do they think they are? (p. 25)
  • Customers - what are they like? (p. 25)
  • Psychology of the customer (p. 26)
  • Buyer behaviour (p. 28)
  • Understanding consumer purchasing (p. 32)
  • Media consumption (p. 35)
  • Religious beliefs (p. 36)
  • Combinations of factors (p. 37)
  • Customers in your organization (p. 41)
  • Customers in the buyer company (p. 44)
  • Customers defined by the relationship (p. 44)
  • References (p. 51)
  • 3 The route to your customers (p. 53)
  • Reviewing the route so far (p. 53)
  • Emotional routes (p. 59)
  • Where does motivation lie? (p. 59)
  • Indirect contacts (p. 64)
  • Gaps and other offerings (p. 67)
  • Focus on internal markets (p. 68)
  • The balancing act (p. 70)
  • 4 Competitors and how to make the most of them (p. 75)
  • Who are your competitors? (p. 76)
  • Overlaps and conflicts (p. 79)
  • Basis of competition (p. 87)
  • Strengths and weaknesses (p. 89)
  • Reference (p. 90)
  • 5 Starting the planning process - where do you want to be? (p. 91)
  • An overview of planning (p. 92)
  • The importance of action plans (p. 95)
  • Objectives and priorities (p. 97)
  • Milestones and measurements (p. 98)
  • Reviewing your current plans (p. 98)
  • Fitting into your organization (p. 100)
  • Current knowledge (p. 103)
  • The new shopping list (p. 106)
  • 6 Marketing - the tools for understanding and analysing (p. 109)
  • Listening, asking, understanding and sharing (p. 109)
  • Using the professionals - the commissioning process (p. 119)
  • Sense and presentability (p. 122)
  • Statistics, dumb statistics and misleading interpretations (p. 125)
  • Communicating findings (p. 129)
  • Reference (p. 130)
  • 7 Marketing - conversing with customers (p. 131)
  • External customer communications (p. 132)
  • Keeping in touch (p. 136)
  • Complaints - a wonderful opportunity to really communicate (p. 140)
  • Internal customer communications (p. 144)
  • Choosing your relationships (p. 147)
  • 8 Marketing - measuring all that is important (p. 153)
  • Why measure? (p. 153)
  • Measuring within a cycle of improvement (p. 154)
  • Making sense of your options (p. 162)
  • How to use your measures (p. 171)
  • 9 Virtuous cycles (p. 175)
  • What are virtuous cycles? (p. 175)
  • A closer look at cycles (p. 180)
  • Balancing inputs and outputs (p. 183)
  • Negative influences (p. 185)
  • Positive aspects (p. 186)
  • You, your customers and virtuous cycles (p. 188)
  • Virtuous cycles - an example in E-Commerce (p. 192)
  • 10 Revisiting your plans (p. 195)
  • Audit (p. 196)
  • Making sense of things (p. 197)
  • The 'big picture' box (p. 199)
  • Priorities (p. 201)
  • Aims and objectives (p. 207)
  • Conclusions: Not the end, this is just the start! (p. 211)
  • Index (p. 213)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Ian Smith has some 30 years experience as a senior management and marketing professional, academic and writer. He now divides his time between consultancy work, and his writing and broadcasting activities. He lives in London with his wife and three daughters

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