After Sale Service Marketing Research Assignment Ppaer (Essay Sample)

Marketing; After Sales Services
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Marketing: After Sale Services
After sales services include the process through which a seller ensures that a customer is comfortable about using a purchase; that is, it is a follow-up service to ensure that a purchase is successfully serving its purpose. Ritchie, (2009) noted that an after sale service is a part of customer service through which a seller evaluates the satisfaction of the customer after a purchase. He considered after sales service as a special attention by a seller to a sale transaction, and after the delivery of the sale. Particularly, he noted the attention to do a number of activities which include installation, repair support, user training and warranted part-replacement. Rahman & Chattopadhyay, (2015) highlighted that with today’s relationship marketing, building a relationship with current and potential customers is a crucial objective by a marketer. Notably, they cautioned a ‘no-strings-attached’ handshake between the seller and a customer after a successful sale.
An after sale relationship can create an essential interaction platform where a seller can help a buyer to realize maximum benefits from a purchase. Such relationships can be created through making phone calls to enquire how the product or service is working for them, birthday and holiday emails especially if the products or services a company is selling can be of use at such celebrations and through offering coupons as appreciation tools to catalyze a potential future sale. Some of the techniques used by sellers to offer after sale services include providing parring products that create a greater experience in product use, providing warranties, especially for expensive products. Customers are cautious when purchasing expensive products since it can result in an immeasurable loss if such products fail after purchasing them. Therefore, warranting for return or repair for such products guarantees the buyers value for their money. Other techniques include training and providing tutorials on how to use a product efficiently; this is applicable after a purchase of a complex machine that has numerous 'dos' and 'don's'. Communicating to past customers about a new product is also critical after sale services established through after sale relationships (Stahlberg, & Maila, 2014).
Although the primary objective of offering an after sale services is to create a customer experience through taking care of their doubts and worries about purchasing a product, it is evident that after sale services results in creating customer loyalty as well as facilitating the return of a past customer leading to increased sales and consequently more profits. Customer loyalty is the tendency of a customer to prefer a brand over others due to product/services satisfaction, familiarity, and convenience or excellent performance. Consequently, a loyal customer develops an attitude to spending more on the brand and to refer other customers to try it (Reider, 2012).
Customer retention
Coates, & Reily, (2013) rank customers as the most valuable asset of an enterprise. Accordingly, therefore, they emphasize the need for an organization to create and implement strategies for retaining current customers in addition to the strategies to venture into the new market. A positive word of mouth by a current customer has been noted to help in brand creation as well as in product and service promotion. Notably, however, it is a fact that a customer seeks full satisfaction (that is, his needs are completely met by a service or a product) before starting to spread positive information about a seller or a product. Therefore, organizations are obliged to ensure that they provide to the market a product that meets the market demand; in return, the organization earns customer loyalty.
Earning loyalty from the customers guarantees the seller that such buyers will come again and again; thus after sales services facilitates customer retention. It is characterized by the tendency of the customers to believe in a brand and therefore desire to be associated with the seller (company). Secondly, loyal customers speak positively about a product and the company selling it; therefore, they end up bringing more customers to buy the product. Conclusively, after sales services are a critical tool for establishing and sustaining a customer-seller relationship.
Dixon, Toman, & Delisi, (2013) highlight that a successful sale is just a first step in creating a platform for more sales. This work notes that on average, companies lose about 20% of their customers annually due to failed or unfollowed customer relationships. Excellent after sales services is an efficient way of selling again; offering the services after a sale reminds the customer that he is important to the seller and that the decision to do business with the company was worth making. Also, after sale services allow a seller to retrieve dormant customers; buyers are not always sure of what they want and therefore they do not actually know whether a service or product has perfectly served the purpose. Consequently, they tend to keep trying products from other sellers hoping that they will experience the expected results. A follow-up, therefore, is likely to be interpreted as a means to enable the customer to get the most out of the product.
Also, objectively, it is a means of reminding the customers about the products and offering them a platform to raise concerns about how the product failed to meet the need. Companies benefit from complaints in that they get to learn the specific needs of their customers; follow-up facilitates acquiring such feedback from the clients and consequently position the company to make new experiences and therefore retain the customers’ trust.
The impact of after sales services on profits.
Providing after sale services is expensive. For example, an international company that attracts customers from a global realm would require having sales support personnel all over the world to effectively deliver after sales services. A local company serving an entire nation also is obligated to incur travel expenses, especially where the service requires a physical contact ...