Proposal

This proposal, which is prepared specifically for Chips-n-bytes, recommends that they immediately form and develop a customer service department in their store and assign two qualified employees to run the department.
 * Does Customer Service Really Matter? **

//Introduction // When a business owner starts a business, they would like to have a good reputation to their consumers, which will lead to repeat purchases, word-of-mouth marketing, referral customers, etc. When building this reputation, you must have a slogan that catches the people’s attention to be attracted to your store. Over the past decade, the stores that have proven to be excelling and gaining an edge over the competition are the stores that surround their store by customer service. As a business owner, you do not want to be in the business of price-strategy or price-wares. This is what the Dollar Generals and Discount Stores are for; you should strive to be known for your quality and service. As we studied Chips-n-bytes, it was obvious that they did not have a full customer service team because they could not inform Elizabeth who had worked on her computer, which shows poor organizational skills and bad customer service. As stated earlier; customer service and quality are the two necessities of a growing venture and we think it is imperative that Chips-n-bytes implement a full customer service department that consists of only two people that will be responsible for all customer complaints and issues. Once implemented and developed, it will restore the company’s public image and goodwill and will make Chips-n-bytes an elite company in their industry. 

//Purpose // The main purpose of this proposal is to create and develop a customer service department in the store. Through brainstorming and studying from other successful companies our team at Innovation Inc. has developed one solution that will fix the key problem involving Chips-n-bytes, which will help the company enhance not only their customer service but as well as their company image. Our team feels that it is vital that Chips-n-bytes assign two highly qualified employees to run their customer service department and if need be, to take classes to become more efficient in their specified area of work. Therefore, our suggestions and key examples on improving the customer service of the company is discussed throughout this proposal and should show their top level management the direction they should strive for and what to change in their current work environment, in order to be an efficient electronic retailing company.   Innovation Inc. is proposing that Chips-n-bytes develop an area in their store that is strictly involved with customer service only and to designate two employees to run this department in the store at all times, which will answer phones, assist customers that come to the store, fix the basic customer needs, and reply to the customer’s questions. We believe that Chips-n-bytes current customer service is poorly structured and needs a dramatic change in demographics. This will have some startup costs, but it will benefit the company’s image and revenues in the long run. If you compare successful companies today, they all contain a customer service departments located in the store with people on hand at all times, which we are proposing that Chips-n-bytes incorporate as well. We also propose that they have a type of discount if the problem was the actual companies fault, this decision would be discussed with upper level management and they would be required to give a valid statement on why they gave the discount or why they did not. The startup costs will be mainly to the building of the actual department, which would consist of a formal desk for customers to go to and new equipment so they can receive questions via email or by the phone. After creating this department, Chips-n-bytes needs to evaluate their current employees and determine two employees that will work in this department at all times and this will help the customers know who actually worked on their products and will also allow the management to know who to locate if something goes wrong. Having an actual customer service department will help protect customer information because it will be located on one or two primary computer systems in the store and would be accessible to only the customers that show the proper forms of identification. As a solution to two employees primary tasks; one should be focused on the external customer service problems, which involve the emails and phones calls that come in and the other employee should be focused on the internal customer service problems, which is the people who come to the store with questions or complaints. This will help achieve customer satisfaction will all types of customers and is proven to be successful in large store chains throughout the world. After reading the letter of complaint from Mrs. Smithton; we concluded that if the employees are not qualified for the customer service position, then they should undergo a training session which will teach them every aspect of customer service and provide them with enough knowledge to get their job done. If Chips-n-bytes successful develop a customer service department that is comparable to a store like Best-Buys, then we believe they will achieve the restoration of their customer’s goodwill and respect.
 * //Background //**
 * The main purpose of this proposal is the past experience with recent customers and their inability to get a result that they deserved. Throughout the past two months, Chips-n-bytes have ran into customer complaints that have resulted into major problems for the company and need to be changed so that a customer can rely on the company for any reasons. The key example of why we are evaluating Chips-n-bytes and studying what needs to be fixed is the case involving Mrs. Elizabeth Smithton. Mrs. Smithton sent a letter to Chips-n-bytes headquarters complaining about how poorly she was treated and how no one would assist her in solving her problem. The company’s headquarters have asked our team at Innovation Inc. to examine what went wrong and give our opinion on what should be changed so this will never reoccur. We then looked at the case of Mrs. Smithton and realized how there was a lack of customer service in the store and that it seemed there was a lack of organization as well. Mrs. Smithton had recently brought in her laptop in the store to be fixed at the end of May and hoped for a speedy process and then two weeks had passed and seven missed phone calls, she still had not received any information on her laptop. Mrs. Smithton finally was tired of waiting and sent her husband down to investigate and see what the problem was and when he had arrived, the computer had been ready for a week, but no one had called to inform the Smithton family that it was ready for pick-up because **the hard drive was bad and it would need to be sent away for repair for another two weeks.  As a result, the family decided to take their business elsewhere because a lack of customer service. Once they took the laptop to a store in Oklahoma City, they soon were informed that the computer did not contain a hard drive. They proceeded to go back to Chips-n-bytes, where they were told that the hard drive could not be found, they never took it out, and there was nothing they could do because it was their word against the companies and there was no proof. This is just an example of how bad the management at Chips-n-bytes is and how their quality of work is currently at a poor level. Our team found it shocking that an employee would even say that it is your word versus ours; this shows a lack of respect and a huge lack of customer service. Then once Mrs. Smithton entered the store and spoke with the person dealing with her problem at the time and asked for a corporate policy involving their customers who brought their computers in and the names of employees who had worked on her laptop, which the company representative could not provide her with any valuable information and Mrs. Smithton said a few words that she might not have, but it was in the heat of the moment. Then to make the problem and worse, when she went back to get her customer complaint folder that she had came in with, the information was gone and the store representative lied to her about taking the papers until she caused a scene in the store, he then proceeded to say that she was not supposed to have certain papers and provided her copies of the information. He then did not cooperate with Mrs. Smithton and avoided her for the next several days. She once again, tried the customer service line and got nowhere, which resulted in her sending the cooperate headquarters a letter that explained the situation and what she had problems with and wished in returned for compensation. The company had yet to resolve this issue and restore the goodwill and satisfaction of the customers.
 * //Proposed Solution //**

When involving an expert opinion, you would like someone in the field of your profession or your industry. This will help you learn from their experiences and not someone that is irrelevant to your problems. This is why our group referred to a local company that is globally famous and deal with customer complaints daily, which is known as Stillwater Design or Kicker. At Stillwater Design, we got into contact with Toby Deal, who is the customer service supervisor at Stillwater Design and his advice was to implement an efficient customer service department that can communicate and deal with people successfully because this makes the overall process easier on both parties. He advised us to incorporate a replacement program at a discount cost. Toby said; <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">“ <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"> <span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A lower replacement price may be offered when customers’ needs are not met or when a customer service rep deems it necessary.” This is a good idea for a large company like Kicker because they have enough capital and funds to offer this, but in Chips-n-bytes situation, this would be a long-term goal and not a short-term goal. Toby said at Stillwater Design; “ <span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Customer service reps forward calls to a supervisor when customers are not satisfied with the provided offers. At that time, the supervisor decides if a replacement subwoof er can be sent free of charge.” This is a good idea because it is not the average level employee making the decision, but the upper level management. This eliminates confusion and helps the customers know who decided what and why. As you can tell from our proposal above, we implemented this recommendation into our proposal and we believe it will benefit the company’s customer satisfaction. At Stillwater Design, customers remain loyal because they send them revised products at no charge, which we believe is a necessity after they have developed a well structured customer service department. In conclusion with our conversation with Toby; he emphasized that as a company you maintain customer loyalty by standing behind your product and by offering replacements at a discounted price. This helps the customers rely on your company’s products and will help increase their goodwill. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The only way to implement our proposal is to act immediately and start from the inside and work your way out. At Chips-n-bytes, they must start fixing their internal problems first because that is where everything starts and ends. In the retailing industry, the employees sell the products, the products do not sell themselves and another reason why you need to start with internal matters first is because in this type of industry, there are a lot of new employees because of job pay and the turnover rate. This means that you must pay more attention to your customer service department and possibly give them more incentives or a pay increase so they will be motivated to stay at their current job. Once they have built their new customer service department in the store, they should then focus on the external problems, which would be to call all of their customers will recent complaints and emphasize how they are creating change and how they will develop a different style of work ethic. The representatives should explain how this will lead to their problems getting solved faster and more efficient. We believe that this will help the past customers give the company another chance and hopefully change their current perspective about the company and change the goodwill. Once the customer service department is running and is solving basic problems, then Chips-n-bytes could hire more customer service representatives that will make it easier on the department as a whole and will also help solve customer complaints faster. This will lead to repeat purchases and/or upgrades for their older products, which will eliminate some marketing costs due to word-of-mouth marketing.
 * // Expert Opinion //**
 * //<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msobidifontweight: bold;">Implementation //**

**<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In conclusion, our team at Innovation Inc. idea of creating a new customer service department is the best way to regain customer loyalty and satisfaction for Chips-n-bytes. It will not only benefit the customer service department, but also the sales department because people will want to come back to the company due to their loyalty. This will hopefully be a ripple effect throughout the Chips-n-bytes stores and will enhance the public’s image of the retail store. It will also allow them to solve customer complaints in an orderly fashion and solve key issues involving the store and their customers. Our team at Innovation Inc. is happy that we could assist you in solving your problems and hope that they turn your business upside down and improve your business as a whole. Our past cases prove that we are successful and hopefully our current research follows the chain for your company and future ventures. **<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msobidifontweight: bold;">Sources // <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Deal, Toby. E-mail interview. 23 June 2009. Interview. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">(2009). Customer Service. Retrieved June 25, 2009, from Best Buy Web site: [] <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Elizabeth Smithton, disgruntled customer
 * //<span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; msobidifontweight: bold;">Conclusion //**