Sears Self Questions

8. Based on how the textbook defines the four dimensions of Customer Service, name two companies that you are familiar with that, in your opinion, are leaders in customer service excellence. (This is your opinion; do not use the Nordstrom’s example from the text). Honestly I can say the Ferguson Enterprise is the MOST customer oriented company I have ever worked for or known of. Soma Intimates is definitely second due to how much research they use to learn what their customers want.

1.1 Explain how different methods of promoting products and/or services impact on customer service delivery

4. Speculate on what will happen at IKEA stores as they are adapted to fit local tastes. Is the company’s trade-off of service for low cost sustainable in the long term?

All companies have core competencies that they use to differentiate their company, product, or service from the competition, Sears is no exception. Also, it is common for a company’s core competencies to change, as their industry progresses through phases and shifts its emphasis between product and process innovations (Regis University, 2011), Sears is no exception. Yet, when a company’s core competencies become misaligned and no longer supports their strategic intent the business is in danger of becoming obsolete (Regis University, 2011), as their customers no longer perceive the unique benefits the company has

3. In relation to your current organisation (or one that you are familiar with), outline the role that customer service plays in this organisation and its industry as a whole.

1. Describe at least two different types of career pathways that may be available within a customer service role.

Having a high quality customer service team fronting your company can be an expensive cost on your annual expenditure, with your company being able to survive without a customer service team the main benefits of using one is to attract new customers and to deal with different types of customer enquiries. Having high skilled customer service operatives helps a customer seek what they need at a faster pace than having to contact different departments trying to find the help they

Sears has faced a lot of problems in recent years. Their sales have fallen and the federal courts have gone after them,

The Sears Canada situation has put the former and current employees at the risk of not getting their full pensions and other benefits paid as promised by the company. This problem was raised due to the underfunding of the pension plan by the company. this deficit has but over 16,000 former and current Sears Canada employees at risk of not getting their full pensions. (MacDonald, 2017) This is due to the pensioner not having any priority’s when a company goes through their bankruptcy process. In order to help those who are affected by this, the government should take actions towards protecting and preserving the pension of the employees. The help of the government would help reduce other problems that will arise due to employees not getting their full pension. Such problems that would arise are; the burden on taxpayers to pay for the loss of the employees and how it is unfair and unethical for the employees to suffer from the company’s faults.

The retailer will continue to see aggressive competition from Target, Wal-Mart, JCPenney, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Home Depot and Lowes. These companies are some of the national retailers that Sears will have to contend with in order to survive. According to Sears Holding 2011, annual 10K Report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Home Depot and Lowes are the company’s most fierce rivals of the major appliance category in which Sears accounts for nearly “16% of its entire revenue” (p.5). This fierce market positioning battle between its competitors will be a major obstacle for Sears to overcome. Sears continues to try to move forward as the company’s efficiencies in fixed assets continued

Best Buy, a familiar retailer in the technology world, is struggling to stay on top. Online and mass stores have cornered the market in terms of convenience, customer service and price matching. The recent closing of over two hundred stores alongside falling sales has experts predicting that the giant won’t be in business long. Using a results-only work environment (ROWE), Best Buy has removed the customer from the equation and forced many employees out. A marketing disaster, Best Buy must change its marketing strategy from sales-based to a customer-based to stay afloat.

Sears is looking to create more of a presence outside of shopping malls, creating more Sears locations in single store setups in a similar way to Kmart. Current CEO of Sears Alan J. Lacy, will become the Vice Chairman of the new company. His strategy of opening more Sears stores outside of the usual shopping mall would require many of the current Sears locations to be closed. In the long run jobs at new Sears locations would have to be filled, but the creation of those new jobs would have to be postponed until the new Sears stores are opened. In the meantime, the news of many Sears closings would put many workers out of a job.

Question 1: How can an effective Customer Relationship Management program be used to identify, retain, satisfy and retain customers?

Sears is facing a huge problem when it comes to making profits anymore and they are continuing to shut down stores. They have already shut down over 100 locations due to them not being as successful as they used to be. They also have a failed stock, drained all their resources, and they are loaded with debt. This company is not able to pull through and make profits anymore because their CEO is not capable of making changes to the company to bring it out of it. He sees that the company is not as presentable as it used to be and it does not have the same appeal. People are not going to want to go to a store where it does not have anything to offer anymore. How can sears become profitable again if they are in such debt and trouble with stocks

1. Based on the brief conversation between Jerry Kline, Grace Gallo, and Paul Swenson, what kind of sales manager do you think each of them is? What do you think is the level of performance of the sales force each person heads? How do you think each of them will benefit from the sales force each person heads? How do you think each of them will benefit from the sales mananagement training seminar?