Earl Sasser Case Study

Earl Sasser Jr. discusses why customers matter in his lecture because customers are essential in every business that have been created. He began by providing a story about a local grocery store in Norwalk Connecticut that kept expanding. Their customers were dedicated to making their store the best it could be by providing suggestions and participating in focus groups that concluded in results from the suggestions. Sasser wanted to show businesses that were not efficient in their customer care why their customers should matter because there are some companies who have leaders that have instilled these ways in their companies but there are some that neglect the fact that their customers do matter. Sasser says that if you listen to all the CEOs

The manager of baggage claims was attending his presentation and provided him with some insight on why he received the bad service during baggage claim. The manager tells him that he was forced to schedule less workers to make budget for the end of the month, which is a problem that most managers face today. Sasser believes that because there is no research being conducted on how the company is effected economically when they lose their loyal customers or the customers who have the potential to be loyal then they tend to make customer care or improvements to customer care a lower priority. If managers start considering the breakeven point they have to reach before customers actually start being profitable then they would increase their measures to improve their customer care to keep customers loyal to their business longer. Good customer service can take the slack off of a bad product. In an article Tabitha Naylor says “you see, if you have good customer service, people naturally assume you have good products” (Naylor,

The first type is hostage, which is a customer who is stuck with a company even though they are dissatisfied. An example of this for me would be the water company that provides water to our house, WSSC. We have had many problems and slow service, but we are stuck with them because they have a monopoly over that service in our area. The second type is defectors, which means that you are not satisfied and you have the option to leave. An example of this in my household would be McDonalds because we don’t receive good service and there are other options that worth our hard earned money. The next type is mercenaries, which means you are only a little satisfied with the service and will leave if a better opportunity comes that is only slightly better than the one you are receiving. An example of this would be our service with Netflix because they do provide some good services but it is not excellent. If any of their other competitors were to offer the same service for a slightly better price then I would consider making the change. The last type is apostle, and this is the type of customer that all companies would like to encounter. These customers are very satisfied, very loyal, and very vocal about the great service they receive, which brings more loyal customers. Daymond John says “word of mouth is the most powerful ally you have on your side” (John, 2015) in his