4.2.1.1. Developing marketing activities to attract the customers
Marketing activities play an important role in the development of the company.
Marketing is known as a tool helping the company approach with the customers as well as introduce the company’s image to people. On the other hand, now marketing activities of forwarding industry have not been focused, this makes not attract many customers. So, promoting marketing activities for forwarding is necessary and more interesting.
Now, marketing activities of Mai Thanh Joint Stock Company is still weak. The Company has no its own marketing department, so marketing activities have not been focused. Because Vietnam’s economy has been growing and people’s lives are improving, companies and enterprises must have marketing strategies to contribute for building the company’s image as well as introducing services of its.
Therefore, Mai Thanh Company should consider some following solutions:
- Establishing website for the company: website is the image of the company through internet and e-commerce facilities. With the trend of using internet frequently, people are just at home without travelling more and search information that they need. So that, creating a website is easily accessible and full of information. Moreover, the website has outstanding format to attract customers’ attention. The website is interaction between the company and customers. Instead of direct feedback about the company, customers can post their complaints on the company’s website, this helps the company improve website as well as services.
- Participating in forwarding associations and organizations such as VIFFAS, FIATA, VCCI, IATA, VLA… to make relationships between companies, study experiences. Being member of domestic and foreign forwarding associations helps the company affirm its prestige and trademark to customers and competitors.
- Joining in online forwarding forums: now, many forums are created with purposes for both sellers and buyers. Here, companies register an account and log into the forum, select suitable sector to promote their products and answer
customers’ questions through forums. Also, customers can visit the forum to find out products and services as their request.
- Advertising service products in newspapers, magazines, public media…, after conducting, the company has to analyze and evaluate these tasks to get experiences for strategies of the company. The advertisement is quite costly but it impacts on the awareness of the customers quickly because newspapers, magazines and public media are also used frequently as internet. Furthermore, the company can design frames running on TV laid at the elevators of buildings or towers. When waiting for elevators, people can see frames with the information and services of the company.
- Introducing the newest services to the close customers: those customers trust the company’s products and services because they have used many times and they feel suitable for them. When the company introduces new services because of prestige and trademark, the customers have peace of mind and of course, the company saves the costs of advertisement for new services.
- Analyzing and reviewing the marketing activities that rival companies have been using in order to make appropriate strategies for the company.
- Finding out information about the new and potential markets to easily access.
The company should make surveys for new and close customers to understand their requirements. In addition, for each market, providing the different marketing strategies to suit each market.
4.2.1.2. Planning the long-term strategies to maintain relationships with customers
Currently, the company have been no customers service department, this one can provide exact consultancy for them if they need.
The first impression is always the most important for a relationship. And first business reputation is not the exception. Business reputation is extremely vital factor to maintain relationships with customers. Finding the customers is hard, keeping them is more difficult. So, the company needs to have long-term strategies
to maintain those relationships to make intimacy with them and get profit for the company. Some solutions that the company can consider:
- Delivering goods on time and ensuring the company’s services: punctuality is always considered to be golden rule for forwarding companies in general and Mai Thanh Company in particular. Punctuality shows the company’s professionalism, respects the time of the company and customers. It is important for maintaining punctuality to building trust and reputation with customers.
- Holding meetings with the customers face to face to listen their feedbacks on pricing, payment. The company should listen and take feedbacks quickly for the customers’ questions and complaints. This is the task of the customers care department of the company. The department is responsible for updating information of the customers through “Contact” on the company’s website, phoning to them to receive feedbacks when they use services of the company.
The staff of this department must be flexible with each situation in order to give customers the best satisfaction.
- Classifying the customers into long-term, short-buy to have right customer service policies. For long-term customers, the company should establish the long-term contracts to fix right prices for customers in a certain time. The company can keep in touch with the customers so the customers can use the company’s services whenever they have the service demand and the company can maintain the profit. For short-buy customers, the company should send out survey questionnaire on each transaction on pricing, service quality, forwarding time to meet their requirement better.
- Limiting to contact to customers by email, except for some special cases: the exchange via email should be served for internal company. Using email for customers makes annoyed for them and shows no respect to them. The company should speak directly to meet the needs and answer questions of customers in order that they know the company’s enthusiasm.
- Creating favor programs or commission for those who introduce new customers to the company.
4.2.1.3. Solutions to enhance staffs’ professional qualification
Human resource is considered to be one of the most important resources of an enterprise. Human resource contributes to make the efficiency and profit of the company. The skillful managers of the company must know how to exploit this important source, create working enthusiasm for the employees. The training is very essential because their specialties are advanced, the working efficiency is better.
Currently, the staff of Mai Thanh Company are professional, mostly graduated.
However, when it is about Tet holidays, the company can not meet the needs of customers. Therefore, the company needs to have solutions as well as policies for the staff of the company:
- The training courses: forwarding jobs require employees to understand the business processes, the legal documents, general knowledge of forwarding. The new regulations, circulars issued by the Customs and the State if the enterprises does not get information in time, they will face many difficulties in implementing import documents, many costs arise. So, the company should organize seminars to exchange experiences, help employees quickly grasp in case of complex problems. Besides, the company should require employees to join in professional classes organized by the Customs to get information clearly.
With current integration, the company has to equip comprehensive knowledge for the staff such as high-level language, wide geographical knowledge, understanding the rules relating to import-export, national and international laws, insurance, banking,…
- Setting up criteria to evaluate employees’ performances to encourage job creativity and contribution and limit mistakes. For the regulations concerning rewards and punishments: the company should have a reasonable reward regulation to help staff maximize working ability, to encourage them to contribute best ideas for the company. The rewards should be associated with
business results and each employee’s performance with his customers. In addition to the fixed salary, employees also receive bonuses for innovations, bonuses at holidays, rewards for prominent individuals in order to encourage employees.
- Short-term recruitment: this trend is being used more in companies. When overloading documents, the staff can not handle quickly which creates pressure for them, stagnation goods at ports. The short-term recruitment as 3-month or 6- month employees solves above problems of the company.
4.2.1.4. Building reasonable price policies
Now, many forwarding companies established, not only domestic companies but also foreign ones with much development experiences and advanced infrastructure. All has created the strong competition for the field of forwarding in Vietnam. In addition to reputation and trademark of the company, price of services is an important factor to attract customers to the company. The price makes the essential competition for the companies forcing them to have a reasonable pricing policy associated with the quality of services.
With the establishment of the company since 2001, the company has had much experience in determining price as well as quality to survive. However, the company should consider some solutions for building better pricing policies to attract more customers:
- Setting up different pricing policies for various types of customers such as close customers and new customers. For the customers using the company’s services many times, the company should have favor price for them, make them feel to receive the care from the company as well as create close relationships with them. Furthermore, the customers will introduce many partners to the company and its prestige and reputation will be advanced.
- Implementing surveys to know the competitive price with other companies.
Through surveys by letting customers answer the questionnaires, the interviews, the company will synthetize and analyze by software such SPSS or E-views to
get results for the company. Besides, the actual surveys not only help the company determine the appropriate price but also help it know disadvantages in management and customer care in order to have better solutions.
- Having seasonal policies to adjust the prices.
4.2.1.5. Improving and updating technology
Technology has been developed increasingly, especially forwarding companies such as Mai Thanh Company. Updating and enhancing technology are inevitable.
This helps the company store large amount of information systematically and scientifically and remove unused and unnecessary information for the company.
Computer network system is a tool supporting staff to process information quickly. The company needs to update this system to limit information congestion when overloading. Online Customs declaration software is important to forwarding companies, the new version of this software should be updated regularly.