Analysis of jelly belly candy company

Jelly Belly Candy Company: Questions
1.
a)
Customer churn refers to the process of customer overturn. It involves situation where existing customers of the business switches from being regular to acquiring products from a different supplier. In the case of Jelly Bean, it means the process by which customers that used to purchase Jelly beans from the company’s stores stops buying them over a given period of time. Actions should be taken to prevent this act of customer defection. Typical measures include caring for the existing customers in terms of their emerging needs and understanding their challenges.
b)
Proof-of-concept, as used in the paper refers to the necessity to proof or ascertain that a system under consideration is viable (Blount and Lamm 356). Jelly Belly management had a plan to improve their sales and marketing practices through adoption of an appropriate customer relations technological system. As a result, they acquired a CRM system but few months after its integration, the system even failed to form a viable interface with the Enterprise Resource Planning (EPR). Consequently, Jelly Belly approached Microsoft for a new CRM system. This time, they need a preliminary certainty that this new system will serve the intended purpose. Therefore, Jelly Belly consulted Webfortis to establish a proof-of-concept that the new system met all standards required for optimal performance.
2.
Jelly Belly can now manage its current customer base using information obtained from the new system. In the past, the company could lose any type of customer within their selling and purchase processes. However, the new customer relations package enables managers to identify specialty customers responsible for voluminous purchase of their products (Blount and Lamm 357). Consequently, this new package allows sales managers to develop longer relations with specialty clients; hence reducing curstomer defection.
3.
As a Jelly Belly human resource manager, I would consider selecting hiring and training skilled and productive sales persons into the company’s sales team. The reason is that Jelly Belly have the requisite information on customers; hence skilled sales persons could utilize these information in improving sales through actions like direct marketing.
4.
The main reason why Jelly Belly failed in accounting for undesirable customer patterns was as a result of inefficient customer relationship culture. Jelly Belly had not employed the use of technological tools in acquiring relevant information concerning the nature of their client base. In the past, the company could witness significant customer turnover every business period. Actually, Jelly Belly lost as many customers as it gained every period (Blount and Lamm 357). However, integration of an efficient customer relationship management package induced reduction of turnover by approximately 34%. Improvement resulted from better understanding of the company’s diverse market across the globe. The use of technology enabled regional managers to track sales leads and activities from trade shows and other promotional events. In the process, these managers could collect required information and forward them to senior management levels in a timely manner. Consequently, senior management could initiate production processes aimed at addressing correspondingly to observed trends in trade shows.
In addition, Jelly Belly improved its relational marketing through regular phone calls to inactive customers who used to purchase massive products. Every twelve months, the company’s director of customer relations would initiate direct phone conversations with retreating customers. In the process, they acquired positive response that contributed towards retention and increase of its loyal customer base. In this context, Jelly Belly finally learned to address customer needs and acknowledge challenges that faced their consumers. Information acquired through the CRM system indicated that most of its past customers stopped purchasing Jelly Beans and other confectioneries. The main reason for this is that customers tend to shift to changing product preferences in the industry (Blount and Lamm 357). Therefore, Jelly Belly’s succeeded in implementing CRM package since it had a better understanding of its customers. Acquisition of relevant customer information came as a result of the technology, which eliminated disconnection between the different sections involved in customer relationship.
Work Cited
Blount, Sumner and Lamm, Jacob. Real World Challenges: Jelly Belly Candy Company-Getting Your Arms around Sales. New York: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.