Determine the on-going potential of key customer accounts
Overview
This standard is about the skills and knowledge needed for you to determine the on-going potential of key customer accounts. Customers can be profitable, cooperative and always pay on time, others can be time consuming, yield little return but have a high profile end user. Gauging the on-going potential of customers is of great importance in maintaining the profitability of a food business. Determining if a customer is a time waster, is likely to have difficulty paying or their products require a difficult production process are all important factors in deciding if a customer is worth keeping. Additionally this information can be used to decide how a customer is dealt with on a day to day basis. It can also be used to inform where time, resources and expenditure can be focused to aid the success of the food business. You will need the skills and knowledge to determine the criteria by which a customer will be judged, ensuring the criteria are agreed by colleagues. You will also need the skills and knowledge to source specific information, from different areas of the food business and use the information to gauge potential of a customer. This standard is for you if you work in food and drink manufacture and/or supply operations and are involved in determining the on-going potential of key customer accounts.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
Determine criteria
determine criteria by which customers will be assessed
communicate criteria to colleagues, receive feedback and amend
criteria accordingly
Collate information
source the food and drink business current customers
source data relating to the financial aspects of each customer
including profitability and if the customer is financially solvent
gauge the amount of man hours needed to work with each
customer
assess the ease of production for goods made for each customer
establish the willingness and ease of ability of customers to cooperate and work with different areas of the food business
including finance, production, technical and distribution
determine the benefits and challenges of working with a specific
high profile customer or end user
assess the potential of a customer for expansion
assess the importance of informal and sensitive information
relating to a customer and how to record, handle and use this
information
Evaluate information
use collated information and criteria to gauge the food and drink
businesses on-going potential
make recommendations to the relevant people about the need to
pursue further contracts, modify the methods of working with
specific customers or reject working with a specific customer
completely
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
how to source the current customers to your food and drink
business
- the different methods, quantitative and qualitative, of assessing
customers, their advantages and disadvantages
- the methods of communication and technology, available to aid
the gathering of information, in your organisation and how to use
them
how to collate and present gathered information
the methods of communication and technology, available to aid
the gathering of information, in your organisation and how to use
them
- why it is important to establish a formal criteria or key
performance indicator by which a customer can be assessed
- how to consult with colleagues to establish criteria and why it is
important to do so
- how to source data relating to each food and drink business
departments working relationship with specific customers
- the areas of the food and drink business most important to
determining the on-going potential of key customers
- how to use gathered information to inform decision making around
determining the on-going potential of customers
- why it is important to inform relevant people of findings and how to
do this
- the organisational and regulatory requirements relating to the
handling of data