1.1 Customer Orientation - Key Factor of Successful Business Activity

The activities of enterprises (organizations) today take place in a highly competitive environment, a multitude of internal and external links, the complexity of production processes, limited resources. Work in such conditions is associated with an increased level of risk and uncertainty. This requires organizations to innovate in thinking, constantly developing and improving their activities. One of the most important conditions for the successful operation of the organization is its orientation towards the consumer, when the production and sale of products or services are based on understanding and satisfying the needs of consumers. The main goal of consumer orientation is to achieve its satisfaction and, as a result, to keep it and preserve it. At the same time, customer satisfaction is determined by the ratio of his expectations and the real quality of the product or service he has acquired. In works in the field of marketing, organizational management and quality management, there are many examples that indicate the importance of organizations' orientation toward the consumer, for example:

· The cost of attracting new consumers is 5-10 times higher than the cost of satisfying and retaining existing consumers;

· 5% reduction in the level of outflow of consumers can lead to an increase in the company's revenues by 25-85% (depending on the industry);

· Most regular customers bring in income only from the second year after the first purchase, etc.

The literature points out the fundamental difference between a satisfied and delighted consumer and notes that today the satisfaction of the consumer is necessary, but not sufficient condition for its retention and preservation. Organizations to admire the consumer and achieve his loyalty need to provide him with a product (or service) that not only meets his requirements and expectations, but also surpasses them. In case of favorable development of events, the relations between the organization and the consumer pass through the following main stages: for the first time and re-appealed consumer, client, reliable friends, partners. The central place for customer satisfaction is given in the ISO 9000 international standards. In particular, the first of eight quality management principles states: "Organizations depend on their customers and therefore must understand their current and future needs, fulfill their requirements and strive to exceed their expectations." Orientation to the consumer involves the following actions:

· Establishment of requirements and expectations of consumers;

· Definition of additional requirements that exceed customer expectations;

· Conducting a comprehensive analysis of these requirements and expectations;

· Accounting and compliance with the requirements and expectations of the consumer in the production and maintenance process ;

Measuring the actual degree of customer satisfaction;

· Analysis of the results;

· Development and implementation of activities aimed at improving the organization's activities to improve customer satisfaction [14].

An important element in this sequence of actions is the measurement of the degree of customer satisfaction, since it is the measurement results that make it possible to establish whether the consumer is actually satisfied with the product or service provided by the organization. There are different approaches to measuring customer satisfaction. The indicators on the basis of which one can judge the degree of customer satisfaction are conditionally divided into two groups. The first group includes indicators that are determined by the enterprise in the process of analysis of production and economic activities for a certain period:

-the total number of consumers; Number of lost consumers;

-market share;

- annual sales per user;

- the number of complaints and offers submitted, etc.

The second group includes indicators that are determined by consumers:

- customer satisfaction;

-importance for the consumer of a parameter that characterizes the product or service.

At the same time, the consumer acts as an expert, who is invited to assess the degree of his satisfaction with the products or services purchased. Indicators of the first group characterize the general position of the enterprise in the market and indirectly indicate the relationship with the consumer, but do not reflect the satisfaction of a particular consumer, the reasons for changing the views of the consumer on the product or service of the enterprise. Unlike the first, the indicators of the second group indicate the degree of satisfaction of specific consumers, their wishes and priorities. Both sets of indicators complement each other. Evaluation of the degree of customer satisfaction is a multi-step process, including the steps:

· Preparatory;

· Carrying out the actual assessment of the degree of customer satisfaction;

· Processing, analysis and formalization of evaluation results.

The effectiveness of the assessment largely depends on the organization of this process in the enterprise, which includes:

- determination of the content of the main stages of the process;

- Establishment within the organization of officials and units that will participate in this process;

-distribution of duties and authority between them;

-development of relevant documents regulating the implementation of the process within the organization.

To ensure objectivity, responsibility for the organization and implementation of this process is advisable to assign to a department not related to the production process and not interested in the results of the evaluation. The content and organization of the process of assessing the degree of customer satisfaction are largely determined by the type of activity the enterprise is engaged in, in which market it operates, and who is its consumer.