Abstract:
Marketing calls for periodic audit of activities to expose any lapses. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the customer relations practices of Golden Guinea Breyveries plc, Umuahia. The study took note of the dwindling perception and patronage of Golden Guinea's products in Umuahia. The objectives are:
1) To ascertain \'\thether the company regularly reach out to its customers.
2) To ascertain whether the company maintains an open, two-waycommunication channel with customers 3) to ascertain how promptly the company responds to consumer complaints
4) to find out how the company rewards loyal customers
5) to determine whether the company makes effort2 to find out through research, what the needs of customers are
6) to determine the rating of the overall standard of the company's customer relations practices.
The study was designed to cover Umuahia North and South. The survey method of data collection with structured questionnaire as major instrument was adopted. Two different sets of close-ended questionnaires were administered on the marketing and public relations management staff of the company and its customers.
The bowler formula was used to determine the sample size, and data was analysed by tabular comparisons using percentages and absolute figures. Our results showedthat the level of customer relations effectiveness of Golden Guinea Breweries Plc is satisfactory in terms of regular contacts with customers (62.5%); in terms of whether the communication channel was open and two-way in flow (62.2%) and in terms of whether the overall interaction between company and customers was adequate (78%) However in terms of whether customers make complaints (74%); whether customers are totally satisfied with the handling of their complaints (15%) and whether complaints are addressed promptly (36%), the company scored poorly.
On the basis of the above results we concluded that the level of customer relations effectiveness of Golden Guinea Breweries Plc is not fully satisfactory and therefore requires improvements.
