The Head Room

Part B

What Actually Happened

The Head Room decided that they would conduct a customer survey to determine how well they were presently meeting the needs of their clients. A mail-out survey was chosen so that the clients would feel that their responses could not be directly attributed to them, and hopefully they would be more honest. From their customer data base of 3000 names, The Head Room randomly selected 800 for mailing. Of these, they received 218 completed questionnaires, providing a 27% response rate, which is high for this type of survey.

The questionnaire asked clients to respond to questions addressing many features of their service delivery. Customers were asked to rate their satisfaction with these features on a scale of poor to excellent. Certain questions allowed them to respond with comments and suggestions. Some of the key findings relevant to the decision to be made were in the areas of delivering a quality product, the pricing strategy in relation to value received and how the customer viewed them in relation to their competition.

The questionnaire asked customers to rate how important were specific features to them when choosing a salon. They were asked to rate on a scale from "very important" to "not-at-all important". They were given six alternatives from which to select a response: quality of service, availability of appointment, reputation, location, price and having multi-services provided from the one location. Later in the survey, they were asked to rate The Head Room's performance on each of these features.

Results

The Head Room was most interested in what customers considered to be "very important" to them when making their choice. When choosing a salon, quality service was considered to be "very important" to 98% of people who completed the questionnaire, with the second highest category being able to have the desired appointment time for 77% of customers. The ranking for the other features listed as being "very important" are listed below.

Benefit %

Quality of service 98

Availability of appointment 77

Reputation 72

Location 52

Price 50

Multi-services 35

From this, therefore, it can be seen that price and location are only "very important" to approximately 50% of customers.

When clients were asked how well they felt The Head Room was providing its service they indicated the following.

Customer Satisfaction: Service Quality

The Head Room Excellent Good Average Poor Very Poor

Quality of Service 51.5% 41.7% 6.2% .6% 0

A comparison of the service provided by The Head Room with other salon produced the following results.

Customer Satisfaction: Service Quality In Relation to Competition

The Head Room Better Same Worse

Service Quality vs Competition 75.2% 22.3% 2.5%

The second highest rated "very important" feature for clients was the ability of a salon to accommodate them at the time that was convenient to them. They rated the Head Room's performance in this category as shown below.

Customer Satisfaction: Availability

The Head Room Excellent Good Average Poor

Having Requested Appointment Time 52.9% 30.3% 10.7% 6.1%

Customers listed reputation as the third highest "very important" reason they chose a salon. This can be viewed as another aspect of a quality product. Clients were asked to rank The Head Room on innovative styling, knowledge of staff, and consistency in delivering quality service. How well customers felt The Head Room was living up to its reputation is listed below.

Customer Satisfaction: Reputation

The Head Room Excellent Good Average Poor

Innovative Styling 41.3% 48.0% 10.7% 0

Staff Competency 53.2% 37.6% 9.2% 0

Reliability 51.3% 37.6% 10.0% 1.1%

Approximately 50% of customers stated that location was "very important" to them in choosing to patronize a salon. Were The Head Room customers, therefore, pleased with their present location?

Customer Satisfaction: Present Location of The Head Room

The Head Room Excellent Good Average Poor

Convenience of Location 21.5% 29.2% 29.2% 20.1%

Availability of Parking 5.2% 22.8% 29.8% 42.2%

In Part A of this case, it was noted that the services of The Head Room tended to be higher priced than most salons in St. John's. Management felt that clients would equate price in terms of the value they felt they were receiving. As price was indicated as being "very important" to approximately 50% of clients, they were interested in determining whether their pricing policy was a concern to clients and how clients rated value received from The Head Room in relation to its competition. The results obtained from both questions are as follows.

Customer Satisfaction: Price

The Head Room Excellent Good Average Poor

Rating on Value 15.6% 57.8% 23.4% 3.2%

Customer Satisfaction: Price in Relation to Competition

The Head Room Better The Same Worse

Position in Relation to Competition re Value 33.8% 50.0% 16.2%

Finally customers indicated that being able to access many different services under one roof was "very important" to 35% of clients. How well The Head Room performed in delivering this benefit to them is displayed in the following table.

Customer Satisfaction: Multi-Services

The Head Room Excellent Good Average Poor

Rating on Variety of Products Offered 45.9% 48.7% 5.4% 0

Questions for Discussion:

1. Given the results of the survey, would you recommend to The Head Room that they move to a new location? Give reasons for your answer.

2. What suggestions would you make to The Head Room on how they could improve their services?

what information do you want more to answer this?