| dc.description.abstract | Customermanagement strategies are techniques set up by organizations to identify and satisfy the needs of
customers in the provision of goods and services. Customers are today aiming at getting maximum
satisfaction not only from the products they buy and the services they are provided with, but also in the
way they are treated before and after sale or provision of a service. Despite this assertion, customer
management strategies at Kisumu Water and Sewerage Company are in question. Reports have indicated
that there is inadequate distribution of clean water, declining quality of water and poor sanitation.
According to the City Council of Kisumu, only 57% of the total population has access to piped water,
while 7% depend on the water vendors, 10% rely on other sources and the remaining 20% have no access
to safe drinking water. For this reason the strategies used by this company to serve its customers' needs to
be interrogated. It's noted that from the past studies on done at Kisumu water and Sewerage Company
moreemphasis has been put on the outsourcing and water distribution strategies. There has been no study
doneon the effect of service delivery and complaints management and their effect on customer satisfaction,
these therefore remain unknown. Moreover, the relationships between customer care and customer
satisfaction and the relationship between employee training and customer satisfaction have also not been
previously examined by past studies. So these relationships still remain unclear. The main objective of the
study was to determine the role of customer management strategies on customer satisfaction in Kisumu
water and Sewerage Company. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the effects of service
delivery on customer satisfaction, to assess effects of complaints management on customer satisfaction, to
examinethe relationship between customer care and customer satisfaction, and to establish the relationship
between training and customer satisfaction. The adopted cross sectional survey design with population
drawn from the KIWASCO staff and customers totaling t0240 selected through purposive sampling and
simple random sampling respectively. Primary data was collected using focus group discussions and
questionnaires while secondary data was obtained from documents and reports. Validity of data collection
instrumentwas achieved using content validity index while its reliability was ascertained through exposure
to experts. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in form of tables of percentages.
The results indicated that a majority of the customers were satisfied with the services that they receive at
KIWASCO with a percentage response rate of 71%. Only 11% of the respondents were dissatisfied with
the services offered by this company. In summary this study showed that customer complaints needs to be
managed effectively by improving customer care service. The findings of this study may be used by the
company management to make strategic decisions concerning customer care services, water distribution
plan and even in deciding strategy for operational expansion. The recommendations 0 he study was that
Kisumu Water and Sewerage Company should strengthen the customer management strategies by
establishing a good monitoring system that can ensure that service delivery is effective and efficient and
also the employees should also be taken for regular training to be able to know and understand how to
handle customers better. | en_US |
