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A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 2

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 3

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 3

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 5

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 2

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 3

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 3

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 2

I. I feel valued as a customer. 2

Comments :

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 3

When I go to my "usual" GW store, I feel highly valued, for I have been following them from the day they opened & come quite regularly (though the store is 100+ km from my city). The manager is a nice guy, and we always have genuine conversations about the worth of their new range, the GW official policy, etc... So it's a nice interaction!

On the other side, whenever I go to a "random" GW store, I just feel like I am a "walking wallet", and like their only aim is to suck up every cent I have!!!

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 5

I have only had 2 "problems" with GW products :
- first "problem" : I have been shipped 2 WD issues for about 4 months, even though I had called on the 2nd month to warn them (I was afraid they would charge for both!), and their answer was "I guess you'll find one of your friends to give them to!"
- second problem : in my "regular" GW, I bought a "Lugft Huron" with 2 left arms (power axe) but no right arm (heavy flamer). Upon calling the GW direct order, they simply acknowledged the fact, and sent me a new blister with the complete mini!!

So, I'm pretty much happy with their customer service...

I hope it'll help...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ed_Bodger wrote:To all those that have viewed and not replied please take a minute to do so at the least you boost your post count by one cheers people.

Who said the post count mattered that much?

Those who do can always add a "" or a "wow, nice" or even a "cool story, bro" to any random thread!!

A = 0; I really don't know

B = 1; Perhaps it's from the American front, but GW seems oblivious to customer concerns and tournament results.

C = 3; On the phone, they're excellent. In person, they're a bit patronizing.

D = 5; I've had problems. They got resolved. I never hesitate to call.

E = 2; White Dwarf shows their business plan. Compared to other companies, GW is behind.

F = 2; GW seems to view the entire miniatures market as composed exclusively as their employees.

G = 1; I've heard enough stories about how only new customers matter, etc.

H = 5; GW makes the best plastics. They focus on plastics nowadays.

I = 3; Meh?

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 2

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 2

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 2

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 4

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 1

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 3

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 1

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 4

I. I feel valued as a customer. 2

A. 3

B. 2

C. 0

D. 5
E.5

F. 4

G. 4

H. 5

I. 4

Thanks again guys this is really good so far.

Isn't adding a '', or 'nice post' or something of that nature only in a thread considered spamming by the MOD's? Or am I totally off the Mark?

The Decapitator wrote:Isn't adding a '', or 'nice post' or something of that nature only in a thread considered spamming by the MOD's? Or am I totally off the Mark?

The Decapitator wrote:Isn't adding a '', or 'nice post' or something of that nature only in a thread considered spamming by the MOD's? Or am I totally off the Mark?

As you have admitted in another thread that you work for GW I think I would discount you from the data as there is obviously a huge bias. Also I really don't understand what you are saying.

Ed_Bodger wrote:

The Decapitator wrote:Isn't adding a '', or 'nice post' or something of that nature only in a thread considered spamming by the MOD's? Or am I totally off the Mark?

Also I really don't understand what you are saying.

I think he was answering to my poke below :

Yggdrasil wrote:
Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ed_Bodger wrote:To all those that have viewed and not replied please take a minute to do so at the least you boost your post count by one cheers people.

Who said the post count mattered that much?

Those who do can always add a "" or a "wow, nice" or even a "cool story, bro" to any random thread!!

A. 2

B. 1

C. 3

D. 5

E. 2

F. 3

G. 2

H. 4

I. 3

A. = 3

B. = 3

C. =3

D. =4

E. =2

F. =3

G. =3

H. =5

I. =5

Also,

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. = 1

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. = 1

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. = 4 (generally staff is good in my local area)

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. = 4

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. = 1

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. = 2

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. = 2

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. = 4

I. I feel valued as a customer. = 2 (otherwise it would be a 4 because of the staff in my local area).

Ed_Bodger wrote:

The Decapitator wrote:Isn't adding a '', or 'nice post' or something of that nature only in a thread considered spamming by the MOD's? Or am I totally off the Mark?

As you have admitted in another thread that you work for GW I think I would discount you from the data as there is obviously a huge bias. Also I really don't understand what you are saying.

As frustrating as his sentiments are at times, his opinions are admittedly as valid as any of ours and I don't think you should discard his responses out of hand. I don't agree with his rankings either, but that's not the point after all, and it's not as if you asked in your original request for people with any undo bias not to respond. I simply wanted to throw that out there.

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know
5 4 3 2 1 0

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 0

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 2

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 4

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 2

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 2

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers . 2

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 2

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 4

I. I feel valued as a customer. 3


Hmm, ended up being more rough on them than I expected.

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback.
B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback.
C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued.
D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved.
E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart.
F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers.
G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers.
H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors.
I. I feel valued as a customer.

A and B - 0 - I don't know if they gather it, but I've never seen a survey done by GW either.
C - 2 - Usually they start to annoy me by pushing "the product of the week".
D - 5 - This is the thing where GW excels. Not a single problem with miniatures has been unresolved and in most cases I've left with the miscast (or what ever else of wrong with mini) and given a new whole mini in addition as well.
E - 2 - I would doubt that.
F - 2 or 3 - I do think they value new customers. If you've been there long ... doubt it.
G - 1 or 2 - Longer you are their customer, less you move away from their sphere of interest. As they can't sell you miniatures as much anymore.
H - 3 - I think they try to separate out by producing quality minis. Though in 6mm arena they are nowhere near the best.
I - 1 - I'm not really their main customer as I don't play their main games (Epic for the win!).

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know
5 4 3 2 1 0


A. 0

B. 1

C. 1

D. 2

E. 1

F. 1

G. 1

H. 1

I. 1

I almost put 5 for H under the premise that I believe GW thinks they're the best company on the market and puts major emphasis on making that claim, though makes very little effort to follow through on that claim with any action. But I actually don't have any experience with GW even acknowledging the existence of other companies. So rather than differentiate themselves from their competitors, it seems GW's strategy is more to pretend there aren't any competitors and hope I don't know better.

A - 0
B - 0
C - 5
D - 5
E - 5
F - 5
G - 5
H - 5
I - 5

A. 3
B. 3
C. 3
D. 5
E. 2
F. 3
G. 2
H. 4
I. 3

A:2
B:1
C:2
D:5
E:1
F:1
G:1
H:5
I:1

Disclaimer: I'm a veteran. Considering that GW's business plan is based on attaining new blood and letting them turn over - this doesn't speak highly of their regard for their customer base. As I'm not part of their targetted base, I fall into the group that GW expects to continue spending irrespective of price increases and/or neglect. If any proof needs to be given regarding how dim the boardroom's views of their customers are: A GW's brief was shown to refer to their customers as "followers". The boardroom definitely value their shareholders more than their customers.

I really wanted to rate GW's feedback collection system as a 1, as there isn't any real mechanism by which to provide feedback - though some staffers dutifully listen to complaints, so a 1 really wouldn't be fair. This whole feedback mechanism doesn't amount to much as feedback in the form of emails and snail-mails seem to only result in snarky Standard Bearer articles from Jervis... hence the 1 rating on feedback response. Question 3 is loaded. While YMMV, I find that if the staffers know you, then the experience is usually fantastic. If you don't know them, after failing any inital attempts to sell/upsell, they will avoid you like the plague. I ended up going with the latter, as the number of staffers that don't know you far outnumber those that do.

GW has a well deserved and excellent reputation for fixing problems with their product. Somewhat less flattering, they are also well known for poo-pooing the products of others - hence the "differentiating themselves" score.

A) 1
B) 1
c) 3
d) 4
e) 1
f) 1
g) 1
h) 4
i) 1

Thanks to everyone who put in their input it has been much appreciated. In case anyone is interested a few months ago I spoke to one on GW head office guys on the phone and he said he would be more than happy for me to email some frank and honest questions to them for answers as long as they weren't published on the internet. So I sent them the email copied below and recieved no reply (this was in early October) therefore I thought I would see whether you though these questions a bit too close to the mark.

Rob,

Thank you for your help this morning, to give you the full introduction my name is XXXX I am studying an MBA (Masters of Business Administration at the University of the XXXXX). In two of our modules we have been asked to study a plc for which we have either worked, would like to work or have an interest in. I have chosen Games Workshop PLC for the simple reasons that I have just left the Army as an Officer in the Royal Signals and so have had limited experience working for a plc and because as a customer since 1990 I have a large interest in GW.

The two modules are entitled Delivering Customer Value (marketing and operations) and Managing Decisions (Finance). As far as the second module is concerned the Financial Statement has given me all the information I need but the first module is about choosing an aspect of how a company either succeeds or fails in a particular aspect of delivering value to the customer. It is this module that has raised some questions that I hope that either you or someone within your organisation will be able to help me answer. Before I list the questions I would just like to stress that I am very much a supporter of GW (as you will see from the amount of money I spend on my online account) and I want to choose an aspect of delivering customer value in which GW excels, such as the excellence of the vast majority or store managers I have met. However in the research I have done up until this point it is obvious that there are also failings in delivering customer value and I wondered if highlighting these in an unbiased and non-publisied way would be useful to your organisation?

The questions I have are as follows:

1) To what extent does GW prioritise the attraction of new customers against the retention of existing customers?

2) The replacement service for any kit that is missing a sprue or in exceedingly rare occasions missing multiple spruce is excellent and taken in isolation indicates an excellent after sales service, however the mis-sale of products to inexperienced gamers in something that crops up all too frequently. These two acts illustrate a divergence in sales service. How important is the after sales aspect of the companies strategy.

3) Marketing - The only marketing GW seems to do is through White Dwarf and emails. White Dwarf is a genius idea as it asks the customer to pay for the companies' marketing and, as can be seen by the sell out rate, this obviously works. Yet the earliest one hears about the release of a new product is a month ahead of schedule on the back page of WD or in a few cases through an error that leads to a photo being put all over the internet (such as the new Storm Raven model). Why is there not earlier notification of future releases? With a target market that increasingly involves children (>18) who have limited disposable income would it not be better to announce the big release of something in December well in advance so as to capitalise on the Christmas Market?

4) Games Workshop occupy an monopolistic position in terms of market share of this niche market, with no main competitors in the tabletop market how easy is it to ensure that you delivering what the customer wants rather than what the company thinks they want. Or in other words how do you ensure you are not guilty of marketing myopia - what are the methods of market research?

These are my initial questions and I hope they can be answered although I appreciate the fact that everyone is very busy and this will top no-ones priority list. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and to anyone else who this is forwarded to. I enclose a photo of my student ID card so that you can see that this is a genuine enquiry. I would also like to state that due to my appreciation of your help I will not publicise any of the answers given if that is your wish except to include them in my assignments which will be read by a maximum of four people.

END

seeing as they didn't respond I have no problem publishing the questions. I wonder whether this is indicative of their not wanting any form of criticism whatsoever even though verbally I was told they enjoyed the chance to answer these questions.

My two penneth would be :

A. 0
B. 1
C. 0
D. 3
E. 4
F. 4
G. 3
H. 5
I. 0

Comments on the questions are question E in the main but this also crosses the boundaries to other questions, I believe that GW does indeed have customer value at heart but this is swamped by a lack of communication from the company so people are not willing, nor educated in business matters enough, to see GW as a business, only believing that their hobby is getting more expensive. I think that if GW were to address customers directly via White Dwarf and posters or newsletters in the shops that people will understand the price rises a bit better and at least feel that their views are being heard.

Question B has a strongly disagree vote from me as I have emailed and written old fashioned letters (with letterhead to prove who I was) to GW asking for advice and if they had any posters I could buy from them (I didn't even ask for free posters) to help furnish and run a new Wargames Club that I wanted to start. Two emails and two letters (I was making sure they got them) was sent.

On the other hand I wrote one letter, just one, to Mantic and I received a very nice letter from Ronnie himself, which revealed lots of ideas for club events and training the young uns, as well as over £300 worth of models, paint and brushes!
A similar letter to Flames of War peeps and Hordes supplied me with enough posters to cover almost every square space of the magnolia walls of the club. For free.

GW didn't reply to any of my four letters, which was very dissapointing and I would go so far as to say that their lack of response was ignorant and offensive.

From a Crab to a former Grunt I hope the MBA goes well.

A1
B2
C3
D1
E3
F2
G1
H3
I2

A 3

B. 3

C. 4

D. 5

E. 2

F. 4

G. 2

H. 4

I. 3

another thing to track would be to try to get a feel for what GW's net promoter score would be. That's another hot button topic for bigger companies these days

Assignment finished thank you very much for everyone's help it was very very useful.

[Edit:] This is what happens when you post before checking the entire thread.

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 0

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 1

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 3

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 4

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 1

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 1

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 1

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 5

I. I feel valued as a customer. 1

A. 2
B. 1
C. 3
D. 5
E. 2
F. 2
G. 1
H. 4
I. 2

Good luck with your research!

(edit: Heh, I just did the same thing as Fellblade... hope everything worked out for you anyways)

yeah,

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 4

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 3

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 3

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 5

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 3

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 3

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 2

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 4

I. I feel valued as a customer. 3

Panic...

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 2

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 2

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 3

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 5

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 2

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 3

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 2

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 5

I. I feel valued as a customer. 3