Customer Focus

Quality Begins and ends with the customer… Joel Ross

Course Instructor: Memoona Masood Afridi TQM - Lecture 3

Of all the Baldrige Awards criteria, none is important than Customer Focus & Satisfaction. The category accounts for 300 of the 1000 point

value of the award.

“ The category examines the company’s relationships with the customers and its knowledge of customer requirements and of the key quality factors that drive

marketplace competition. Also examined are the company’s methods to determine customer satisfaction, current trends and levels of customer

satisfaction, retention and these results relative to the competition.”

Case study - Ritz–Carlton Hotel Company won the Baldrige award in 1992. many people thought that no hotel could do this because service in this industry is so difficult to measure and to deliver. The company meticulously gathers data

on every aspect of the guest’s stay to determine if the hotels are meeting customer expectations. Key to the research are the daily quality production reports that identify all problems and defects reported in each of 720 work

areas. The data compiled range from the time it takes for housekeepers to clean a room to the number of guest who must wait in line to check in.

You never get a second

chance to make a first impression

The first impression is

a lasting impression in quality

Most judgments are made within 10

seconds of initial contact

A customer is never interruption of work;

He is the purpose for it.

A customer is never dependant on us

as much as we are dependant on him.

We are not doing a favor by serving acustomer …he is doing us a favor by giving us an

opportunity to do so.

Would you do

business withyou

What Do Customers Want

GREETED (Polite – Pitch – Pause – Pace - Personalized)

THANKED(Thank you for calling/ visit)

HELPED (How may I help you today Mr.Taha?)

LISTENED TO (No interruption, just reaffirmations)

VALUED (Inform Customers that they are important)

INVITED BACK (Thank you for your visit, hope to see you soon)

Listening = Learning

“The more you know about your customers, the better you

can serve them now and the more likely you are to keep them in the future ……….”

Ron Kaufman

Voice Of Customer - VOCVOC is mostly done through Surveys, which is a questionnaire based client telephonic interviews process, to gauge the level of customer loyalty and to identify and address customer expectations from Product & Services.

The survey is an assessment / feedback mechanism in which the product, process, customer experience, service delivery of internal personnel and service recovery is gauged post service failure.

A loyal customer is one who has received the expected service from an organisation and hence would continue to do business with the same organisation repeatedly.

Customer loyalty is central for the business to gauge the level of service and know what the customer expectations of the organisation are. Customer satisfaction is directly proportional to customer loyalty as a content customer would continue to engage in business with the organisation providing superior customer services.

Loyal customers are ambassadors for an organisation and are the best source for generating a favourable word of mouth and also work to refer other acquaintances to the similar service experience.

In our competitive business market, winning customer loyalty is a critical part of operating and sustaining a business. Getting your regular customers to have a favorable opinion about your product & service delivery could make the difference between that precious critical mass, between a thriving business and one that is on the way down, wearing out gradually.

The loyalty measuring process enables an organization to identify immediate areas that require improvement as well as identify Products, Personnel, Policies and Processes that are appreciated by customers.

Customer SatisfactionA majority of today's customers look for goods / services in terms of

1. Values

2. Brand image

3. Performance

Customer satisfaction means keeping customer requirement in mind.

The customer wants

a) Right quality

b) Right quantity

c) At right time

d) At right cost

Customer satisfaction is a mix of Hardware technology, product, price, quality andsoftware, attitude, responsiveness, deliverance communication. Facts & perceptions of the company, cost and staff.

Customer Driven Quality Cycle

Customer needs and expectations (Expected Quality)

Identification of customer needs

Translation into Product / Service specifications (Design Quality)

Output Actual Quality

Customer Perceptions (Perceived Quality)

Customer Focus & Activities

Customer Focus

Distribution

Customer Feedback

Design

Need Opportunities

Installation

Service Selling

Manufacturing

• Knowing the Customer

• Resolving the difference b/w Facts & Perceptions

• Knowledge received from customer

Customer Needs & Expectations

Assess relationship

Prioritize who is surveyed

Tailor survey

Deliver survey to customer

Assess results

Account planning

Input customer feedback to product development process

Assessing customer needs and desires

Customer Expectations

Customer Complaints

“A Complaint is an Opportunity that provides the roadmap for

recovery from off-brand service”

A gap identification & resolution implementation tool. Complaints highlight areas for improvement

A Complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction that requires a response

Customer Complaints 91% of people don’t complain. They prefer to get their revenge by not buying from a business that has given them an inferior product or poor service.

Every dissatisfied customer shares their bad experience with another eleven people.

All complainers need handling with a good listening ear, understanding, tact and carefully chosen words.

Why People Complain?

1. Quality of Product2. Quality of Service 3. Expectations not being met4. Because we can 5. To be Difficult 6. Its Their Job 7. To be Helpful 8. To get some attention

Why People don’t Complain?

1. Fear of revenge2. Can’t be bothered3. Have tried before but it’s no use4. Takes too much time5. Effort is too great6. Staff are rude7. Nothing will be done about it8. Preferring to take business elsewhere

Welcome Complaints

ComplaintComplaint ImprovementsImprovementsSatisfied Satisfied CustomersCustomers

IMPROVED IMPROVED BUSINESSBUSINESS

Why Complaints are Good News?

Customer don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they

go wrong

SERVICE BOUNCE BACK – SERVICE RECOVERY

This is an example of SERVICE RECOVERY, when problems occur you can bounce back and rebuild customer loyalty even higher than before, with the right tools and understanding, you will regain customer confidence and make your organization even stronger.

Apology Card / Giveaways are loyalty renewal initiative to win back customers for any mistake or inadequate services provided inadvertently by the bank. The desired objective is to move towards positive customers engagement and win back their misplaced trust.

This exercise shows us how to get it right ...... the second time around.

The final result should be loyal customers who freely proclaim:

" Wow! We got more than we expected. This company is responsible & they do care."

"Service recovery is turning a service failure into an opportunity

you wish you never had……" Michael Hargrove

Customer Compliments

Study your compliments……

You can get more than smiles and warm feelings from a careful study of customer compliments.

Which part of your operation is yielding the most praise? You can cross pollinate the ideas.

If you invest heavily to improve an area and get no increase in compliments, you may have chosen wrong customer value dimension.

If customers repeatedly admire a particular aspect of your service or product, you might see if they are willing to pay a bit more for it.

After all, you are in the business to make money as well.

Follow the pathway of praise to make your service and product even better!!!

Customer Value DimensionQuestion: What do customers really value?

Answer: It depends upon the customer!

What’s important to one person may be of little concern to another……

Each customer values different dimensions of a total service / product experience and each of them is right.

Many value dimensions are quiet familiar. Customers look for them again and again in the wide range of services and physical products.

These value dimensions are listed below:

1. Staff attitude

2. Reliability

3. Speed

4. Physical appearance

5. Value for money

6. Flexibility

7. Personal attention

Thank You