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Book Recommendation from CCI President Craig
Bailey
"Thinking" about becoming Customer Centric? If so, a book that "started it
all" for Customer Centricity is
Customer Centered Growth, by Richard Whiteley and Diane Hessan. This
book offers key insight, practical approaches and a tool-kit for
Customer-Centered Growth. To whet your appetite, I thought I'd share the
"Are you willing…" Acid Test of Executive Commitment that is shared on
page 226 of this book.
To judge your level of commitment to customer-centered leadership, ask
yourself these questions:
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Will you fire the high performer who does not
live the values of the organization?
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Are you willing to devote a minimum three-year
commitment to making the creation of a customer-centered organization
happen?
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Are you willing to be visible in the effort by
attending workshops, personally participating in recognition events, and
spending considerable time with customers?
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Are you willing to put customers and personnel
on virtually every operating meeting agenda and discuss them first?
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Are you will to put customers first even when
it might mean that short-term numbers are missed?
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Are you willing to promote a person who
embodies customer-centered concepts over an uncommitted manager?
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Do you insist on having customer-satisfaction
numbers as well as the financials in your regular reporting scheme?
The book suggests
that if you answer "no" to two or more of these questions, review your own
commitment carefully before moving forward. For you, attempting a
customer-centered transformation is most likely an expedition into the
Great Waste: an under-committed initiative.
As a case-study
example - The techniques suggested in this book were key to the efforts
taken by members of the Customer Centricity team to elevate a managed
service provider to the number one spot for customer satisfaction in their
industry. And, we continue to leverage these techniques in helping
numerous other firms.
In closing, if
you are serious about becoming Customer Centric, this book is for you.
View Book
Becoming Customer Centric -
Customer Surveys
by Craig Bailey
Leveraging the Voice of
the Customer (VoC) is critical to becoming customer centric. In this
edition, we will expand upon the topic of "obtaining the pulse of the
customer" by covering customer surveys. While we won't be covering details
on how to construct and administer a customer survey, it is important to
note that there are (at least) two types of surveys to consider, each with
a typical audience.
Transactional
surveys
Typical audience:
Product/service end-user
The purpose of a transactional survey is to measure customer satisfaction
with individual, or a history of, interactions (transactions) with the
firm. This can yield valuable information, enabling a firm to improve the
customer experience at a tactical level. It should be noted that, while a
firm may experience high levels of satisfaction at the transactional
level, this does NOT necessarily correlate to high degrees of loyalty.
However, it is an important "data point" within a comprehensive VoC
process. Finally, a transaction-based survey is most frequently targeted
at the end-users of a firm's products and services. While the end-users
may not hold budgetary responsibility, they can significantly influence
the decision-maker.
Relationship
surveys
Typical audience: Decision maker
The purpose of a relationship survey is to measure the health of the
overall relationship. A relationship survey will typically cover all
aspects of the firm including, but not limited to:
- Marketing
- Product
Management
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Engineering/Development
- Sales/Account
Management
- Professional
Services
- Training and
Education
- Service and
Support
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Accounting/Finance/Billing
As such, several
individuals from the customer's firm may be required to participate in
order for you to understand the nature, satisfaction level and loyalty of
the "entire relationship."
In addition to
obtaining customer satisfaction on a ranked scale (low to high
satisfaction), surveys should provide the customer an opportunity to
respond to open-ended questions and general comments.
Important
considerations with regards to customer satisfaction surveys include:
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Determining who to survey and how often
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Knowing which voice of the customer you are hearing
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Not merely conducting them, but evaluating the results
and taking responsive action
In
summary, customer satisfaction surveys are an important aspect of your VoC
practices, but are ONLY worthwhile when acted upon. In the next edition,
we will cover additional approaches to "obtaining the pulse of the
customer" and in subsequent editions we will cover taking appropriate
responsive action!
View previous articles in this series.
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Contents
+ Book Recommendation
+ Becoming Customer Centric
+ Recommended Reading
+ Speaking Engagements
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Recommended Reading
This issue we recommend several articles from CRM Magazine with the
theme of customer focus.
CRM's Dysfunctional Relationship by Ginger Conlon presents the
wireless industry as an example where customer loyalty is not rewarded. In
fact, it is to the customer's (financial) benefit to change companies on a
regular basis.
The Disappearing Act by Lior Arussy stresses the importance of keeping
the customer mindset at all times. After all, we're all customers - why
should we forget that when we're doing our jobs?
CRM Claims the Corner Office by Vicki Powers introduces a new role on
the executive team: the Chief Customer Officer. The article also presents
case studies of three Chief Customer Officers.
Speaking Engagements
CCI
President Craig Bailey
will be a speaker at PDMA's (Product Development and Management
Association) 7th Annual
"Voice of the
Customer" conference on December 7-10, 2004, in San Francisco CA.
Presentation materials will be available for download from CCI's website
closer to the conference date.
About Customer Centricity, Inc.
We strengthen overall company performance through
better service delivery and management.
We boost efficiencies in front-line customer service and technical support
teams, order processing, fulfillment, field service, logistics and other
key operations functions.
In short, we align the resources of your organization to exceed your
customers' expectations in the most effective and efficient manner
possible.
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