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May 1999 Volume 3.07
The Mission for Your Customers
Continues...
5.0 Survey Key Markets & Processes------->
To cover this step, three articles are required. This article
focuses on the third of three parts; obtain results, input results
into database and issue results and reports.
How did we do? What are the results? Yes, it's tempting to share
customer satisfaction results as soon as they arrive but releasing
the results in the proper manner is critical. The careful managing
of this process determines how successfully the data is used.Your
vendor should provide the final questionnaire and a data set with
the actual respondent ratings and verbatim comments. If the information
is more useful to you in another format such as a spreadsheet software
package, then request your preference. Consider how you want to
track customer satisfaction at each key phase: the initial use,
ongoing use, or the final use of the product or service lifecycle.
The data should be formatted to allow the needed analysis and so
that future data can be added to the current data in the same database.
It will then be possible to track trends over time periods or market
demographics. Now, can you share the results? Not just yet. The
information needs to be input into the analysis database so that
information on specific market sectors can be extracted, and trends
checked over time. A marketing management database is critical for
keeping the information safe and for allowing this type of analysis.
You should guard your customer data numbers with as much care as
the accounting department guards the company's financial details.
Now that you are confident about the quality of data received, you
have to entrust this information with the key managers. To effectively
monitor and manage the quality of the use of the information ask
these questions:
- Who has access to the customer information?
- Who can do the analysis?
- Who has access to change or modify the customer data?
- What are the standards for issuing reports and results?
Establish a schedule that you can follow to collect and release
the information. Many financial reports are issued to a predetermined
schedule. Releasing the customer information at the same time and
in the same format as the key financial information has been found
to drive its acceptance and use. By now you've realised that it
may still be premature to release the customer results. More information
follows in the next step regarding effective ways to publish and
release the material so it is used with as much discipline, understanding
and passion as the key financial information.Watch the following
newsletter for information on how to Publish Results in Step 6.0...
Susan Moore
Previous Step 5.0 (Part
Two)...
Next Step
Finding out what customers value
One Chief Executive told me that if you ask people what is important
to them they usually lie. While this is perhaps a bit too strong,
there is growing evidence that what people say is important to them
does not relate to their behaviour. How could this be?
In the article, "The Right Customer
Value Road", Ray Kordupleski looked at the distinction
between what customers say is important to them, and what actually
impacts their purchasing behaviour. Our associate, Owen Mayall,
has recently conducted a research project which assessed both what
was important to customers and what impacted their purchasing. As
we expected, no relationship was found between customer importance
and market impact. If factors had been included in the study that
were not important to customers at all then they would have been
expected to also have no market impact.
Market impacts were determined by building an econometric model
based on the elasticity for each criteria in relation to the overall
rating. The customer importance and market impacts were then compared
as shown on the following graph:
Two criteria ('Friendly & Interested' and 'Easy To Get Hold
Of'), that customers said were important came out as having no current
purchasing impact. If the company had improved service in these
areas then it would have spent scarce funds on areas that had little
impact on sales. On the other hand, 'Keeping Promises' which customers
said was the least important, had a large impact on purchasing behaviour.
Expenditure on improvements in this service area would be justified,
as it would drive additional sales.
What impacts purchasing is different from what customers say is
important. While it is valuable to know what customers consider
to be important, it is critical to business success to know what
impacts sales.
Fausto Battelli
Fausto wanted to show us his hands. At first we thought he wanted
to shake my hand. But no, these are the hands of an artist, he said,
and he wanted us to appreciate them.
Just around the corner from the Spanish Steps in Rome is a narrow
street packed with artists' studios and antique dealers. While exploring
it we came across Fausto Battelli. He specialises in mixed media
wall sculptures that capture the vitality and history of the walls
and alleys of Rome.
"Where are you from?" Fausto enquires. When he learns
we are from New Zealand he gets excited. Once many years ago he
had a lover from New Zealand. Happy memories flood back of La Dolce
Vita. He is happy that we will care for one of his sculptures close
by his amante. He personalises the sculpture for us by adding some
graffiti on one of the walls along with his tag.
We return to our hotel room and find that once again we have an
artwork that won't fit into any of our suitcases.
Regards,
Rodger Gallagher
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