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July 1999 Volume 1.02
The Internal External Mismatch
- Part 2
When performance achievement
doesn't line up with customer view
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In the previous article on a computer supply company
we looked at how internal metrics can be set up so they are measuring
something quite different from what customers want. In this article
we extend this concept to show how businesses must set performance
standards and goals which mirror customer needs and wants. Often
businesses at an early stage of improving service delivery set performance
standards that are based on what they think the customer wants.
Often companies set standards like this for answering phone calls
in a certain number of 'rings'. One company had a 'five rings' target
that the Directors had decided on at a planning meeting without
any consideration for what customers wanted. But customers usually
are prepared to wait a little while for their call to be answered
if their issue is resolved professionally and promptly when they
are answered. Having any service measurement and goal is better
than having none. But goals not based on customer needs should be
seen only as a stepping stone towards implementing true customer
focussed goals and standards. It is quite difficult to set true
customer focussed standards. In the following case study we look
at how one company set initial standards then brought them more
into line with what their customers wanted.
Letter delivery company case study.
A letter delivery company is operating in a market that
has just been opened to competition. It has decided that one of
it competitive strategies will be based around delivering superior
service to its customers. For sometime it has been tracking its
service performance, and from studying this information it believes
it can commit to a promise of delivering 99% of the letters the
day after they were mailed. It designs a series of Service Commitments
and launches these with a media campaign. Unfortunately instead
of building customer value the campaign has the opposite effect
and the number of complaints to the company's customer service team
dramatically increases. What went wrong?
The main activities involved in mailing and delivering a letter
are shown on the following diagram:
What the company had done in designing their standard seems reasonable.
After all they had no control or knowledge of when the person would
mail the letter or when the recipient would read it. Measuring the
time taken from when the mail box was cleared to when the letter
was delivered gave them a measure that would indicate if 100% of
the letters had been delivered by the next day, from the time the
mail box was cleared. But what if the time the box was cleared didn't
suit the customers?
The letter company cleared its boxes at 8.00am every morning. This
gave it time to process the letters and meet its next day delivery
service commitment. But the customers saw things differently. Most
of them mailed their letters after the 8.00am clearance, so instead
of letters being delivered the next day, they were delivered in
two days time. And of course, customer expectations had been raised
by the service commitments media campaign, so customers became dissatisfied
and called customer services to complain that their letters had
not been delivered the next day. So it is critical to determine
your customers needs and wants before settling service standards.
Only then will service commitments deliver a market advantage.
Back at Revas
We were back in Whangarei so of course we had to go to Revas. When
phoning to book we learn that the Nairobi Trio (www.zulu.co.nz
) are on the menu. Ideal. We reserve the last table. On arriving
at the restaurant a roaring fire greets us and we are seated close
to the band. Outside in the moonlight we can just make out the yachts
gently bobbing up and down at their berths.
To start off we have a selection of Italian bread with olive oil,
before moving on to a delicious seafood risotto complemented by
a Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. The band starts its act. For a short
time there were only three of them but the Nairobi trio is now a
quartet {Richard Adams (Violin), Peter Koopman (Double Bass), Andrew
Dixon (Saxophone), and John Quigley (Guitar)}. They specialise in
acoustic jazz and this is my sort of music. After their current
New Zealand tour they have been invited back to Edinburgh for this
year's festival, and then they will be off to Norway.
And of course Reva continually wafts around in her sparkling orange
waistcoat. A great night of music, food, and wine.
The Mission for Your Customers
Continues...
6.0 Publish Results
To cover this step, two articles are required. This article focuses
on the second of two parts; providing executive commentary and conducting
and an advance review session with key executives.
"What did the General Manager think about the Customer Value
Added (CVA) report for their market? If there was a written commentary
I would understand how they see what is happening." Senior
Executives often make this type of comment when viewing CVA results.
Communicating the CVA results to your organisation requires that
the information is used passionately by the General Managers responsible
for the business area in question. Business managers need to promote
and reinforce the key messages from the customer information. Providing
commentary from company General Managers for inclusion in reports
on 'why the scores are what they are' signals a message that the
information is important enough for the executive to personally
take the time to write about it. An executive writing about the
CVA results can demonstrate their understanding and commitment to
the information. This managerial commentary should communicate their
view of the results and provide direction on where to focus business
priorities.
Create a quality checklist for your reports. Consider the different
items to address in the checklist:
- Review the draft report on being easy to understand
- Quality check all numbers, comments and supporting details
- Check that comments from the executives responsible for each business
area are included
Who should have a sneak preview of the published information? Conducting
an advance review session with key executives assists in limiting
surprises, and their questions that could surface in a key meeting.
When presenting the material to the executive, ask for feedback
on areas to highlight, or how to link the information with other
company issues. The executive feedback may want prescriptive summaries
that state how the company's sponsored initiatives are faring, or
a listing of initiatives targeted to improve the CVA scores. Another
way is to summarise the three key findings of the research and present
this information clearly, so that all managers understand it then
pass it on to their staff. Emphasising the results in a 'company
roadshow' also reinforces that the executive has 'bought into the
customer surveys, and demonstrates commitment to improving customer
value.'
Finally, reproduce the report, write the covering letter, and publish
then release the CVA report to key managers. In designing the reports,
consider two types of reports because of the amount of information,
detail, and the needs of different audiences. The first report is
an in-depth reference document and the second report is a summary
of top line results to distribute to various departments and levels
within your company.
Keeping a log to track the feedback will assist in refining the
reports. Initially, questions from the managers may focus on how
the survey was designed, how the information was collected and who
was surveyed. The key queries from the feedback log can be used
to develop mini reports, follow up workshops and changes in reporting
for future survey waves. Most importantly, ask or observe if your
employees in all areas and at all levels are getting feedback from
the research results and then acting on the information.
The preparation of the reports, the executive covering letter and
executive briefing are tools that drive the CVA information to all
levels of the business, so that the information gets to the people
who need it and they understand it.
Watch the next CVM Update for information on Step 7 on Analysing
and Reviewing Results.
Susan Moore
Previous Step
6.0
Next Step 7.0
Analyse and Review Results...
Regards,
Rodger Gallagher
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