It is true that the services are intangible, have the participation of the client during their provision and usually have a high degree of heterogeneity. In short, the services are not always the same, and they are not always provided in the same way. Not all patients are served the same way, not all clients are offered the same solution, not all students are educated in the same way, etc.
However, many times the quality of a service is poor because it is not predictable. In other words, the client wants to know what course to follow, he wants to know when what he ordered will be ready, how long his consultation will take, how long he will have to wait to be attended…
It is really a challenge to combine the characteristics of the services with the needs of the clients, but it is not impossible.
Sometimes it can appear as the perfect excuse. But although it may be very valid, it does not satisfy the client, so it is necessary to act.
The other day I went to a print shop, and a man who was before me asked the salesperson if the plan that he had left to print was ready. She replied that not yet, it was a while. The client was angry. "Every time I come to look for the plans they are not ready." The saleswoman offered him: "You can telephone before coming, to confirm that they are there and thus save a useless trip." This did not convince the client.
Dennis C. Kinlaw says that work teams must work in three ways in the processes:
- Stabilize the process: ensure that the variables that define the process are within a limited range. Reduce process variation: make that range narrower. Improve the average: that the variable, already limited and predictable, has an increasingly satisfactory value for the client.
In this case, the blueprint printing process is unpredictable, and it is this instability that generates customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, action should be taken there.
The first step would be to stabilize the process, that is, to know what is the time range in which it is possible to print a plan. If the current procedure is set, but on the condition that it is always done that way, stability will be generated. For example, forgetfulness will be eliminated, work priorities will be clear, the necessary equipment and materials will always be available for this printing. Suppose that, in this way, a delay of between 2 and 4 hours is obtained for this work, with an average of 3. Stabilizing does not mean that there are no variations, but it does mean that these variations are limited. In this case, it will allow you to promise the client that, in a maximum period of 4 hours, they will have their work finished. It may be sooner than 2 hours at the earliest, but you can't commit to this deadline yet.
The second step will be to reduce that variation. Analyzing the reasons why there are times in which it takes 4 hours and other 2 will allow reducing this variation. Suppose the cause is that there are other jobs that interfere, sometimes more, sometimes less. Then you could define that you will use one printer exclusively for plans and the other for other types of jobs. With this definition you could reduce that variation and that the delivery time of plans becomes between 2 and 3 hours.
A final step would be to reduce the average (which has already decreased somewhat with the previous measure). You might notice that the time is extended when you have to repeat the impression that does not go well on the first attempt. There are several causes: printer failure, job submitter errors, faulty paper placement, etc. You work on these causes and you manage to make the work take between 1.5 and 2.5 hours.
Look at the progress that these actions produced, from the customer's point of view:
- The initial situation was: "Call to see if your work is ready before coming." Stabilizing the process: "Your work will be ready in a maximum time of 4 hours." Reducing the variation and average: "In 2.5 hours you can retire your job. ”
Don't you think it is possible to limit these variables that have so much impact on customer satisfaction?
I invite you to do the following:
- Identify the variables of your service that affect the satisfaction of your customers. Measure them and define the current procedure to stabilize them (know the range that can be expected today). Work on the causes of variation so that this range is narrower and the average value more favorable.
Services have inevitable variations, but only by knowing how they behave and acting on these factors it is possible to make them more predictable and thus more satisfactory for your clients.
