In the previous article entitled " COMPONENTS OF A MODEL ORIENTED TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION", each component of the Model illustrated below was explained in detail on which to work so that a company can orient its Structure, Processes and Strategy to customer satisfaction. and quality improvement, and the steps to follow for the implementation of the model were developed. The detailed model in the aforementioned article is illustrated below.
Customer Satisfaction Oriented Model
A company that considers that its service model ends with the closing of a Buy-Sell transaction where the Customer receives the Product and the Seller invoices and receives the payment, undoubtedly has a short-term vision and is destined to perish in markets every day more competitive. A Model oriented to customer satisfaction does not close its cycle until a " Positive Feedback " is obtained." This means that it is not enough to invoice and dispatch the products, it is necessary to obtain a Customer Feedback, and this must be "Positive", if for any reason a "Negative Feedback" is obtained, it means that the Customer is not satisfied with the product and service, so the post-sale process, customer service, or whatever else you want to call it, must take corrective, adequate, and precise actions that amend and turn the negative experience into a positive one.
This has an interesting psychological effect since it allows the brain to unconsciously associate a negative experience with its corresponding positive experience. In other words, when the Client remembers the negative experience, the positive experience that corrected their dissatisfaction immediately comes to mind.
If the Business Model oriented to Customer Satisfaction and Quality Improvement (illustrated above) has been previously implemented, the amendment of a "negative experience" is simple, fluid because the processes already exist naturally, the internalization of the model and the commitment of all organizations to customer satisfaction and quality improvement.
Once the companies achieve the implementation of the aforementioned Model, they are ready to participate and penetrate new international markets through strategic alliances with other supplier companies in the world, with a high probability of success. One approach for establishing strategic alliances in order to penetrate new markets and compete in existing ones is through the implementation of the Multi-Business or Multi-Supplier Model that is proposed below.
Multi-company Model focused on Customer Satisfaction
Already in this phase, the Companies have their Customer Satisfaction and Quality Improvement System in operation and constant monitoring, they have achieved that the model has been internalized by their employees, senior and middle management, and their organizations. This will facilitate the integration of the service as a whole, it will achieve the commitment of each Supplier, Management and respective Shareholders with Quality and Customer Satisfaction; allowing a true solid service agreement, lasting over time, in the long term where the Client is its center of gravity.
A Multi-Business or Multi-Provider Model involves establishing a “Global Service Agreement” which must establish the individual commitment of each company or corporation and the collective, mutual and integrated commitment as a whole for Customer Satisfaction and for the Improvement of the Quality of Service and products. The Agreement also establishes the formation of Multidisciplinary Teams for the “Contact Points” that represent the “Face to the Client”, and for the “Solution Teams”.
You must be wondering what happens when Customers, Markets and Suppliers are distant from each other? How is the Service coordinated and how can the quality be guaranteed?
Here the Technologies come to play a fundamental role to support the Business Processes, note that I said "Support the business processes" not to replace the business processes. There is a big difference between the two approaches because when systems and technologies are there to "support" business processes, then human intervention continues to predominate in decisions. In the case when Systems and technologies replace business processes, then a large part of the important decisions are made by those systems, human intervention being relegated and many times disappeared, when you have the paradigm that systems can do everything.
The Multi-Provider Service Model aligns the Structure, Processes and Strategy as a whole and requires that all the companies that participate in the “Global Service Agreement” row in the same direction and have a common language that revolves around Customer Satisfaction. and Quality Improvement as central elements. If any of the Suppliers participating in the Global Service Agreement is not truly committed to Quality and Customer satisfaction, no doubt that this distortion will emerge producing negative effects on the quality of service and on the global image of all Suppliers.
Many companies prefer to establish “outsourcing” services with local companies close to the markets and clients to assign responsibility for the “Solving Teams” and in some cases for the Teams that constitute the “Contact Points” to third parties. In any case, Outsourcing companies must also participate in the "Global Service Agreement" and be focused on customer satisfaction and quality improvement, competition strategy and as the only guarantee of a true commitment to Customer Satisfaction and Improvement of the quality.
Other times the Solution Teams are distant from the Point of Contact Teams, which makes their integration and coordination difficult, only with the conviction, commitment, internalization of the model, alignment of the Structure, Processes and Strategy; With Systems and Technologies that support the business processes and continuous training of the teams, it is achieved that they are self-directed work teams that require little supervision.
In the Multi-Provider Service Model all companies that participate in the Global Service Agreement participate in the Global Design of the Service through their SME (Subject-Matter Expert) for its acronym in English, and are those employees who are experts in their work, who know the processes, products and services.
These experts, in addition to participating in the Design of the Service, also have the responsibility of identifying, analyzing and documenting the edges of the service conformed by the limits of competencies of each company in the provision of the service; as well as forming and training the technical teams and the personnel responsible for the Contact Points (the Customer Face).
The Personnel responsible for the Contact Points have the great responsibility of creating "Positive Experiences" through the delivery of a quality Service that satisfies the client's needs and exceeds their expectations as much as possible. It is also their responsibility to feed back the relevant organizations with the preferences of the clients, to carry the satisfaction indicators and to identify the areas for improvement.
The Solving Teams are multidisciplinary technical teams, trained in providing service and assistance to customers and users during installation, maintenance, troubleshooting and attention to faults. These Solving Teams must act integrated, without gaps, or gaps with a deep knowledge and mastery of the related technical aspect and with a strong commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.
Note how the aspect related to "commitment to quality and customer satisfaction" touches all levels and employees of organizations. All organizations are interdependent with each other through the Customer-Provider relationship and must act in a coordinated manner.
The Model does not contemplate the legal aspects of the "Joint Venture", the model details the structural, organizational, and operational aspects that individual companies must contribute and how they coordinate with each other to consolidate integration, monitor and control processes, design strategies to correct deviations and improve performance.
Each company individually must provide personnel for the Contact Point Teams and the Solution Teams, additionally they must facilitate the active participation of SMEs and other experts to design the Service and train the Teams. The Senior and Middle Managers must form the Coordination Teams which must meet frequently in order to review and evaluate the indicators, evaluate the reports and reports provided by the Teams on the areas to improve and customer preferences, design the strategies and make the corresponding decisions.
Note that the companies participating in the Multi-Company or Multi-Supplier Model do not give up their operational responsibilities and commitment to the “Joint Venture”, they must responsibly coordinate to monitor the performance of the Model and the joint business.
