The supreme mission of every company must be the highest level of satisfaction for its customers and users, as they with their purchases allow the company to continue to exist and grow, thus generating benefits for its members (owners, managers and employees). And we say "must be" and not "is", since many companies have not realized it yet.
Focused on an orientation to the product or to the sale, they totally put aside the real needs and desires of the consumer. The possibility of choice empowers the consumer. A consumer with power becomes a loyal customer if they are offered products and services calibrated to their needs. This is responsible for a change in the pattern of the past, in which consumers or users of things (or services) had to adapt their lives to the products or services offered.
In the case of small companies, many of their owners have an artisan mentality, they conceive their production to a large extent as a craft, and in such a way as the painter or sculptor produce goods as if it were artistic works according to their own tastes and not as the production of goods intended to satisfy the needs of third parties.
A company must not only satisfy the users of the products or services, which will be those who consume them, but also that of its direct customers and those that make up the distribution channel, as well as that of the final decision-maker (who can or not be the final consumer).
Let's see the above with an example. A company that produces cultivated milk will have as a direct customer a distributor, who will have as concern: the quality of the product, quality of the packaging, the final sale price (to the user), the payment term, its profit margin, prompt attention to your orders, correct billing, the existence of good publicity and types of promotions. The retailer will have a special interest in quality, prices, advertising, promotions, on-time deliverability, quantity and variety, and profit margin. The end customer who may or may not be the end user (the end user may be his son or a restaurant customer) will take into account the quality, price, ease of acquiring said product (distribution locations, quantities, varieties).Thus, in this case, the producer must consider meeting the requirements in the various stages of the channel. A product that pleases the end user is of little use, if it is difficult for him to find the product on the shelf again. In the case of the distributor, he will not be satisfied with a product that, although in high demand, the billing and customer service services by the supplier company leave much to be desired.the billing and customer service services from the supplier company leave much to be desired.the billing and customer service services from the supplier company leave much to be desired.
Many companies go to great lengths to produce top-quality products or services, but they spoil everything with terrible phone support, late delivery or billing with countless errors.
Now, within that need to fully satisfy the customer and user, it is not only necessary to constantly monitor these levels of satisfaction, but also what the needs of customers and users are through a study or market research must be defined. A company that tries to satisfy needs according to what they believe are the requirements of customers or users, and not according to what they really request are destined to lose positions in the market.
Many times companies have a level of demand that covers their production levels believe that their products are well accepted in the market, but beware, it may be that consumers have other wishes or levels of satisfaction, there is still no other competitor in the market that can cover them. But if this appears, our company would see its sales decrease very quickly. Something similar occurs with those monopoly service companies that boast of meeting the demand of their users without taking into consideration what they really require and how much satisfaction levels cover their services.
Monopolies are short-lived and in the process of disappearing. The life of products and services continues to be reduced with the help of technology, they become more and more popular. Markets are becoming more and more segmented and it is increasingly difficult to satisfy a better educated, informed and more pampered customer. In such conditions, the survival of the company is based on having some unique and lasting competitive advantage.
The "that will sell anyway" era is over. The customer is thus the starting point of a service strategy. The goal of a good service strategy should be to keep current customers and attract potential customers. All companies that forget this elementary principle are condemned to disappear in a more or less short time.
It is no less true that the lack of market research can lead the company to satisfy the requirements of its current customers, while an increasingly large market turns to other types of products or competitors. By losing contact with the market, the gap between the products or services offered and those that are required will widen more and more over time, which is why closing this gap will be increasingly difficult and expensive.
Businesses that use service as a competitive advantage can charge more for their products and services, make more sales, and outperform the competition in market share.
Those companies that discover the crisis in customer services and have learned to displace their competitors through good service will be the real beneficiaries.
- Objectives of the customer satisfaction research
Customer satisfaction research has to target these four main goals:
- Determine the basic performance traits that result in customer satisfaction Evaluate the performance of the company and its main competitor Establish priorities and take action to correct problems Monitor progress
8. Planning
Customer satisfaction must occupy a central place in planning, both strategic, long-term and operational.
The levels of satisfaction to be achieved are not alien to the values, the mission, the vision, and the objectives determined in strategic planning. Likewise, the culture of the company is of fundamental importance, and the policy that, based on these values, mission, vision and objectives is sustained.
The mission of the company always has the supreme objective of satisfying a certain type of needs. It is precisely by keeping up to date with these changing needs that the company will be able to maintain and improve its satisfaction levels.
Smart planning is an essential first step in ensuring both technical and political success of customer satisfaction. The results should generate actions that lead to improvement.
Carrying out a technically correct survey alone does not guarantee good results. Improving customer satisfaction must involve the entire organization.
There are two main objectives that the company's plans must contemplate:
- Improve the performance of the company, in relation to that achieved so far. Improve performance in relation to that of competitors.
For this last point, the performance of benchmarking processes is of fundamental importance.
Four fundamental objectives that according to the consultant Harrington affect the levels of competitiveness of companies, which are fundamental objectives of planning organizations are:
- Return on investment (ROI) Value added per employee Level of customer satisfaction Market share
How can be observed these four points are intimately interrelated, being the third fundamental base of the other three. Thus, greater satisfaction implies greater added value per employee, greater profitability and greater market share. Take away consumer satisfaction and the whole company will collapse.
Given the importance already demonstrated, it is necessary to properly calculate a budget that meets both the research needs, as well as those of analysis, studies and hiring of an external consultant.
It is necessary to have the advice of a consultant who provides not only their technical knowledge, but also extensive experience. In such competitive markets as the current ones, fully satisfying customers is no small matter. Therefore, it is necessary to plan activities both to delight consumers, and to collect measurements and focus the appropriate corrections. These cannot be the product of chance, or of the work of amateurs.
- Satisfaction as a result of a process
Like the levels of quality, costs and productivity, the levels of customer or consumer satisfaction are the result of a series of factors that interacting with each other give rise to higher or lower levels, more or less acceptable. It is therefore the responsibility of the administration to identify these factors and measure the final result. The question is how to measure and analyze it, and then make relevant decisions.
First, the factors that affect customer satisfaction must be investigated. This should be done by asking the same users or customers who are waiting, what their wishes are, and what their satisfaction depends on.
From this, the next step is to organize the means and ways to collect the quality of satisfaction provided. For this, questionnaires will be drawn up which will be collected from clients in a different way in order to measure the levels registered (they can be through market research, by telephone surveys or through forms - for example: clinics, hotels and restaurants).
Research is only the beginning of a process dedicated to increasing customer satisfaction. Research provokes in clients expectations of improvement that must be satisfied. An effort of this magnitude can only be realized if managers have a desire to learn and a substantial commitment to produce change.
The questionnaires must be clear, not leading to errors of interpretation, and allowing them to be quantified. The data obtained must be fed into a Statistical Process Control (SPC), which will allow to distinguish common or random records and variations from special or attributable ones. Knowing the average level of satisfaction and the upper and lower control limits, one has a real notion of the capacity of the system to generate satisfied customers, and to what extent.
The CEP calculation must be carried out globally, by service and by item, thus allowing the stratification of the data for the purposes of analyzing the causes that originate the different levels.
A model form with an evaluation questionnaire corresponding to a sanatorium is exemplified below. The number of qualifications, as the concepts are by way of example, more or less qualifications can be adopted. No more than five ratings are recommended to avoid distortion of the system, the client must clearly relate the concept or rating with the level of perceived satisfaction.
The message requesting the collaboration of the patient (or client) must be clear and precise.
In addition, a space should be left for suggestions and another for the customer to state whether the service or product received has met their expectations.
The ratings thus obtained will preferably be transferred to a software intended for this purpose, which will proceed to calculate the average satisfaction (in the case of the example corresponding to the seven concepts) of all patients or consumers during the period of time to be registered in the CEP. (the shorter the period, the more timely deviations can be detected and corrections made). In addition to this global or general average, the averages corresponding to each item should be calculated and recorded, such as “building cleaning”, “medical attention”, “food quality” and “room cleaning” among others. In such a way, although the general levels remain the same or rise, items can be registered where the levels are falling. On the other hand, it will allow knowing where the main shortcomings are located.The same qualification and CEP may also be carried out by type of service (maternity, trauma, cardiology, etc.) and by wing of the building. In this way, the ability to stratify the data in order to analyze the evolution of the measurements will increase.
It is necessary to evaluate the satisfaction levels corresponding to the entire distribution channel, for which the satisfaction levels corresponding to both customers, the latter's customers, and consumers (both in relation to the latter must be measured and analyzed). product or service of the company, as well as the one related to the services of the distributor).
Through the formation of Quality Control Circles and the use of Management Tools (the classic 7: histograms, Pareto diagram, scatter diagram, stratification, Statistical Process Control, Ishikawa diagram and data survey form, or According to the consultant, the flaws can be detected for the purposes of the necessary adjustments. It is very useful to consider achieving a committed staff, which is achieved through participation, and on the other hand it is essential to make use of the knowledge and experiences of the staff who are in the line of fire or combat every day performing their tasks and fighting for better customer satisfaction, also being the closest and for the longest time or being with them listening to their claims and complaints.
It should be perfectly noted that 80% of customer problems are caused by bad systems, not poor staff. Staff can only be efficient if the system allows it, so you need to consider how much complexity you can remove from it.
- Prepare staff to receive complaints and notes
Staff should know that receiving complaints or ratings from customers is a great opportunity to improve and beat the competition. For this reason, it is very important that Management clearly explains the rationale behind these measurements, removing fears from employees by letting them know that the objective is to improve processes and systems, and not apply sanctions.
Staff should be constantly encouraged to receive and request suggestions and complaints from consumers in order to improve the company's services and products.
"Every complaint is an opportunity for new and better business"
- Conclusions
Satisfying consumers is essential to the survival of the business. Customers expect the product or service to satisfy a need, not to create problems for them. Achieving higher and better levels of satisfaction as stated above means higher levels of profitability for the company. For this, it is necessary to know what the needs of the users are, adapting to them and then proceeding to their measurement.
Customer satisfaction research has to insist on asking for customer feedback and feedback. Without research you will not have important points of view.
The CEP constitutes a fundamental means to constantly monitor satisfaction levels, allowing the company to improve and correct its performance. This is framed within the philosophy of continuous improvement. These measurements should appear in the Balanced Scorecard, constantly informing the various levels about the way in which the company is meeting the requirements of the principal of its assets, which are customers. "Without customers there is no business."
- Bibliography
- Dutka, Alan - AMA Manual for customer satisfaction - Granica - 1994 Hayes, Bob E. - How to measure customer satisfaction - Oxford - 1999 Tucker, Robert - How to manage the future - Grijalbo - 1991 Ishikawa, Kaoru - What is total quality control? - Norma - 1985 Zemke, Ron and Bell, Chip - Now organize a five-star service - Vergara - 1992 Davidow, William and Uttal, Bro - Comprehensive customer service - Plaza & Janes - 1990 Horovitz, Jacques - The quality of service - McGraw Hill - 1991 Lefcovich, Mauritius - Kaizen. Continuous improvement - 2003.
Author: Mauricio León Lefcovich
This work was finished on 11/16/03
e-mail: [email protected]
CONSUMER SATISFACTION
Contributed by: Mauricio León Lefcovich,
Operations Management Consultant. Specialist in: Kaizen - e-mail: [email protected]
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