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• Some customers create reports on supplier performance and send these to their suppliers. These can give a very good indication of the issues that may be present with that specific customer.
• Repeat customers give an indication of satisfaction.
• Number of customer complaints can be used. If this indicator is used it is being assumed that everyone that is dissatisfied will complain and if they do not complain, they must be satisfied. These assumptions may or may not be valid depending on the products or services being offered. If the product or service being offered is very expensive, these assumptions will probably be valid. If the product or service is inexpensive (for example, a toothbrush) what may happen is that some will complain, but many will just discard the item they are dissatisfied with and buy a different brand. As a result you may not realize that customers are not satisfied until sales numbers drop, which is actually a lagging indicator.
• Letters or e-mails that are sent to thank an organization for good service and going the extra mile to help a customer indicate satisfaction.
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or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs and (2) a product or service free of deficiencies.”
• Armand Feigenbaum: “Quality is a customer determination which is based on the customer’s actual experience with the product or service, measured against his or her requirements—stated or unstated, conscious or merely sensed, technically operational or entirely subjective—and always representing a moving target in a competitive market.”
I prefer to look specifically at Feigenbaum’s definition. He brings out more of the aspects of the customer’s needs.
In many instances, I use an exercise to help illustrate how much we can take for granted about our requirements as a customer. The exercise requires a group of people to develop the specifications for an object (such as a high chair, camping cooler, bicycle, and so on). Every group that has done this exercise approaches it in a different way because each of us has a different mind picture of the object and what is important.
After the specifications have been developed, the specifications are passed to another group. These are then evaluated to see if there might be areas where more information might be required to be able to produce the product.
I am always amazed at the results. It is an eye-opening experience for people as they realize how much can easily be assumed.
We must be careful as we develop specifications so that the supplier really understands our needs and can supply the product that we are really looking for. This takes diligent work to make happen.
Our goal through all of this is to achieve customer satisfaction. This is a term that can also be hard to define. Let me share a portion of a defini- tion of satisfaction from Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary which is: “1. an act of satisfying; fulfillment; gratification. 2. The state of being satisfied; contentment. 3. The cause or means of being satisfied. 4.
Confident acceptance of something as satisfactory, dependable, true, etc.”
As you can see in these four definitions, satisfaction can cover a wide vari- ety of aspects. With such a wide variety of issues that need to be addressed the identification of the customer’s needs is critical to the process of satis- fying the customer.
A customer satisfaction process may look like Figure 11.2.
Influences impact the customer’s prior experience in many different ways. An example of prior experiences would be the expertise of the cus- tomer in the product area. Another influencer may be what people are say- ing about the supplier’s organization (word of mouth). Advertising and
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location of facilities may also have an influence with the customer. As a supplier these influences need to be managed to maintain a positive impres- sion in the marketplace.
From the prior experience, customers develop expectations whether good or bad. The supplier needs to be involved in conversations with the cus- tomer so that the unspoken perceptions can be discovered and dealt with.
The next step is the evaluation of the product that the supplier has pro- vided. This is the point where satisfaction gets evaluated. Success at this stage should mean a satisfied customer.
A satisfied customer will not necessarily be a loyal or even a repeat customer. A process needs to be in place to work with the customer to get repeat orders and more business. This is the area where supply chain management principles come into play, like relationship-building and good business management practices. By practicing good management, suppliers can be healthy and around for many years. Developing customer loyalty is crucial in business today since there are many options available from many different companies for the same or similar products.
CONCLUSION
Customer satisfaction measurement is a tool that is required by the quality standards and can be used as a way to drive continuous improvement in the business. It is a mechanism that can help keep organizations competi- tive in the global market that exists today. There are many ways to measure customer satisfaction, and companies need to develop the best way that will work for them and provide data that indicates the feelings of their customers.
Figure 11.2 Customer satisfaction process.
Prior experience
Perceived performance
Satisfaction Confirmation
Influences Expectations
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Customer needs should be identified as specifically as possible so that the desires of the customer are being met. It is very easy for both organizations to make assumptions when specifications are being developed.
Care needs to be taken that the lines of communication are open and the desires of the customer are truly understood so the correct product is able to be delivered.
KEYWORDS
Customer satisfaction surveys Likert scale
Question development Customer comment cards
Customer satisfaction Customer needs
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What drivers are there to measuring customer satisfaction?
2. What different methods are there to indicate customer satisfaction?
3. What considerations need to be made when developing a survey?
4. How can the survey response rate be improved?
5. How should survey questions be developed?
6. How should a survey be tested to see if the responders are interpreting the questions correctly?
7. Why would you want to make sure that customer needs have been identified?
8. List some influences that can impact customer satisfaction.
9. Can complaints be used as a measure of customer satisfaction?
If they are used, what considerations should be made?
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