“If You Don’t Want To Know . . . Don’t Ask!”
Presented by: Gloria Heck
Millennium Consulting Partners, Inc.
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Speaker Introduction
Gloria Heck
Millennium Consulting Partners, Inc.
Support Services Management Consulting Firm
• Specializing in Customer Support Solutions
• Organization
• Process
• Technology
• Strategy Development
• Assessments
• Implementation
• Project Management
30+ years experience
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Session Agenda
What is Customer Satisfaction? Why Measure Customer Satisfaction? Customer Satisfaction Management Process Types of Surveys Developing Surveys Methods to Gather Survey Data Multi-channel Feedback The How-to & What’s Next Dealing With “Difficult” Customers Lessons Learned Fundamental Laws of Customer Service
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What is Customer Satisfaction?
Quality of your service delivery expected by the customers Providing good service in a pleasant manner and meeting
the customer's expectations Comparison of expectations versus perception of
experience Is a measure of how products and services supplied by a
company meet or surpass customer expectation Is seen as a key performance indicator within business
and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard
Customer satisfaction is the customer’s perception of the actual service rendered as compared to the service they expected.
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Why Measure Customer Satisfaction?
Provide valuable data for: Staffing levels Budget allocation Planning Sourcing strategy Recognition programs
Benefits Generates key information that drives business decisions Cause and effect relationships Promotes communications between business and IT Supplies trending data that enables IT to be proactive Identifies potential issues before escalation to Senior
Management Presents data on how individual or teams are meeting customer
expectations
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Customer Satisfaction Management Process
Mission: Customer Satisfaction is the process of identifying, measuring, analyzing,
tracking and improving customer satisfaction.
Process Owner: The owner is typically someone who stands to gain the most from high
customer satisfaction or lose the most from customer dissatisfaction.
• Client Relationship Manager
• CIO
Process Boundaries Begins with: Creation of Survey
Ends with: Implementation of action plans based on the results of the Customer Satisfaction Survey
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Customer Satisfaction Management Process
Process Includes: Survey Creation
• Design format & layout• Develop questions• Select data compilation methodology & rules• Obtain management approval of format & content
Survey Distribution• Identify target audience• Select distribution method• Distribute survey
Survey Completion• Data entry / capture
Survey Analysis & Tracking• Process survey results• Management review• Develop & implement action plans
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Types of Surveys
Transactional “Real-time” feedback on products and services delivered Specific performance based
• Product purchase• Service event / incident
Today the sending and collecting of data should be an automated process Expect 20% or less return rate Relatively low cost Value
• Glimpse into overall satisfaction and understanding if the users expectations were met
Downside• Must be short, few questions – therefore less data• Survey is only distributed to users for whom services were just delivered
Examples• How satisfied are you with the support you received from the Help Desk?• Was you call answered in a timely manner?• Was the Help Desk Analyst knowledgeable?
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Types of Surveys
Periodic “Point in time” - annually, semi-annually or quarterly Distributed via the internet, e-mail or mail Detailed set of questions – lengthy Intended to gain an understanding of how the customer feels on a wide
range of support services Tied to an incentive will usually guarantee a high return rate Value
• Used for baselines, trend analysis, project feedback and population segmentation
Downside• Requires large investment• Requires more marketing• More resource intensive• Follow-up essential
Examples• How could we provide better support in the future?• How would you change the marketing of the product?
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Types of Surveys
Passive
Available at anytime upon user request
Response rate is typically low
Elapsed time - annually, semiannually or quarterly
Distributed via the internet, e-mail or mail
Detailed set of questions – lengthy
Intended to gain an understanding of how the customer feels on a wide range of support services
Value
• Low effort to develop survey
Downside
• Low return rate can make the data collected biased therefore not as useful to management
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Types of Surveys
Focus Groups
Personalized; Facilitated
More of a conversation with the customer community
Target data
May relate to a specific event
• Outage
• Roll-out
Value
• Allow management to communicate directly with the customers
• Pick-up missed data from surveys
Downside
• Data may be biased and may not reflect the opinions of the entire customer base
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What should you consider when developing your surveys?
Cost
Development
Analysis
Ongoing
Participation
Customer ease of use
Statistically valid sample
Legacy methodology
Required effort
Available skills
Development, distribution, analysis & tracking
Industry practices
Competition
Peers
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There are various methods to gather survey data
Web-based
Convenient
Integrated data entry
Easily modified
Lower cost
Potentially larger sample size
Automated data compilation
Does not require web access
Lower cost
Automated data compilation
Fax-back
Response rate
Data re-entry / integrity
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There are various methods to gather survey data
“Snail Mail” Response rate Data re-entry / integrity Cycle time issues More costly
Telephone Personalized Resource intensive (cost) Response interpretation (comments) Data entry / integrity
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Impersonal Lower cost Access convenience Minimal survey content
Focus Sessions Face to face
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Customer Satisfaction Programs should allow for multi-channel feedback
Surveys
Focus Sessions
Customer Councils
User Groups
Gain & Loss Reports
Complaints
Market Analysis
Employee Feedback
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How do I get started?
Define survey goals The goal – What are we trying to get out of the survey? The objective – What do we want to gain, justify or
improve? Quality of Experience (QOE)
Determine how you will use the results Ensure useful information is captured:
To Characterize• Baseline for future comparisons
To Evaluate• Assess current status with respect to plan
To Predict• Necessary input to planning process
To Improve• Identify inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement
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How can I use the survey results?
Workload planning Performance improvements Project Feedback Product quality User preferences
Products & services
Marketing programs Buying patterns & future
buying power Identify new opportunities Indicators of initiative
success Gap between desired and delivered services
Facilitates intelligent business decisions
Gain competitive edge Identify / validate customer
requirements Assess customer loyalty
and satisfaction Employee focused
Workload planning Training requirements Recognition programs
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So you have the survey data; what’s next?
Analyze the data
Identify & involve stakeholders in analysis
Compare results to targets or expectations
Establish new targets
Develop action plans
Produce report / findings
Publish the data
Identify audience
Format tailored file / document
Publish results
Solicit / track feedback to plan
Communicate, communicate, communicate
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Dealing With “Difficult” Customers
Listen to the customer
Identify the problem source
Gain agreement to the extent of the problem
Develop an action plan
Discuss with customer
Provide workarounds (if possible)
Offer alternative(s) (if available)
Provide feedback vehicle
Gain closure - in the eyes of the customer - and communicate resolution
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Lessons Learned
Lack of management commitment
Underestimating the resources involved in the survey process
No purpose in the survey – going fishing
Not personalizing the survey
Not keeping it “simple”
Not doing anything with the data
Not providing feedback to the customer
Using survey as a “club”
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What does Gartner say contributes to a positive customer experience?
6 common attributes Accessible
• Availability• Visibility• Usability• Approachability
Reliable• Repeatability• Consistency
Thorough• Carefulness and meticulousness• Completeness
Timely Adaptable and flexible Personalized
Source: Gartner – “How Customer Process Attributes Affect the Customer Experience” . April 11, 2007
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RELIABILITYPerformance is reliable and consistent 5 4 3 2 1 ________________________________________
RESPONSIVENESSProblems are solved in a timely manner 5 4 3 2 1 ________________________________________
COMPETENCEHas the required skills, knowledge and ability 5 4 3 2 1 ________________________________________
ACCESSAvailable when assistance is needed / can be easily reached / phone not busy
5 4 3 2 1 ________________________________________
COURTESYPolite, friendly, nice to deal with,willing to help
5 4 3 2 1 ________________________________________
COMMUNICATIONVerbal feedback as to the cause andresolution of the problem
5 4 3 2 1 ________________________________________
CREDIBILITYHonest / trusting in dealing with user community 5 4 3 2 1 ________________________________________
OVERALL SATISFACTIONOverall support delivery experience 5 4 3 2 1 ________________________________________
Comments:
Sample End User Survey
Specific service to be measured:
Support Organization Name
Circle the appropriate rating.
If service does not meet your requirements, explain and list below
what could be done to satisfy your requirements
CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITY
5 = EXCELLENT4 = VERY GOOD3 = GOOD / AVERAGE2 = FAIR1 = INADEQUATE / POOR
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Fundamental Laws of Customer Service
All things being equal, customers’ expectations of service quality will rise over time
The best level of service a customer ever receives become the minimum they are willing to accept
Treat customers like they are the “Customer”
Do not overlook human behavior Developing loyalty requires a commitment to understanding customer
behavior
Provide the customer with benefit and value
Companies who have happy (motivated) employees have satisfied customers
Customers with a problem tell 10 to 20 others
Satisfied customers tell 2 to 4 others
It costs 5 to 7 times as much to attract new customers as it does to retain an existing one
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Thank you!
Contact Information:
Gloria Heck
Millennium Consulting Partners, Inc.
875 Woodland Dr.
Antioch, IL 60002-2743
847.838.3274 x104
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