Articles

I have talked about internal excellence driving the customer experience in columns past. It was the point made in the business tool from the 1990s titled “The Balanced Scorecard” — with the critical element that our customers will tell us everything we need to know if we only ask.

A powerful program that is simple to get going is what I will call “The Voice of the Customer.” How do you obtain information from the customer on their needs and wants? You ask, of course.

I would like this to become more formalized in your business. How about once a month, or once a quarter, you take a week and ask a question to each and every customer that you touch? Pretty simple, isn’t it? You are already talking with them about something, so it would be a simple extension to the discussion to say, “While we are talking, let me ask a question.” Your customers will be more than willing to give their opinions. So ask.

Ask and Receive

What I propose is that you have the same question asked to each customer for a complete week.

For instance, “What service would you like us to offer that we don’t offer at the moment?” Or, “What should our hours of operation be to assist in your being able to use our products and services more easily?” Another could be, “What is it we do that you would like to see us stop doing?”

These are but a few simple examples, but I’m sure you get the idea. There are many questions you could ask that once you had the answers you would find them helpful.

Get all the answers from the customers and compile them. At the end of the week you will have a very comprehensive list of answers. Review the list and put all the similar comments together until you are able to make a list of the top 10. Then call some of your customers back, people who participated in the poll. Ask them if they would rank your 10 choices for you. Then you have the ranking to deal with your business.

Do you remember the starting point from “The Balanced Scorecard”? Ask your customers what they need and want, and that will tell you where you need to excel. Well, you’ll now know from this monthly poll what they want and need. Sit down and discuss it with your employees and ask them what they think they need to excel at in order to satisfy the needs and wants expressed in this poll.

Everyone Wins

Now everyone is involved in the process, aren’t they? This is a wonderful opportunity to get all your employees to participate in developing your business. This is also their opportunity to show what they believe and know, and what they want to do with their jobs and customer service. It is a win-win all the way around — for the business, your customers, and your employees. In the end it will be a win for you too.

So go ahead and implement the changes that will make a difference to the customer. Make sure they are operating properly and then call some of the other customers who participated and ask them if they have noticed a difference based on their input and what you have done as a result of the poll. Whether they have noticed or not, it will be a boost to them to hear that you have listened to “the voice of the customer” and taken action.

Be Progressive

With the past two years of a difficult market and the glimmer of hope on the horizon, this is the perfect time to reenergize the organization and the marketplace. Your customers want you to be leading the market. Your employees need a boost of confidence. “The Voice of the Customer” is a great way to build some confidence and excitement. It’s a progressive, positive project that involves your customers and your employees. It’s a case of “Be careful what you ask for...you might just get it.”

Have fun selling so we get back to growth and opportunities again. I’m ready, aren’t you?