 Customer satisfaction is a sought after goal of virtually every organization. No organization - other than a monopoly - can survive if it doesn't meet the needs of its customers and maintain a satisfied customer base. The research evidence regarding the impact of customer satisfaction is compelling. Satisfied customers buy more goods and services and purchase higher margin products. Satisfied customers recommend you to other potential customers. Satisfied customers have fewer service issues. Dissatisfied customers can actually cost you money. They tend to buy only when you offer a compelling sale. They complain more, have greater service demands, and speak ill of you to others. Customer dissatisfaction can be a significant profit detractor for your business.
How can you enhance your ability to maintain a base of satisfied customers? While many organizations spend significant sums of money by adding service to achieve this result, they do not actually create customer satisfaction. There is an important distinction between customer service and customer satisfaction. Customer service is what you - the supplier - provide to your customer. Customer satisfaction is what the customer perceives and feels about you, regardless of the level of service you provide.
Customer satisfaction can often be dramatically increased without adding additional services. The key to accomplishing this is by meeting customer expectations and by developing mutually satisfying customer relationships.
Expectations are the agreements you establish with your customers about the outcomes or deliverables that you will provide. These may be tangible deliverables such as products or services. They may also include intangible outcomes such as levels of responsiveness or aesthetic outcomes. Regardless, these expectations are the basis against which your customers evaluate you and are the intangible measures that drive customer satisfaction.
Meeting customer expectations is essential for customer retention. If you do not meet customer expectations they will seek alternative suppliers. The concept of meeting expectations is similar to that of conforming to requirements, which is the definition of quality.
Many organizations try to go a step further and set a goal of exceeding expectations. This is often translated by employees in providing extra deliverables or additional service at no cost. But this misinterpretation has a direct negative impact on time and profitability. Exceeding expectations simply means delivering all requirements on time, as promised, to established standards while providing excellent service and unparalleled responsiveness that leads to long lasting relationships.
Consider two restaurants, comparable in menus, prices, food preparation and ambience. One delivers its services precisely to expectations. The service is proper, but somewhat indifferent. You get what you pay for...no more and no less.
The second restaurant has a different standard. You are greeted by name when you arrive. They remember the table you like and attempt to hold it for you. The waiter bends over backwards to provide quality service. He is also very knowledgeable about the food and wine and makes good recommendations. You are brought a black or white table napkin depending on the color of your pants so that lint won't show. The manager comes over during the meal to make sure everything is prepared to your satisfaction. The menu, the meal, the price and the ambience were the same as the first restaurant. In the first restaurant your expectations were met. In the second your expectations were exceeded - because of the way you were treated. It didn't cost any more to provide this extra service. But it required an organization driven by a customer-focused culture.
 The process of setting expectations requires careful attention at the beginning of the customer experience or relationship. It is the company's job to describe what it does, how it does it, and what the customer should expect. If companies are not clear from the start customers will define their own expectations - in their own mind - which may or may not be provided through the services delivered. Setting expectations should define the tangible products or services to be provided, schedule or timelines, prices or costs, service or warranties, how to work with the service provider, levels of responsiveness, and any other aspects of the relationship that will subsequently become commitments by you to your customer.
Once you have defined your services the next step is to ask the customer for any questions, comments or concerns. Customers should have an opportunity to identify any expectations you have defined that are problematic for them. It is very important in this discussion for both you and your customer to develop a clear common understanding. If you are promising a product by next Friday and the customer says that she needs it by Wednesday, a response such as "I'll do my best" may create future issues. Your intention may be a legitimate effort to meet a Wednesday date, or it may simply be a response to avoid an issue at that moment. The customer, on the other hand, may interpret your response as a commitment to deliver by Wednesday rather than Friday. Then when you deliver your result by Friday - as promised - your customer is dissatisfied rather than happy. This is why it is essential to describe your services, set expectations, listen to the customer's response and negotiate any final outcomes in the very beginning of the relationship. Failure to set agreed expectations at the beginning of a relationship almost guarantees issues later on.
Once the terms of the relationship are set it is your responsibility to maintain positive communications with the customer. This is the real value of partial payments. By providing customers with progress along the way - either in the form of updates or partial deliverables - you continue to reinforce the customer relationship. The following example illustrates this principle.
My wife and I built a custom house several years ago. Once the plans were complete, the builder told us that it would take 14-16 months to construct the house. Throughout the process, the builder met with us at least once every month. We reviewed the progress that had been made and talked about what would happen during the next month. Decisions that we were required to make during the next 30 day period were described to make sure that we didn't hold up progress. Any new risks that might impact the schedule were discussed as well. As a consequence, we worked in partnership throughout the process. Our home was finished on time and within budget. Our experience was a positive one and the builder exceeded our expectations.
 Obtaining feedback from customers is essential for customer satisfaction. If you don't ask, you don't know. And what you don't know will hurt you.
There are several ways to solicit feedback badly, and only one way to do it well. The worst form of soliciting feedback is to avoid asking for it or ignore what you are being told. It is very dangerous to assume that customers are satisfied if they don't say anything. The opposite is more likely to be true. Dissatisfied customers - except for those who are very angry - tend not to say anything. They don't want conflicts or issues. They may not want to get an employee "in trouble." Then they vote with their feet after it's too late to do anything about it.
The second faulty technique for soliciting feedback is the process in which you try to influence the customer to provide the desired response to your questions. The best (or worst) example of this is the automobile dealer that hires a third party to conduct a telephone survey within a week after your service visit. They do not really want your feedback; they just want the satisfaction rating number required to keep their corporate parent happy. This is not a quest for customer satisfaction...it's an internal corporate game.
The only valid method for soliciting genuine feedback is to ask the customer and really listen to their response. Ask the customer to identify those areas in which they are happy and what they would like to see improved or changed. Ask open-ended questions and then listen carefully. Ask probing questions to ensure that you fully understand their concerns. What you learn will matter a great deal. Sometimes customer concerns are legitimate and require some work on your part. Sometimes they reflect a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of expectations, which provides another opportunity to explain, modify if required, and then re-set the expectations going forward.
It costs ten times as much work and money to acquire a new customer as it does to keep one. Satisfied customers spend more money, purchase higher margin goods and services, and have fewer complaints or service requirements. The bottom line impact is extraordinary!
Most of the basis for future customer satisfaction relationship occurs in the early stages of their relationship with you. By developing clear expectations with your customers up front, providing ongoing communications and partial payments to ensure they are being met, and soliciting regular honest feedback you create the greatest opportunity for happy customers and a healthy business.
|
