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Example Cases
Learn valuable lessons from these organisations:
Tuthill Coupling Group
Focus Group Interviews Focus on Listening
One room at Tuthill headquarters was dedicated to Voice of the Customer (VoC) Kaizen sessions. These sessions enabled Tuthill to better understand the needs and wants of its customers, and led to the development and implementation of action plans for providing customers with the services, support, and products that they truly valued. The key component of the VoC sessions was carefully listening to customers. Open-ended questions were asked and customers were encouraged to talk - their comments were recorded verbatim. It was considered important not to modify the customer comments in any way. The philosophy behind the VoC sessions underscored that what a customer talks about (1) first, (2) more frequently; and (3) with emotion, was of primary importance. Each comment was colour-coded, sequenced, and posted on the walls to be used for improvement activities. (Jusko, 2004)
Air Products & Chemicals Inc.
Customer Listening Posts form part of Company Loyalty Programme
U.S. Air Products & Chemicals Inc (APC) used a systematic process to capture and understand the Voice of the Customer (VoC) which included:
- Web and telephone surveying;
- Online dissemination of survey results to the all employees;
- Linking customer information to business strategies and focusing action on a few critical improvements needs. Customer loyalty processes were turned into an ongoing company listening post as APC:
- Listened to customers (via loyalty surveys, call reports, complaints, customer score cards, and accounts receivable/retention rate information;
- Sought to understand and communicate (by identifying strengths/weaknesses and key drivers, internal/external communications, and processes changes);
- Focused company-wide on opportunities for improvement; and
- Took action to sustain improvements (via leadership, resources, meaningful goals and measures, accountability, and applied learning. APC noted that business units with high loyalty feedback tended to deliver high financial returns. (Ricci, 2003)
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in an Engineering Laboratory
The Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) is an engineering service organisation at the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management, City University of Hong Kong. MEL employed QFD techniques as the first stage of its pioneer study, the Quality Strategy Deployment (QSD) initiative, in 1996. The QFD stage included six steps:
- Focus group (such as students, academic and research staff), brainstorming;
- Analysis of critical incidents using service quality attributes;
- Development of a relationship matrix of Voices of Customers (31 quality attributes);
- User surveys and interviews (171 valid respondents gained); and
- Development of House of Quality (HOQ).
The results of HOQ were then aligned to the organisation using hoshin kanri techniques. The overall QSD study helped management formulate quality strategies and drive the implementation of improvement plans. (Pun et al, 2000)
Androscoggin Savings Bank
Mystery Shopper Surveys - Training leads to improved performance
US Androscoggin Savings Bank (ASB) hired the services of a mystery shopping survey provider to more accurately measure its customer service performance. Anonymous "shoppers" evaluated the bank from the viewpoint of a real customer. Mystery shopping was used to test customer service operations, employee integrity, merchandising, and product quality. The process included an evaluation of branch appearance, signage, lobby, landscaping, and the length of time before customers were acknowledged by bank staff. The Bank's scores were low for suggesting alternative services and for being proactive. ASB was mystery shopped every month and given a quarterly consolidation sheet. It then ran staff training sessions based on the findings. ASB experienced a gradual improvement from quarter to quarter lifting its overall survey score from 80 % in December 2003 to 94 % in September 2004. ASB's sales also increased in concert with the improving mystery shopping scores (Feig, 2005).
Host Marriott
Quality Function Deployment (QFD): Doubling Sales
Host Marriott (Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona) operated 70% of the US airport food and beverage market. Following strategic competency initiatives and senior management discussion, the organisation employed QFD in 1995 to assure that its product offerings were keeping up with customer demands. A tree diagram was used to select a product (in this case a bagel) for improvement, and matrices were used to choose morning business passengers as the target customers. A gemba (where the customer interfaces with the service) survey on the bagel was the driver of the QFD. The results were startling - within two weeks sales were up 50%, and after one year, sales had evened out at more than double the previous year`s level. The activity also included standardisation to maintain the performance. (Mazur, 1996).
Svendala New Zealand
Customer Focus and Employee Communications
In 1998, Svendala New Zealand, a world leader in vertical shaft impact crushing technology and winner of the 1997 New Zealand Exporter of the Year Award was interviewed about its customer focus practices at its site at Matamata. Focusing on contact and communication strategies along with customer service training and support, Svendala had 5-6 people travelling on a total of 100 days per year visiting customers, monitoring customer requirements and problems. Another example of Svendala`s customer contact focus was its periodic sponsoring of international customers to visit the New Zealand site. Focusing on contact and communication strategies along with customer service training and support, Svendala also held staff meetings on a weekly basis where customer requirements were disseminated and complaints were discussed. (Knuckey et al, 1999).
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