Improve Organizational Performance by Creating a Customer-Centered Culture

The ultimate question for any organization is “how can we improve?” This series of 3 webinars by Rob Lawton is all about how to answer that question in a way that provides the most benefit for our business/organization. He stresses that effective improvement efforts first require the answers to three other questions: “What is the product?”, “Who are the customers?”, and “What do they really want?” To accurately answer these questions we need to transform our thinking from producer-centric (how our processes lead to products that result in outcomes for customers) to customer-centric where we start with clearly understood customer-desired outcomes and translate them into product and process expectations. This thinking not only drives customer satisfaction and loyalty, it drives process efficiency and product quality. 

 

The bottom line is that the most effective improvements and breakthroughs come from customer-centric thinking. Producer-centric thinking is easier, but it leads to products and features that are off the mark and outcomes that the customer does not desire. In these webinars Rob Lawton walks us through a methodology to get the not-so-simple answers to the customer-centric questions.

 

The third webinar in this series happens Friday, April 16^th from 12-2pm and focuses on Measuring Satisfaction With and Without Surveys.   Early bird registration with a GSQC discount is open until April 9^th.

 

Key points from this series:

 

1.       We need to understand what business we are in based on what our customers value

·         Example: Above all, most hotel guests want a good night’s sleep, however most surveys don’t ask that

2.       Using a future oriented 5-Whys can determine what customers really want (strategic, desirable outcomes) as opposed to the reactive 5-Whys which help us to avoid undesirable outcomes

·         Example: Reactive: Why do customers not return?   Future oriented: Why would customers recommend us to friends?

3.       It is important to recognize Vital Lies that we believe to be true such as “we can’t control or change that”.  These are justifications for current processes even if they lead to undesirable outcomes. These Vital Lies inhibit innovation and creativity.

4.       What is the product?  Even if you don’t make widgets, you have a product. The term service is ambiguous; there are many meanings. Translate “Service” into tangible deliverables that your customer cares about and that connects process (the steps you take) with outcomes.   

·         Example: Customer Service representatives provide answers. The process is the things that they do to determine those answers and the outcome is a customer with resolved questions.

5.       Who are the customers? Consider the three types of customers. Each has different expectations from a product.

·         End user – uses product to achieve desired outcome

·         Broker – transfers product to those who use it

·         Fixer – transforms, repairs or modifies product

6.       What do they really want? When we are clear on the product and customers, the right questions need to be asked to identify what the customers really want from the product. Most surveys are “don’t ask, don’t tell” and do not get to the root of what is really important to the diverse customer types.

·         Ask customers the questions “ A satisfying [fill in product] …

·   … results in ________?” This helps us understand the outcome(s) that the customer wants. Understanding outcomes helps us to drive innovation.

·   ….is _________? “  This helps us to understand the functionality that the customer wants and helps to drive continuous improvement.

·   ….has ________?”   This helps us to understand features and prioritize what the product includes or excludes. Ask this last as feature may not align with the results are after. For example if our customers want a cookie that results in weight loss, we may not be able to have lots of chocolate chips in the product.

7.       We need to consider the 12 different “voices” of the customer when asking the questions above.

·         The 3 types of customers (end user, broker, fixer)

·         The 4 dimensions that each type cares about

                                                               i.     Desired outcomes

                                                             ii.      Undesired outcomes

                                                            iii.      The functions and features of the product and related service

                                                           iv.      The process to acquire the product

8.       How can we improve? This starts with understanding what to improve and establishing measures to know if we are improving.   It involves establishing measurable characteristics that identify if the products does or does not meet customer expectations. For example what can we measure that will identify how well our customer service answers (the product) resolve the expectations of our customer to resolve questions?   Rob will discuss this at length in the third in this series on Friday, April 16^th from 12-2pm.