Customer relations are key to success

Take the time to listen to your customers, and give them your full
attention
By Gwen Yount Carden
Career Planning Index

 Phone Etiquette Tips

Telephone etiquette is integral to good customer service.

Here are some tips from Jacqueline Whitmore of The
Protocol School of Palm Beach, and Crissy Poorman of the
Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach for handling the phone like a pro:

 Answer the phone within two rings; no more than three.

 Always ask permission before placing a person on hold or
on a speakerphone.
 Address callers by name.
 Thank them for calling.
 If you need to transfer a caller to another person or
department, tell them to whom they are being transferred, that
person's direct number in case they are cut off and, if
possible, speak first to the person to whom you are
transferring so the call doesn't go directly to voice mail.
 If you are out of the office, check and return your
messages frequently.
 Keep voice mail messages short. People are busy or
might be phoning long distance.
 Don't screen calls. "This shows that every phone call is
important and every person is respected," said Poorman.

You can have the slickest products, the fanciest advertising and the
plushest office or storefront in town, but if you don't treat your
customers with respect, your business will stagnate, wither and
possibly die.

Good customer service is the lifeblood of any thriving business, but

too often business owners and employees overlook this simple
element that's crucial to success.

"We're all in the customer-service business, whether we have direct

contact with people on the outside or simply deal with those within
the company, such as bosses and co-workers," said Barbara Danielski
of Palm Beach Gardens, founder of the customer-service training
company Danielski Consulting Group.

"When companies go out of their way to provide service to customers,

to treat them well and to make them feel appreciated, those customers
tell others, they come back and they bring more business to you," said
Crissy Poorman, director of public relations for the Ritz-Carlton Palm
Beach, part of the award-winning hotel chain renowned for its
customer service.

Conversely, when a customer is unhappy, they tell more people than

they do when they are satisfied, so it behooves businesses to see that
every customer is satisfied. In an era when so much is automated,
taking time to provide the personal touch can move your company to
the head of the class.

Danielski likes to use a Disney Institute study that surveyed people

who had stopped patronizing a business. A whopping 68 percent did
so because of poor customer service or indifference. Only 9 percent
switched because of price increases.

Because good customer service is easy to provide, it's surprising how

many companies undermine their success. Danielski, also an adjunct
professor at Palm Beach Community College, designed a 500-hour
customer-service program. She uses the following common gaffes
from Discovering the Soul of Service by Leonard L. Berry (The Free
Press, $26) in her program:
Broken promises
"Don't tell customers what you think they want to hear but know you
can't do, such as saying your serviceman will arrive at a certain day or
time, even though he can't be there," said Danielski.

Another broken promise often used, "I'll be with you in a minute,"

rarely yields good results. "Because 15 minutes later, the customer is
still waiting," said Jacqueline Whitmore, founder and director of The
Protocol School of Palm Beach.

Powerless employees
"Employees should have the authority to solve basic complaints
without having to send customers through a phone tree, repeating
their issue over and over again," said Danielski.

Not listening
"People want to be heard," said Whitmore. "Don't say anything until
they've finished airing their grievance."

If you interrupt the customer's explanation, they won't feel understood

and will start all over again. "If you think you don't have time to
listen, you're wrong," said Danielski. "You don't have time to not
listen."

Making assumptions
"Don't assume you know what the problem is," said Danielski.
"Before responding, always say something such as, 'I believe what I
hear you saying is ... Am I correct?' Otherwise you might resolve the
wrong problem."

Defensiveness
An angry customer usually isn't angry at you, so don't take it
personally. Instead, put yourself in their shoes.

"Apologize and take responsibility even though you weren't

personally responsible for the problem," said Whitmore. "Say
something such as, 'I can understand why you are upset.' Show
empathy and offer to do whatever you can to resolve the problem."
Not communicating
It's not enough to say, "I'll take care of it." Instead, be specific. Say,
"This is what I'm going to do, and this is how long it's going to take."
Follow up with the customer and anyone you are turning to for help to
make sure the issue is resolved as promised.

Unfriendly body language

"Fifty-five percent of communication is body language," said
Danielski. "Make eye contact. Don't turn your back to a customer,
don't cross your arms while you are speaking. Don't roll your eyes.
And remember that over the telephone, 82 percent of your
communication is tone of voice."

Danielski believes that every employer should make good customer

service part of employees' job descriptions, so that workers know
what's expected of them.

"One reason employees deliver poor customer service is that they're

never told that it's part of their job," she said.

The Ritz-Carlton's Poorman sums up their first-class customer service

philosophy in a way any company can use: "Give people what they
need. Be nice to them and let them feel appreciated."
 2
101 Ways To Boost Customer Satisfaction

The focus of all modern management thinking and

strategic business practice has to be the customer.
Keep your customers happy and your sales soar.
Neglect your customers and your bottom line will suffer
accordingly.

This practical book provides you with 101 ways to build

and maintain customer satisfaction. It focuses on the
internal as well the external business practices which
affect your relationship with your customer, showing you
how to:

Improve your image

Cultivate your customer relations

Enhance your employee relations, and much more.

101 Ways to Boost Customer Satisfaction teaches you

how to build strong, lasting and ultimately profitable
relationships.

Contents:

Introduction
Cultivate your customer service
Be easy to find
Dont be closed when you should be open
Answer the telephone promptly
Handle queues/seating conveniently
Dont keep people waiting explain delays
Allow customers to do it their way
Know your product
Never be out of stock
Get the order right
Stay alert after youve clinched the deal
Make it easy to pay
Dont overcharge for silly little extras
Deliver on time
Offer a guarantee that means something
Be fast with refunds
Give a reward for dealing with you
Quicken your quality
Produce a good product
Make sure it works first time
Always exceed expectations
Constantly seek improvement
Dont tell yourself theres nothing you can do about it
Never accept Its good enough, considering...
Remember fundamentals, avoid easy fixes
Dont use frills to disguise deficiencies
Make sure there are no excuses
Respect your own products
Worry if your employees wont buy your product
Captivate your customer relations
Respond to advertising enquiries, quickly
Listen to your customers
Be helpful
Make it easy to complain
Respond to complaints
Analyse complaints
Respect existing customers
Make customers your best ambassadors
Dont assume niceness is enough
Encourage customer loyalty
Allow customers to feel cared for
Dont take your relationships for granted
Be relevant to your customer
When you lose a customer, find out why
Bring about your business processes
Be strategic
Step outside the box
Make your objectives easy to achieve
Make your objectives hard to achieve
Align the objectives of your functions
Keep up with the times: Innovate!
Study and learn from best practice
Youre the only game in town? Dont relax!
Monitor your competition
Integrate your marketing activities
Concentrate on the big picture and worry about detail
Concentrate on detail and worry about the big picture
Observe the writing on the wall
Be part of the solution, not the problem
Deal with problems
Understand that people, not processes, deliver the
service
Dont assume that, because its on the computer, it must
be right
Make the complex simple hell, make the simple simple
Know when to manage tight and when to manage loose
Have a tight, concise rule book
Empower your people not to have to check with the
supervisor first
Realise some of your cronies can harm you
Admit mistakes
Dont pass the buck
Crisis? What crisis? Be prepared
Remember Murphys Law
Focus on your own needs, and those of your colleagues
Dont just try to do it, do it
Check, dont assume, you did it right
Treat your suppliers as business partners
Pay your suppliers promptly
Crystallise your communications
Be accessible
Make, listen to and act on suggestions
Make the smallest fragment of service count
Listen
Ask why
Dont promise the moon
Keep your promises
Never lie
Congratulate yourself only when youve really earned it
Dont run misleading advertising
Regard your advertising as more than just a paint job
Always think about PR
Be clear about directions
Explain usage instructions concisely
Enhance your employee relations
Treat your employees like adults Respect minorities
Give your staff the powers of discretion
Help your staff to be flexible
Train your people properly
Celebrate and reward excellence
Get your incentives right reward the right things
Improve your image
Project an appropriate image
Act courteously, especially when in corporate livery
Behave like grown-ups
Be environmentally responsible
Be socially responsible
Dont offend special interest groups
Keep the law
Never be fat, dumb and happy never be complacent
Publisher: Kogan Page India
ISBN: 8175544155
No. of Pages: 160
http://www.gurusoftware.com/gurunet/busin
ess/topics/Delight.htm

The most successful businesses have discovered

a formula that goes beyond product and service.
Their business is providing delight to their
customers by understanding their specific
personal interests, anticipating their needs,
exceeding their expectations, and making every
moment and aspect of the relationship a pleasant
-- or better yet, an exhilarating -- experience.
As one ecstatic customer recently wrote to the
president of an audio video retailer in Cleveland,
Ohio after coming back for his third major
purchase, "It is truly a pleasure to walk into a
store where the people know your name, know
your style, your tastes and your expectations."
When a company communicates an enthusiasm
for doing business and a love of service,
clients/customers tend to reciprocate the feeling.
If your clients/customers are satisfied with the
service they receive from your company, that is
a good place to start, but it's just the beginning
of the path at the foot of the mountain. These
days, it takes a lot more than satisfaction to
stand out from the pack and keep
clients/customers eagerly coming back for more.
"We sometimes forget we are selling
entertainment," says a retailer in Amarillo,
Texas. "The emotional end of the business needs
lots of attention. We must be exuberant and
communicate this enthusiasm to the customer.
Many times we tend to get lost in the business
aspects and forget why people are coming to us."
Another retailer in Raleigh, North Carolina
understands the relationship between enjoyment
and achievement. Talking to him, you can see
that he enjoys what he does. He attributes his
success to an incessant focus on the value of
customer service. "Customers are our best
friends. They are always right. You have to try to
exceed their expectations. Its really fun to try."
Among other things, he sends fruit baskets to
customers who buy big systems. Since he
founded his company in 1978, he has never had
a down year. Sales were up 25% in 1995 and
 Business: Customer Satisfaction
by Roy Posner and MSS

Customer Delight
To put yourself in touch with the spirit of what
the client wants to accomplish is the heart of the
value and principle of "customer delight."
Customer Delight
The most successful businesses have discovered
a formula that goes beyond product and service.
Their business is providing delight to their
customers by understanding their specific
personal interests, anticipating their needs,
exceeding their expectations, and making every
moment and aspect of the relationship a pleasant
-- or better yet, an exhilarating -- experience.
Business Boom in West and Knowing What
Customer Wants
Business in the West is booming. One of the
reasons is they have changed their opinion about
the customer. Originally the idea was the
customer should buy what is sold or produced.
Now they find out what the customer wants and
produce it. Sales have boomed. (MSS)
Your Client's Agenda
Deferring your own agenda to the lead of the
client's is a form of the spiritual method of
"taking the other person's point of view." At the
mental level it is recognition of their interests
and needs. At the vital level it is an emotional
association with their will and intent, and at the
physical level it is to act and do what needs to be
done. This is in the descending scale of
conception, perception, and sensation.
Discovering the Client's Needs
If you follow to the nth degree what the client
requires, and take appropriate action for every
need, you will be constantly be making new
discoveries, which will give you a new
knowledge, widen your horizons, and, as a
result, energize you.
After all the True and Full energy is beyond your
own self. It is made full through the Other,
including the others around you that you interact
and associate with, as well as the Divine Other
above and within which provides ultimate
discovery, knowledge, energy, and joy.
Developing the subtle sense to perceive
everything the client needs is an important
consideration. As you live more in the depths,
that subtle perception will grown, and you will
pick up on even the minutest hints of client
needs, which is very likely to be the opening of
their greater needs, and your corresponding
great success and joy!
Four Levels of Relating to the Customer to
Develop Your Market & Products
There are four levels by which you can relate to
the customer. Each successive view of the
customer has more potential than the previous
ones to open the market for you.
1. First and most commonly,
companies relate to the customer
from the point of view of the product.
I have a product to sell. Anyone who
buys it is my customer. Companies
with this view have a very limited
idea of who their customers are,
what their needs are or how to
attract more of them. They rely on
the product to do that.
2. Look at the customer as a
member of society. Identify the
social characteristics of the customer
and think of ways to meet the needs
of specific social groups.
3. Look at the customer simply as
an individual. Recognize the needs
and preferences that any individual
would have and cater to them.
 4. relate to the customer, not
merely as an individual who shares
much in common with everyone else,
but as a unique individual who has
unique needs, preferences and
identity.
Three Levels of Relating to the Market to
Develop Your Market & Products
The market exists at three different levels.
1. At the first level, the market
consists of a finite number of
recognized needs, and companies
compete to meet those needs. If
your company approaches the
market from this point of view, its
growth is confined to the already
established needs of the market.
2. At the second level, the market
consists of needs which exist, but are
unrecognized by society and
companies, and therefore are unmet.
Companies grow by recognizing
those unfulfilled needs, creating a
general awareness of them and then
meeting them. What are the
unrecognized needs in your industry?
What new dimension or incremental
improvement can you add to an
existing product or service that will
meet a latent need of society or your
 customers and create a new market
that does not now exist?
3. Not every company can create a
new product or a new market. But
the third level of market is open to
all. There is in every industry a gap
between what the market actually
needs or wants and what companies
perceive it wants. That gap
represents fertile untapped ground
for any company that can become
more conscious of the market's real
wants.

When is the last time you really and

systematically asked your customers
about their preferences? If it was not
today or yesterday, perhaps you
should ask again. Put yourself on the
other side of the counter and looking
at things from the customer's point
of view." The effort required is one of
careful observation, perception, and
thoughtfulness.
On "Demanding" Customers
When you consider a customer demanding,
remember that what is being demanded is
likely to be the very services, features, qualities,
etc. that satisfy customers that follow.
Untitled
The Westerner discovered that pleasing the
customer increases business. Though selfish, it is
another man’s point of view, a spiritual idea, as
the Spirit considers the other man’s profit as
one’s own welfare. (MSS)

http://www.ipsosloyalty.com/us/testi
monials.cfm
Praise for The Customer Delight
Principle
“For many years now, we at Harrah’s have implemented
measures, processes and incentives that are based on the
‘customer delight’ principles described by Keiningham and
Vavra. Our employees know that growth and profitability rests
with changes in customer behavior, not simply improvements in
customer satisfaction. This book does a great job of, first,
demonstrating this crucial distinction and, then, providing
methods for instituting organizational reforms to take advantage
 of the enormous opportunity associated with enhanced
customer loyalty.”

—Gary W. Loveman, COO, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.

“Whereas customer satisfaction is a ticket to play, customer

delight is a ticket to survive. Through numerous illustrative
examples Keiningham and Vavra document this fact plus
provide guidance to success. My guess is that The Customer
Delight Principle will soon establish itself as a MUST-read for
those who want to attract and retain customers effectively.”

—Professor Tor W. Andreassen, Norwegian School of

Management

“A ‘must read’ for every entrepreneur who believes that

success depends on satisfying the customer. The Customer
Delight Principle shows how out of date customer satisfaction
thinking is, and does so with easily understood examples,
stories and numbers.”

—Senator Feargal Quinn, CEO, Superquinn Stores, Ireland

and author of Crowning the Customer: How to Become
Customer-Driven

“The Customer Delight Principle not only reinforces the need to

break the service myth of customer satisfaction but also opens
up a new Pandora’s box in the Services Management field for
the years to come.”

—Professor Javier Reynoso, Services Management Research

and Education Group, ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico

“Read this book before your competitors do! The Customer

Delight Principle provides the framework and valuable insights
for strategically delivering delight programs that build customer
equity. It is crucial reading for any delight-seeking company
interested in developing loyal relationships with high-value
customers.”
 —Ed Routon, CEO, Alcott Routon, Inc.

“Finally someone has made the case to move from satisfaction

to delight. Keiningham and Vavra have captured very clearly
the two most fundamental requirements for creating delight—a
thorough understanding of customers’ expectations and the
commitment of business leaders. Companies who fail to make
customer delight a part of their strategic business model will
quickly be overrun by those who embrace this concept and
make it an essential part of their daily lives. That means that
not only organizations, but also every department within them
must understand the principles of what delights their customers
and eliminate anything that causes pain—both internally and
externally. I intend to make this book required reading for every
leader in our organization.”

—Barbara Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President, PETsMART, Inc.

“I see many large organizations that go through the motions of

customer satisfaction measurement (CSM) without really
understanding why they are doing it or what they hope to gain
from it. Some even question the value of this essential activity,
because they gain so little from it. Keiningham and Vavra neatly
expose the problem in this very helpful book that every CSM
manager should read. They clearly explain why a focus on
merely satisfying customers is indeed unlikely to be a
rewarding investment of the organization's resources. By using
clearly detailed examples of the struggles of several real firms
the authors provide some very clear and practical guidance
about how to make CSM pay off: First use it to know what your
customers want and what delights them, and then use it to
check that your organization is relentlessly working to delight
them and to build their loyalty in cost-effective ways.”

—Anthony Zahorik, Ph.D., Vice President, ACNielsen Burke

Institute

“This book provides fact-loaded, real-life case studies that bring

the customer delight principle vividly alive with no sugar-
 coating. It transcends dry, academic bookstore fare in a way
that practitioners and others can embrace and use in their day-
to-day jobs. At the same time, it offers quantitative tools that
can be readily applied for those so inclined. The book is a
virtual road map for companies and managers who seek to
develop stronger linkages between customer delight and the
bottom line. Outstanding!”

—James A. Welch, Principal, Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath

“Much has been written about customer satisfaction, a key

challenge facing managers in today’s global economy.
Keiningham and Vavra’s book, The Customer Delight Principle,
is an enlightening work, rich in examples and offers a thorough,
step by step, guideline to be implemented in order to achieve
the desired profitability associated with delighted customers.
Their work certainly falls in the ‘zone of delight’.”

—Josué Christiano Gomes da Silva, CEO, Coteminas, São

Paulo, Brazil

« Learn more about The Customer Delight Principle

» Read The Customer Delight Principle Book by Terry G. Vavra

http://greatorpoor.com/customer_d
elight.aspx
In any organisation, ‘success’
means ‘customer delight’.

The ONLY way to long term success

is to have delighted customers

We are finding we're doing a lot more work

in the field of 'customer delight', so we've
designed packages to make it easier to deal
with, and here they are.
In any organisation, ‘success’ means
‘customer delight’.

The ONLY way to long term success is

to have delighted customers ... it really
is as simple as that.

There’s a lot of talk about ‘customer service’, and

sometimes it all seems like
‘blindingly obvious common sense’! However,
‘common sense’ is often not ‘common practice’.
The problem is: it’s clearly a good idea to deliver
excellent service to customers…
… but how do you create it, and how do you
measure it?

How you create it.

Remember the story about leading the horse to
water? The only way it’ll drink is if it’s thirsty! It’s
the same with customer service: people will
only deliver excellent service if they want
to and are able to.
This ‘desire & ability to deliver’ can only be
created when all aspects of an organisation are
in alignment around the central goal of delivering
excellent service because it’s the right thing
to do.

The absurd thing is that 99% of people want to

give great service: it’s just that failures in
different areas of the organisation can often
prevent them from doing so!

… and when they are able to give it, they don’t

know how well they (and their colleagues) are
doing!

Most organisations have no objective, accurate,

clear & compelling measure. Most customer
satisfaction surveys are cumbersome and
meaningless (and measure the wrong things
from the wrong people), so, in effect, become
more of a disincentive and a smokescreen than a
helpful tool!

How daft is all that?

We can help you with training / workshops /

coaching and, most importantly MEASURING!
 because WHAT GETS MEASURED GETS DONE

all at surprisingly reasonable prices.

How you measure it.

The key to measuring this is threefold
1. Keep it simple (producing high response
rates and helpful feedback).
2. Keep it present (ensuring the information
is up to date and relevant)
3. Keep it obsessive (ensuring it produces
real change for the better)

The system we use produces:

• high response rates
• enhanced customer loyalty (yes, it really
does!)
• real staff motivation
• hugely valuable information to help you
develop and grow

It is a fantastic predictor of future success

and has been proven many times. Best of all, it
can be run quickly, simply, & inexpensively!

What this will cost.

 Costs vary, of course, depending on the number
of customers you want to get feedback from, and
the amount of input you want from us.

For guidance, a basic package can be as little as

£60+VAT per month, or, at the other end of the
scale we can do a ‘platinum service’ for just
under £500 per month.

Alternatively, with our training and guidance

(plus, we’d suggest, monitoring to avoid
‘inaccurate’ information), you could run this
simply and easily ‘in house’.

An initial phonecall / consultation costs

nothing
An initial audit costs just £70
A full day business analysis costs just £270,
so don’t hesitate to ask us for further
clarification: we pride ourselves on our
transparent pricing policy, our ‘no nonsense’
guarantee, and indeed our own customer
feedback!

contact us: guy@thearnolds.biz or 07990 550057

The world is now a truly global

economy, and those who don’t
deliver excellent service as
standard will not survive in the
 long term. Those that do will
prosper and flourish.

http://www.sideroad.com/cs/column50.html
Customer Delight
By: Dr. John T. Self

"It is not about customer service, it is about

customer delight" explained Jan Schroeder, Vice
President of Education for the California Culinary
Academy. Listening to her speak, her passion for
customer service is obvious. To her, customers are not
just the paying guests, but they also include the students
and faculty at her academy.
I was also struck by the passion their students exuded when they
discussed their education and future careers. What made this even
more impressive was that it wasn't just one or two students; it was all
of them. When a company's "internal customers" are positive and
have bought into the culture of their company, it may be the best
public relations that can be had. It may also be the best indicator that a
company cares about its people.

Ms. Schroeder is zealous about taking care of the smallest details,

including how the phone is answered. This giant, yet often-
overlooked concept can be either a wonderful public relations tool or
the worst public relations nightmare. What makes this especially
 interesting is that in most cases this fact is not readily apparent to
most busy executives. They aren't even aware that they may be
losing customers that have been expensively acquired through
advertising and training.

She recognized a problem and acted on it. She taped the employees as
they answered the phones, then played it back to them. The results
were startling. When hearing how they sounded to a customer, the
level of customer service increased dramatically. It is amazing what a
difference it made by simply having employees listen to themselves.
Once they actually heard their voice inflection and sense of
friendliness and helpfulness they understood immediately what was
truly required of them.

To have the goal of 'delighting' customers rather than merely

'servicing' them is a wonderful concept. It made me stop and think
how cold and impersonal the word service is when compared to
delight. Service is such a cold and impersonal word while delight is
warm and personal.

It is a concept that struck me as needed in the service industries

especially. Our employees and managers come to work everyday, but
how many of us really try to rise above servicing our customers.
Judging by the turnover in the service industry, the level of
complacency in training, and the smugness of companies who still
view employees as expendable, the concept of customer delight is a
goal that is far out of reach for too many.

In aspiring to get to this level of delight, first there must be someone

who has the authority to effect changes in the organization. This
person must:

• be passionate about service

• believe in employees as individuals

• understand that the work environment is a

place of dignity.
 Only when these elements are evident can a company move from
servicing its customers to actually delighting them. There are
people and companies that are able to implement these fundamental
changes and that hard work will pay off in lower staff turnover/higher
retention and, inevitably, higher sales--all extremely positive results
of a culture change. Don't just take my word for it--ask Ms. Schroeder
if you want to see someone who practices what she preaches.

http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/
articles/articles_template.asp?
ID=34
Seven Steps to Creating Customer
Experiences that Delight
By UK based consultant Andy Hanselman

Customers are an organisation’s biggest asset. There’s

much written and spoken about customer care,
customer service, even customer ‘delight’, but what
does it all mean? How does it relate to your business,
your people, and most importantly, to your customers.

Here are a few tips to help you look at your own

business, and identify some steps to improve the
service experience you create for your customers and
delight them.
 Step 1
Ask yourself “How easy are we to buy from and deal
with?” So many businesses don’t even get the basics
right: telephones that aren’t answered properly (some
not even answered!), sales people not trained (or even
interested!), people and systems that stop customers
getting what they want. We call them ‘Sales Prevention
Officers’ … they lurk throughout the business … who,
what and where are yours?

Step 2
Eliminate your Sales Prevention Officers: No, don’t fire
your receptionist! Too often they are the very ones
dealing with the consequences of your real Sales
Prevention Officers. Investigate and find out what’s
preventing your customers from getting what they
want. Ask your frontline people, “What causes Sales
Prevention Officers in our business? Look in the mirror,
too … have you ever refused a call with “tell them I’m
not in”?

Step 3
Get feedback from your customers: Ask them “What
lets us down?” “How could we improve?” “What
irritates or annoys you about us?” “How can we exceed
your expectations?” Email them, call them, visit them.
Find out what they really think about you.

Step 4
Act on the feedback! (no explanation needed here!)

Step 5
Identify ways to ‘delight’ your customers: Not “Have a
nice day” or “Missing you already” but surprising
customers with the level of service you provide (in a
positive way, please!) Customer Delight has a personal
touch, it appears spontaneous, and makes customers
feel good. Think about ‘thank you for your order’ notes,
‘Welcome’ signs in reception, send them articles of
interest, anticipate their needs and solve their
problems.

Step 6
Reward customer delight: Encourage your people to ‘go
that extra mile’, to generate ‘delight’ ideas and to
create ‘raving fans’. What’s the reward in your business
for ‘delighting a customer’ … what’s the consequence
for not.

And finally,

Step 7
Ring up your business and ask for yourself!!! This can
be a real eye opener. It’s sometimes quite scary!!! In
reality it means standing in your own queues, sitting in
your own reception, and listening to your own
switchboard. Find out what it’s like to be a customer,
and identify areas for improvement.

The pursuit of customer delight is a constant process …

It never ends. After Step 7 go back to Step 1 and start
again!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Do-You-Have-a-
Strategy-to-Delight-Your-Customers?
&id=2129049
Andrea Blackwood-Harriott
Most businesses are just not tapping the
potential to do more business, more frequently
with their existing customers and are leaving
money on the table for their competitors.
Lacking the internal systems to manage the
customer experience, most businesses invest too
much in chasing new customers and do too little
to delight and retain existing customers.
It is well established that
•Satisfied customers are predisposed to
purchase again, purchase more and
purchase different products.

• It costs less to motivate a known

customer to purchase again than to
acquire a new customer.

• Customers are only fickle when a new

competitor is paying more attention to
them than you are.

Recipe For Customer Delight

Woo the Customer as much before as AFTER
the sale.
How much do you really know about your
customers or clients? Is it possible that some
assumptions you've made about your customers
are incorrect?
Ask yourself "Are there commonalities that are
shared by many of my customers that I am
unaware of"?
Find creative ways to meet and ASK them
Develop a system to 'touch' your customers at
least once per month.
The most successful companies are touching
their customers once a week or more.

Continue to Market to Existing Customers

Do not make the mistake of assuming that
current customers know what you are about?
Do not take shortcuts or feel that you are boring
customers by constantly promoting to them. If
you have quality, service, guarantee price or
other advantages point them out. Remind the
customer why they came, what they have and
what they can still get. Let them know more
benefits will come from having MORE of your
product or service.

Develop a Loyalty Reward Programme

Determine who your best customers are.
(Recently I asked a client of mine to do this
exercise, and I was shocked at the lack of
clarity in the determination of "best customer" -
Her top revenue producing clients were the worst
payers, drove the company's margin down,
created the most logistic problems and bought a
limited number of items in the company's
product range)
Here is my rule of thumb. Your best customers
contributes 80% of your profit, buys more/large
ticket items, buys often, buys on your
recommendations, and Pays Well.
Create a Loyalty reward programme based
around what they value most
Some of the factors that drive this group are
symbols of exclusivity such as VIP parking, quick
personal access to you, regular updates, and
private promotions or cross promotion with other
VIP groups. Ask! Ask for Advice and Get
Creative.

Use the Law of Attraction

Make your best customers aware that you are in
the market looking for others just like them and
would appreciate referrals who may want to
experience the kind of service they have been
receiving from you.
At the same time you need to identify the next
level of customers say 5-10% who you assess
aspire for VIP status. Create a buzz among this
group, give incentives such as discounts and
volume upgrades for them to cross the hurdle
and elevate to your VIP club. You will be amazed
at what people will do for recognition or what a
well thought out loyalty programme could do for
your business

Now You Have Them, Keep Them

To who have you assigned the job of Customer
Relations and Retention?
Have you accepted the notion that your clients
are mobile assets? Are you leaving your
customers vulnerable to theft by a partner or
employee with whom you just parted company?
Are you implementing checks and balances that
will alert you to customer maltreatment or
negligence? Many customers will not take the
time to complain they will simply vote with feet?
Entrepreneurs and business owners who don't
take orchestrate a system for customer relations
and retention, place their company's fortune on
shifting sand.

Regardless of the number of layers of distribution

between you and your customer find a
mechanism or forum where you can periodically
establish some direct link. The owner of a
restaurant can do that by coming around and
chatting personally with the customers. The chief
executive officer of a large company can do it
with a hotline telephone number, well designed
easy to fill and return comment cards or maybe a
newsletter featuring a voice of the customer
segment.
Your customers are the most powerful assets in
your business, even if you sell the business, they
can become a great source for referrals and
given the multidimensional nature of most clients
they have desires that transcend the ability of
any single industry or product to satisfy. A
strategy top delight your customers should be an
integral part of any business strategy tool kit

http://www.expresspharmaonline.com/2007111
5/pharmalife01.shtml
The focus of every organisation has gradually
shifted from customer satisfaction to customer
delight. Renuka Vembu highlights what
organisations are doing to create and maintain a
customer-centric culture
A healthy organisation,
motivated workforce,
delighted customers—are all
part of a cyclic phenomenon. A
dedicated and loyal workforce
will reflect, in a positive way,
the company and its value, keeping up the brand
name. They will work towards taking the
company towards the growth path. Increased
brand value translating into augmented revenues
and increased share of profits for the company
will eventually trickle down to the employees,
thereby, enhancing employee benefit schemes. A
motivated workforce will feel an additional
obligation to serve the customers better. Every
organisation has thus realised the growing
importance of grooming its employees to make
them an impressive force in the eyes of the
consumers. Investing resources in well-defined
recruitment policies, thorough and intensive
training programs, soft-skills encompassing
business etiquettes, communication proficiency,
etc. are an integral part of any business.
All the activities introduced by the company,
guided by its philosophy, and ably carried out by
its employees expect conversion of those
processes and efforts into beaming consumers
and more clientele. Every individual associated
with the company, should be in a framework to
completely understand, visualise and relate to
the culture and mission statement of the
organisation, and the direction towards which
they are headed. This in turn will mean or call for
providing customers with quality service. A keen
and unperturbed customer focus whilst
completing the task at hand will translate into
fulfilling the needs, requirements and also
expectations of the existing clients as also adding
new ones to the list. In the era of multiple means
and unlimited choices, customer focus acts as
the key differentiator and gives the competitive
edge.
Need for customer focus
Internal customers who are people working with
the organisation have to be served a motivating
experience for them to replicate "An
organisation
and carry it out to the external will succeed
customers. Customer focus has only when
customer
to be started with employee needs are satisfied.
service. Dr Kashmira Pagdiwalla, Changing the business
focus to a customer -
Director, HR Operations, Intas centered paradigm has
Biopharmaceuticals Limited broad-reaching impact
across the
(IBPL) echoes the same organisation"
thought, "An organisation will
Dr Kashmira
succeed only when customer Pagdiwalla
needs are satisfied. Changing Director-HR Operations
Intas
the business focus to a Biopharmaceuticals
customer-centered paradigm Limited

has broad-reaching impact across the

organisation. It gives many companies an
opportunity to revisit their company as a whole
and improve business processes and achieve
significant return on investment." She goes on to
say that with a proper customer ocused
organisation, one can:
 • Build on what you accomplish each year
in increasing your customer assets and verify
it with hard numbers Have a more structured
work environment that allows for creative
thinking
• Establish meaningful policies and
processes that produce results
• Manage people through information
instead of going through people to get the
information you need
Company's initiatives
"Employees All these factors hold the key in
are expected
an industry like pharmaceuticals
to understand
where clear communication,
the changing
needs and
expectations of the appropriate medication and
customers, taking consumer health go hand-in-
personal responsibility
hand. All of these initiatives
for serving customers,
with an ultimate when amalgamated reflect the
objective of achieving
a customer’s delight"company's attitude, seriousness
and sincerity in approach
- Surina Iyer
General Manger- towards customers. Ashok
Human Resource Priyadarshi, General Manager,
Wanbury
HR, Alkem Laboratories
mentions, "The major expectation of the pharma
market is low price and superior quality. Our
medical representatives (MRs) regularly meet the
chemists and our direct sales outlets. Also these
MRs are updated upon the product knowledge
and trained on communication skills to enhance
their performance. Some programs are
undertaken to train them on selling skills and to
create awareness in the market about the newly
launched products. Every employee is the face of
the organisation to the external customer. On
similar grounds, our MRs are our image and we
are their backbone."
Surina Iyer, General Manger, Human Resource,
Wanbury, provides an insight into the company's
policies with reference to its customers,
"Customer value creation is one of the identified
competencies which we refer while hiring,
motivating, rewarding and developing our
employee. Focussed training on dealing with
customers is provided to all front line sales
employees at regular levels, with special
emphasis on understanding customer needs and
expectations, and complying with the same. As
part of change acceleration programme,
customer focus was identified as one of the key
areas, wherein different processes across the
business line were mapped and aligned to meet
customer demands."
Specialised education programmes imparting the
nuances and finesse required for medical
representatives and others who handle the
critical part of transferring knowledge and
educating doctors and pharmacists about the
medicine, its effects and ill-effects is very critical
to this profession. At Wanbury, Core Curriculum
(C2) is an induction programme which all their
MRs attend when they join the company. In this
programme, apart from training, specific
emphasis is provided on customer expectation
management, basic selling skill program,
handling customer complaints, etc. Apart from
C2, they also have advance curriculum,
exsellarate, competence ability professionalism
(CAP) and leadership training, spearheaded by
the Head of Training and passionately driven
down for all India field force.
Interactive methodologies
Presenting the pipeline of
consumers with an opportunity
to share, and giving them a
stage to interact with concerned
individuals of the company,
triggers off the process of a
long-term and healthy company-
customer relationship. Alkem
organises dealers' meetings with
corporates across zones. They address and
discuss issues like better chanellising of drugs
and better end customer satisfactions.
Felicitating dealers for performance par
excellence, yearly get-together with the
distributors, inviting doctors to forums, and
campaigns for direct interaction with end
customers improve relations and help in
exchanging of knowledge.
Skills that matter
Apart from the job skill-sets, the soft skill
parameters like empathy, listening,
understanding, caring, patience, honesty,
integrity, communication, and the list goes on
infinitely, is a part and parcel of any job role in
today's given scenario. The list just holds deeper
value and larger responsibility in the pharma
sector. Iyer says, "At Wanbury, we emphasise on
values like respect for people, innovation, sense
of urgency, result focus, leadership, team work
and customer focus. Every employee is expected
to understand the changing needs and
expectations of the customers—both internal and
external, taking personal responsibility for
serving customers with an ultimate objective of
achieving customer delight. Integrity,
adaptability, trust and empowerment are main
founding stones that contribute to architecting
relationship with customers."
Alkem ingrains another set of characteristics in
its employees concentrating on the more humane
side like being helpful, patient, and empathetic
enough to handle any kind of unforeseen
situation. Employees are expected to be logical
enough to interpret the roots of customers'
grievances as also a willingness to address them
with a smile and a balanced mind.
Priyadarshi continues, "Organisations cater to
different sets of people with different needs and
demands. They market their products based on
the demands of the customers to maximise their
satisfaction. The first step towards a healthy
employee-customer relationship is the
employees' understanding of the customer
psyche and needs. They should well understand
as in why somebody will buy our products. The
employees should be well motivated to serve the
customers without any kind of force. As soon as
an element of force comes into play, the
employee's customer service has a negative
aspect of their job. Feedback should be expected
from customers and accepted positively. The
feedback should be worked on for the betterment
of the product or services."
Pagdiwalla mentions, "IBPL has a tradition of
concern for people with a dedication to develop
quality biotech-nology products. The company is
committed to improve the quality of human life
by enabling people to do more, feel better and
live longer. The company's triumphs are based
on principled and equitable management of its
human resources. Talent and creativity of people
is the one differentiator that separates the
entities that will succeed from the companies
that will perish." Attracting, retaining and
building talent are management's primary focus
at IBPL. Pagdiwalla claims that the entire
management team is like a family, coherent and
compact, always looking to support and
encourage one another. "We strongly believe
that the success of a business depends on
'people embodied' knowledge. This is especially
true in the knowledge based industries, like
pharmaceuticals and biotech," she adds.
Customer relationship is based on experiences.
When opportunities prevailing are aplenty and
open doors are awaiting people, the motivation-
satisfaction-loyalty level is the maxim to root for.
The experiences, principles and values, and the
care and empathy which one comes across in the
work place are transmitted to the outside larger
world. The customer holds the key to your value
in the company and in fact, the company itself.

Understanding Customer Delight and Outrage

• Autores: Benjamin Schneider, David E. Bowen

• Localización: Sloan management review, ISSN 0019-848X, Vol. 41, Nº. 1,
1999 , pags. 35-45
• Resumen:

o Evidence indicates that satisfied customers defect at

a high rate in many industries. Because satisfaction
alone does not translate linearly into outcomes such
as loyalty in terms of purchases, businesses must
strive for 100 percent, or total, customer satisfaction
and even delight to achieve the kind of loyalty they
desire. Current studies attribute a higher degree of
emotionality to the dissatisfaction end of the
satisfaction continuum than in the past. For
 example, customers who have experienced service
failures feel annoyed or victimized. Although
victimization is felt at a deeper emotional level than
irritation, both can result in outrage. By focusing on
more intense customer emotions, such as outrage
and delight, the authors explore the dynamics of
customer emotions and their effect on customer
behavior and loyalty.
Schneider and Bowen base their conceptualization
on people's needs rather than the more conventional
model that focuses on customer expectations about
their interactions with a firm. The authors propose a
complementary needs-based model for service
businesses that assumes customer delight and
outrage originate with the handling of three basic
human needs ¿ security, justice, and self-esteem. By
recasting a situation as one that has violated any of a
customer's fundamental needs, the deeper emotional
outcome (e.g., outrage) does not seem incongruous.
The authors describe each need and offer specific
managerial tactics for avoiding outrage and creating
delight.
Recent emphasis on relationship marketing ¿ that is,
attracting, developing, and retaining customers ¿ is
pertinent because building relationships requires
that companies view customers as people first and
consumers second. Service is an exchange
relationship in which customers swap their money
and loyalty for what Schneider and Bowen argue is
need gratification ¿ a psychological contract with
service firms to have their needs gratified. The
authors discuss strategies that help firms gratify and,
 in some cases, delight customers, while avoiding the
perception that they do not respect customer needs.
Companies must manage how they show concern
for customer needs in all actions, including the
activities of the back office (e.g., billing, shipping),
not just front-office personnel who directly contact
the customer.

A Dynamic Model of the Duration of the Customer's

Relationship with a Continuous Service Provider: The
Role of Satisfaction
Ruth N. Bolton

MARKETING SCIENCE
Vol. 17, No. 1, Winter 1998, pp. 45-65
DOI: 10.1287/mksc.17.1.45

The Maryland Business School, University of Maryland, 3467

Van Munching Hall, College Park, Maryland 20742

Many service organizations have embraced relationship

marketing with its focus on maximizing customer lifetime value.
Recently, there has been considerable controversy about
whether there is a link between customer satisfaction and
retention. This research question is important to researchers
who are attempting to understand how customers' assessments
of services influence their subsequent behavior. However, it is
equally vital to managers who require a better understanding of
the relationship between satisfaction and the duration of the
provider-customer relationship to identify specific actions that
can increase retention and profitability in the long run. Since
there is very little empirical evidence regarding this research
question, this study develops and estimates a dynamic model
of the duration of provider-customer relationship that focuses
on the role of customer satisfaction.
 This article models the duration of the customer's relationship
with an organization that delivers a continuously provided
service, such as utilities, financial services, and
telecommunications. In the model, the duration of the provider-
customer relationship is postulated to depend on the
customer's subjective expected value of the relationship, which
he/she updates according to an anchoring and adjustment
process. It is hypothesized that cumulative satisfaction serves
as an anchor that is updated with new information obtained
during service experiences. The model is estimated as a left-
truncated, proportional hazards regression with cross-sectional
and time series data describing cellular customers perceptions
and behavior over a 22-month period.

The results indicate that customer satisfaction ratings elicited

prior to any decision to cancel or stay loyal to the provider are
positively related to the duration of the relationship. The
strength of the relationship between duration times and
satisfaction levels depends on the length of customers' prior
experience with the organization. Customers who have many
months' experience with the organization weigh prior
cumulative satisfaction more heavily and new information
(relatively) less heavily. The duration of the service provider-
customer relationship also depends on whether customers
experienced service transactions or failures. The effects of
perceived losses arising from transactions or service failures on
duration times are directly weighed by prior satisfaction,
creating contrast and assimilation effects.

How can service organizations develop longer relationships with

customers? Since customers weigh prior cumulative satisfaction
heavily, organizations should focus on customers in the early
stages of the relationship—if customers' experiences are not
satisfactory, the relationship is likely to be very short. There is
considerable heterogeneity across customers because some
customers have a higher utility for the service than others.
However, certain types of service encounters are potential
relationship "landmines" because customers are highly sensitive
to the costs/losses arising from interactions with service
organizations and insensitive to the benefits/gains. Thus,
incidence and quality of service encounters can be early
 indicators of whether an organization's relationship with a
customer is flourishing or in jeopardy. Unfortunately,
organizations with good prior service levels will suffer more
when customers perceive that they have suffered a loss arising
from a service encounter—due to the existence of contrast
effects. However, experienced customers are less sensitive to
such losses because they tend to weigh prior satisfaction levels
heavily.

By modeling the duration of the provider-customer

relationship, it is possible to predict the revenue impact of
service improvements in the same manner as other resource
allocation decisions. The calculations in this article show that
changes in customer satisfaction can have important financial
implications for the organization because lifetime revenues
from an individual customer depend on the duration of his/her
relationship, as well as the dollar amount of his/her purchases
across billing cycles.

Satisfaction levels explain a substantial portion of explained

variance in the durations of service provider-customer
relationships across customers, comparable to the effect of
price. Consequently, it is a popular misconception that
organizations that focus on customer satisfaction are failing to
manage customer retention. Rather, this article suggests that
service organizations should be proactive and learn from
customers before they defect by understanding their current
satisfaction levels. Managers and researchers may have
underestimated the importance of the link between customer
satisfaction and retention because the relationship between
satisfaction and duration times is very complex and difficult to
detect without advanced statistical techniques

9th Century British Pamphlets freely available to JSTOR

participants through June 30, 2009... Learn More
+ Show full citationThis is the first page of the item you
requested.
• An Experimental Study of Customer Effort,
Expectation, and Satisfaction
• Richard N. Cardozo
 • Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 2, No. 3
(Aug., 1965), pp. 244-249
(article consists of 6 pages)
• Published by: American Marketing Association
• Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3150182

An Experimental Study of Customer Effort, Expectation, and

Satisfaction, by Richard N. Cardozo © 1965 American
Marketing Association.

Abstract
Results of a laboratory experiment indicate that customer
satisfaction with a product is influenced by the effort expended
to acquire the product, and the expectations concerning the
product. Specifically, the experiment suggests that satisfaction
with the product may be higher when customers expend
considerable effort to obtain the product than when they use
only modest effort. This finding is opposed to usual notions of
marketing efficiency and customer convenience. The research
also suggests that customer satisfaction is lower when the
product does not come up to expectations than when the
product meets expectations
n March 1990, AT&T entered the credit card business under a unique set of circumstances;
from its first day in existence, the company’s credit card subsidiary built itself up, based on
total quality management principles. While most firms embracing total quality management
have had to fit their principles into an already dynamic business environment, AT&T
Universal Card Services (UCS) has never existed without them. Thus, UCS’s story may
provide a fresh perspective for those interested in quality implementation. Coming into an
industry not noted for high levels of customer service, UCS saw that it could distinguish itself
by focusing in this area. A formalized programme for collecting a broad array of information
from customers helps UCS keep apprised of what customers value in their credit card
companies. Processes are in place for applying this information and measuring the
company’s performance in key customer-impacting areas. UCS, which won the Malcolm
Baldrige national quality award in 1992, is currently the second-largest issuer of bank credit
cards in the USA with 15 million accounts. The company credits its use of total quality
management for its business success – and is confident the same methods will continue to
.serve it well in its increasingly competitive future

December 2008 by Gianna Clark 30

.How W.O.W.? Ask Now

 If you are providing your Customers with a W.O.W. experience, you will know it. If you are not, you will know it as well.
Defining What’s needed, On time, With value goes beyond having great customer service. It is using customer input to
help you design and define products, services and channels to deliver them in a way that creates customer delight.

Being right on the heels of the shopping season for many across the globe, now is a perfect time to ask customers about
W.O.W. Most have spent the last month either shopping in stores or on-line and many have already experienced the joy of
returning or exchanging items. Both of these transactions, either buying or returning are opportunities to W.O.W. your
customer. How do you know if you passed the W.O.W. test? Ask them. It is the most direct form of customer feedback that
you can get.

Customer feedback, of all types, is the backbone of W.O.W. It comes in many forms. Market research is a form of feedback
that helps define what customers want. Analyzing buying patterns and market data and developing surveys that ask questions
related to your product or service is key. Once a product or service is developed or provided, again asking customers what
 they think is important. And, when your customers have a question or problem that needs to be resolved, asking them if you
are providing a delightful experience is again an opportunity to learn more. Surveys, whether on the spot, or after a time-lapse
can capture valuable insights as to how customers feel about the service or product and are a true gage of W.O.W.

Here’s an example of how immediate feedback works. Yesterday I had a lengthy transaction at a bank and next to each teller
was a sign that said, "Ring the bell if you got exceptional service." I was in the bank for at least twenty minutes and never
heard the bell ring. I was wondering if my teller was going to W.O.W. me and yes she did. Awesome service. I finished my
transaction in the back and as I walked out went past her workspace, said thank you and rang the bell. Everyone looked up
and across the counter I saw a big smile. It made me feel good - looks like my W.O.W. experience turned into hers. (Double
W.O.W)

I can’t leave the customer feedback discussion without touching on customer complaints. Customer complaints provide
valuable input as well. Reviewing, categorizing and analyzing complaints to identify trends and any recurring issues is a great
way to capture customer feedback (even if it is not the preferred method.) All of this analysis begs for application of Six
Sigma tools.

So you have feedback, analysis and some possible recommendations. What next? Translating this feedback into a business
plan is the next step. Without this, all you have is feedback. This is the tough part but operationalizing customer feedback and
using it to drive your Business Plan is not an option - it’s a requirement. Linking your business plan to process improvements
closes the loop (sounds like Hoshin to me). And after improvements are implemented, it is time to ask the customer for
feedback to see if your improvements made a difference.

As you can see, the whole process of W.O.W. starts with the customer and ends with the customer. And throughout the
journey Six Sigma serves as an integral part of how to make it so. Join me next time as we explore some of these Six Sigma
linkages or better yet, join me at iSixSigma Live in January where I’ll be sharing some insights in person on how to Take a
Walk on the W.O.W. SideTM

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November 2008 by Gianna Clark 15

Customer W.O.W. - The Basics

 The first step in mapping your path to the W.O.W. Side is getting the basics right. Sounds simple but it is not. How many
times in the past month have you experienced poor service or poor quality? Maybe it was getting home and finding out that
the drive-through restaurant left a sandwich out of your order or maybe you had to stand in line for 15 minutes to get through
a checkout line. The fact that basic needs are constantly changing makes this step even more complicated. What was a
delighter last week will, over time, work its way to a basic need. For example, years ago having internet service in a hotel was
a delighter. Today, if a hotel doesn’t provide free wireless service they are teetering on the edge of creating customer
dissatisfaction. Customer basic needs and expectations are changing so fast that in the blink of an eye you can find yourself
quickly moving from Customer WOW to Customer OW proving once more that meeting basic needs is an ongoing journey -
not a one time accomplishment.

So where do you start? Get the basics right. Define your core business and products, review metrics that describe your
performance level, identify any defects that keep you from getting the basics right and apply continuous improvement
methods such as lean, six sigma, kaizen, etc. to eliminate dissatisfiers. You will also need to constantly draw on customer
input to gage your success and keep your ’basics’ up-to-date.
 Getting the basics right is a prerequisite to being able to "Take a Walk on the W.O.W. Side". Bypass this step and you may
find that the old saying "You can’t get there from here" may be old but still stands true.

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August 2008 by Gianna Clark 17

. . . The Rest of the Story

Customer Complaints, appropriately captured and analyzed, can provide useful insight
about process defects. Although complaints are not the preferred method of obtaining the
Voice of the Customer (VOC), you should not miss the opportunity to learn from them.
But to do this, proper reporting and segmentation of customer complaints is needed. This
requires that good operational definitions be established. Often times, this first step is
where we fail to capture the granularity of information needed to provide future
meaningful analysis. For example, once a complaint is received and recorded, obtaining
more specific information for further analysis will be difficult if not impossible.
Categorizing complaints about a product or service as "doesn’t work" or "too hard to use"
won’t be much help in identifying the root cause of the problem.

Identifying a good list of complaint "cause codes" for your particular business will take
some work but will be worth while in providing information that drives a solution that not only fixes this customer’s
complaint but can be used to prevent other customers from experiencing the same type of problem. It is all too easy to put a
band-aid on the customer’s boo-boo and walk away. After all - this solves the immediate customer’s problem. But without
capturing detailed aspects about the customer complaint, even the best six sigma black belt will be hard pressed to help you
understand the rest of the story.

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July 2008 by Holly Hawkins 1

Getting a Clue with Queuing Theory

I often find real world examples of process "improvements" staring me blatantly in the face. For example, I stumbled upon
queuing theory in action at the local movie theatre.

Queuing theory is the study of how lines (or queues) are formed and dissipate over time. Examples of queues are everywhere:
traffic at an intersection, restaurant lines during the lunch hour rush, dialling into a call center, etc. Queuing theory is a tool in
 the Lean Six Sigma toolkit. It aims reducing bottlenecks which contribute to time spent waiting in line (or in some cases,
eliminating wait time completely).

Anyway, back to my experience at the move theatre…When I purchased tickets, I was asked if I wanted to sit in the front,
middle, or back. I, like most of those attending the movie, chose the middle section. To my amazement, the ticket printed out
an exact row and seat number (similar to what you would see on an airline ticket).As I took my seat, I saw how the rows in
front of me and behind me suddenly filled up.

I can see where queuing theory could benefit the theatre from an efficiency and error proofing perspective. The computer
knows exactly how many seats have been allocated to what movie and where in the screening room; a process that can assist
in reducing the chance people from sneaking in to see an additional movie. In the movie I saw, occupied seating was
concentrated to about 20% of the room, reducing clean up time for employees.

Although queuing might be efficient, is it always effective? In my case, the answer is no. Sure, I got to sit in the mid section
as I requested. The saying “Be careful what you wish for” came to mind as I was surrounded in every imaginable direction by
people. Given the option, I would have rather sat closer to (or even further away) from the screen if it meant I wasn’t
breathing on top of the other movie goers. Further, if my husband and I had arrived a bit later and unknowingly requested
middle seating, it is unlikely we would’ve been able to sit next to each other- a definite detractor of service.

There are many applications where queuing has been successful such as automated computer screens which direct you to the
next available bank clerk, checkout line, etc., however under these conditions most customers assume there won’t be a
significant difference in their experience. But when there are multiple factors critical to quality (or in this case customer
satisfaction), foregoing the voice of the customer can actually decrease customer satisfaction. The key here is being efficient
and effective. A good Lean Six Sigma project will weigh voice of the customer or Kano analysis alongside forecasted cycle
time improvements and determine what the net effect is prior to implementing a solution. If customer dissatisfaction
outweighs process improvements, then your customers, if given a choice, will be less likely to purchase your products or
services. In my case, I think I’ll be selecting a different theatre next time.

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[Posted by Holly Hawkins at 0:32 AM ET | permalink | comments [0

March 2008 by Gianna Clark 19

The Weakest Link

 Last week I spent an evening at the local emergency center with my mom. The experience reminded me of the old saying
"You are only as good as your weakest link." And here’s why. . .

When I walked into the emergency center I was immediately accosted by a huge poster focused on customer service which
promised that we would been seen in thirty minutes or less:) Hmmm I thought, this may be interesting to watch. After a brief
check-in we waited about ten minutes before being screened and were immediately shown to a room in the back. (Wow - I
thought to myself. I wonder if these folks are doing Six Sigma.) Within the next hour, the doctor stopped by, a knee x-ray was
taken and a very nice lady came by to officially "log us in." Things slowed down a bit and we were advised that nothing was
broken but that a steroid shot was needed and that it had been ordered from the pharmacy. OK - bring it on. . . OK - bring it
on . . . Hello - is anyone out there?

Two hours later I stepped up to the front desk to inquire about the prescription. The front desk was very quick to tell me that
it was the pharmacy’s fault; "they were the hold up." The pharmacy - in this case also known as the weakest link - had
successfully turned this WOW experience into an OW experience. After a total visit time of five hours and ten minutes, we
were finally on our way home.

The experience reminded me that the customer doesn’t really care whose ’fault’ it is. Suck it up and take responsibility for
your process. If you are part of the process then you are part of the process. No matter how good you think your piece of the
process performs, the customer feels the whole process and in the end - you are only as good as your weakest link.

Although great improvement in parts of the overall process had been made, it still needs more work. My suggestion for
immediate action would be to take down the customer service poster flaunting quick and excellent service. You wouldn’t
want any of your patients to die laughing on their way out.

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[Posted by Gianna Clark at 6:32 AM ET | permalink | comments [4

February 2008 by Charles McKinney 17

Banking on Risk

Reacting to the last several months of turmoil in the capital markets, I want to discuss an area where Lean Six Sigma
professionals who work in banking and financial services should focus their attention, acquire new skills, and start having an
 impact – enterprise risk.

A couple of years ago, one of my former colleagues investigated the contribution of Lean Six Sigma to shareholder value at a
small group of well-known banks. He researched public statements by these companies to quantify their self-attributed
savings. He then developed a crude expected shareholder value multiplier based on price-to-earnings ratio. Multiplying self-
attributed savings, which he assumed flow to the bottom line, by the shareholder value multiplier led my former colleague to
conclude that Lean and Six Sigma created at least $4-6 billion in shareholder value for these banks.

Conventional wisdom leads me to believe that recent turmoil in the credit markets wiped out these gains. The stock prices of
many investment banks, asset managers, commercial banks, mortgage finance companies, monolines, and other major
participants in structured finance are trading new two-year lows. While each firm and industry segment has its own unique
issues, weak risk management is a common storyline.

Looking ahead to the trends for 2008 and 2009, strengthening risk management practices is an imperative and a mammoth
challenge for banking and financial services companies and their executives. The global interconnectedness, complexity and
volatility of capital markets necessitate a holistic, innovative approach. Conventional practices do not stand up to the
challenges in 2008 and beyond.

Exogenous Pressure

Curing the current ills will depend on fortifying balance sheets, and regulatory intervention will increase the pressure on
business and operating models. Banking and financial services firms can look forward to:

• Economic uncertainty: Recent economic data and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve
Bank in the U.S. indicate an economic slowdown has begun. Its severity and duration cannot be
predicted, but banks will feel the effects of a lingering mortgage-market crisis, rising consumer credit
defaults, and disruptions affecting commercial lending, structured finance products, and securitization.
Some forecasters predict future shocks, such as a decline in commodity prices or downturn in
commercial lending, that further threaten banks.
• Capital boosting and cost cutting: In response to economic pressures, banking and financial
services executives will continue to seek capital to fortify their balance sheets, increase their safety and
soundness, and weather the economic downturn. Many banks will pursue cost savings as part of
restructuring operations, becoming more efficient, or both. Cost cutting may be mild or severe, if a bank
is facing adverse circumstances like insolvency.
• Increasing regulatory scrutiny: Regulatory are reacting to the turn of events in the capital
markets in 2007. Scrutiny of capital adequacy, liquidity, credit risk, and management practices will pick
up. Supervisory actions and matters requiring board attention will grow in number. Contingency planning
and quality assurance for safety and soundness will receive new attention, as regulators push banks to
find and adopt industry best practices that safeguard against future crises.
• Questions about information and systems for risk management: Over the last decade,
many firms began initiatives to implement systems that address credit, financial, and operational risk, as
well as compliance with laws and regulations. Broadly speaking, these systems are designed to ensure
compliance failures are prevented or detected and managed. The capability of these systems – looking
at risk through an integrative lens – may be called into question. Banks may be required to rethink their
information systems strategies and redesign their applications for managing risk. Likewise, information
asymmetries in the capital markets may receive new attention, leading firms to question what they
thought they know about collateral underlying securities, concentration risk, economic and valuation
models, and accounting practices.
• Investigations, lawsuits and jawboning in the town square: The effects of mortgage
defaults, credit-card delinquencies, public outcries about banking practices, stock-price volatility, and
growing losses foretell banks facing a new wave of investigations by state attorneys general, shareholder
lawsuits, and pressure from consumer advocates. Stories in the press bear this out. The open question
is how loud and deafening the trends will be over the next two years.

My own background has convinced me of the need to extend the disciplines of Lean Six Sigma to processes for creating
governance structures, compliance monitoring, and managing operational risk. Perhaps banks will benefit from a higher
degree of knowledge integration (e.g., transplanting gauge methods to credit risk management).

Endogenous Defense Starts with Dialogue and Knowledge

In many respects, the current state of banking and financial services is the product of thousands of decisions about risk taking.
Clearly, reward seeking won out, and we now face a period of living through the consequences of risks not being properly
managed. Lean and Six Sigma are proven tools for optimizing reward by eliminating waste, creating capacity, and reducing
variation. Resilience and reliability are a new frontier for Lean and Six Sigma, and the focus is squarely on transforming how
risk is managed.

How Lean and Six Sigma contribute to the field of risk management is a story waiting to be told. For starters, I encourage
Lean Six Sigma professionals to build the relationships, internal networks, and critical mass necessary to transplant their best
practices to the risk management and compliance functions at banks and financial services firms. In conjunction, I
recommend seeking new knowledge about relevant aspects of credit, financial and operational risk, as well as regulatory
trends that will weigh heavily on operating models and expenses.

Lean and Six Sigma is a knowledge-based profession, and its value comes from connecting best practices to problems, so
performance can be improved. Clearly, for banks and financial services firms, enterprise risk is a huge problem to be solved
in 2008.

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Satisfaction , General , History , Innovation , Leadership , Lean , Management , Resear
ch

[Posted by Charles McKinney at 12:45 PM ET | permalink | comments [3

February 2008 by James Considine 4

?Customer Satisfaction: Is it overrated

Think about this: when was the last time you told someone about an experience that met
your expectations. Perhaps it was an adequate dinner while on the road, or a
satisfactory hotel stay. Now think about the last time your expectations either weren’t
met at all, or were wildly exceeded. How many people did you tell then? One, ten,
?twenty

Why is it then that organizations spend time, money and focus on something no one
?apparently cares about: Customer Satisfaction

:Consider this model

 Based on this model then, merely satisfying our customers buys us very little; perhaps
we can keep them until another firm comes along to delight them. Then we’re left to
?wonder what happened - Weren’t our customers satisfied? Where’s the loyalty

Naturally, this doesn’t always apply. If you’re fortunate enough to be a monopoly, or the
government, mere appeasement of the customer may suffice. But for the rest of us,
working in highly competitive industries, moving beyond satisfying customers may be
.what keeps the company in business

:A few parting lessons from this concept

Customers are not monolithic - what delights one may not matter to another. Finding -
out is a difficult, but necessary effort. (Your customer often doesn’t even know what it
(.would take to delight - a focus group probably didn’t come up with the iPod

Net Promoter Score is a useful measure, but only if the survey can shed light on why -
the customer would or would not recommend your firm

Exceptional value can mitigate price sensitivity; failing to meet expectations leaves -
customers feeling cheated and much more price sensitive
 If your firm can’t yet delight customers, start by not disappointing them -

So let me ask you, dear readers, how do your firms address Customer Satisfaction
especially for your transactional projects? Please post your experiences, suggestions
.and/or horror stories in the comments section

.Special thanks to Bill Bellows of UTC Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne for the above model