Metrics_ How to Improve Key Business Results - Martin Klubeck [61]
When we look into this reality far enough, we resolve to accept that our customers are much more than the first purchaser of our products or services. When we look this deeply we find the truth of who our customers are.
Of course, when we look at the effectiveness measures of delivery, usage, and customer satisfaction, it is usually good enough to determine the immediate customer. You’ll need to know who they are so you can ascertain what the customer considers important. You will also need to determine what their expectations are and how to meet those requirements.
The Customers’ Viewpoint
Starting with the customers’ viewpoint makes total sense. It’s the right place to start collecting, analyzing, and reporting data, measures, and information. Let me tell you a story about a restaurant owned by Tom. He was a hardworking man who loved good food.
Tom’s restaurant was doing all right, but he wanted to do better. He wanted his restaurant to be the best in the town, perhaps even a prototype for a chain of restaurants. His menu was made up of old family recipes—home cooking that appealed to everyone. He thought an even better restaurant would provide a good future for his family.
He wanted to know how well the business was actually doing and how to improve. He decided to collect metrics; not only to determine how well he was doing, but to also better predict if his vision had a chance of coming true.
Tom knew very little about organizational development or process improve-ment. He knew even less about metrics. He was a great manager/owner and his passion for the business, the product, and customer service made him a natural. His compassion for his staff was born from a history working low-end jobs, saving and scrimping, and then taking the biggest risk of his life—putting all of his savings into his own restaurant. He knew what it was like to be underpaid and underappreciated. What he didn’t know was how to take his dream to the next level.
When he thought about gathering information about his restaurant, he immediately thought of customer satisfaction surveys. He created a comment card, which he had each waitperson give to the customers along with the menu. He wanted to give customers a chance to critique their restaurant experience from the beginning to the end.
Tom knew there were many good and bad points to the survey. It was good in that it would provide quick feedback from his most important critics—his customers. The feedback would help the staff and remind them to keep the customers’ happiness at the forefront.
On the other hand, he knew customers might not always provide the information needed to help him improve because many people don’t like to complain—unless they are extremely dissatisfied.
Besides the qualitative information a survey provides, Tom needed objective input regarding the quality of his services and products. This information was readily available.
Tom had empirical data on his customer base—since most customers used credit cards, he could determine the number of repeat customers and how often these customers frequented his restaurant. He also could determine the menu items they ordered. He knew when his busy times were and when the restaurant was slow. He actually already had a wealth of usage information. This information in conjunction with the customer satisfaction survey results should give a good picture of how well his business was doing.
Tom was happy with all this information, but felt he was missing an objective measure of how well his restaurant was satisfying the customer without asking the customer for input. He thought the comment cards were enough of an intrusion.
Tom reviewed the quality of the food by bringing in local food critics. He reviewed the service of his staff by personally observing them and