creating a best-in-class customer service organization
DESCRIPTION
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization. John P. Willi MBA, CPCM, C.P.M., A.P.P., CMRP Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA. Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization. Agenda. Traditional vs Best-in-Class Customer Service Assessing your Current Organization - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
John P. WilliMBA, CPCM, C.P.M., A.P.P., CMRP
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
Agenda
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
1. Traditional vs Best-in-Class Customer Service
2. Assessing your Current Organization
3. Keys to building a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
What is a Customer?
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• A customer is a person or organization that depends on a service provider’s performance to achieve success in his/her/its own effort(s).
• Why people buy?
NEED SOLUTION+ = BENEFIT!
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
1. Traditional vs Best-in-Class Customer Service
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Traditional Purchasing Organizations– Tactical in nature - Aim to deliver the right goods/services at the right time at the right price.
– Customers often fail to see or are not convinced of the benefits of involving purchasers in their acquisition processes and engage in maverick buying.
• Best-in-Class Organizations– Understand their role as professional resources/consultants: focus on results and creating
value to products and processes by contributing expertise in strategic sourcing, negotiations, and technology.
– Provide constant dialog with their internal customers, bringing them new ideas andopportunities from the supply marketplace, and involving key suppliers in this jointvalue creation effort.
– Identifies its customers, understands their needs, and delivers best –in-class service that meets or exceeds customer expectations.
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
2. Assessing your Current Organization
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
Questions to ask Yourself Yes No Priority
1. Have we identified our organization's services?
2. Do we research our customers' perceptions of our services and expectations?
3. Do we analyze complaints to identify service problems?
4. Do we communicate and cooperate easily and well?
5. Do we have customer forums who give us feedback on our service?
6. Have goals been translated into specific objectives for every team member?
7. Do our team members participate in cross-functional teams regularly?
8. Do we translate customer expectations into service objectives?
9. Have we established a baseline for customer satisfaction?
10. Do we measure the effectiveness of our services?
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
2. Assessing your Current Organization (cont’d)
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
Questions to ask Yourself Yes No Priority
11. Are team members evaluated by both service and productivity objectives?
12. Do these measures reflect what our customers really want?
13. Are team members satisfied with the way they are treated?
14. Are all team members trained to render excellent service?
15. Are all team members committed to our service objectives?
16. Can we meet customer expectations with our current team?
17. Is service commitment to the customer rewarded in our team?
18. Have we analyzed customer work flow to determine where the process is breaking down?
19. Are adequate resources available to achieve service objectives?
20. Are we committed to improving the design of our service delivery?
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
2. Assessing your Current Organization (cont’d)
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
Next Steps:
1. Answer all the questions. Check “Yes” only if the answer is unequivocal. If the answer is “sometimes” or even “most of the time”, mark “No”.
2. Prioritize the top ten “No’s” in their order of importance.
3. Develop an action plan to aggressively address your organization’s biggest weakness in meeting customer expectations.
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
3. Keys to Building a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
1. Determine who your customers are (existing and potential)
2. Develop Customer Marketing Materials
3. Assign the Right People for Customer Interaction
4. Build “Outstanding” Customer Service Levels
5. Streamline the Ordering Process
6. Schedule Regular Customer Interactions
7. Market the Organization
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
1. Determine Who Your Customers Are (Existing and Potential)
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Perform an enterprise-wide expenditure analysis – Data Mining Activity
• Interview senior stakeholders
• Visit and spend time with customers at their locations
• Know the customers needs and why they have them
• Happy customers means continued business and referrals
• The more you help the more opportunity you will receive
• Be prepared to provide answers/results
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
2. Develop Customer Marketing Materials
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Create department brochures (electronic and/or hard copy and social media)
• Post and share a roles & responsibility matrix
• What are customers looking for?
• Determine what you provide to customers?– Value Creation– Results– Total Cost Reduction– Service Quality– Relationship Management– Risk Management– Contract Management
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
3. Assigning the Right People for Customer Interaction
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Match personalities
• Train or hire the right people
• Cross-train job functions
• Manage relationships at multiple levels of interaction
• Make relationship management part of employee performance reviews
• Motivate and empower your employees to deliver outstanding service
• Recognize, reward, and celebrate exceptional performance
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
4. Build "Outstanding“ Customer Service Levels
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Listen to your customers, incorporate feedback, and listen again
• Create a service “brand”- What happens when someone says, Purchasing?
• Continuously perform assessments to determine gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of the service received.
- Empathy - Providing caring and individualized attention to the customer- Assurance - Ability to convey trust and confidence-Responsiveness - Providing the customer prompt services
- Reliability - Consistency of performance and dependability
• Avoid Losing a Customer!
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
How to Lose a Customer
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Treat your customer as if they are one of many.• Make the customer feel inferior.• Say “I don’t know.”• Don’t give your customer your full attention.• Don’t solve the customers’ problem.• Let the customer know you are too busy to help them.• Have the customer do your work.• Decide yourself what’s important to the customer.• Ignore your competition (…Not using procurement).• Don’t respond in a timely manner.• Don’t follow-up after making a commitment.• Tell the customer it’s not your job.• Tell the customer they’ll have to calm down.• Make sure your voice sounds bored and uninterested.• Blame or accuse the customer.• The words, “you’ll have to”.• Over promise and under deliver.
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
5. Streamline the Ordering Process
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Simplify the requisitioning process
• Create “super-user” technology forums
• Utilize eProcurement, PCard, and other automation tools (i.e., supplier catalog punch-outs)
• Provide visibility to order status (i.e., cycle times, backorders, stock-outs, etc.)
• Create innovative solutions (i.e., store fronts, consignment, RFID, etc.)
• Engage them in ERP upgrades
• Post on intranet – “How to get things done”
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
6. Schedule Regular Customer Interactions
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Understand the customer’s “prior” experiences
• Seek to understand the customers short/long term needs
• Meet key stakeholders on a regular basis
• Include customers in cross-functional teams
• Utilize “evidence-based”data
• Be highly visible – “out of sight, out of mind”
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
7. Market the Organization
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Post “success stories” on your intranet and use social media
• Include articles in your internal organizations’ publications
• Make your organization a welcomed/respected partner
• Understand who or what is your competition
• Offer internal service guarantees to customers
• Include customers in every step of the procurement process
• Communicate staff credentials and awards to customers
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
Customer Service – The “Win-Win” Proposition
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
• Team MembersAre challenged and supported and can live up to their potential, receiving appropriate recognition and rewards.
• CustomersTheir needs are met and their expectations exceeded by valued support for and contributions to their own performance.
• The CompanyEmployees in a variety of functions are cooperating creatively and involving supplier resources to enhance strategy, mission, vision, competitiveness and bottom-line performance.
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
91st Annual Meeting & ExpositionApril 1 – 4, 2012
Anaheim, California
Contact Information
Creating a Best-in-Class Customer Service Organization
John [email protected]
617-632-2637