Customer satisfaction monitoring - ISO 9001 and 14001

[Moncia]

HI All

I have found few existing threads but they were bit too advanced

I recently took over the "QMRep" - in old standard role within my new company and even thought they had been certified for both ISO 9001 and 14001 for years now, there is absolutely no customer satisfaction measured in any shape or form

Where to start???
Does anyone have good advice from their early days

Only recently the organization created and started sending short surveys - but hat is it - they are collected and looked at only once - a day before external audit

In general - what i see is the ISO here has been treated as the necessary evil - how did you change ISO culture in your organizations please

 

[John Predmore]

Hello @Monica-
It would be helpful if you tell us what type of products or service your company provides. Do you sell to other businesses or to end-users (for example, consumer products). Do you have a large number of small customers or a few large customers? Does your company provide after-delivery support (product warranty, service contracts, repair parts, technical help-desk, website with after-sale resources)? Any interaction with your customers is a potential way to gather customer feedback.

 

[Randy]

how did you change ISO culture in your organizations please

Why do you do it, because of customer requirements, trade requirements or to just look pretty?
If the reason is to just look pretty, forget it and go to lunch, you'll never change a thing.

If the reasons are for either the customer or trade then let everything fail and enjoy the results because change will occur when the money quits coming in.

 

[Moncia]

Hello @Monica-
It would be helpful if you tell us what type of products or service your company provides. Do you sell to other businesses or to end-users (for example, consumer products). Do you have a large number of small customers or a few large customers? Does your company provide after-delivery support (product warranty, service contracts, repair parts, technical help-desk, website with after-sale resources)? Any interaction with your customers is a potential way to gather customer feedback.

Hi John

thank you for your reply

the ISO was always neglected in here - but when the company got merged with another then bought - it became nightmare

but to answer your questions - we make adhesives and textile treatment products - both for industrial use only - we do not sell to general public

we have large number of customers - small, medium and big - the big ones tent to be in automotive field - but we are not automotive standard certified

we do product development in here and provide technical support.

 

[Moncia]

The problem i see in here it the sales reps are not on board with customer feedback. from my understanding there had been attempts to formalize the process but the reps either did not care to be bothered or pushed it back to Customer services - so like dog chasing its tail - goes around with nothing ever being achieved

 

[Tagin]

The problem i see in here it the sales reps are not on board with customer feedback. from my understanding there had been attempts to formalize the process but the reps either did not care to be bothered or pushed it back to Customer services - so like dog chasing its tail - goes around with nothing ever being achieved

If you perceive that the customers are indeed generally happy, you could monitor customer sat in ways such as:

• Quarterly survey the sales reps for their ratings of the customer's sat.
  • Customer surveys are almost useless with a small # of large customers, because response rates are so low. Sales reps catch the flak usually, if there is some, from customers so they can be a good source of info, if they are reasonably honest.
• Count the number of returns per quarter.
  • This can act as a proxy for sat.
• Count the number of accounts lost per quarter or year.
  • If you are losing customers...that may indicate poor sat (could also be for other reasons, but that would be good to know too).

(Quarterly is just an example - could be monthly, semi-annual, etc.)

So, the idea is to use readily available proxies for customer sat, where those proxies impose minimal additional burden on employees.

 

[Scanton]

I have been using Surveymonkey for over a decade. I made up a simple and efficient survey (using their free service and tools) and send it to my customers once a year. It takes less than a couple of minutes to complete and lets me compare the results and comments with previous years. The survey is completed anonymously, so unless the customer specifically identifies themselves in their feed back (and I do state this in the survey) I have no idea who they are.

Before I started with my current company, they used to send out a paper survey, and got less than 10% returned, my online survey gets a 70%+ response, so can be a useful indicator. You also cut out the reliance on other people to get this done, all you need is name and e-mail address of the appropriate contact at each customer.

 

[Moncia]

Thank you both

Scanton - what do you ask in your survey

we do have sort one using Microsoft forms i believe - but it only has 3 rating questions and place to type in comments

 

[Scanton]

I see that Surveymonkey have cut back on some of the things they let you do with a free account, so I will have to be more creative with my survey, however I apply a simple scoring system for key attributes related to our products & services which include but are not limited to product quality, identification & traceability, packaging, on-time delivery in full, purchase experience, order confirmation, after purchase service, repeat order process, price (compared to similar suppliers), transportation etc.

Then I ask them what they both like and dislike about our products and services, and how we compare with their other suppliers (better, the same, worse, much worse) and then finish with a text box for any other comments they would like to make.

If previous surveys have shown an area to be weak or irritates our customers, and is not included on the survey, I will include it going forward so we can track how well we are addressing this area from their viewpoint.
After all there is no point in trying to improve something if your customers don't see or feel that improvement.

 

[Mike S.]

HI All

I have found few existing threads but they were bit too advanced

I recently took over the "QMRep" - in old standard role within my new company and even thought they had been certified for both ISO 9001 and 14001 for years now, there is absolutely no customer satisfaction measured in any shape or form

Where to start???
Does anyone have good advice from their early days

Only recently the organization created and started sending short surveys - but hat is it - they are collected and looked at only once - a day before external audit

In general - what i see is the ISO here has been treated as the necessary evil - how did you change ISO culture in your organizations please

The 2 bolded statements seem to conflict.

Looks like they have started. Surveys are an acceptable way to measure CS. If they work well enough, I'd look for bigger fish to fry.

Many companies look at ISO (or whatever QMS they have) as a necessary evil. Changing that culture takes considerable time and a lot of effort if the Top Dog really wants to do it. It takes much longer and is much harder if he/she is not on board. Sometimes all you can do is all you can do. Do your best, try to model good behaviors, use all the power and influence you are given, but don't get yourself fired over it by trying to teach a pig to sing.

In such organizations just make sure you aren't involved in anything illegal, like the boss asking you to fudge data to knowingly ship bad product. CYA always.