Half way there...

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Paul Vragel

Before considering a survey as a solution, also consider what you are prepared to do based on the range of answers you receive. As a customer, if you ask me what to correct and then you don't take action, that may be enough for me to go elsewhere.

I often pose this series of questions to a company or group: How many of you have been surveyed today? (Many hands go up - the question itself is also a short survey). Consider how much thought and effort went into your reply. NOW you have been instantly transformed into the CEO of the company that surveyed you, with full knowledge of how much throughe/effort you put into the reply. Would you make any significant business decision based on the results of that survey?

In contrast, your day-to-day activities contain a lot of information to help you assess how customers percieve you are doing, and what you can do to improve.

It takes a little effort, but you can look through your processes and identify what interactions would tell you something meaningful (either alone, or in combination). Things like:
- volume of new inquiries
- number of changes to products in production
- number of changes to products in engineering
- repeat orders
- number and type of returns
- changes to customer-supplied information (such as on a form)

You can directly link these measures to your processes. This tells you not only something about customer perceptions, but also helps you identify what specifically you can do to improve the results you are getting.

Sometimes, you can identify entirely new busines opportunites.

Example:
Just by knowing the pattern of people's stays in a hotel (through a frequent guest program, for example), a hotel chain can design specific promotions and/or services to accomodate different patterns. The once-a-quarter stay in Tokyo vs the once a week stay at a hotel in the Midwest.
 
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Rick Goodson

Fire Girl,

While there is some truth to the statement your auditor made, he or she is not in the survey business and shouldn't be making blanket statements. Having worked in that industry I know it depends on how the survey is constructed, the length, how it is sent, whether the individuals were asked if they would participate, whether there were follow up phone calls, etc. Also, it is not unusual to have much, much higher results than stated. It is also a misconception that only disgruntled customers reply. Response rates are usually balanced.

The auditor may have been thinking of 'bingo' cards. Response on those is usually in the 3% to 9% range.

The ideas your auditor are great ideas, but I wouldn't eliminate surveys as a tool. A formal survey allows an organization to consistently address items of importance. Casual phone calls and conversations don't bring consistency to the process.
 
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Aaron Lupo

Re: Customer satisfaction stuff

Fire Girl said:

Hey!

I was given the impression in here, that Customer surveys were the only way to go. However, my auditor gave me the impression that this is not at all what they want. Surveys are a poor indicator of how happy your customer is, especially if you only get 3-5% back! FG:frust: :bonk:

Anyway, here are some of the ideas that he gave me:

Phone calls- if you are speaking to your customer, a simple question of how things are going will suffice. I have a customer feedback sheet that I made up. I think we are going to have it made into pads of paper so that when anyone is talking to a customer they can take some notes on the conversation.

Visits- if you have a visit with your customer, ask them how things are going and if they have any concerns... write it down and file it.

Engineering meetings- this is a big one for us. Mostly works for repeat customers. You get together with your customer to discuss a new job. Shoot the breeze about any concerns, likes dislikes they may have. Write it down and file it.

Customer ratings or correspondance. If you have receive ratings (common with automotive) from your customers, file them away... that is feedback on how they feel about you. If you get e-mails faxes on concerns or what have you... file them away. Same goes for customer audit reports (if your customer comes in to audit you).

Remember that how satisfied your customers are needs to be passed on to employees. You can post some of that stuff on the bulletin board.

Great ideas, eh? They aren't mine so I can't take credit for them.

Here was his best point of the day. Too many companies are trying to run a business and an ISO system, like they are two separate things. You most likely are doing things that would be comply with the standard. You may have to rework them a bit. The point is, make sure you give yourself credit for things you do anyway and don't create a whole new way of doing things just for the sake of ISO.

;)FG

Fire-
First of all good job!
Secondly, you said the impression you got from the Cove was that surveys were the way to go??? I don't understand that statement, IMHO I think all the participants here have given numerous ideas on how CS can be measured. Just a thought do you measure customer dis-satisfaction? The ideas your auditor gave you are typical methods of measuring customer satisfaction, a big one that was left out is the number of complaints you receive (what are they for, are they repeat problems/customers etc..)

On a side not we just finished our ISO 9000/13485/EN46000 audit last week and for the second year in a row we received no n/c's.
 
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