Tag Archives: Benchmark

See-Through Customer Service

Posted on 24 November 2009 by | Leave a comment

On a recent trip through DFW Airport an advertisement caught my eye.  Not for a product, but for DFW’s customer satisfaction metrics.  One way to improve service is to survey customers.  DFW took it a step further by making those results public!

Their metrics were things like: terminal cleanliness, ease of finding your way, courtesy and helpfulness of security and check-in staff, courtesy of airline check-in staff, and restaurant/eating facilities.  And their scores (on a 5-point Likert scale) ranged from 4.0 for washroom cleanliness to 4.3 for ease of finding your way.

DFW further segments results by terminals.  I like this idea because it fosters healthy competition among terminal staffs.  There’s little harm in sharing the details because, as consumers of the service, we already know which terminals are ‘better’.  As an experiment during a long layover, check out the difference between terminals in an airport.  Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport is a good test case.  The international terminal is spacious and clean while some of the others are narrow, dark, and dirty.

DFW misses two opportunities.

  1. DFW should post their results relative to an industry benchmark.  Management at DFW should determine which airports (globally and locally) set the standards and match their results to those of DFW.  For good results, that would help DFW showcase their performance.
  2. DFW should use the advertisements to highlight planned improvements.

What DFW has done, and what so many companies are afraid to do, is share customer satisfaction survey information.  This level of transparency creates a bond between customer and provider and enables a dialogue.

The pivot point is that service transparency forces service improvements.  Without sharing results, management can hide in blissful ignorance.  By sharing results, by opening a forum so that customers can comment, critique, and yes, complain about service, companies take a visible step in acknowledging what customers want and hold themselves accountable to improvements.  Which kind of company would you rather do business with, one that purports to deliver high quality service, or one which  shares its results transparently?

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Posted in How to Deliver Customer Service, The Right Kind of Customer Service

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Are You in the Race?

Posted on 7 September 2009 by | 1 Comment

Benchmarking is a common sense way to compare one facet of company performance to another company’s performance.  However, as is too often the case, common sense isn’t always common practice.

3 Benchmarking Success Factors:

1.  Know Your Customer – Before companies decide to benchmark their performance they should invest time to ensure they know their customers.  Customers have different preferences.  So, unless you run a boutique consulting business, don’t attempt to please everyone.

2.  Measure Relevant Attributes – For customer service, the 3 essential attributes are speed, quality, and cost.

Speed – For my products and services is speed important?  If a neurosurgeon thinks they’ll get paid more and have more satisfied patients by performing faster brain-surgery… well, you get the idea.

Quality – Volvo has a reputation for building cars built to last forever.  Benchmarking themselves against inferior quality autos would give them a false sense of achievement.

Cost – Again automakers present an interesting comparison point.  Think of Ford and Lincoln.  Big cost difference.  People purchasing a Lincoln are willing to spend more because they are buying the Lincoln brand which has historically signified quality.

3.  Make Appropriate Comparisons – This success factor is as important as knowing your customer.  It is effectively the same as defining your market.  To which company should you compare your company?  In a highly competitive market, compare yourself to your closest competitors.  So Pepsi should make a comparison to Coca-Cola.  But if you define the market differently, say as consumable beverages then perhaps a better comparison would be to Budweiser.

Benchmarking can be an expensive undertaking.  Some of the largest companies in the world invest millions to grow market share and make smart investments.  Even with a small budget, the exercise of thinking through the success factors can help set your company apart from the competition.  After all, any company can invest in ways to become faster, reduce costs, or improve quality.  Your goal is to improve in ways that matter to customers.

The pivot point is that benchmarking provides a way to know if you are winning the race, losing the race, or even in the race.

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Posted in Influential Factors - Helpful

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