Lesson 2: The Fifth Critical Element – Measure It

The Fifth Critical Element – Measure It

When we do our daily work and meet the needs of our customers, we must also consider where we put most of our attention. If we can measure customer satisfaction, as well as the complaints they make, we’ll know where our priorities should be.

In this lesson, you’ll learn ways to gauge customer service activities and whether you are getting the results that you expect.

Tools to Use

Wouldn’t it be great if all of our customers were happy and we didn’t have to deal with complaints or problems? The only way to know what’s really going right and wrong is to measure regularly. When we rely on our memories, we can let a lot of things slip away.

Critical Evaluation

You can measure a particular service or product in great detail. Follow up with customers and ask what’s working, what can be improved, and how much they like it. Also ask what could be done differently to develop options. Then assess the advantages and disadvantages to determine whether it makes sense to make changes.

Informal Surveys

Ask your customers what they want. Ask them how you are doing. If you ask the same questions from one year to the next, you can compare periods of time. Offer your customers a gift to thank them for participating.

Focus Groups

These usually have eight to ten participants who are pre-screened for subject matter experience. During the focus group, a moderator discusses specific issues with participants. These are very structured sessions, and after group discussion, the moderator produces the results in a report format. Don’t try this if you haven’t participated in one or done sufficient research into focus group structure, questioning, and analysis. If done well, expect to get lots of detailed feedback and to have a very good understanding of what the group thinks.

Fishbone (Cause and Effect, or Root Cause)

This method is used to identify the causes of a problem. Each major bone of the fish has a heading that is a cause of the problem, such as Equipment, Systems, Processes, People, and Environment. The head of the fish is the problem. This method allows participants to discuss the problem and categorize possible reasons under the headings. Each heading is then examined to determine if it is causing a symptom until the root cause is determined. The fish bone is a way to combine brainstorming with a visual representation that organizes the information at the same time.

Brainstorming

Everyone in the group makes suggestions and shares ideas. All ideas is considered. Ground rules establish that there are no poor or stupid ideas. No critical comments are allowed during the brainstorming activity. The point is that although an individual idea may not be feasible, someone might use that idea and expand on it to create a fantastic idea.

Benchmarking

See how others do what you do and use their ideas if they are applicable. Sometimes you can simply ask and they will let you know how they do things. Otherwise, you will have to do some research, or measure yourself at a particular time and set your benchmarks from there. Benchmarking is helpful whether you are looking at systems, processes, or methods.