Customer Focus
As organizations depend on their customers, they must understand that the customer's current and future needs must match the customer's requirements and must try to exceed their expectations.[8] An organization achieves customer focus when all its employees know their internal and external customers, as well as the requirements they must satisfy to meet both types of customers.[9].
Customer satisfaction is considered a priority objective for total quality management.
First of all, it is enough to learn to listen to be able to understand the client's needs and expectations and thus be able to reach consensus.
Secondly, it is enough to clearly differentiate between needs and expectations.
Service companies aim to ensure that their clients will receive high quality services. For this reason, it is very important that they identify customer expectations. But there is a big difference between the quality of services and that of products, since that of services is more difficult to define and conceptualize. For this reason, it is important that the service provider clearly defines and communicates the needs of the clients, since it is he who maintains a direct relationship with the clients who buy or receive the service.
In every process system, the goal is the same: satisfy the customer. Regardless of its peculiarities and the type of company in question, it is advisable to undergo quality management.
However, it is common for all companies to seek coherence between the quality management system and the company's organizational structure. Always counting on the commitment of management to support the quality policy by allocating sufficient resources for its management, within constant improvement.
The main objective is standardization to guarantee that the product or service meets the stipulated quality requirements. Or, what is the same, always bring the processes to the same result that, in general, seeks customer satisfaction or, even better, surprise them in order to exceed their expectations and promote their loyalty.
Thanks to standardization, a feeling of trust is also generated in the client. Having the certainty that a certain product or service will be as expected encourages loyalty and the recommendation that it implies.
When talking about service quality and customer satisfaction, two key terms are used that are worth taking into account:
ă
Service:
When we talk about service, we are not referring only to the basic service (for example, punctual transportation without damage to the merchandise) but to other multiple complementary services (information, monitoring, contracting or customer service facilities, etc.) that can differentiate an offer from its competition and increase customer satisfaction in relation to the service received.
ă
Client:.
It is the one who receives the service, allows the continuity of the business and determines the added value of the service provided. But the client is not only the one who contracts the service but also its ultimate recipient.
The first verification is that, when talking about service quality, we are considering something broader than what could be a basic service, relatively easy to measure using objective indicators. For example, punctuality of delivery or collection, number of damaged pallets, lost packages, etc.
The main problem in any service quality approach is determining how this characteristic can be measured so that the organization that provides it knows if the customer is actually receiving the service they expect to receive and how this aspect could be improved.
Customer focus reaps a measurable benefit:.
• Increases the number of clients and thus economic benefits.
• Productivity of effort. By being correctly directed and focused on reliable data, efforts receive the proper compensation.
• Improves customer loyalty. Customers trust the company.
• Increased market leadership. Consequence of all the above.
The determining aspects of service quality are important when measuring the degree of customer satisfaction.
In surveys, the provision of the service is usually divided into components (e.g. transport order, organization of the service, collection, transport, delivery, etc.) and each component is associated with attributes that can be either directly the determinants of quality (condition of the products, punctuality in collections or deliveries, etc.) or indirectly as mentioned above or others that can ultimately refer to them.
Therefore, we can always have more or less aggregate indicators of the degree to which the determinants of quality and customer satisfaction are achieved with the contracted service.
Generally, the client has alternating needs and expectations, therefore, it is not easy to reach a separation. When defining the requirements, once defined, for the client they are firm expectations, which will lead to the reference point that will condition the perception of the service offered. There is a set of processes necessary to establish a complete customer satisfaction management system with three key processes that aim to be able to react and correct any type of dissatisfaction that occurs such as: complaints management, loss management, returns/guarantees and a strategic process called voice of the customer, which is constituted as an axis responsible for preventively guiding the improvement of performance of key processes that may positively or negatively impact the customer.
In general, the client has completely alternating needs and expectations, therefore, it is not easy to reach a separation.
When defining the requirements, once defined, for the client they are firm expectations, which will lead to the reference point that will condition the perception of the service offered.
There is a set of processes necessary to establish a complete customer satisfaction management system, three are key processes that aim to be able to react and correct any type of dissatisfaction that occurs: complaints management, loss management, returns/guarantees and a strategic process called voice of the customer, which is constituted as an axis responsible for preventively guiding the improvement of performance of key processes that may positively or negatively impact the customer.
The design of quality as a customer-focused process has been called a management strategy for the delivery of products that meet customer specifications and requirements.
Generating a distinctive first customer requires the internal and external development of customer orientation.
To understand how important and necessary the customer is in a company, you can observe the following principles that Karl Albert presents below:
• A customer is the most important person in any business.
• A client does not depend on us. We depend on him.
• A client is not an interruption of our work. It's a goal.
• A client does us a favor when he arrives. We are not doing him a favor by serving him.
• A customer is an essential part of our business; He is no stranger.
• A customer is not just money in the register. He is a human being with feelings and deserves respectful treatment.
• A client deserves the most measured attention we can give them. It is the soul of every business.
Individual consumers are considered to have different tastes and needs, and items that best satisfy their preferences are considered to have higher perceived quality. This reflects a highly personalized and subjective vision.
The “secret” is to effectively determine, at each phase of the process, the customer's needs, then translate those needs into achievable specifications, and control the process to ensure conformity to those needs.
Observing that the client is the essence to be able to stay in the market, it can be concluded that it is vitally important to listen to and know them, in order to satisfy their needs, expectations and demands and in this way be able to offer them quality products and/or services. Knowing what the client wants is decisive, and the most effective way is to be able to anticipate what they want. This is why it is so important to know well what customers want, to predict their changes and desires conveniently.
A market is a “mere gathering of customers sharing similar needs and tastes.”
In an organization, segmentation is the process of classifying customers into groups, with similar needs, characteristics and behaviors. For segmentation to be effective, marketing personnel need to study and evaluate the geography, demographics, psychographics, or other criteria that characterize the segment.
The main objective is to satisfy external customers but, to ensure this, the organization needs to organize its marketing orientation, both internally and externally, and provide the means for it to happen.
When advising clients, you must be aware of their needs and requirements:
the measure of the quality of the output offered to the customer's supplier.
The impact of any nonconformity.
Customers themselves must actively seek improvement in any product or service supplied. This is outlined very clearly with the meaning of service quality.
Héctor Fabio Alban, when referring to Service Quality Management, says that the quality of management is closely related to the people who work in the company, that is, its human capital. There is no quality if workers are not committed to quality management. When there is a set of competent human resources involved with quality within a company, a great competitive advantage emerges.
On the other hand, John Tschohl (2001) in his book “Customer Service” highlights the following key points to achieve good quality focused on the client:
· Commitment on the part of management. This prerequisite is crucial for the success of a service quality improvement program.
· Visible service improvements. Improvements in service that customers perceive become (for them) signals that the quality of the product (tangible or intangible) has improved.
When the goals of an organization include guaranteeing the quality of its products or services, the work and commitment of the staff must be ensured to achieve internal quality, which ensures efficiency and effectiveness in all internal processes. When doing their job, each person functions or performs at the same time as a client and supplier.
Developing a “customer service culture” creates situations that reflect service quality problems that arise in different departments when they receive customer complaints.
One of the main problems associated with the low quality of customer service is that departments often work in isolation from each other.
The development of a positive customer service culture can therefore provide an effective mechanism for more productive interdepartmental relationships, as well as consistent and effective customer service. Understanding the focus and content of a customer service culture means changing quality-oriented behaviors within the organization.
Complaints are an important advantage for an organization.
Common characteristics of prominent organizations that distribute services are:
a well-conceived and applied strategy to consistently develop and distribute quality services.
Customer-oriented staff, internal and external
Customer-friendly systems, the distribution system is designed to conveniently distribute service to the customer, rather than for the convenience of the organization.
An external customer orientation is not achieved without an internal focus, established in exchange for staff participation and a commitment to offering quality service.
There are different types of Clients to which the company must pay attention.
•External customer: is the one outside the company, the one who buys the products or acquires the services that the Company generates, in short, is the final Customer of the Company.
•Internal customer: is someone within the Company, due to their position in the job, be it administrative, executive or operational, who receives some service or product from others, which they must use for some of their tasks. The service cannot be departmentalized, however, in the Company, everyone is a client, everyone is a product, everyone is a supplier, therefore, all the people who make it up are the basis of Satisfaction within the service and quality.
•End Customers: refers to the people who will use the product or service purchased from the company and who are expected to feel satisfied with it. They are also called end users or beneficiaries.
•Intermediate customers: are the distributors who make the products or services provided by the company available to the end user or beneficiary of the service.
In a quality- and customer-oriented organization, the marketing plan directs the marketing function as an integrative function within the organization.
When talking about the final quality of a product or service, we must not only take into account the final delivery that is made to the client. Final quality also encompasses internal quality, that is, that existing in each of the processes that have been carried out. This means that quality is built through all the steps involved in providing the service.
For good customer satisfaction, it is necessary to measure the areas of dissatisfaction, which will be potential improvements that must be introduced from the customers' perspective. It is necessary to make this measurement not only with customers who have complained, but also with those who may have been provided with a service that was not entirely satisfactory and have not complained.
The process of measuring customer satisfaction:
key, customer identification: quality attributes and their importance
measure how? asking
ask, what?: by the perceived satisfaction of quality attributes (what the customer is able to perceive)
ask, when?: at the end of the transaction and/or periodically.
Ask, who?: the customer contact person or as a business function.
Ask, why?: to systematically trigger improvement processes.
An example of customer focus in Quality Management is the initiative of the Generalitat of Catalonia and its "20 success stories in the social networks of the Generalitat of Catalonia".[10] The Generalitat has been working for years to have a high presence on social networks and thereby reach a younger audience, much more versed in these technologies at the same time as having a quick way of access to its services for all interested parties. Through the publication of “20 success stories in the social networks of the Generalitat of Catalonia” we can see the practices in Quality Management in the social networks that the Generalitat has a presence. Accounts on Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, Flickr, etc. They are those that the Generalitat manages with maximum rigor to facilitate quick and reliable access to interested parties.
The first guide was published in 2010 under the name “Guide to social networks of the Generalitat of Catalonia” which has become a model reference for different companies and entities. Since then there have been seven editions based on that guide.
The messages published on the social networks managed by the Generalitat are adapted to the preferences of the users. For this reason, it is necessary that on certain occasions they acquire a more familiar language, leaving aside the technical, for the better understanding of the common user. Another aspect that is also very careful is the individual customer service that platforms like Telegram offer. Through this application, the Generalitat can make information that they require available to its citizens almost instantly thanks to text messages.
Another example of good practice, which is based on the total quality management principle of customer orientation, is the so-called “New school admission process: progress in the free choice of school”, carried out by the Educational Administration of the Junta de Castilla y León. Its objective is to increase the free choice of center and equal access for students, as well as the simplification of the process and the release of information to the citizen to transmit transparency in the process.
The practice has consisted of redesigning the process for admitting students to the centers, and four elements have been key to this. The development of new regulatory support for a new admission process. The establishment of new “zones”, since due to the intensive application of zoning there was a strong limitation of choice that prevented students from some zones from equally opting for centers in others. The simplification of assignments between centers. And the facilitation of citizen participation with the aim of promoting responsible participation in the admission process. To this end, a definition of the basic information of the centers has been made using texts with simple language to facilitate understanding for the educational community, so that citizens are aware of the rights they have to participate in equal opportunities.
This practice not only highlights its innovation, but also its social approach aimed at improving the service presented to the citizen.