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Just for a moment, imagine this scenario:

A husband and wife are celebrating their 15^th wedding anniversary with a romantic dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant. During the meal, the man says to his bride, “Honey, I hope you know how important our relationship is to me. I sometimes wonder if I’m doing all that I can to be a good partner for you. I’d really like to know what it is that you appreciate about me and also what I can do to improve. To help me better understand that, would you please go to this Web site and fill out a survey about our relationship? Your responses can be anonymous, and they will be consolidated with other women’s input about their husbands. Then, based on the report I receive, I’ll see what improvements I can try to make.”

As preposterous as that scene may be, it’s not all that different from what some companies do with their customers. Many organizations have adopted the common refrain that, “We need to get closer to our customers,” or that they want to become more customer-centric. Some even talk of developing “intimate” relationships with their best customers.

In an effort to guide their efforts and measure their progress toward those goals, many of those same organizations have implemented some form of a structured feedback process. That’s entirely understandable and appropriate – just as the husband’s desire to get input from his wife was commendable. The disconnect comes when companies choose a method of listening to their customers that doesn’t accurately reflect their stated intent. An e-mailed request to respond to an automated, Internet-based, and perhaps anonymous survey can hardly be seen as an invitation to develop a closer relationship with a key supplier. The method just doesn’t quite match the message.

I personally have nothing against surveys. In fact, I often respond to them when asked to do so by the coffee shop I just visited or the rental car company whose vehicle I recently used. I’m not put off by the request, but then I’m not desiring a closer, more “intimate” relationship with those service providers either. They want to know my perceptions of their products and services, and I’m willing to invest a few minutes of my time to provide it in the hopes that they’ll keep doing the things I value and improve where I think they ought.

Now, if I was considered to be a critical or strategic customer to an organization, my attitude about being surveyed and the probability that I’d respond to such a request might be different. If I’m making big decisions that impact my own company and the supplier’s, I would expect more of a dialogue – a personal connection – with someone from that organization. I would want the sense that my supplier understood my organization and its needs at a deeper level, and would want to know that my voice was heard and that my opinions and requests were considered.

To some degree, the level of effort a supplier puts into listening to its customers defines the difference between having a business relationship and just executing transactions. As an individual traveler I don’t really expect, or even want, a relationship with my rental car company. However, if I’m making travel purchases for an entire enterprise with thousands of mobile employees, I’d appreciate a more in-depth and personable approach to capturing my perceptions and preferences.

When evaluating your current customer feedback process or reviewing the options for a new one, I suggest that you consider the message you want to send to the most important contacts within your most important customers. Our clients routinely hear from their customers that an active and personal yet structured approach to gathering feedback distinguishes them from competitors and sends a strong signal about the commitment to listen and respond to customer needs. The method is indeed the message.

Eric Engwall, Managing Partner
E.G. Insight

THE CLIENT
A Fortune 500 adhesive manufacturer supplying products to automotive manufacturers around the world.

THE CHALLENGE
It’s no secret that in the automotive industry, quality, innovation, and cost reduction are critical. Customers don’t just want continuous quality improvement, innovation, and cost reduction, they demand it. So, for an adhesives manufacturer that sells to automakers, the search was on to identify an effective process that would help them listen to their customers’ specific cost, innovation, and quality concerns.

But what was the best way to build a global voice of the customer process?

How could they listen to customers on a global scale and translate that feedback into the right actions?

THE SOLUTION
After researching a number of customer feedback options, the supplier chose the Customer Review process (click here for more information: http://www.eginsight.com/crp.html) This method of gathering in-depth, face-to-face customer feedback was aligned with their key account management strategy. Having strategic discussions with customers would help them build relationships, collect critical information, and give them customer-centric insight to take action.

The process started with two of the largest automotive manufacturers on the planet. As you might expect, these accounts were critical to the supplier’s future. These interviews resulted in feedback that was used to build account-level action plans as well as improvements that would provide added value to all accounts.

Based on this initial success, the process was expanded to seven additional large accounts and then implemented worldwide.

THE RESULT
A Vice President from the supplier stated, “This process has definitely helped us by aligning our communication and support to our key customers. One example was the customer perception about our lack of innovation. The process gave us a roadmap to build a campaign to show our customers about the innovation we are working on globally for the entire business, not just specific customer projects. Using the Customer Review process has helped us focus our message more clearly to each customer to get the biggest impact possible.”

The process has become so ingrained in the client’s culture that they also created a new role: the Quality Manager of Customer Satisfaction. This individual has been given the primary responsibility of conducting the Customer Review process worldwide, enabling her to effectively connect customer feedback to quality improvement, innovation, and cost reduction.

The Situation:
Let’s start with the facts. Fact one: Here in Minnesota, we’re in the middle of the driest spring and summer in the past 75 years. Fact two: My wife’s hobby is gardening. These two facts presented us with a clear directive – we needed an in-ground irrigation system.

One more important fact: I don’t know much of anything about in-ground irrigation systems. So, like most people, I started asking friends, neighbors, and coworkers whom they might recommend.

Our Options:
The first recommended person was a local contractor. Let’s call him Fred. Fred offered to build us the exact system we needed, at a great price – as long as we held his hand and corrected his course along the way. The questions he asked – and didn’t ask – demonstrated that he didn’t know what he was doing. It was clear that Fred might be in over his head.

Fred may have gotten the job done in the end, but the process would have been agony. So, even with Fred’s nice price, we looked for other options.

A coworker recommended another irrigation company, who sent out Karl. Karl inspired confidence immediately. He showed us that he knew what he was doing by asking the right questions and using his expertise to guide us down the right course of action. Karl had done a project like this before, and it showed.

The bad news? Karl had a 30% higher price than Fred.

The Solution:
As you might have guessed, when the time came to make a decision, my wife and I picked Karl. Why? Because we made our decision based on perceived value. And in this case, perceived value was far more complicated than price. We believe this supplier will provide a problem-free system that will meet all of our needs and, in the end, justify our added investment. In short, our choice was built on trust.

My Question for You:
Are you the low-cost provider? If not, what value do you bring to your customers that causes them to pay more for your product or service? What problems are you solving for your customers that gives them confidence in your ability to meet their current and future needs? Are you clear about exactly what you will need to do to continue to add value for your customers in the future?

Doing everything you can to provide value is important, but understanding your customers’ perceptions of value is key.

Gary Gerds, Managing Partner
E.G. Insight