Page 127 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

114 I n t e g r a t e d P l a n n i n g U n d e r s t a n d i n g C u s t o m e r E x p e c t a t i o n s a n d N e e d s 115

typically provide all customers with an easy-to-use method of providing
favorable or unfavorable feedback to management. Due to selection
bias, these methods do not provide statistically valid information. How-
ever, because they are a census rather than a sample, they provide
opportunities for individual customers to have their say. These are
moments of truth that can be used to increase customer loyalty. They
also provide anecdotes that have high face validity and are often a source
of ideas for improvement.
Customer Service and Support
A key source of customer information is your sales, service, and support
staff who communicate with customers on a daily basis, sometimes
referred to as a customer contact workers (CCW). The nature of the con-
tact can be face-to-face encounters, telephone communication, or written
correspondence such as emails or online chats. To customers, these work-
ers are “the organization,” so their importance to customer satisfaction is
obvious. Yet in traditional organizations CCWs are often among the least
experienced and lowest paid employees of the firm, resulting in customer
dissatisfaction well documented in the literature.
CCWs are placed in “boundary positions” (where the organization
meets the outside world), creating a number of stresses not experienced by
other members of the organization. As outsiders, customers make demands
upon the CCW. The CCW may not be able to meet the customer demands
due to organizational policies and restrictions. Furthermore, the CCW
must present the organization to the customer in a positive manner that
doesn’t unduly anger or annoy the customer, while retaining a customer
perspective within the organization. Given the low status of many CCW
positions, with little ability to exercise control over internal policy, there
is a significant challenge with these divided loyalties, resulting in stress
and confusion, often to both the CCW and the customer.
This situation is best addressed by giving the worker the authority to
act in a wide range of customer situations. This empowerment results in
the greatest customer satisfaction. In essence, empowerment turns the
organizational hierarchy upside down. Carlzon (1987) views each cus-
tomer contact as a “moment of truth” where the commitment to serve the
customer is put to the test. Carlzon maintains that the purpose of manage-
ment is to design organizational systems to ensure that moments of truth
are properly handled from the customer’s perspective. (Deming would
agree.) Carlzon uses the analogy of a soccer coach, who can neither drib-
ble down the field nor provide constant and immediate instructions to
players on shooting, passing, or defense. Rather, the coach’s responsibility
is to develop the players’ skills and empower them to exercise judgment
in the use of those skills. Without empowerment, the CCW has little power
to influence the outcome of the moment of truth.

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