Tapping qualitative information to drive your performance to higher levels

Published in: Printing Industries of America, Inc., Sales & Marketing Advisory, May 2002

What we do daily is very much a reflection of what we understand is expected and needed. In other words, each of us operates on the information that we receive and that is supported by consequences. What most of us in graphic arts production have as information is too often, at best, generated by shop floor data systems or job tickets. In other words, we have cost figures, which can be either wrong or misleading, especially in what they don't tell us.

In a typical graphic arts scenario, the most accountable information we have to guide our actions is production specifications and instructions on a job ticket or quote sheet. This "traditional" information, created and sustained in today's technical environment, just causes inadequate or misleading information to happen faster.

For performance to improve, business development must be a priority -- but customer-related information communications must change! We need effective, purposeful communication based on "qualitative" information. Capturing, analyzing, and publicizing such qualitative information can lead to profound changes in what customers expect to experience from your company -- and also what you can expect from your company's performance.

Following are some examples of qualitative information that you won't receive from your accountant or your software cost collection system. Gathered, studied -- and communicated and acted upon -- it will change your company's performance.

Organizational focus

Where are you going? What makes you different and valuable to your customers? What are you trying to accomplish? The answers to these questions are too often a secret to everyone but the company president. And, if the president doesn't publicly, consistently, and repeatedly endorse "the mission," (notice, I didn't say "mission statement"), then this type of message comes off as tentative.

From the receptionist to the bookkeeper to the delivery person, everyone should be frequently updated about what the company is working to accomplish, what you want to be known for that's valuable, and how what you do for customers creates value. Neglecting this issue reduces everyone to a reactive posture-waiting for someone to ask them to do something that "fits" their position profile or waiting to do nothing more than receive the next job ticket.

Systematically promoting your organizational focus to customers, prospects, and suppliers elevates your firm's market differentiation. Over time, this message can lead not only to additional business from current customers, but to additional prospects who are a more predictable "fit" for desired results. One way to develop internal focus and communications is to compile written profiles of both (1) desired customers and (2) those to avoid, with supporting explanations. The profiles can guide the generally neglected sales rep -- and will affect what the rep pursues and what the production floor experiences.

Compiling these two profiles also requires thinking through who you serve best and, more importantly, deciding to whom you can be valuable as a supplier and why. Just as all dollars going through your company are not equal in their contribution, all customers do not equally value your services. One of the most important decisions -- who you are to pursue as a customer -- inevitably leads to who you eventually serve as a supplier.

Every employee should know which target customers represent significant potential for the company and what you're trying to accomplish with each. Target customers shouldn't be known just to a sales rep, but to the entire organization.

Making your mission known and identifying your target customers - if supported by frequent and consistent communications-can help you create a more effective short-term and long-term focus on what your company can accomplish.

Internal opportunities

In one educational training session after another, at least one attendee offers testimony about the value of information gathered and exchanged in pre-production or pre-estimating brainstorming and production planning prior to order entry or quoting.

Why most firms don't enforce calling such planning sessions to gather and exchange information is unknown. Anecdotal experience, however, testifies that their track record for winning more profitable work and producing jobs more effectively and profitably is profound.

Key people to call such sessions might be the customer service representative, the sales representative, and even the estimator or prepress manager. Opportunities to call these sessions include, but are not limited to, new customers, all jobs above a certain value, customers with rocky performance records, and any jobs with a "high-risk look."

Information from these sessions is often unique and revealing as to how the supplier can improve the customers finished job. And although it should, this information about what your firm is doing to ensure the quality and handling of the customer's work -- and how you have elevated perceived customer values -- too seldom makes it back to the customer.

Three other internal communication opportunities, if acknowledged and promoted, can lead to profound changes in how you operate:

1. Tracking why every customer called (for a month's duration at least two times a year);
   
   
2. Tracking every complaint voiced by a customer, supplier, or employee;
   
   
3. Tracking and recognizing outstanding customer service performance by individuals and departments.

External opportunities

Suppliers represent an untapped resource for most graphic arts organizations. The opportunities have several dimensions. First, beyond the specifications attached to the products and services you place with them, supplier contact and management personnel often don't know what you're trying to accomplish. Second, most of our contact and management personnel don't have a system or program that systematically communicates what our companies are trying to accomplish, the market differentiation we're working to develop, and at least our short-term values and goals.

One long-term client's president made this dimension of his company's performance a personal performance issue. He recently told me that his top ten suppliers are on record for recommending at least one qualified prospect every six months and that in most cases these suppliers are willing to confidentially and discreetly make the introductions.

With suppliers, this president shares his organizations current challenges and his mission and market direction, explores how the supplier can provide education and training to enhance his employees' performance, explores useful market information the supplier may have, and explores how each organization can change to improve their mutual performance.

Additionally, work placed with outside suppliers is evaluated by what it helps to accomplish (not just its out-of-pocket cost) plus "what should be different and better next time." This information is captured by the estimator, but the sales reps are expected to share it with their customers to create perceived customer value for future work.

Summary

This powerful stream of internal and external qualitative information drives organizational understanding, direction, and performance to higher levels. You may decide you need a business development manager or marketing director to coordinate important communications. But creating such a position or function for this purpose should include the company president's full support for this new way of thinking. If not, folks on the front line will predictably give only lip service to any potential change in what they do.

To drive performance, we're looking at a different way of thinking about information, a different way of communicating, and different content. It's not so much specifications, but an orientation toward creating value for a targeted group of customers, across department lines, in order to elevate your organization's performance for customers, your differentiation, and your bottom-line performance.

In today's marketplace, customers don't need suppliers who can produce a great dot or more competitive prices. Your target customers and prospects are quietly pursuing suppliers who can elevate their performance. For most of us, that means changing our thinking and understanding to support a totally different mindset toward information.