Are You A Five Star Or A No Star?

Published in: Georgia Printer, December 2003

Company Differentiation and Creating Perceived Customer Value are Organizational

To paraphrase Mark Twain, "Everyone wants progress; it's personal change they're against." This statement seems to best describe current conditions in the graphic arts industry.

To illustrate my point, I'd like to offer a scenario that far too many of us have experienced at one time or another. Imagine receiving an offer from a desirable Florida resort that clearly promotes a 60 percent room discount from normal rates. You follow up on the offer, working your way through a difficult voicemail system (whatever happened to being able to talk to a real person), and fast forward --- you're on the plane anticipating overdue time away from the pressure of your schedule and looking forward to much-earned and needed R & R.

However, things just don't seem to happen the way you expected. Waiters at meals are surly, and one even refers to the low rate you probably paid (unmistakably inferring you were receiving more than your money's worth, so you should be happy with whatever the resort actually delivers). Activities such as snorkeling, sailing, historical tours and golf were filled up two days or more in advance by folks who registered before you; it rains two of the four days; cable TV is knocked out during one of the days of rain; and when you're finally ready to head back home, there are charges on your bill you didn't expect. Because of that, it takes you more than an hour at check-out to get only some of the unexpected charges removed. And this fiasco almost causes you to miss your return flight home.

Sound familiar? Expectations were created and then not met. These expectations stemmed from information that was either expressed or implied by the company or from standards of conduct you've come to expect in previous dealings with this fine, reputable resort.

In essence, this was no deal and you wound up disappointed --- and in a delayed, slow, private burn --- now you're angry! Mentally, you resolve not to respond to such ads in the future --- particularly those ads carrying this resort's name. You also resolve to tell all of the folks you work with, as well as your neighbors and professional friends, what the promotions carrying this resort's name really mean. And you share with them all of the miserable details of the experience you had.

If you don't yet have a sense of how this all relates to our great industry, read on.

CLOSER TO HOME

A little more than a year ago, I received a phone call from the manager of print projects for one of the more successful tobacco companies in North Carolina. Total print purchases for that organization are significant. This gentleman and his assistant, both of whom once reported to me as sales reps in a commercial printing organization, wanted to have lunch. During our lunch, they proceeded to give me scenario after scenario of how graphic arts suppliers, including but not limited to lead contact personnel, were not performing as expected --- nor as promised. These gentlemen asked some telling questions such as: "Have these companies cut back so much that they can't perform as they promise and like we need?" I responded: "Maybe, for some ... it sounds like this is an issue worth checking out for each supplier you entertain using."

Changing scenes: Last week, I facilitated a two-day budgeting and support planning meeting for a company in the Midwest with about a dozen sales reps and two plants. The company is profitable and appears to have noticeably improved their production efficiencies more so than their competitors. Plus, there's clearly a strong work ethic in the organization. But, they do have performance issues: unsettling customer pricing pressures accompanied by customer turnover (not in the top 10 customers, but in the top 50).

During the budgeting and planning session, when suggestions were made by attendees for improving the organization's service offerings to customers, a senior manager (more than once) responded: "We're still profitable, so there's no pressing need to do that at this time," as a means of justifying the decision not to address that performance issue.

If ever there were an indictment that an organization has an internal orientation rather than an external, customer --- or market-driven culture --- it's that statement, which is generally irrelevant to what customers are experiencing from a supplier. So, in order to be most successful, companies need to realize that differentiating their company and creating value in the eyes of their customers must be an organizational process. First, you have to create expectations of value (like the visit to a fine resort at 60 percent off) and then meet those expectations (i.e., adhere to the 60 percent off and still provide the level of service that is expected). In this process, don't sell yourself short in also delivering on the performance standards your company has already worked so hard to achieve.

ISSUES TO EXAMINE

What can your organization do to ensure it is meeting (and surpassing) customer expectations? We sometimes recommend that clients develop a set of indices and issues to track and manage in order to see how they're performing. When determining what to track, make these decisions based upon what the customer views as important. Following are some of the issues discussed during the above-mentioned budget and planning session.

Employee Orientation

Does every employee in the interview and orientation process receive a written explanation of your target customer markets that includes information on what is most important regarding your performance for them as an organization? Is this information provided from the perspective of the position for which this person is interviewing or being hired? Is there frequent, ongoing reinforcement from senior management regarding these issues?

Web Site and Promotional Materials

Do these important communication mediums support and complement each other, as well as distinguish you from your competition in terms that are meaningful to target buyers and their organizations? Are employees required to read and understand these important communications? Is there useful information on the Web site and in your promotional materials? Have you thoroughly emphasized the customer benefits of your services? (Or, as an indictment, could competitors' names be inserted on your Web site or in your corporate collateral just as easily as yours?)

Periodic Business Reviews

Have your top 20 customers and prospects received Periodic Business Reviews (PBR) in the last year? In turn, have written reports from each PBR been distributed to employees who couldn't attend the PBR as well as to those customers who did attend? Do senior management and key support personnel participate in these PBRs?

Management Visits to Customers

How often do key production and administrative personnel visit customers along with the sales rep? My rule of thumb: Once a week is the minimum requirement to keep the organization focused on performance for customers as well as changing market conditions.

Customer Education

Do you offer customer education programs (e.g., on VCR for those who couldn't attend) that relate to the miscues you experience with customers? These programs could address issues such as:

• How to prepare electronic files for certain software programs,
• How to properly check a proof,
• How to conduct a press check,
• How variable imaging can improve the effectiveness of your customer's promotion investments, and
• How to prepare a database for your use.

Employee Education and Training

What ongoing education and training programs do you have in place for customer contact personnel to assist them in keeping their knowledge, skills and standards at a high level? My standard: One two-hour session every two weeks that includes sales reps, CSRs, estimators and senior managers.

Accounting Follow-up

Buyers are too often disappointed and frustrated by the invoices they receive. Information isn't clear, charges may be listed that are a surprise, and there's seldom an offer on how to improve the use of funds and reduce costs in the future. Even worse, confusing invoices are usually paid late. Additionally, accounting personnel are seldom introduced to buyers during plant tours --- as an effort to foster more personal future discussion. And, accounting personnel seldom pass information on to CSRs and sales reps regarding account conditions or discussions. What a wasted opportunity!

Specialized Services and Products

Are unique or special services and production capabilities documented for the buyer? Do corporate communication pieces mention the benefits of these services? Does your Web site, as well as plant tours, include and abreast of important new services --- and more importantly do they know how customers can use these new services?

"Everyone wants progress; its personal change they're against."

Mark Twain

Delivery and Reception Personnel

These folks (and the backup personnel for these positions) probably see and talk to more customers than anyone else in your organization with the exception of your CSRs. Are these personnel also kept abreast of "what's new," and how your organization's new (as well as existing) services and capabilities are meaningful to customers?

"New Buyer" Opportunities

Buyer turnover is a growing and continuing opportunity as well as a threat and challenge to current suppliers. While most graphic arts organizations recognize this situation, it's rare for any to take action to the extent that they can to include services such as new buyer education and training in their formal corporate communications.

Customer Feedback

What tools are in place to keep your organization focused on why you exist as an organization? Customer retention and development, as in the disappointing resort example, are ultimately the result of organizational performance and cultural changes --- rather than the result of excellent sales and customer service personnel. These individuals can only do so much. The ultimate experience of the customer is with the entire organization. How often are these customer communications available for every employee in the organization to review? What have you done to improve your performance as a result of this feedback? Do customers, employees and even suppliers know how these changes are intended to benefit your overall performance for customers? Examples of such feedback include but are not limited to:

• Major customer surveys,
• Voiced customer complaints that were documented and centralized,
• Written customer testimonials, and
• Short, but powerful customer surveys from plant tours, press checks and education sessions.

In highly competitive market conditions, differentiation is critical. However, differentiation is more than being different. At its best, it delivers meaningful economic benefits to buyers and to buyers' organizations.

In today's demanding and challenging marketplace, there are two vital steps necessary to ensure the building of value that distinguishes your organization.

1. Study your target customers' business environments.
2. Develop an organizational plan that requires follow-through, support and measurement.

That's how successful organizations gain their reputations and create an invisible standard by which all other supplier experiences are judged.

However, like Mark Twain, "Too many of us are in favor of progress; it's change we're against."

Question

Who's creating your standards and direction for differentiation to customers?