Customer Satisfaction

• Every company should consider an annual “health check” of its standards of service. Few companies have the in house expertise to do this or the staff readily available to do the work.
• A regular customer survey is essential to fully comply with ISO 9000.
• Customers at all levels of management find it easier to talk more openly about a company's performance to someone who is neutral rather than directly to someone from the company concerned and that interviewer will be unbiased.
• A customer satisfaction survey will not just measure customers' satisfaction with their supplier but also:
  
  
  • Trends in that company’s performance.
  • The main improvements required to the service.
  • That company’s performance against the competition (benchmarking).
  • Customer loyalty in terms of the amount of business placed with that company, historically and in the future.
  • Changes in customer requirements and that company’s perceived ability to meet those requirements.
• The technique works equally well with lost customers. Over 75 percent of all lost customers will explain in detail why they have taken their business elsewhere.
• If a customer satisfaction survey is carried out properly, and the recommendations acted on, that company will benefit from increased customer loyalty because it will be seen to be listening to its customers in a professional manner.