Re: Customer satisfaction, 2 questions

[Bob Adsett <bob.adsett@lineone.net>]

There you go Will, just what happens when people are more preoccupied with
targets that reality. Nothing like basing your feedback upon extrinsic
(bribed) motivation - how sustainable is that, who knows. I suspect not very
much. 
Interestingly, no one bribed me to buy my VW it just happened to be the best
MPV on the market, but then I am biased, I did have to part with hard earned
cash to get it - so I would say that wouldn't I.

What was it that Joiner said about the levels of fix in an organisation.
Maybe someone (who is not looking for a career limiting opportunity) ought
to be pointing out VW's management the errors of their ways - I just wonder
how far up the tree this thinking goes? Sadly, I bet VW are not alone in
following similar courses of action in car dealerships, it appears to be
endemic in retailing, another case of common practice in NOT common sense.

I wonder where the people who propose these systems get their evidence that
what they are doing actually works. The issue should be not getting 'good'
customer feedback, but understanding 'why' what you do is falling short of
expectations.
As for the effect of these programmes have on customer loyalty and staff
motivation - you REALLY don't want to go there.

Positive customer satisfaction results? - maybe we need to think about more
credible ways to measure those things that actually matter to the customer
rather than the retailer - see Peter Scholtes's  Leader's Handbook on
process evaluation and PDSA rather than focussing on outputs.
Maybe in the long term you would do better to contact the last 10 customers
that you didn't sell a car to. You might learn more about how to improve the
service you give from 'those who walked' rather than those who signed on the
dotted line. After all, how long will it be before purchasers return, what
is more likely to affect customer perceptions (and word of mouth
recommendations) is how good the service and support staff are in dealing
with customers, not how well the sales staff sell. It is when things go
wrong that the quality of your service is measured (and when VW might be
likely to upset a customer), when someone wants you to operate outside your
standard operating procedures, then they will find out how far you are
prepared to go to make a mends. This is the make-or-break time for the
company when problems and niggles occur.

Unless your company takes a whole systems view of the operation, excellent
sales staff will be totally undermined by poor parts and service - and
believe me this is true.

I owned a Peugeot 406 before my current car and would not touch Peugeot
again - why? Because I had a problem away from home and got a puncture. When
trying to remove the wheel nuts the wheel brace started to sheer at the weld
between the nut and the handle. With very careful handling I managed to
change the wheel and went in to a local dealership outside Oxford to
complain about the poor quality of the tool that had never been used before.

No one in sales was interested  - this was a Parts issue (even though the
car was still under warranty). Parts could only sell me a new tyre lever
(only £6 or so, no big deal but the principle.... ) and when the new wrench
arrived the design had been changed to the version I had - why had this
modification been made? - to make it stronger - why was it redesigned?  -
just because of the problem I had experienced? - who knows.

But the staff couldn't just exchange a clearly faulty and sub-standard item
for a new one - I had to pay for it.  Did I remember how helpful the staff
had been who sold me the car - you don't need to ask. It was the 'in my
face' incompetence and downright poor attitude of the Parts and Sales staff
in Oxford that had tainted the relationship.
Would I ever return to Peugeot? - NEVER, what should we be measuring in this
organisation to help them improve - certainly not the "Positive customer
satisfaction results" from sales, there is clearly an need to take a wider
view. 
Has this attitude cost Peugeot £1000s ? - It sure has from the non-buying
decisions of my family and friends alone.

And how many people have found about this poor customer service - well
another 1000 thanks to this e-Mail alone.

Bob


-- 
Bob Adsett
11 Fernbank Drive
Bingley, Yorkshire
UK BD16 4HB

Tel. +44 (0) 1274 779 502          Mobile +44 (0) 7980 85 22 34