Serie "Gente como tu y como yo": INTRO

No es secreto para nadie que estamos, hace ya varios años, en una economía de recesión. Una mirada a los medios y no es raro toparse con la noticia de que X o Y reconocida empresa se ha acogido a la ley de quiebra. De igual manera, ya estamos acostumbrados a ver con resignación los centros de pueblos "fantasmas" donde alguna vez se movió la economía local que muchas veces representaban empresas familiares de generaciones. Sin embargo, no solo los pequeños comerciantes han sufrido el estancamiento en crecimiento y ventas. Una vuelta a los centros comerciales, no digo al más grande del Caribe, sino a los otros del resto de la isla, evidencia los numerosos locales cerrados, disponibles para la renta. Mientras tanto, se van limitando las opciones, el que no puede o simplemente no quiere llegar hasta "Plaza" se encuentra haciendo malabares para conseguir ese servicio o artículo en las pocas alternativas que quedan entre el casco urbano cubierto de tela de arañas y un centro comercial que por el estado de las facilidades no se distingue si se está en un edificio público o privado.

La buena noticia, entre edificio baldío y edificio desmantelado por aquellos que no tienen nada más que hacer que no sea envidiar lo que ven y adueñarse o destrozar lo ajeno, hay muchos comerciantes que a fuerza de ardua labor están tratando de mantener sus empresas a flote en un mundo económico incierto. Con el interés de darles un foro a esos luchadores incansables, a esos con un ingenio innato o desarrollado a la fuerza algo así como un "instinto de supervivencia", esta serie da comienzo a contarles las historias de gente como tu y como yo que esta haciendo la diferencia. Aquellos que no están cruzados de brazos, esperando el cheque del mantengo y se dan la tarea de mover su granito de arena en una economía que pareciera se asienta en una arena movediza...si te duermes te hundes. No son un Sam Walton, Charles R. Walgreen o un Walt Disney considerando que sus empresas no son íconos internacionales, aún. Pero son los que de una manera u otra mantienen de manera considerable el pulso latiendo en muchos de aquellos municipios donde "Plaza" no es una realidad.

Muchas veces llevamos tanto tiempo soñando despiertos con dar ese primer paso a nuestro pequeño negocio o empresa individual o familiar, que perdemos de perspectiva que estamos despiertos y que no iremos a ninguna parte si no decidimos movernos. Que no nos llegue el momento que no sepamos distinguir si estamos eternamente soñando despiertos o dormidos viviendo. No es fácil; es un gran reto y hay que preparse bien para minimizar los riesgos. Tampoco queremos ir tan a la ligera que hoy abrimos esa Boutique en el edificio pintado con los colores de moda y dos meses despues lo único que queda es el rótulo de "No Estacione: Solo para clientes. Ley 22" frente a un vacío y oscuro local.

Les invito a leer las historias que estaremos presentandoles en esta serie "Gente como tu y como yo"...si estas por el área les exhorto patrocinen estos excelentes proveedores de servicios y bienes. Igualmente si sabes de alguien que muy bien merece contarnos su historia comunícate con nosotros.

Voice of the Customer (VOC) Analysis - Part I

A previous post defines what VOC (Voice of the Customer) is and highlights its importance. This article intent is to emphasize the value of the VOC analysis and better describe some of the tools available to achieve customer segmentation. Although VOC may be perceived as a simple trivial analysis its usefulness should not be underestimated.

Every business manager or leader should strive to know their customers. Moreover, all understanding of customer behavior, interests, and necessities must be equally explained and understood by all business associates at all levels. Voice of the customer is to not just to offer a communication channel to the customer, but take an active interest in the customers’ opinions too.

 

Depending on the business sector and type of customer, internal or external, there may exist various customer categorization and segmentation. That is because different types of customers view your products or services differently. This only means that to adequately identify and treat each type of customer multiple approaches may be needed. This is better known as customer segmentation. A common illustration of customer segmentation is how credit card companies distribute their customers into different classes such as Gold, Platinum, etc.

Customer interviews and customer satisfaction surveys are two of the most common methods on capturing VOC. Face-to-face interviews, either one-on-one or with a group of customers, is a common method of capturing customers feelings about a particular business product or service. Interviews may be conducted with a focus group or on the spot. It is really important questions to be carefully chosen. However, the effectiveness of the interviews may be impacted depending on customers’ mood at the time of interview, or people getting influence over others point of view when conducting group interviews. Therefore, the question and answer session should be complemented with adequate body language interpretation to successfully capture VOC through the interview process. Another common method of capturing VOC is by means of customer satisfaction surveys. If you survey your customers, chances are good that you’ll spot a number of areas for improvement. These improvements will turn into increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.

A common question is how many customers should be talked to when gathering VOC input? Quantity depends on complexity of the product, variety of market, product use, and the sophistication of customers. The goal is to get to the 90-95% level in capturing customer needs. Research for a range of products indicates that, on average, this is 20 customers.

Existing consumers are the first source of information if the product is aimed at current market. Also, it is essential to include potential customers in the VOC analysis as they are the principal source of information if the product is aimed at new market. A third segment of customers are the competitor’s customers. They make available a good source of information on strengths on competitor's products and how they perceived our products compared to competitors. Last but not least there are the lead customers. This segment is a special class of clients who are the most advanced users of the product, usually pushing the product to its limits, or customers who are adapting an existing product(s) to innovative uses.

VOC analysis can be a rewarding as well as painful experience. Tools need to be adequately defined and applied in order to obtain valuable information. A number of techniques and tools are used to analyse the data captured from customers. Some of these analysis tools are Affinity Diagrams, Kano Model, and Critical to Quality (CTQ) tree among others. These are to be discussed in a subsequent article.

Have your business implemented VOC tools? Which tools were put in place? What information was obtained from the process? How simple or complex became the VOC analysis and reporting?

Feel free to contact me directly to discuss how you might improve your efforts to capture voice of the customer (VOC).