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Case Studies – Customer Feedback Surveys................ Page 2
Peter Fenwick, Managing Principal of the IT software company that bears his name, has commissioned bpi to undertake three surveys over the years. Peter would be the first to admit that he was disappointed with the satisfaction levels recorded in the first such survey. In his words, “we learned that, as a professional service provider, there is a gulf of difference between quality of work and quality of service - and the latter is the real battleground between IT providers.” Fenwick Software - www.fenwicksoftware.com.au - took a whole raft of initiatives in response to the feedback. By quoting fixed fees wherever possible, developing a Professional Services Policy that set out how Fenwick would work with its clients, providing an electronic help-line, an up-graded and more timely Project Reporting system, and a Dispute Resolution Procedure, Fenwick Software was able to raise its Customer Satisfaction Index by 11.1% and reduce its overall golf score for the complete round of attributes measured from a very ordinary plus 23 to minus 2. The average rating for their quality of customer service rose from 7.3 to 8.3 out of 10. What is even more interesting
is that there were very few staff changes over the period of the
three surveys. Fenwick simply accepted the feedback
and in response, undertook a thorough overhaul of the way in which
the Company serviced its clients. "The benefits from this exercise
have been wide ranging" says Peter Fenwick. “Not
only is our quality of service now on a par with our quality of work
but our existing clients have become great advocates for us. Favourable
word-of-mouth is still the most effective promotional tool in this
intensely competitive market.” Edlyn
Foods - How do we best compete? What Edlyn’s CEO Andrew Donelly wanted to know was how best to compete with these companies with their much greater resources. Where did his competitive advantage lie – in the products themselves or in superior logistics, promotional support or customer service? What initiatives would he need to take to reproduce their Victorian success interstate? Edlyn, to date, has undertaken three customer feedback surveys and each of them has enabled Edlyn to refine its strategies for interstate expansion. In every survey, the respondents have been divided into two groups – Victorian and interstate – so the feedback from one can be compared with the other. “bpi had been mentioned to me by a CEO mentoring group to which I belong. I was attracted by the range of feedback, the way in which the survey could be customised to my needs and the fact that the data is analysed and interpreted – it’s not just a mass of information,” says Andrew Donelly. It quickly became apparent that Edlyn’s success in the Victorian market was due to a combination of logistics and customer service. 61% of respondents who also purchased from Edlyn’s competitors believed that Edlyn was “easier to do business with” than with their rivals. That percentage dropped to 30% among the interstate customers. Since Edlyn clearly has a very competitive business model in Victoria, the strategy is to replicate this model interstate. Andrew Donelly comments, “these surveys do three things – they provide us with information on which to base our decision-making, they tell us the impact of the initiatives taken and enable us to check that the high standards that underpin our business in Victoria are being maintained.” The average participation rate among respondents for these surveys remains at 94% so we can guarantee that the feedback is highly representative. One reason for this is that we will never market research or promote new products and services directly. If customers are to participate, they need to feel that there is something in it for them. So when a client approaches us and asks us to get some feedback on a new product or service that the organisation is considering, we obtain that feedback for the client but not in the way that might have been anticipated. Rather than explore the appeal of the solution, we focus on exploring the problem or problems that the new product is designed to address. This way, not only do we quantify the customers’ needs without disclosing any information about our client’s developments, but we tap into the customer’s real area of expertise – problems and issues – rather than solutions.
Other Feedback surveys include: John
Danks & Son - Customer
service – balancing IT and people
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