Understanding Customer Perception of Your Product/Service to Improve the Way You Measure and Manage Customer Satisfaction

This presentation is brought to you by:

Missed this session? Visit Business Process Excellence for Financial Services Online for your chance to question our speaker and hear them present again

Understanding Customer Perception

of Your Product/Service to Improve the Way You

Measure and Manage Customer Satisfaction

(Emotional Incident Methodology)

Darin Phillips - VP of Customer Experience

3

Objectives

Ensure the correct value perception of your product or service

Push your offering’s relevance and importance, over and above that of your competitors

Evaluate how your company currently creates and delivers value

4

Principles

Who knows what is most important to

customers?

Your company’s Executives

Your company’s Sales team

Marketing R&D

Call Center

Store Clerks

HR

Customers

5

Voice of the Broker Research

Silver Hill Financial is a small balance commercial mortgage lender

Though Silver Hill enjoys a strong, positive relationship with brokers they do not have as much repeat business as they want

The sales team gives three key reasons: Rate Appraisal value Flexibility

6

Principles

What affects “importance”?

Price

Brand

Quality Convenience

Visibility

Packaging

HR

Experience

7


Silver Hill Financial’s marketing team created a customer survey based on the factors that the company’s executive knew were most important

Prior surveys had been created at great financial expense by a high profile marketing agency, but they were abandoned when the executives realized that the questions were not as market-leading as Silver Hill was

8

Principles

How do you know what is important?

Focus Groups

Surveys

Mystery Shopper

Sales Data

Online Traffic

Eyeball Tracking

Anthropologists Subjects tell you what they think you want to hear

Quants The past predicts the

future if nothing changes

9

Principles

Behaviors ← Quants ↑Beliefs ← Anthropologists ↑Experiences ← Lean Six Sigma and Process

Improvement for Customer Experience Summit

people

10

Principles

Behaviors ← Buy only necessities, based on price

↑Beliefs ← I will run out of money ↑Experiences ← Laid off

11

Principles

Behaviors ← Buy that shampoo again ↑Beliefs ← It must be the shampoo ↑Experiences ← Attractive person says, “Your hair

looks great”

12

Principles

Behaviors ← Advocate for that company ↑Beliefs ← Wow, they really care about me ↑Experiences ← The first employee you talked to

listened to and addressed your concerns

13

Objectives

1. Identify the experiences that directly affect beliefs and impact behaviors

2. Quantify those experiences and measure them for your organization and your competitors’

3. Measure and act on trends 4. Repeat as necessary

14

Collect Emotional Incidents

1. Attend an event that will attract the type of people who would be your customers.

2. Alternate the following questions (1 question/potential customer): “Tell me about the best experience you ever had with

your product or service type” “Tell me about the worst experience you ever had with

your product or service type”

3. Record the emotional responses and transcribe them. (There are usually significantly more emotional responses to question 2.)

15

Gain Executive Buy-In

1. Cross-functional senior management teams are scheduled to sort the transcribed answers to questions 1 and 2.

2. These teams define the categories and label each using their own language.

3. Compare and contrast the labels: Start with full agreement Next work on similarities Discard random piles (insight or accident?)

4. Document the final master list of categories and descriptors for each. Distribute to the teams who met to sort the comments Invite feedback: add, delete, modify

16


Darin Phillips interviewed 160+ brokers “Tell me about the best experience you ever had with a lender” “Tell me about the worst experience you ever had with a lender” Emotional reaction = the experience had a lasting impact (89

stories)

Seven groups across four offices categorized the stories 13 Themes Three surprises:

Rate was only mentioned 3 timesAppraisal was only mentioned 3 timesFlexibility was only mentioned 2 times

17


1. Tell me ‘why’ I need to know why Silver Hill made a decision I need to know why Silver Hill took a specific action I need to explain it to my client I need to manage my client’s expectations Clearly tell me what to expect Help me identify what I don’t know or misunderstand Take the time to explain everything

18


2. Deliver as promised Deliver against the expectations that you have set Do exactly as you say you are going to do Don’t promise anything that you cannot deliver

19


3. Respect and care about both me and the borrower Listen to me Respect me Be professional Help me be successful Take ownership of the deal no matter what your job is Identify how I prefer to communicate (phone vs. email) Go the extra mile

20


4. Know your stuff I want a knowledgeable rep I only want to work with people who know what they are talking

about You must know the Silver Hill product in order to effectively

manage my expectations I don’t trust people who can’t keep their facts straight

21


5. Process files in a consistent manner I want smooth, consistent processing of my files I want a predictable experience No surprises Consistency = reliability Admit and correct mistakes immediately Consistently apply policies Treat my deal the same in the middle of the month as you do at

the end

22


6. Return my calls If I call you, call me back immediately If I call you, call me back, don’t send me an email I want to reach my sales rep quickly I like to talk to a live human Don’t leave me hanging

23


Less frequently noted:7. I want a lender who will treat me with integrity, honesty, and fairness8. I want a lender that makes timely actions and decisions9. Provide me with frequent status updates10. I want to build a relationship with a single point of contact

Very rarely noted:

11. Give me low rates

12. Be flexible

13. I need a clear appraisal

24

Encourage Attention to Stories

Provide formal feedback to affected (mentioned) teams

1. Follow up on fixes and preventative strategies2. Follow up on how strengths are leveraged and

reinforced

Create a vehicle for ongoing, actionable stories

25

The Survey

1. Is your TA knowledgeable about this business and industry? How about your salesperson?

2. Has your TA explained Silver Hill’s actions and decisions to you? How about your salesperson?

3. Is your TA returning your phone calls and emails promptly? How about your salesperson?

4. Is your TA following through on their commitments to you? How about your salesperson?

5. Does your TA care about your borrower and you? Do they really want to get the loan closed? How about your salesperson?

TA Salesperson

6. Do you have any other comments about Silver Hill’s service?

26

Encourage Attention to Talent

Selection – assess and interview for price of admission competencies (hard wired and commodity) noted by your customers

Training – provide knowledge and skills that can only be gained internally and that matter to your customers (need to know vs. nice to know)

Assessment – monitor performance by asking customers if your employees missed, met, or exceeded their expectations in the major categories

27

Selection

Job Simulation The applicant gets to “test drive” the job during a typical

customer transaction

Interpersonal skills that customers commented about are graded using behavioral rubrics

repeating what you understood = exceeded expectations for listening

everything in between is met expectations

interrupting = missed expectations for listening

Behavioral Interview Tell me about a time when you spoke with a customer who

was upset about a decision that your employer made

28

Objectives

1. Identify the experiences that directly affect beliefs and impact behaviors 2. Quantify those experiences and measure them for your organization and

your competitors’ 3. Measure and act on trends 4. Repeat as necessary

Net Promoter Score increased from 6.40 to 8.78 due to projects that increased consistency and accuracy at every touch point

Reduced customer criticisms of SHF from 46.94% of those surveyed in 01/07 to 13.33% in 12/07 by improving talent management

Sudden pipeline growth from $80MM to over $100MM and 20% reduction in cycle time due to constructive competition created by site-based performance reporting

29

Darin Phillips, PhD

Darin is a classically-trained industrial/organizational psychologist. His specialties are strategic human capital management and performance improvement. By being his employer’s chief brand champion and focusing on improving talent and processes, he found himself in charge of the customer experience. Darin’s career has included leadership positions at Pennzoil-Quaker State, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Bayview Financial, where he is the VP of Customer Experience.

Darin [email protected]

305.644.4634

This presentation is brought to you by:

Missed this session? Visit Business Process Excellence for Financial Services Online for your chance to question our speaker and hear them present again

Understanding Customer Perception of Your Product/Service to Improve the Way You Measure and Manage Customer Satisfaction

Business

financial

impact behaviors

directly affect

silver hill

emotional

darin phillips

trends repeat

customer experience