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Management Consulting and Training - International Management Technologies, Inc.
Customer-Centered Culture (C3) - University (C3U)
Voice of the Customer Management Training Overview
C3U Voice of the Customer programs offer fast-paced, provocative and content-rich sessions which
enlighten, inspire, entertain and enable customer-centered transformation.
Whether it is a keynote address, a strategic planning retreat, or an intensive skill-building workshop,
these sessions provide participants with powerful (but elegantly simple)
concepts they can immediately apply.
Every topic is presented in a practical, jargon-free style and presented
interactively with humor. You will learn concrete ways to uncover and understand the Voice of the Customer, excite your customers,
energize your employees and leverage your leadership position.
You will be challenged, motivated and equipped to see your organization from
outcomes and customers inward (rather than from internal processes outward).
You will experience a new and refreshing way to prepare your organization
for performance on the leading edge.
Some of the discoveries you are likely to make include these:
- Strategic objectives, initiatives and measures often miss 3 of 8 criteria for sustainable excellence
- The most important customers are not who you think
- The voice of the customer is not the mind of the customer
- In a knowledge and service environment, product cost is usually unknown, unmanaged but very expensive
- Seemingly squishy customer expectations can be measured
- What you measure most is probably least important to customers, and vice versa
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All C3U Voice of the Customer programs are customized to enable you to achieve and sustain better
alignment with customer priorities within a service context. The unique principles
supporting these programs are described in the best-selling book, Creating a
Customer-Centered Culture: Leadership in Quality, Innovation and Speed, by Robin Lawton.
Using these concepts and tools, one organization won the Baldrige-based state quality
award within only three years, earning better than a 5:1 return on their invested
effort in the first year. Others have had comparable success. You can too!
-- Challenges C3U Voice of the Customer Programs Help You Address --
Is your change initiative a success when processes are improved, costs are cut
but customers notice no difference? Initiatives such as ISO, Six Sigma, Lean,
CRM, Theory of Constraints and others have the intent to simultaneously address
customer satisfaction and operational effectiveness. Unfortunately, the focus
on internal process issues often gets the most attention. This doesn't have to
be so.
These are a few common obstacles change leaders often find interfering with their organization's success:
- Activity-oriented change initiatives
Moving the ball is often confused with winning the game. Customers' desired outcomes may not be articulated or attached to measures of success. If not described in the strategic plan, successful execution is unlikely.
- Measurement imbalance
Big focus on what internal organizations care about, little focus on customers' priorities. Measures of success are unknown or unused. See the article ?Balance Your Balanced Scorecard?
- Initiative proliferation
So much to do, people have forgotten what the goal is. New initiatives are perceived as replacing or adding to what is currently in place, not integrated as part of a coherent whole.
- Survey dependence
Asking the wrong questions of the wrong people in the wrong way, but doing it repeatedly so there is a trend. The questions customers answer may not be the ones they'd like to be asked. Surveys are often effective only for wrapping fish. See the article ?Are Your Surveys Suitable for Wrapping Fish?
- Incremental vs. innovative
Continuous improvement is considered good enough. Seeking to be a better candle maker will not result in creating light bulbs. If the desired outcome is light, the goal becomes obvious. Innovation can require a radical rethinking of basic assumptions.
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-- C3U Voice of the Customer programs are uniquely able to help you achieve --
what you never thought possible.
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