Using Customer Satisfaction to Motivate
By John Webb, CSi Communicator
We all know businesses that seem to consistently outperform the vast majority of
the competition using their most valuable resource, their employees. At the very
least, we have read books about this idyllic corporate state, which seems more
like a dream than an achievable objective.
Most of us struggle and labor continuously to motivate and retain quality
employees, trying to keep everyone at least marginally satisfied with the
corporate culture, while at the same time keeping a watchful eye on costs,
payroll and profit.
As the business climate becomes increasingly competitive, owners and managers
are searching for new ways of boosting productivity and morale at the same time.
Some shop owners have found that a CSI (customer satisfaction indexing) program
can have a profoundly beneficial effect on both.
CSI is a systematic way of following up with customers to measure their
satisfaction level with their experience in your facility. Customers are given a
short survey and the results are compiled into management reports that can be
used as a tool to improve employee performance.
John Marchioni, for example, is president of Express Tire Auto Service Centers,
a 25-store California-based operation. He has improved corporate culture with a
customer satisfaction follow up program.
“At the employee level, it is a motivational factor for them to know every
customer is going to have the opportunity to provide feedback,” he said. “It is
not a punitive tool. We have meetings based around the reports that are
generated from our CSI provider. We are brainstorming on how to satisfy the
customer, and it makes for a more enjoyable workplace for everyone.”
How would you like to have a staff that is eager to analyze a report on their
own performance? Unusual, yes. But it can be done. Beyond that, we can
specifically relate CSI programs to compensation, motivation and incentive plans
as well. Let’s take a high level look at those concepts.
Defining Your Incentive Plan
Incentive plans by nature are designed to motivate employees. If we define
motivation in this sense as the ability to positively affect behavior, then the
byproducts of the plan would be the ability to retain your top performers over a
long period of time, and attract the best talent your market has to offer. It
would mean a positive work environment in which employees regularly provide
constructive suggestions that improve performance. It would mean that above
average compensation translates into outstanding margins. Perhaps most
importantly, the outcome would be that everyone from part time student to owner
actually enjoys coming to work.
If successful, these byproducts make the plan well worth the investment; we all
know that attracting and retaining quality employees in the year 2007 is one of
the greatest challenges of business ownership and management. Especially in the
quick lube business, the market demands employers provide a work environment
that employees can thrive in. Otherwise, employees will quickly try to find it
elsewhere while you watch your margins be eaten up by recruitment and training
costs.
While individual needs and corporate requirements are different, the two need to
work in concert if the organization is going to maximize its’ success.
Individual needs are addressed by factors such as job security, increased
responsibilities, decision-making ability, recognition among peers and the
community, financial rewards and a positive work environment.
The work of Abraham Maslow defined human (individual) needs with his Hierarchy
of Needs model. Put into pyramid format with the most basic and important at the
bottom, the model looks like the image on this page.
The relationship between employee and employer satisfies the most basic needs.
In other words, employees work for a wage and that payment ensures a certain
level of security and comfort. Today, however, most employees have the Physical
Comfort and Safety/Security aspects taken care of wherever they work, so as an
organization, you cannot differentiate yourself that way.
The exciting part is that employers can give employees what they need and want,
while at the same time contributing to organizational needs. The ultimate goal
of the incentive plan, then, is to marry the organizational needs with the
individual needs in a model that benefits everyone.
Components of a Basic Customer Satisfaction Survey
Inherent in all credible customer satisfaction measurement programs is the
ability to objectively survey customers on the service experience and then
quantify that information into a resource for management. This information,
usually in the form of a monthly report, can be incorporated into the incentive
program.
Typically, there are several goals to a comprehensive customer satisfaction
indexing program. The first would be to thank the customer for the business, in
effect branding your company as one that cares about the customer. Secondly,
these programs are designed to obtain information. This information is used for
service recovery (when needed, turning a negative into a positive) and producing
other reporting from which you can incorporate into your employee incentive
program. Typical survey questions might measure the following metrics:
- Based on this experience, would you recommend XXX facility to family and
friends?
- Were you satisfied with the work performed on your vehicle?
- On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being best, how would you rate the cleanliness
of the facility?
- On the same scale, how satisfied were you with the way you were treated
by the employees?
By looking closely at the questions, you can determine why they are asked.
For example, we can create reports by employee using the last question. We can
create a report on the overall customer satisfaction using the first question.
And we measure specific elements of the service experience with the middle two
questions. This allows us to get a fairly comprehensive view of the customer
experience with a short survey.
Over the course of time, the data becomes statistically significant. In other
words, you can say with a high level of confidence and credibility, that
customers that come to my shop have an X level of customer satisfaction. You can
then look at performance over time and trends, and set company goals and
programs accordingly. All of these outcomes can have a tremendous positive
effect on employee performance.
CSI for the Organization
Possibly the greatest benefit of an accepted and established CSI program for the
organization is that everyone knows they are accountable every day for every
job. Administered correctly by management, this fosters a culture of friendly
performance and willingness to improve.
Chris Wyborny, COO of Ramona Tire explains, “It’s a very strong motivator,
truly. Our employees are all very interested in the numbers. Your peers are a
very strong motivational factor. CSI measurement is an integral component to
continually raising the level of our performance in all of our facilities every
day. It’s part of our corporate culture.”
For managers and owners, there’s little better than a motivated work culture.
CSI reports should provide much more than that, however, in the form of accurate
and organized data. There are various uses for such information, including:
- Individual coaching and review sessions. By using actual customer
comments and examples of situations where management has identified as a
need for improvement, the conversation is more constructive and less
threatening.
- Group review sessions. Research indicates that performance
increases when incentives are tied to both group and individual goals.
Having a group CSI number to shoot for and associated incentive improves
teamwork.
- Employee recruitment. Show your prospective top performers that
you care enough about them to consistently monitor the performance of both
the employees and the company. Explain the incentive program.
Most reputable CSI companies offer reporting online and updated daily. This
means you and your employees can get can get daily feedback on the jobs you just
finished.
Owning or managing a business has never been so rewarding and at the same time
so challenging as now. With technological advances, the potential for growth has
never been greater.
In the end, however, it all comes down to people. If you can leverage the
resources of your people to outperform the competition, while making it a
rewarding experience in the process, your business will thrive.
Editor’s Note: John Webb is Sr. Vice President, Marketing for CSi Communicator.
He can be contacted at
jwebb@csicommunicator.com; 800.343.0641 x 104 or
www.csicommunicator.com.
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