SALES/AFTERSALES /SUPPORT

Keep in touch with your customers.

Customer satisfaction is your critical success measure, a yardstick. Everybody in manufacturing has his or her customers. It makes no difference whether the customer is the next position on the assembly line, another factory department, another factory in the Product Division or another Product Division, an OEM customer or a sales organisation. It is essential to remain fully informed about how the customer rates you and the problems which exist at his/her end. A regular reporting system should, of course, be maintained, but there is no substitute for personal visits and personal contacts. Very often the most valuable information does not arrive on paper, social media or via electronic means.

Please note: It is a well known fact that the customer may not know what their ideal product or service is, but will attempt to describe it. This is very dangerous from a design perspective. When asked what do they want they will voice an opinion based upon competing offers - in certain markets this give rise to a 'Frankenstein' product that does not take into account any technical or other compromises.

Any discussion with the Customer must therefore be validated.

The quality of Market Research and Intelligence information used within a business planning process is paramount - If you act upon information which is essentially just hearsay (conjecture) the risk you are embedding within the planning process is large and could spell disaster downstream.

The following graphic indicates a check algorithm which is useful for confirming the validity and robustness of information: