Refocus On Your Customers

By refocusing your attention on your customers, many of your other management challenges may become easier to solve.

Many years ago when I was in college, I worked for a highway construction company during summer vacations. I had the opportunity to try my hand at nearly every possible job. One of the tasks I enjoyed the most was working as an engineer's assistant, setting grades for the excavation work.

This process involved locating an established benchmark or target for comparison purposes, then leveling and focusing the transit to insure accurate grade readings. We would "shoot" a few grades, then recheck the level settings and focus of the transit. Any number of factors could cause the transit to shift and then our readings, in relation to the benchmark, would be off. Failure to periodically recheck the equipment could lead us to set incorrect grade elevations and miss our target.

While reminiscing about that fun summer job, I thought about the similarities between it and our jobs as in-plant managers. We each have an established benchmark—our customers and their satisfaction. We are faced with pressures, deadlines, personnel issues, financial challenges, equipment failures, technology changes and many other factors every day. If we aren't very careful, we can lose sight of our benchmark.

An in-plant manager's primary job must always be customer service. Whether you realize it or not, you are—first and foremost—the customer service and marketing manager for your department. I believe most successful in-plant managers have strengthened their customer focus in the past few years. But I think it's time for us to revisit this area again. Let's check to see what has been working well and where we need to improve. It's time for us to recheck our transits; time for us to refocus on our customers.

Big Changes In The Market

Today's in-plant printing market is remarkably different than it was a few years ago:

• The majority of in-plant customers have the option to go elsewhere for their printing needs.

• They are more quality conscious and price conscious than in the past.

• Customers expect more choices for paper, colors and special effects.

• They want and expect more design assistance and help with desktop technology.

Basically, in-plant customers are convinced that they deserve more convenience, better quality, lower costs and greater service than ever before—and they're right. It is our job as in-plant managers to prove we are concerned with more than just satisfying them. Our customers want to be thrilled with our service.

Survey Your Customers

How happy are your customers with products, services, quality, turnaround time, convenience and price? I am absolutely convinced that, in order to know the answers, we must have a customer surveying technique in place. A brief, written survey, which can be included on a periodic basis with orders, is essential. I suggest the surveys be done on a quarterly basis to avoid making customers feel they are constantly being surveyed.

Monthly telephone surveys of a small group of maybe 20 customers are quite helpful and provide more in-depth answers. E-mail surveys are also easy and inexpensive to develop, and they provide another means to ascertain customer feelings toward your in-plant.

Another good method of getting feedback is to create a customer advisory committee or user group. Select customers representing all parts of your market, including ones who are very supportive and those who are not as supportive. Schedule quarterly meetings of this group and encourage free and open discussions.

Whatever surveying tools you decide to use, remember that your goal is to receive a truthful critique of the in-plant and its products and services. Treat every criticism as an opportunity—even a challenge—to improve.

How do you handle the customer who is dissatisfied with a specific job? Do you argue or make excuses? Do you quote the printing standards? Do you hide behind the proofs? Or, do you try to understand the problem from the customer's perspective?

The old adage that "the customer is always right" should be the rule for customer service—but at the same time heed the warning, "don't give away the store." I encourage our staff to meet immediately and personally with customers and let them air their complaints.

We have found that the vast majority of customers with complaints calm down considerably after they have been allowed to tell their story to us without any interruptions. Once they're through, offer the customer some sort of compensation. A discount is far less expensive than a rerun of the job, and usually that is all it takes. If handled politely and professionally, a potentially confrontational situation can be turned into repeat business.

Staff training is an absolute requirement if you want your department to be viewed as customer friendly. The most important customer service person on your staff is the department receptionist. The second most important are your delivery personnel. Those people speak directly with more customers than the rest of your staff combined. Make sure the receptionist and couriers understand their key role in customer relations.

When you are trying to fill a vacancy for one of these positions insist on previous face-to-face customer service experience. Don't hire anyone without it. Your department's image to your entire customer base is largely influenced by the staff who occupy these positions.

Score Points With Free Gifts

Keep your department fresh in the minds of your customers by passing out memo pads or bookmarks with your in-plant's logo and phone number on them. Customers love free things. Twice a year we print and distribute calendars to every department.

Customers also love specials. That statement should certainly not surprise anyone. But how many times do you offer them specials? Offering seasonal price specials for letterhead, envelopes, carbonless forms or newsletters pleases customers and establishes in their minds that your in-plant is cost conscious.

Some of your customers may do thousands of dollars worth of business with you annually. Establish a volume discounting arrangement where customers earn progressively higher discounts as their purchase volume increases. Our customers earn a 2 percent discount at the $25,000 annual purchase level. This percentage increases to 3 percent at $50,000, 4 percent at $75,000 and, finally, to 5 percent at $100,000 in annual purchases. We notify customers as they reach each discount level. Few commercial printers offer this type of discount structure and it may well make the difference between keeping a job in-house or losing it.

In addition to price specials, customers also appreciate special events. Hold training seminars whenever you acquire new technology. For example, we recently invited several small groups in to show them a new wide-format color printer. Another seminar is scheduled soon for a new process color copier. Every year we receive several calls from customers thanking us for these conferences.

Throw a customer appreciation party or hold a general open house. Plant tours for select groups help you develop a closer relationship with your customers and help them understand the printing process better. Many of the production scheduling problems we face as in-plant managers could be avoided if our customers knew all the steps involved between copy submission and finished publication.

Every in-plant manager knows how important customer service is to his or her survival. We've all heard presentations on this topic for years. I'm not trying to teach new things in this article; I simply want to remind each of you where your emphasis must be.

Your very survival depends upon your customers and how they rate you in relation to your competition. Don't let other parts of your job interfere with this first priority. Refocus your attention on your customers and many of your other management challenges may be easier to solve.

Joe Goss is the director of University Printing Services at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Ind. He is also an IPG Editorial Advisory Board member and a consultant. You can contact him by calling (812) 855-6075 or by e-mailing:

jgoss@indiana.edu