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Understanding customer requirements involves knowing how the product or service performs in the hands ofthe cu stomer. This information can bestbe obtained through direct observationof customers own experiences of thepro duc t o r service in every stage of itslife. For example, how is it packed orinstalled? How is it used? What domaintenanceand servicing people d o t okeep it working?Meeting and then exceeding custom er requirements gives the compe titive edge in all aspects of business. Inbusinesses that provide very similar

products or services this provides anessential differentiation in the marketplace. An example of this is the workdone inthe financial services sector [1] bythe National Westminster Bank. Itrecognised th at the services offered bythe major banks, such as deposit andcu rren t accounts, loans, ove rdrafts , etc.,all appeared ve ry similar to the ir pote ntial customers. They decided that theattribute they would offer in additionwas quality o f service.The cycle begins with customerrequirements. Market research shouldfind exactly what the customer wants,not wh ether we can sell wha t we havealready designed. Too often companyma rket research is directed at in formation on image or sales volume ratherthan finding out if customers are beingsatisfied,and what it is customers want.IDENTIFY YOUR CUSTOMERSA good way to begin a qualityimprovement programme is to talk toyou r customers about their perceptionsof you and their needs. This is a goodteam activity designed to get commitment to action and focus on the op po rtunities available. The team s first task isto identify you r customers.You will need to segment your customers in various ways. The usualchoices are location, business type,order size, overall volume of businessand their use of your competitiors.

British Airways did exactly this prior toits Customer First programme by segmenting and identifying its passengersprofiles. When some businesses do thisthey have to split down further into

customers andusers. A n exam ple of thiswould be food processing where thecustomeristhe store b ut the user is theshopper.The next thing to identify are yourcontacts within the customer s organisat ion. PA uses a domainal map(Fig. 1) to identify contacts and theproducts o rservices that they get. Theseare always more than you think. This willhelp to identify the topics for discussionand it should cover all aspects of therelationship - no t just those directlyrelated to the product or service yousupply.A useful technique at this stage is toanalyseyou r complaints data and use thisas afocus for discussion. Talk specificallywith customers about our last problembut bew are - do no t seek to justify it,your customers are not interested inyour problems.PL N THE CUSTOMER STUDYMany ways are open to people wh owant to find out about custom er satisfac

tion.Personal interviews, where teammembers make appointments withtheir customers and ask themquestions. The advantage of thismethod is thatonce on the customer spremises it is usually possible tointerview a selection of people

involved with all aspects of thebusiness.Focus groups, where ateam memberconducts a structured group interview with about eight people at thecustomer s site. This m etho d gives agood o verview and allows people tobuild on othe rs ideas.Customer days, in which manycustomers are invited to a seminar o rpresentationand attend grou p discussions on quality .Telephone surveys, where the interviewer conducts a structured interview w ith the customers.Paper surveys, in which selectedcustomers are senta questionnaire inthe postMystery caller, whe re a team mem ber puts himselfin the position of thecustomer and tries to obtain yourproduct or service. Have you evertelephoned your own company toseethe response you get?

The focus fo r this should be identifyingwhatis impo rtant to your customer andhow good your customer thinks you areat providing it. Get your customers torate your performance on a scale of0- 10 , in both areas.

Using a simple graph,[2]plot averagefigures and use the output to identifyareas for improvem ent (Fig. 2), focusingon areas of high importance and lowsatisfaction.

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BENCH M RKING PERFORM NCEThe standard for a quality company

should be tha t every part of it achievesand maintains superiority in terms ofservice, product and all things ofimportance to the customer.It is no longer enough to be a goodoverall performer. You must identifythe critical competences that differentiate you from the competit ion and bethe best at these. These requirementswill change over time and are verystrongly linked to the com petition.The definition of benchmaking is a

continuous process ofmeasuring a company s prod ucts or services againstdirect competitors or those who areaccepted as leaders with specific functional expe rtise .There is no need to benchmarkagainst someone operating in the sameindustry. For example, a supermarketevaluating food distribution might lookat acarrie r, such as Federal Express. O rif the subject under examination wasinvoicing, a wholesale clothing suppliermight look at a manufacturer of

domesticelectrical products. Xe rox wasapioneer in this, comparing the d ifferentparts of its business with leaders inspecific functions.The purpose is to provid e the necessary information for a company to setperformance goals to reach leadership,and to plan to achieve it. As part ofmeasuring customer satisfaction youcan talk to your customers about whois best in the various specialisms andabout what makes them best. Custom er days and Focus groups are goo dways to do this.Other sources of information mayinclude:

Financial reports Market research Media Staff employees Tra de associations Field personnel Outside agenciesW hat you are trying to find out is:

Are others p roviding be tter satisfact ion,and if so, by ho w much?

W hy are they better? W h a tcan you learn fro m them? H o w can yo u apply it to yourselves?Using external benchmarks in this wayguards against introspection and complacency, w e re OK - wh y change?

FUTURE REQUIREMENTS N DCUSTOMER S TISF CTION

To mo rro w s successful companiesrealise tha tas we ll as knowing, meetingand exceeding today s requirements,they will have to anticipate the needs ofthe future . Th e continuous spiral(Fig. 3)o fincreasing customer requirements is acornerstone of total quality and cont inuous improvem ent.PA s recent studytou r of corp orate USA and Japan[3]highlighted the ability of successfulcompanies to match rising customerexpectations.Companies thatplan their future withtheir customers m ake it more likely thatthey w ill be the suppliers of the service.There are many ways to achieve this.Running customer days can be a veryuseful way to begin. Forecasting techniques such as Delphi,[4] which uses areiterative method, or other marketresearchmethods will all give clues to the

future. Remember not to be restrictiveinyo ur questions. Offbeat answers mayprovide the spark to ignite the nichemarket ofthefuture.

INTERN L CUSTOMERS RE RE LComplete customer satisfaction isonly possible when the re is full informa tionabout customer requirements in thehands of anyone and everyone wh o hasan influence on h ow they are me t. This

is tru e f or internal customers as we ll asexternal. Every relationship within thecompany is a customer-supplier relationship to which the policy Custom erFirst should be applied.

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The customer/supplier chain (Fig. 4)goes fro m external supplier to e xternalcustomer, yet the role of individuals aslinksinthe chain to the end customers isoften not clearly recognised. A n internalcustomer may not be treate d as a realcustomer, b ut as just another d epartment which can adapt if we have aproblem. Internal customers arereal.Meeting their requirements is an allimp ortan t con tribution to satisfying ourcompany s customers.

Establishing requirements, agreements and measures of customer satisfaction for internal customers canbecome a driving force for qualityimprovement. Internally, many problems go unsolved because no oneknows they are problems. Requirements are often not explicitlystated andagreed andmeasures are not set. Peopleseldom take the time to put these inplace. Getting each link in the chain(Fig. 5) right is central to satisfying theinternal and external customer,

Asking simple questions like: W h o are your internal customers? Do yo u kno w their requirements?

How are changes in requirementscommunicated? Are there written agreements? H ow do y ou measure success?

Can get people thinking about internalcustomer satisfaction and qualityimprovement.On e ve ry successful way to do this isto get an internal customer/suppliergroup together and, using two rooms,geteach group to brainstorm the pro blems they have with the other group.Then bring the tw o groups together todiscussthe output. This gets thingsou t inthe open very quickly and often allowsmany small problems to be resolved. It

also provides a forum for agreeingrequirements and m easures.Ano the r technique useful in measuring internal customer satisfaction is toclearly focus the thinking by asking fourbasic questions:

W hat do w e think we do W hat does our boss think we do? W ha t d o ou r customers actuallywant? W hat do we really do?

Only where allfou r responses overlap iscustomer satisfaction being delivered.Th e n on-overlapping areas areoppor-tunities for improvement. Afte rall - if adepartment is not doing what itscustomers w ant, wh at is it doing?By getting it righ t first tim e internallyand meeting internal customer needs,the whole customer/supplier chainfocuses on meeting the needs of theexternal customer and providingcustom er satisfaction.

C O N C L U S I O NIf things are right, customers will bethe first to n otice. Mo re w ill come backagain and again to use the products andservices provided. The only way toknow this with certainty is to go back andask them - until everything is right.Companies that do this and use it as aspur to improvement know that qualitypays.

REFERENCES1. P.Goodstadt, Banking on Quality , QA News14(11), pp. 462-465.2. K. Potock and D. Saunders, Quality ServiceUsingCustomer esearch1988 ASQC.3. A W ay o f Life in Corpo rate US A and Japan ,Report of the PA Consult ing Group 1988

Tour.4. R.Taylor Using the Delphi Method ,BusinessOct-Dec 1984.

BIBLIOGR PHYPA Consult ing Group, H ow toTake PartntheQuality Revolution A Management Guide.

Dr Mike Asher has had continuous experience inquality and technical manageme nt since 1977. Aftera v rietyofsenior appointments, ending s oper tionsexecutive of Chloride Europe, he joined the PAConsulting Group and is now a senior consultant inthe Total Quality Managemen t Division. He is aFellow of heInstituteofQuality Assurance and apart-timelecturer for theIQAon qu lity costsa nd statisticalprocesscontrol.Dr Asher may be contacted at PA Consulting Group,Fountain Court Fountain Street ManchesterM2 2FE, UK Tel: 061) 236 4531).

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