Dell Offers VoC Advice to Other Companies

iPerceptions August 8, 2011

498 Views

Define and sell a compelling vision, but be ready to back it up with a solid business case. Everything can be measured, even if you have to come up with new measurements to do so. Don’t sell the vision on faith alone or it will not inspire the same commitment.
Reinforce the idea that by bringing the voice of the customer into your decision making processes, you’re really allowing your customers – your ultimate product experts – to innovate on your behalf and at an unbeatable cost.
Use anecdotes to illustrate, use trends to drive decisions and guide strategy.
1. Define and sell a compelling vision, but be ready to back it up with a solid business case. Everything can be measured, even if you have to come up with new measurements to do so. Don’t sell the vision on faith alone or it will not inspire the same commitment.
2. Reinforce the idea that by bringing the voice of the customer into your decision making processes, you’re really allowing your customers – your ultimate product experts – to innovate on your behalf and at an unbeatable cost.
3. Use anecdotes to illustrate, use trends to drive decisions and guide strategy. The voice of a few very vocal customers, and sometimes that of your senior executives, should not automatically override the trends and insights that come out of rigorous measurement and analysis.
4. Leverage market-tested partners and solutions. Don’t try to save money by building most tools yourself, these will likely be costly ‘savings’ in time and distraction, and the output is likely to be at parity, if that.
5. Never underestimate how willing your customers are to tell you how to improve. It’s up to you to stop talking to them as much and start listening more. What they have to say can chart your path to earning their loyalty for life.

You must log in to post a comment.