Assessing Which Company Departments Are Customer Minded
R&D
• They spend time meeting customers and listening to their problems.
• They welcome the involvement of marketing, manufacturing and other departments in each new project.
• They benchmark competitors’ product and seek “best of class” solutions.
• They solicit customer reactions and suggestions as the project progress.
• They continuously improve and refine the product on the basis of market feedback
Purchasing
• They proactively search for the best suppliers rather than choose only from those who solicit their business.
• They build long – term relations with fewer but more reliable high-quality suppliers.
• They don’t compromise quality for price savings.
Manufacturing
• They invite customers to visit and tour their plants.
• They visit customer plants to see how customers use the company’s products.
• They willingly work overtime when it is important to meeting promised delivery schedules.
• They continuously improve product quality, aiming for zero defects.
• They meet customer requirements for “customization” where this can be done profitably.
Marketing
• They study customer needs and wants in well-defined market segments.
• They allocate marketing effort in relation to the long-run profit potential of the targeted segments.
• They develop winning for each target segment.
• They measure company image and customer satisfaction on a continuous basis.
• They continuously gather and evaluate idea for new products, product improvement, and services to meet customers’ needs.
• They influence all company departments and employees to be customer centered in their thinking and practice
Sales
• They have specialized knowledge of the customer’s industry.
• They strive to give the customers’ “the best solution”
• They make only promises that they can keep.
• They feedback customers’ needs and ideas to those in charge of product development.
• They serve the same customers for a long period of time.
Logistics
• They set a high standard for service delivery time and meet this standard consistently.
• They operate a knowledgeable and friendly customer service department that can answer questions, handle complaints, and resolve problems in a satisfactory and timely manner
Accounting
• They prepare periodic “profitability” reports by product, market segment, geographic areas (regions, sales territories)
• They prepare invoices tailored to customer needs and answer customer queries courteously and quickly.
Finance
• They understand and support marketing expenditures (e.g., image advertising) that represent marketing investments that product long-term customer preference and loyalty.
• They tailor the financial package to the customers’ financial requirements.
• They make quick decisions on customer creditworthiness.
Public Relations
• They disseminate favorable news about the company and they “damage control” unfavorable news.
• They act as an internal customer and public advocate for better company policies and practices.
Other Customer Contact Personnel
• They are competent, courteous, cheerful, credible, reliable and responsive.