When considering Voice of the Customer (VOC) initiatives in your organization, are you focused and asking the right questions? Lack of direction and unclear communications create results that produce failure for both the organization and their customers. The real goal of any organization is to be profitable, but when we don’t really listen to the end-users of our product or services, failure is the typical outcome. The simple act of not listening has caused the decline of revenue and profit for organizations, that otherwise offer a superior service or product.

Ask a Customer the Right Questions

Customers simply are looking to satisfy basic human needs with our products or services. In today’s digital age, those communication channels are everywhere, coming into the organization through multitudes of channels. In the course of a simple conversation, a customer will easily divulge information that is vital to the success of the organization. The key is asking the right questions to get the conversation flowing.

To ensure success with the VOC program in an organization, there are three questions that will help you focus the research:

1. What do you want to know? – Have a clear understanding of what information you want from a customer conversation.

2. Who do you want to hear from? – Determining the right group of customers that can answer your questions is crucial.

3. What are you going to do with the information? – Understanding how you are going to take action with the information gathered is critical.

Translating the Conversations

Through these conversations, organizations typically gather generic customer needs. They must take those conversations and go on to translate these generic needs into specific items called critical-to-quality requirements (CTQs). To verify that the CTQs are specific enough, the true test is to ask, Can a formula or detailed operational definition be written to describe this need? The needs should be detailed enough that they allow practitioners to align improvement or design efforts with customer requirements.

If you do not understand what you specifically need to know, you run the risk of not learning anything productive or useful to your VOC efforts.

Check out the “Voice of the Customer and CTQ” video >>>

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We have heard it all before. The customer is always right and what the customer says ¦ goes! Yeah well, that is true ¦ to a point. We will do whatever it takes to make the customer happy, but we are not going to change our core operational process because that is what made our company successful. Does this mantra sound familiar?

Changing the Customer Experience

It should sound familiar, because it is what we do. We address customer concerns and bend over backwards to make them happy, in that specific situation. Then, we go right back to doing what we did before. Core policies and processes rarely change, no matter how many customer concerns are focused on them. The view is typical, since the C-Suite understands the deepest detail of what goes on in the business, customers may be complaining, but they are really out of touch with their expectations. In the dance of customer service, we continue to waltz with our customers to make them happy, without changing what is truly making them unhappy.

The fact is, that if we want to make real, substantive change with the customer experience, we must hear the customers and be willing to make changes to our deepest core processes. Sound like a simple thing? Well, it should be, but making it happen is significantly more difficult. Businesses, no matter the size or the years established, must be willing to change things that just irk our customers. Not listening and making real changes costs businesses in many ways. It significantly frustrates and disenfranchises customers in slow moving herds. As the customers move away, businesses then start to feel the financial impact on their bottom line. Lavishing unhappy customers with deals, discounts and groveling is actually a temporary fix to a long term problem. Before you know it, the customer will be tired of your lip service and the freebies you provide just won’t retain their loyalty.

Making Lasting Change

It is time that business must embrace real change when dealing with their customer experience. That transformation must come through deep and significant change happening with core operational processes. A structured VoC (Voice of the Customer) program, SIPOC diagram or Customer Journey Map, managed by trained and experienced Lean Six Sigma professionals, can achieve the desired results.

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Understanding the Value of Capability Analysis

Understanding the true value of the variables in a process can be defined by the capability analysis. The capabilities and value of a process can be determined by comparing the width of the process spread to the width of the specification spread. When a process is capable, the process spread is smaller than the specification spread. When the process is centered and within the specifications, it is more capable of consistently producing product that meets customer expectations. The benefits is that it offers a key measure of performance that is easily translated in a visual representation that is applicable across all industries. Further value of the capability analysis is that it estimates the proportion of product that does not meet specifications. It provides calculations for the percentage of the time your process will fall above the upper specification, or below the lower specification. This can be compared to the yield, to determine how many failures are due to variation (common cause), and how many are due to outliers and mistakes (special cause). It also provides a summary number that explains how capable the process is of staying within the specification limits (known as Cpk and Ppk).

Here is an example:

If we are collecting data on the weight of cereal boxes, and we have to meet specifications between 85 and 92, then you can see below that we will not always meet those specifications. Sometimes the data falls below 85 (about 2.45%), and sometimes the data goes above 92 (about 7.1%). Therefore, this process is not capable. It will fail to meet specifications about 9.55% of the time. We should expect a yield of only 90% unless we reduce variation, shift the average, or work with our customers to define new specification limits.

If the process specifications were 80 and 100, then you can see below that the process would be capable. There is no chance that we will have data outside the specifications. This is performing close to a Six Sigma level (if the nearest specification is at least six standard deviations away).

Bottom line, it summarizes a significant amount of information in one chart.

Finding Value for Customers

Statistically speaking, you are assessing the capability to make this highest quality product by comparing the width of the variation in your process with the width of the specification limits. The capability analysis is crucial to achieve this with your project. By using this tool, you will be able turn your efforts from just meeting established requirements to applying change that reaps true quality improvements that are consistent. Ultimately, you will be able to offer the highest amount of quality and customer satisfaction from your process with the lowest amount of variation.

Capability Analysis is a valuable tool across the Lean Six Sigma practice.  If you would like to learn more about Capability Analysis, consider the following items we offer: Histogram Generator (free), Process Capability (Intro and Advanced) eBook (Shmula Pro members), and Six Sigma training videos (Shmula Pro members). You can also attend a Green Belt or Black Belt training program, or Minitab training class.

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Living the Fantasy

Voice of the Customer programs are crucial to the success of your business. The problem is so many think they know exactly what their customers think and feel. You have been in business for 30 years and do things the same way, that’s what your customers want. Are you sure about that? For many businesses, they are either disconnected from their customers or they live with rose colored glasses when it comes to the voice of the customer. Those same businesses are very quick to deal with a vocal, disgruntled customer. Immediately, they are showered with attention, promises and apologies, then a discount to make up for the upset. The customer walks out and everyone breathes a sigh of relief and pats each other on the back, thinking they have saved another customer. Truth be told, what you think just happened is probably not what the customer thinks just happened. This begs the question: do you really know what your customer thinks about you?

What They Really Think of You

Using a solid Voice of the Customer program, you are going to get to the core of what your customers really think of you. For some, it might just be a bit unsettling. Here are some facts you should keep in mind as you begin your journey down the road of truth:

• 78% of customers have walked out on a transaction because of a poor service.
• On average, loyal customers are worth more then 10 times as much as their first purchase.
• It takes up to 12 positive experiences to make up for one negative experience.
• 91% of frustrated customers will not continue to do business with you.
• 40% of customers expressed that if they could improve one thing, they would improve the human element of the service.

These facts are both enlightening and staggering to some. They should disturb organizations enough to happily engage in a viable Voice of the Customer program that is effective. The days of reactive customer service experiences are over. Your customers expect you to be proactive and anticipate their needs and exceed them!

Listening to the Voice of the Customer

The Voice of the Customer is a process used to capture customer expectations and opinions, then provide world class services and products. The key to a successful Voice of the Customer program is to be extremely proactive, not reactive. This will allow your business to grow with your customer base, anticipating their expectations. These expectations are both stated and unstated. A vibrant program will instill a sense of loyalty and satisfaction towards your brand, in a consistent manner.

Resources

Consider downloading our eBook titled Voice of the Customer and Critical to Quality. Shmula Pro membership provides access to 34 other eBooks and reference guides

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Whether you’re a first time student just learning the ins and outs of the Six Sigma methodology, or have been practicing for decades, our blog here at 6sigma.com is a terrific resource for many topics of interest. From manufacturing principles to the voice of the customer, we’ve listed several popular blogs from the last year:

Great Basic Six Sigma Tools Everyone Can Use

Gathering data is one of the most important things you can do when solving business problems. With this in mind, this posts outlines some great basic Six Sigma tools everyone can use.

[INFOGRAPHIC] What is the DMAIC Roadmap?

If you like visuals and illustrations, be sure to check out this post. This infographic visually depicts the DMAIC roadmap, one of the fundamental steps in the Six Sigma methodology.

Is Your Manufacturing Organization Following the 5 Lean Principles?

Here we show another great infographic, which visually depicts the five fundamental Lean principles. Using Lean Six Sigma tools will cut production costs, increase the quality of your product and give your customers more value for their paying dollar.

VOC and Great Customer Service is a Winning Combination

It’s a known fact: If you’re not pleasing your customer and fulfilling their requirements, you might as well close up shop. There are many ways you can tap into the psyche of your valuable customers, and in this post we outline a couple of methods.

Is your business or organization ready for 2019? Learn about 6sigma.com’s array of Lean Six Sigma training courses. We offer on-site, online, and blended training options that will meet your needs. Check out our schedule today at 6sigma.com!

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The Six Sigma methodology is a process improvement tactic that was originally introduced within the manufacturing space, but has quickly found adoption into higher education. With the concepts of the methodology spreading widely and offering a template for the improvement of efficiency and enhancement of the performance of educational institutions, Six Sigma and its associated tools have proven highly effective in process improvement. We have outlined three effective Six Sigma tools for higher education process improvement.

1. The Project Charter

The project charter, which is also referred to as a business case, project statement or project definition, is a summarization of the objectives, participants and scope of a Six Sigma implementation. The project charter exists for the purpose of communicating the essential details of the project in order to ensure that project sponsors, team members and key stakeholders all understand what the project aims to achieve. Generally, it is drafted before the commencement of the Six Sigma project and helps the stakeholders in the higher education institution in the following ways:

• Providing a high-level understanding of the project, why it is being carried out and the justification for putting it in place
• Establishing the general scope early in the project cycle
• Establishing who the project manager is and their level of authority

The best way to kick off the process of drafting the document is by gathering all the people involved in a project charter development session. These may include client representatives, team leaders, team members and the project sponsors’ representatives.

2. Voice of the Customer

Gaining an understanding of the Voice of the Customer is critical for Six Sigma within higher education. This is a concept that is essential when looking to identify which activities add value and which ones do not.

In the higher education sphere, it is clear that the student is the customer since they are the ones who receive the outcomes of the processes carried out within the institution. Still, it is important to note that the term Voice of the Customer’ has an entirely different meaning with regard to education when compared to the general consumer sphere.

It is important for higher education institutions to deliver quality education that allows the student to function within the wider society. If an individual is able to graduate from the institution of learning but is unable to secure a job or be able to function productively within their capacity, then it does not matter the grades they earned or what they learned quality was not delivered.

3. SIPOC Diagram

SIPOC is an acronym for supplier, input, process, output and customer, and is an invaluable tool that helps to change the thinking and approach educational institutions and their staff take toward process improvement, project management and Six Sigma implementation in general. The tool allows the team to define the problem, outline the process to be improved and provides a method of refining the problem statement before the project is started. Without this definition of the project or process, it is easy for individuals to stumble along aimlessly without achieving the output that is desired.

Process mapping and even process management are impossible to achieve without first having a SIPOC diagram in place as a guide. Any process management effort that does not start with a SIPOC diagram will always have questionable accuracy and unclear scope. The processes within the field of higher education are especially difficult to define, so the use of the SIPOC model ensures that the processes are structured and have a higher chance of providing successful outcomes.

Conclusion

The tools outlined above are among the most important that are used when trying to determine value in the implementation of Six Sigma. In many cases where they have been utilized within the context of higher education process improvement, they have been vital in bringing people in both academic and non-academic functions to pull in one direction toward a common objective.

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VOC: One of the Greatest Six Sigma Tools

Voice of the Customer (VOC) could have saved many businesses. If you aren’t pleasing your customer and fulfilling their requirements, you might as well close up shop now. There are many ways you can tap into the psyche of your valuable customers. Here are a couple:

Direct Customer Comments: This can range from simply asking them to write customer letters, emails, and phone calls (feedback reflected through transcripts from call centers). Then there are also the third party websites.

The best information is received from your actual customers that have used your product or service. Their specificity is crucial to your business, and any feedback coming from your customers to your business is gold. As for third party websites, such as Yelp, just make sure they are reputable. 

Market Research: You could do a one-on-one interview with your customers, or conduct focus groups with people that are inclined to use your product or service. A good point to remember is if you make this sound too formal, your customer might not want to give up his/her time to answer questions.

Surveys: Sending out surveys by email, or even putting a URL on a receipt so that your customer can go to that link on their computer and take a short survey. The problem is that most of your customers won’t do this, even if you say that there is a chance that they could win something. 

Important Note: If you provide excellent customer service, your customer will want to take care of you because he is made to feel like he is very important. Your approach when using the VOC tool is important; if they feel like they are having a conversation with a friend, your customer is more likely to open up and give you a wealth of information.

Learn more about the VOC tool through one of our Lean Six Sigma training classes! Visit 6sigma.com for more information.

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Lean Six Sigma tools have shown their worth in efficiency twofold. One can’t help feel that the inclusion of preventive care at every stage of life was created using Lean Six Sigma tools. It is a fact that Lean Six Sigma started changing the healthcare industry in the early 2000s.

Tools like the Voice of the Customer (VOC) are used in the DMAIC process. It captures the customer’s requirements, and expectations of the product or service. It helps determine what is important to them. This is especially useful when designing a new product or service. Ways to gather this information include:

• One-on-one interviews
• Focus groups
• Customer surveys

The Voice of the Customer tool is extremely valuable, and this data must be in a format that can be easily analyzed so that the team knows what direction they must proceed in with regards given to the rest of the processes.

True Preventive Care in Healthcare Isn’t Available Yet

Imagine a healthcare plan to stay healthy offered to a healthy individual, but instead services are offered once the patient has a heart attack or stroke. Perhaps with the influence of Six Sigma, these changes will happen. Since many of today’s millennials are sticklers for health and well-being, we might start seeing more of these changes getting implemented within healthcare organizations in the next several years. There is still more work that needs to be done.

Interested in learning more about Six Sigma can be used in healthcare settings? Learn more about our Six Sigma training! For more information on our courses or services please visit 6sigma.com today!

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We understand that Six Sigma implementation within a company requires that everyone’s goal be:

1. Increase customer satisfaction
2. Increase efficiency of the processes
3. Lower costs
4. Increase profits

Now remember, the Six Sigma concept of quality has to apply to every process within the company, so everyone has the same high standard.

In the Six Sigma culture, the VOC (Voice of the Customer) is extremely important, as that tells us what exactly is our customer’s needs and requirements. So in our schools, the parents could not only be considered the customers, but could also be considered the shareholders, as they are either paying the fees if it is a private school, or the taxes if it is a public school. The teachers are the employees, or the team who produces the service, which in this case would be educating the students.

Using DMAIC 

Define: In this phase, write down the purpose of the project or assignment, the complete definition, using a process map, what area it will be applied, and the exact goal (desired improvement, benefits). Be as specific as possible. In this definition, you could define the problems such as noise or distractions in the classroom, high absentee rates, etc.

Measure: Conduct data on current condition of the project in which you are trying to improve. This data should be on the emphasis of this project.

Analyze: Here, the analysis is conducted for identifying where in the process is the quality being affected, or where the issue or problem is situated.

Improve: Here you find a permanent solution to the problem.

Control: Maintain the new improved process with the solution by creating protocol and management procedures to be kept and maintained.

One can implement Six Sigma at several levels — both at the professional level within the school system, and at the learning level to teach children how to achieve their goals and maintain high standards.

For more information on our Six Sigma training courses or services, please visit 6sigma.com.

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One of the most important elements of Six Sigma is customer satisfaction, because without it, your business is not doing its job. Yes you heard that right, your business has a job and that is to keep the customers happy and coming back.

Customer complaints, although hard to take, are to be thought of as the voice of the customer and are very important. VOC is to be heard and not ignored, since the customer is frequenting your establishment and spending his or her hard-earned money. They deserve the best your business can offer.

A few important points:

• Listen to what the complaint is (what is the source of the issue?)
• Get your Pareto Chart and determine the problems or causes in a process (Root Cause Analysis)
• Next, get the DMAIC template: Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control

With the Pareto Chart and Root Cause Analysis, you will find out what is causing the issue. When you feel you have found the cause, now it is time to eliminate this issue. If the issue is not eliminated, then your customer will just eliminate himself or herself from your business!

Customer Loyalty

By taking the time to listen to VOC and then taking the time to fix the issue, you will encourage customer loyalty, because the customer feels that they have been heard and valued. Think about it: your customer picked your establishment to spend their money…don’t they deserve to be heard?  Customer loyalty is priceless.

For more information on our Six Sigma training courses or services please visit 6sigma.com.

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If you’re a freelancer, your client is the person who gives you projects. Whether you’re a virtual assistant or a developer, those who contract or subcontract work to you are your clients.

Clients are critical to a freelancer’s business. They have specific needs, and it is your responsibility to find out what your clients’ needs are.

Types of Customers

External: These are individuals who pay for your product or services and who are outside of your business.
Internal: These are colleagues; for freelancers, it would be a business that uses your services on an ongoing basis. They could be a small business that subcontracts work to you.
Regulatory: Any government agency that has specific standards. It is up to you to make sure you abide by those standards.

Sources for Voice of the Customer Feedback

Internal and External Data: Existing data, like product returns, or any company information; perhaps industry experts, competitors or any other data.
Research Methods: Conduct interviews, surveys or focus groups.
Listening to Others: Any customer feedback or observations.

For freelancers, gathering voice of the customer feedback from clients may be a bit more casual, but just as important. While a regular business follows a protocol to gather feedback, and uses set sources to obtain what that business (aka your customer) expects from you, freelancers need to pay close attention to those colleagues and individuals who send work. Treat all your customers like gold, because they are. They are the reason you have a business.

Want to learn more about the VOC tool in Six Sigma? For more information on our courses or services, please visit 6sigma.com.

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As a business owner or manager, it is essential that motivation and inspiration be part of the work culture. Our workplace is made up of a variety of people in many age groups, but when it comes right down to it, everyone is assessed in the same way when it comes down to our work performance.

In other words, we all want to do a great job, and when we do our jobs right, it is great to have that positive reinforcement.

Ways to Motivate Staff

Establish a team environment by encouraging activities within the work week that lend themselves to team effort. Depending on the industry, it can be anything from a staff meeting that reports how time was utilized much better because work was done as a team, to interactive games among employees encouraging a team effort. It seems childish, but it can raise spirits high and lower employee turnover.

Offer enticing compensation such as bonuses, promotions, and time off as a reward. Your employee knows they are being appreciated, so they give it their all, and it is imperative that management does as well. This alone will increase productivity and loyalty.

Remember Kaizen: continuous improvement in small amounts could also be used to keep management from getting complacent. Your staff is a reflection of how you are doing as a manager. You can apply certain Six Sigma tools such as VOC (Voice of the Customer) towards your staff. Ask them what is important to them, and listen so they feel heard.

It will pay off in a loyal, hard-working staff that will make your business a success on many levels!

For more information on our Six Sigma training courses or services please visit 6sigma.com.

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Fast forward to present day. Many businesses are global because of the internet, which includes social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. The size of the business doesn’t matter because even if the business is small, they might have customers in another state or country.

This becomes an obstacle when wanting to fulfill your specific customer’s needs. Let’s face it: if you aren’t giving your customers what they require, your customers will leave.

So knowing the specifics of your customer base (even if they live across the globe) is of utmost importance. Six Sigma’s core of beliefs are based on customers and their requirements.

This infographic shows the many tools that Six Sigma uses for obtaining VOC (Voice of the Customer).

Learn more about our Six Sigma training courses and services.

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