Step 1: SIPOC analysis
The first step involves performing a SIPOC analysis – SIPOC is the abbreviation for Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer. With a SIPOC, the connection between the supplier and the customer is mapped using the primary process. This makes it clear to what extent value is delivered to the customer and what the role is of different departments.
This is particularly interesting if there is a chain process and the departments deeper in the chain have no idea what contribution is or is not being made to the customer.
Step 2: Voice of the customer
The ‘voice of the customer’ provides insight into customer satisfaction with the services and products. There are several methods to find out the voice of the customer. In the customer arena, a customer is invited and interviewed by an independent third party where the sales people sit in a circle around the customer and listen to the complaints and compliments. The interviewer deepens the conversation and many good lessons can be learned from this.
The one-on-one conversation can then be used to deepen the outcomes of the customer arena together with the customer and to understand exactly what pain and need there is. The outcomes of these sessions are input for the next step.
Step 3: Affinity Diagram
Using this diagram, you can collect large amounts of data (ideas, opinions, themes) and organize them into groupings based on their natural relationships. For example, a natural relationship could be that there are growing digital needs or that a new younger target group is emerging for the product, which means that it needs to be adjusted.
The affinity diagram is used to group ideas generated through brainstorming. The input from the customer arena is used to brainstorm about new services and products that fit well with the latent customer needs.
Step 4: Kano model
The results of the affinity diagram are divided into three categories:
- Musts: the things you need to meet basic customer demand;
- More is better: if you have more of this, this leads to higher customer satisfaction;
- Delighters: these are the product features that distinguish you from the competition and make you unique.
Then make choices about getting the basics in order so that the customers are satisfied. Choices are also made about investing in distinctive assets (Delighters) so that customers stay and you can attract new customers.
Step 5: Quality and KPIs
Only after you have a good picture of the customer can you focus on the people. In our experience, sales people hate being controlled. Freedom is often a reason to want to work in sales. Naturally, the organization also wants to understand how many new customers will be coming in so that production and services can be adjusted accordingly.
In this last step we set up a dashboard in such a way that both the sales people and the management on the one hand keep energy to report and on the other hand receive sufficient information to be able to act in a customer-oriented way. The careful selection of KPIs provide the core information needed to keep customers satisfied and attract new customers.
This is possible because the previous four steps have made it very clear what is really important and what hardly contributes to the customer. The dashboards are now being used effectively and usefully. Our experience is that this contributes very well to the cooperation between sales people and other organizational units. It becomes a control tool that ensures internal connection and external sales results.
With this approach, the basis for achieving sales success has been laid. At HillFive we have successfully completed these steps for several sales organizations.