• The joint (organisation/consultant) preparation, coordination, and execution of organisation interviews with key managers to obtain necessary information about possible improvements and future requirements. Understanding the customer base and obtaining feedback from customers is an important factor in maintaining revenue and and profit targets. It also provides a sound basis for ensuring stability and sustainable profitable growth.

Approach

1. Select the interview team.
1. Ensure that those identified to conduct interviews are good representatives of the organisation.  To avoid discussions about current engagements, the interviewers do not have to be the usual contact person for that organisation.  However, the interviewers have to have a clear view of the organisation and the relationship with the organisation key team members and customers.
2. Hold an initial workshop with the interview team members to select customers and identify current customer relations.
1. Define currently offered products or services.
2. Define the different steps in customer contacts, the kind of contact and the frequency.
3. Define the types of customers that an organisation has and which should be invited for an interview. Note that the interviews are not meant to give a representative view on the organisation’s performance, but are merely meant to indicate areas and ways for improvement. Therefore, the most difficult customers should be included, as well as those customers who are thinking about the future.
4. Define the key success factors: what factors, which cover the  customer’s needs or demands, differentiate successful suppliers from not-so-good suppliers.
3. Hold a second workshop with the interview team: “Develop Interview Script”
1. Define the scores for each of the key success factors: what is the organisation’s score, what is the desirable score, and how does the competition score.  Defining these scores before the customers defines how well the organization knows how it is doing.
2. Evaluate selected customers and, if necessary, adapt the list.
3. Develop the interview script.  This could consist of the following:
1. introduction of the interview;
2. introduction of the organisation: products and services offered;
3. general questions;
4. definition and scoring of key success factors;
5. discussion about key success factors as defined by the organisation itself;
6. market trends and developments; and
7. consequences of trends and developments.
4. Ensure that the selected customers are contacted and that appointments are made. Preferably make the appointments by phone and send the customers an invitational letter to confirm the appointment and to explain the context of the interview.
4. Give interview training to the interview team.
1. Train the interviewers team to carefully listen to the customer, to react positively to comments from the customer and to continue asking questions, until suggestions for improvement are given.
2. Ensure that the interviewers have the interview script, with guidelines for the interview.
3. Handout and explain the standardised format for the interview reports.
5. Conduct the interviews in interview teams of two persons, of whom at least one from the organisation (company).
1. Prepare the interviews within the team (what kind of customer are we going to interview and who will do what during the interview).
2. In the interview, show the slides from the interview script to the customer. The interview script in notes pages, complete with guidelines, is only meant to be used by the interviewers.
3. Make an interview report right after the interview.
6. Synthesise the results.
1. After the interviews are complete, analyse your findings to identify:
1. common key success factors;
2. average scores;
3. suggestions for improvement;
4. common future trends and developments; and
5. expectations for the future.
7. Feedback to interviewees
1. Check the interview report with the customer.
2. If necessary, take action as promised in the interview.
1. Inform the customers about your future plans by:
2. sending them a summary of your findings and plans;
3. inviting them to a meeting to show the results and to present your plans.
8. Contact the customers frequently to continue using their input.

Guidelines

Interview Script

Introduction  – 5 Minutes                                                                                 

• Thank you for your time” (If necessary: “is it possible to use more of your time than initially agreed?”)
• Provide an overview of:
• Who we are
• The Customer Profiling method
• Why the information is required
• “Your ideas, wishes, demands and expectations will be used as input to drive performance improvement initiatives.  The focus for this interview will be on issues relating to product & service offering, service levels, customer focus, etc.”.
• Note: refer to the introduction letter as required.
• Ask the customer to introduce themselves and to describe the relationship between them, the customer, and the client organisation.

Overview of the Interview – 5 Minutes                                                                      

• Purpose of the interview: mapping customer ideas, wishes, demands and expectations
• General method:
• Informal, but structured, exchange of ideas with a selected group of customers
• Current operational issues are not viewed as constraints
• Customer contribution – the customer as our consultant
• Contents:
• General remarks
• Assessment of current relationship
• Trends and developments
• Consequences
• “As a result of these discussions, we will take action to improve our performance and, therefore, our relationship with you, our customer”.

The Organization’s Business Vision and Mission Statement – 5 minutes

• “Are you familiar with this Business Vision and Mission Statement?”
• “Do you understand it?”
• “Can you relate to it – does it talk to the issues that you are most interested in as a customer?”
• “Can you suggest any modifications?”

General Remarks – 10 minutes

•  “Is there something missing from the Products/Services that we offer?”

• “Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve our Products/Services to better satisfy your needs?”
• “Have you ever considered moving to another supplier?  Why?  What effect would this have on your business?”
• Are there any current operational issues you would like to discuss with us?  Can you identify any quick changes that we can make to better satisfy you?”

On What Critical Success Factors Do You Assess Your Suppliers? – 30 Minutes

• Define, for the customer, the term Critical Success Factors:
• “Description of what an organisation must excel in—in the eyes of  the customer—to realise the stated Business Vision.   Critical Success Factors are the means by which the general corporate vision is translated into concrete, measurable guidelines that can be acted upon. They are not always defined for the overall enterprise, but can be defined for any business functional or process area of responsibil­ity that is sponsoring a BPI effort.”
• Ask the customer for their top-of-mind critical success factors and the order of priority.
• Ask the customer to score the client organisation’s performance against each critical success factor, on a scale from 1 to 10.
• Ask the customer to score other suppliers against the same critical success factors.
• Ask for comments on the scores: for example:
• “What is the reason for us scoring 7 and our competitor 8, on critical success factor X?” – probe for specific differences, supported by examples, until the difference is explained.
• “How can we improve our score(s)?”

Our Critical Success Factors – 10 minutes

• “These are the critical success factors that we identified.”
• If there are differences with the factors identified by the customer, then ask:
• “Are there any critical success factors from this list that you would like to add to yours?”
• If so, “place in the appropriate priority and score our performance and the performance of competitors”
• Ask for comments on the scores (note examples above)

Trends & Developments  – 10 minutes

• “The following trends & developments were outlined in a workshop with the client organisation:”
• (Insert key trends and developments here).
• “Can you identify any other trends & developments that will influence your relationship with your suppliers”
• “What are the consequences for suppliers; for example:”
• Performance measurement of suppliers
• Changes in supplier selection criteria
• Length of contracts

How Should We React to the Trends & Developments – 30 minutes

• Probe on issues, including the following:
• Products & services
• People, culture & organization
• Infrastructure & technology
• Performance management systems
• Partnerships
• Changes in critical success factors
• “Will the Business Vision and Mission Statement outlined earlier have to change due to the trends and developments”

Concluding Remarks – 10 minutes

• “Are there any other comments that you would like to make?”
• “We would like to thank you again for your co-operation.  The information that you have provided in this interview is very valuable to us.  If you have any further comments in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We fully intend to conduct these kind of interviews again in the future!”