Guest post by Amy Gamble, Vice President, Managed Document Services, Global Service Delivery Excellence, and Barbara Von Bergman, Xerox Global Program Manager
We know how important it is to stay connected with customers and act quickly and responsively when they raise an issue or make a suggestion. However, traditional customer service surveys skew towards analysis – not action. Survey results typically often categorized and generalized before being moved up the chain of command to be analyzed and decide what’s wrong. By the time a plan of action has been sent back down the line, critical time has elapsed, and customer-specific issues are lost in the process. As a result, a customer remains unsatisfied.
With something as important as customer satisfaction on the line, you have to act quickly. The ideal solution is an early warning system that alerts you to customer issues and feedback in real time and provides direct details and input. This is the model Xerox uses to deliver a combination of technology and personal touch through Sentinel Customer Satisfaction Assurance.
An Easy Way to Check In
Xerox Sentinel sense-and-respond technology proactively reaches out to end users to take the customer’s pulse at the front lines of daily business. Organizations that use Xerox equipment and services receive a Sentinel check-in via e-mail, which can be customized to the business. The communication goes to as many users as possible, so anyone with a problem has the opportunity to raise their hand. This also gives a deeper view of actual customer satisfaction across the organization.
The patented Sentinel feedback monitoring system opens a 24×7 channel to collect user feedback and identify and fix unresolved problems swiftly and effectively. Above all, the customer satisfaction assurance system is designed to spark action.
This simple, two-way communication tool lets end users share problems needing immediate action, suggestions for improvements, and even compliments. It establishes a consistent, direct link between your employees who touch products and services, and the problem solvers dedicated to customer satisfaction. It’s also a learning tool for Xerox, because it spotlights Service Delivery problem areas and reveals positive service practices. For a company like Xerox, capturing dynamic feedback directly from end users is immensely valuable.
From Action to Success
Sentinel isn’t a survey, but a communication tool geared for action. It only takes a few minutes to respond to emails in the point-and-click, web-based environment, making adoption and regular use easy and that much more likely. The email check-in asks one simple question, such as: “Do you have any problems that Xerox has not solved to your satisfaction?” Customers use their own words, not forced choices that don’t allow people to say what they mean.
Whenever an end user signals a problem, Sentinel sends a message directly to Xerox for action. Over half a million end user comments from 600+ accounts have been routed to 1,000 Xerox Service Delivery professionals through Sentinel. Input covers all kinds of topics, including equipment, helpdesk and consumables.
End user responses automatically go to the Xerox Service Delivery professional who can fix the problem or learn from the comment. End users’ problems get solved quickly with little effort on their part. “Before, problems would fester into customer dissatisfaction and frustration,” said one Xerox Services Operations Manager.
Success requires a closed-loop sense-and-respond program. To ensure resolution and closure, Sentinel won’t close an incident or problem report until the customer confirms it’s been solved. This unique combination of technology, personal attention and accountability triumphs over customer frustration and dissatisfaction.
I work in advertising and while we can interest and entice our audience with words and pictures, none of that matters if there’s an inherent problem getting in the way of customer satisfaction. We are also in an age when no one wants to spend time reading anything more than a paragraph (I hear this in focus groups all the time.) With Sentinel gathering this information with one short question and acting upon it immediately, so much can be accomplished to keep customers satisfied.