Lance B. Coleman recently published a book titled The
Customer-Driven Organization: Employing the Kano Model, and I spoke with him about
its content. My main question was: “Why is meeting customer needs no longer
enough?” Here is his full response:
In an expanding global economy having international
competition, meeting customer needs is simply not enough. Meeting customer
needs leads to customer satisfaction but does not lead to customer loyalty,
which is what keeps companies in business.
Delighted customers, however, are loyal customers. The Kano
Model developed by Noriaki Kano describes delightful performance as that which
surprises and excites the customer in addition to meeting their basic needs. To
“delight” a customer, an organization or individual must become aware of not
just what is asked for but rather what is needed. They have to look to the
future as inspiration for innovation today.
Quotes from two of our greatest innovators born almost 100
years apart would tend to agree. Steve
Jobs is known to have often said: "A lot of times, people don't know what
they want until you show it to them." Henry Ford is reported to have said:
“If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said 'a faster
horse.'”
Providing delightful service is more than just a nice thing
to do, it is an imperative for business/professional survival both for the
organization and for the individual. What I have tried to share with readers
of my book, The
Customer-Driven Organization: Employing the Kano Model, was
threefold -- why a philosophical paradigm
shift is required to provide truly delightful service, how to practically apply
the concepts espoused by the Kano model, and finally, why one should care to do
so.
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