What Drives the SSPA Software Benchmark? (article 5 of 5)
by Service 800, Inc.

The five-week series includes the following articles:

> SSPA Software Benchmark Participant Success
> How Customers Benefit from Benchmarking Efforts
> The Mechanics of Service Performance Benchmarking
> Participants Power the SSPA Software Benchmark
> The 2004 Annual Benchmark User’s Group Meeting

Notes on the 2004 Annual Benchmark User’s Group Meeting

The 2004 Benchmark Users Group Meeting was a great success for participants, the service industry, and SERVICE 800, Inc. Approximately 50 service industry executives gathered at SERVICE 800’s Minneapolis office on July 28 th and 29th to take part in the annual event. Representatives from companies such as bioMerieux, Medrad, Olympus , Orth-Clinical Diagnostics, eci2, IDX, IBM, Canon, Lexmark and Gelco participated in the meeting.

The event opened with introductions by Jan DeMatteo, director of customer relations for SERVICE 800.

DeMatteo also provided an overview of the various benchmark programs administered by SERVICE 800. The company’s mission remains the same: “To provide a dependable, low-cost resource to accurately and confidently measure customer satisfaction such that measurements can be combined into benchmarks for the distinct advantage of service managers.”

Adjusting Industry Benchmarks

The primary purpose of the annual benchmark meeting is to revisit benchmark designs, mechanics, and delivery in an effort to continue to enhance the benchmark. In turn, this leads to higher levels of performance in the respective service industries and greater benchmark participation.

At this year’s gathering, participants reviewed benchmark methods, processes, and standard questions, but did not recommend any changes.

Recommending New Benchmarks

As interest in service performance benchmarks grows, so do the participants’ demands for new and expanded programs. The participants of the users group are responsible for recommending and molding international benchmarks, loyalty benchmarks, and specialized benchmarks such as service type.

This year, the group expressed interest in additional benchmarks for Europe and Asia , as well as various new operational benchmark programs.

SERVICE 800 reviewed other offerings available, including:

• Customer Satisfaction Consulting — A partnership with McNeil & Associates to provide s a low-cost way of turning customer feedback into actionable items .
• Follow-up Programs — Annual, semi-annual, and quarterly efforts that touch a wide variety of services in customer organizations .
• Electronic Interviews — E-mail and web-based customer follow-up is always available .
• Hot Sheet Follow Up — A program whereby SERVICE 800 follows up approximately one week after a hot sheet to make sure the customer issue is resolved .
• Offshore Outsourcing Comparisons — Available when this information is included in the data transfer .

Promoting Mind Share

The sharing of ideas is a favorite meeting segment for attendees. Each year participants engage in a roundtable discussion about the best ways to use customer feedback and benchmark results. This year’s presenters included:

• Ben Stephens of Service Strategies — Presented a case study for a large corporation where structure was added to verbatim customer comments and the improved service metrics that followed .
• Terry Morrison of IBM — Discussed how IBM applies benchmark and satisfaction measurements to assess, coach and compensate IBM PC Company ASPs for the PartnerWorld Warranty Program .
• Bob Schmidt of Medrad — Explained how Medrad uses customer satisfaction measurements and how the measurements were used in applying for and being a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige award in 2003 .
• Frank Brown of Lexmark — Presented the rewards and challenges in rolling out a worldwide customer satisfaction measurement program .

What’s more, meeting contributors discussed other companies that they believe should participate to add even more value to the benchmarks.

Recognizing Outstanding Achievers

An on-going tradition at the annual meeting is to present outstanding service providers with a Service Quality Award. Medrad, Inc. received the distinguished honor. Criteria for the award are stringent and not easily attained. To qualify, a company must:

• Participate in an industry benchmark for five consecutive years .
• Score at or above average industry performance .
• Provide input and energy into the industry benchmarking effort by attending events, such as benchmark users meetings or advanced work sessions .
• Offer input and energy for the on-going evolution of the benchmark offerings .
• Prove its commitment by going beyond basic measurement to advanced measurements and requests for further analysis .

Other Key Activities

2003 research by SSPA showed that a 1 – 5 scale is the most widely used. 59% of companies that responded use a 1 – 5 scale. The next most popular is a 10-point scale, used by 13% of respondents. The study reaffirmed to participants that the benchmark, as is, should remain in place.

The statistics workshop, “Making Your Data Work For You” presented by Dr. William Bleuel, director of the Customer Institute at Pepperdine University , is now available on our web site for participant employees only. A three - to six - month follow-up workshop is also available as a refresher course to test the participant’s use and understanding of the information learned.

A brief discussion ensued about the “Can Spam Act” that focuses on fraudulent e-mails that include unsolicited sales materials and adult content.

SERVICE 800 handed out an information sheet, called “Why Collect Customer Feedback” for technicians to use with customers.

Small break out groups discussed:

• What SERVICE 800 does best .
• How SERVICE 800 can improve .
• Other offerings SERVICE 800 could offer put forth .
• Ideas and changes for next year’s user group meeting .
  

Next Week — Future Communications from SERVICE 800.

To Contact Us — To discuss this topic, any other Benchmark Benefits article, or to provide topic suggestions, please contact Jan DeMatteo at jan@service800.com.

For More Information — For additional information about the SSPA Software Benchmark, SERVICE 800, or other benchmark programs, visit www.service800.com/benchmarkprograms.asp.

About SERVICE 800 — Founded in 1989, SERVICE 800 designs and administrators real-time customer satisfaction measurement programs, helping service organizations follow up with their customers within hours or days of service events. The company utilizes a distinctive follow up telephone interview process along with e-mail, web, and other follow up techniques to measure customer satisfaction. With offices in Minneapolis and London, SERVICE 800 has been measuring customer satisfaction for corporations throughout the world for over a decade.