According to SSPA research, customer service is a key selection criterion for consumers, with over 50% of these consumers ranking support as one of the top three criteria when making a product buying decision.  Great service and support becomes even more important for commercial customers.  Xerox Corporation considers it to be paramount to customer success, and they are using certification to help make it happen.  In this article, we look at Xerox’s perspective on their recent back-to-back certification, as shared by Bill Steenburgh, Senior Vice President, Xerox Services.

Recently, Xerox earned recognition for their enterprise document management solution customer service and support in North America under the Certified Technology Service and Support program.  This program, jointly developed by J.D. Power and Associates and the SSPA, has recognized Xerox and others with delivering superior technology service and support.  Xerox is the first company to earn this recognition two years in a row, which is quite a distinction. 

Participating in the Process

In order to achieve the certification, Xerox went through a two-phase process.  The first phase was an audit to look at how Xerox runs their support operations.  The second phase was an independent survey of Xerox customers, based on recent support interactions, with results benchmarked against competitors in the same industry. 

In the first phase, Xerox had their support centers put under the microscope.  Over two to three days, auditors physically visited the support centers and reviewed everything, soup to nuts, comparing what they found against a list of support best-practice criteria.  The review included evaluation of areas such as in-house and partner call center operations, call listening, call center metrics, internal talent, agent retention, back end processes, and field operations among others.  Interviews were conducted with first line managers, as well as individual contributors, to confirm the operational processes which had been outlined by senior management.  The audit process was quite intensive. 

I asked Mr. Steenburgh why Xerox chose to pursue the J.D. Power certification.  The following are Xerox’s four reasons, in his words:

1. Improve our processes.  To prepare, we had to internally review our service delivery processes in over 300 separate categories.  We thoroughly assessed ourselves and utilized LSS (Lean Six Sigma) to improve our processes and challenge ourselves where our practices did not align with the processes.

2. External benchmarking and validation.  J.D. Power rigorously audited our processes and viewed evidence.  This audit resulted in an external assessment and benchmarked our strengths and developmental opportunities.

3. Demand Creation.  External validation drives awareness of our service delivery capabilities and creates demand for Xerox products and services.

4. Recognition.  This certification recognizes the excellence in service delivery we provide day in and day out.

The Best Possible Experience

According to Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy, Xerox is squarely focused on their customers. Per Anne, “Do what’s right for the customer – that’s our grounding principle.  We want to help you maximize your investment.”  To support this, Xerox communicates the following four themes through which they focus on their customers:

1. Dedicated to a Great Customer Experience
2. Your Experience, Our Priority
3. Unmatched breadth and depth of support capabilities
4. Convenient, Fast, Reliable, and Responsive

According to Steenburgh, while this certification was awarded to the delivery of service and support, Xerox focuses on the complete customer experience in all of their activities.  This includes the product and service experience, cradle to grave.  All customers will benefit from the improvements which come about from Xerox’s certification.  He says, “The rigorous evaluation to become certified continually raises the expectations for technical service providers to deliver an outstanding customer experience.”

The Business of Customers

Excellence doesn’t come by accident.  It is not achieved by call center agents committing “random acts of CRM” or who are extra-friendly.  Excellence is achieved with careful planning and execution.  Steenburgh attributes Xerox’s success in earning this certification two years in a row to the discipline of Lean Six Sigma.  “(We have) strict adherence to processes and procedures that are continually focused on delivering an outstanding customer experience.  Nothing new was developed for this certification; this is the way we do our business.”

A primary goal of any company should be should be to craft the optimal customer experience at each stage of the customer lifecycle, taking the needs of the customer into account.  Every touch point is an opportunity.  We need to ensure that each customer touch is giving the message we want to give about our products, services, and brand.  This is especially critical for customer service, as it is one of the main points of interaction between company and customer.

How can an organization improve its customer experiences?  Put simply, for each place that customers touch the company, the organization should ask itself what it can do for its customers to help them achieve their goals.   Companies such as Xerox will continue to raise the bar when it comes to customer expectations of technical service and delivery of an outstanding customer experience.  Xerox is in the business of customers.  What business are you in?

About Becky Carroll…………………………………………

Becky Carroll is President and founder of Petra Consulting Group, a strategic consultancy helping companies achieve business growth through lengthening and strengthening customer relationships.  She is also author of CustomersRock!, a blog about companies with great customer experiences and how they achieve them.  An accomplished international speaker with more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Becky has helped her clients bring about success in their customer experience and support strategies, including companies such as HP, Fujitsu, Electronic Arts, and Ford Motor Company.  Prior to founding Petra Consulting Group, Becky was a Senior Consultant with industry-leading Peppers and Rogers Group.  Previously, Becky worked at Hewlett Packard for 14 years including roles as Director of Marketing, UK and Ireland and Worldwide Customer Loyalty Marketing Manager for HP Services.  Petra Consulting Group recently won the inaugural Silver Senet Video Game Marketing CRM award for its work with Electronic Arts. 

For more information, visit Becky’s blog at http://customersrock.wordpress.com, and join in the conversation!  Becky can also be reached at becky@petraconsultinggroup.com or via the website www.petraconsultinggroup.com.