FAST TRACK TO CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TRANSFORMATION IN DSV a better customer dialogue is the shortest way to future business success
Having satisfied customers is everyone s responsibility How likely are you to recommend DSV to a friend or colleague? 4
Theme Customer Service Most large companies conduct annual customer satisfaction surveys. DSV asks 200 different customers every day all year round. And reacts PROMPTLY to any signs of dissatisfaction! This is our first structured effort to improve relations with existing customers, says René Falch Olesen, DSV. The immediate reaction is what makes this such as strong tool!, says Wolfgang Frank, DSV. It is actually only a pilot project, but there is every indication that a global rollout is just around the corner: daily gauging of the level of satisfaction among hundreds of customer relations with a view to immediate action if the survey gives negative results. At DSV we talk a lot about new business and organic growth, i.e. growth without acquisitions of other companies. But the only way to achieve our growth targets is to become better at retaining existing customers. Otherwise, we re just replacing customers, is the provocative assertion of Rene Falch Olesen, Chief Commercial Officer, DSV. Satisfaction reflects growth On 2 June 2014, the first 200 online questionnaires went live for customers in the Road and Air & Sea divisions. It must be possible to complete the questionnaires within two minutes, and the survey is currently set up as a pilot project in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the UK. The system automatically ensures that each customer is only contacted once every quarter. This broadly based daily customer satisfaction survey, which results in a Net Promoter Score (NPS), was preceded by two surveys last autumn when 1,200 customers pinpointed DSV s sore points: dialogue and communication with customers. Net Promoter Score has gradually become a popular management tool for measuring customer loyalty, and the score allegedly stands in direct proportion to growth in turnover. The higher the NPS, the higher the organic growth. For every day of the survey, we get an ever more precise picture of our customers overall satisfaction, which is essential for keeping them in DSV. A customer with a negative view of our service is a customer on the way out of the store and will definitely not recommend us to others. Conversely, we know that a customer satisfaction improvement of 4 NPS points corresponds directly to roughly 1% higher turnover. If we can increase our Net Promoter Score is an online method for gauging customer loyalty. By asking the question: How likely are you to recommend this company to a friend or colleague, you get a clear picture of how the customers experience the company. Categories of responses: Promoters (score 9-10) are enthusiastic customers who will keep buying and recommend the company to others, fuelling growth. Passive (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers vulnerable to competing offerings. Detractors (score 0-6) are dissatisfied customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth. The company s NPS is derived by taking the percentage of respondents who are Promoters and subtracting the percentage of Detractors. customer loyalty by just 10%, it will generate several hundreds of millions of DKK in additional turnover, René Falch Olesen says. Alarms The method of changing the negative image is to react promptly to low ratings. Every time a customer ticks the negative end of the scale, an alarm goes off at the responsible account owner who immediately contacts the customer to correct any issues. The immediate reaction is what makes this such a strong tool!, says Wolfgang Frank, Head of Business Innovations & Systems, DSV. He describes how individual account owners have received a toolbox for getting more or less dissatisfied customers back on track to dialogue. We ve defined processes and procedures for different types of alarms, such as from more or less dissatisfied customers, and the account owners then have to find out what is required to improve the service. This could involve changing an inexpedient process or behaviour from a DSV employee or business partner. A measurement will not change anything in itself. Where we create value is by following up on and dealing with any complaints, says Wolfgang Frank. Each country has also appointed country customer success managers, tasked with ensuring a swift and efficient reaction to the alarms from the individual account owner. At the same time, an overall global customer success manager has been appointed to ensure that the NPS score moves in the right direction 5
Theme Customer Service Continued: Having satisfied customers is everyone s responsibility and provide input for strategic development. If a service consistently performs poorly in a country, for instance, he will arrange for the IT or Product Development departments to give priority to improving the actual service. The ultimate criterion of success for DSV s Global Customer Success Manager is to constantly The customer wants to be appreciated Andreas Polychronakos, Andreas Polychronakos, DSV Air & Sea GmbH, received a Net Promoter Score of 6 from a less than satisfied customer, a detractor, whereupon the account owner contacted the sender within two hours. The response turned out to be based on a misunderstanding, but the quick reaction helped reinforce the good relation: The customer: This is the fastest reaction to a customer survey I ve ever seen very impressive! We re very pleased with our contact persons and have been so for going on ten years now! Andreas Polychronakos: As our pilot survey also showed, it s essential for customers that they are recognised and appreciated. Therefore, this was a very positive experience. The survey comprises a total of four questions ( it must not be too long ), and DSV measures the satisfaction of not just key individuals but all customer relations. We can detect variations in our measurements instantly and it provides us with far more detailed knowledge, says Wolfgang Frank, supplemented by René Falch Olesen: This way, we get input from all our customers. We would like to see trends before we enter into a deeper dialogue with customers and take specific action on the information obtained. The customers often see the same strengths and weaknesses, which is a powerful tool for product development, but it can also be used internally to move the organisation in the right direction. Focus on one DSV This is our first structured effort to improve relations with existing customers. Our sales previously focused mainly on new areas and new accounts, and we have neglected service account management for small and mediumsized customers somewhat. We re talking millions of customer relations that require attention if you want to grow, says René Falch Olesen, while also mentioning the desire to promote DSV as one company: We must do whatever possible to become closer as an organisation and leave the customer with the impression of us being one company. An element in this project is to improve our internal interaction to improve customer overlap between individual divisions, he says. The ten largest in the world in 2013 Company Turnover, USD millions 1. DHL Logistics 36,876 $ 2. Kuehne + Nagel 22,575 $ 3. DB Schenker Logistics 18,879 $ 4. C.H. Robinson Worldwide 11,070 $ 5. CEVA Logistics 8,517 $ 6. DSV 8,138 $ 7. Panalpina 7,289 $ 8. Dachser 6,475 $ 9. Expeditors International 6,072 $ 10. SNCF Geodis 6,068 $ increase customer satisfaction in terms of NPS, which consequently reflects increased customer loyalty. High degree of detail NPS measurements are quite common, but whereas many choose to conduct the survey once a year, DSV has made it a daily feature which allows for ongoing trend monitoring and immediate intervention in case of problems. 6
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