Page 9 - Buzz Magazine

Customers told u
how they see us
Now we know how to become a better business.
u
s
s
CUSTOMER SERVICE
All of Saint-Gobain Sub-Saharan Africa’s businesses performed above the norm compared with
their competitors according to the recent benchmark survey conducted for business-to-business (B2B) manufacturing industry in Africa, but there is room to improve.
The rst of what will become an annual Saint-Gobain Sub-Saharan Africa-wide survey shows that customers see Saint-Gobain as the place to come for products of the right quality and price, but poor delivery is undermining this good reputation.
Survey results showed that customers experience a lack of feedback, poor administration and poor execution on logistics service.
With increased market competition, these failures by Saint-Gobain impact negatively on the company’s reputation and on customers’ competitiveness, helping Saint-Gobain’s competition to gain an advantage..
“This cannot be the way we carry on our business into the future. Customers need the right stuff from us, at the right price, at the right time,” said David Anderson, General Delegate and CEO, Sub-Saharan Africa
“The survey shows that customers
want us to maintain our product quality and keep giving them the right advice, and also to keep offering them prices that keep them competitive. What
they are unhappy about is that we are not as good as they would like us to be at getting what they need to them on time.”
Fortunately, initiatives such as the e-POD (electronic proof of delivery) and EDI (electronic data integration) projects will both do a lot to improve this. You can read more about them in the
story about the RTM (route to market) collaboration platform’s activities on page 7.
Sound methodology
Vishal Devan, Head, Supply Chain, said: “The survey comprised qualitative, in-depth interviews and quantitative measures, using a global professional survey company in order to give us a credible view of what our customers think about us.”
He emphasised: “What also makes this survey so valuable is that we sampled the whole Saint-Gobain customer base. We have done research on individual brands before, but never before on all the business units across the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa.”
Things t
The survey pinpoints the top ve factors to improve. Together, they will give Saint-Gobain the most signi cant improvement in customer satisfaction and loyalty:
w Better handling of complaints and
queries;
w Con rmation of orders and regular
progress updates;
w Quick turnaround time (deliveries,
stock availability);
w Understanding of project needs and
requirements (non-transactional); and w Accommodating last minute requests.
Saint-Gobain Sub-Saharan Africa
is building a customer strategy based on the results of the survey . It will, to a large extent, complement the existing product strategies and departmental initiatives. Its main purpose will be
to add emphasis to the customer experience element.
“Saint-Gobain aims to ensure that the customer remains at the heart of all we are doing as a business,” Vishal summed up.
“It’s a journey, and to complete it, we need everyone in the company to play their part. Without you, we can never achieve our business vision.” w
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od
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CUSTOMER nEED VS. S-G DElIVERy
Customer need
“Right price”
“Right stuff”
“Right time”
S-G Delivery
Poor Excellent
Pricing
Products & Services Order Processing Communication Business Consultant Invoicing & Billing
w Market related
w Cheapest possible
w Product quality
w Product range
w Technical speci cations w Industry certi cation
w Enough stock
w On time delivery
w E cient documentation w Well planned
SUMMER 2016 | BUZZ | 9