The Benefit of Year-to-Year Benchmark Tracking

Client Issue

Our client, a medium-sized, family owned manufacturing company, that recently turned 80, wanted to do a better job of monitoring the changing needs, preferences and market conditions of its customers and employees. The manufacturer had made a transition from one family to another, and the new owners (family) wanted the organization to be more market-driven and employee-engaged than under the previous leadership. Their hope was that by improving the way customers and employees were being cared for they would in turn increase profits, reduce debt and grow the organization to a new level. All this took place more than a decade ago!

BDD Services in Action

It may sound unusual for a BDD Services in Action “flashback,” but this client was looking for something unique and the rewards of their efforts have paid off handsomely. Business Development Directives created a detailed customer satisfaction study that examined the brand image, product quality, customer satisfaction, sales and marketing preferences, the decision-making process and the competition. This survey has been used as a yearly benchmark study for the past decade. In addition, BDD developed a 15-item employee scorecard that measured employee attitudes, work environment, job satisfaction, pay and benefits, internal communication channels, supervisors, the culture and much more. The employees were also asked to fill out a customer survey to predict the way they felt customers would respond to the questions. Their answers were then compared to the actual responses received from the marketplace, providing a “gap analysis.”

The Results

Over the course of a decade, this client has become a very market and employee focused organization. Some things that have occurred during the ten years of these studies include: witnessing a brand new competitor emerge from nowhere and in just three short years, become the largest industry challenger; quality has remained at the focal point, differentiating this client from its competitors; in the past two years, the decision-making process has changed drastically, communication efforts with the customer are now conducted how and when most customers prefer; and despite the fact that at one time the client thought of dropping the company newsletter because of cost concerns, the publication now is viewed as the leading periodical for their industry. Internally, employees have been gaining significant experience regarding their skills and expertise, based on the research, the organization’s management has instituted an employee 401K program, implemented a “flex-time” program, started a diversity initiative and have included an “English as the Second Language” program; all of these initiatives have helped to reduce turnover and increase revenues.

From an outsider’s perspective, it is fun to watch new ideas emerge from this organization and see how the management team addresses and “tweaks” specific items brought out in the research. Case and point, two years ago inside sales efforts ranked as one of the lowest scoring items on the survey. After implementing an initiative to address the issue, this year the company scored extremely high marks in this category. Through their initiatives, they have reduced lead times by four weeks, doubled sales, reduced debt, reduced employee turnover and have made a recent acquisition of one of their biggest competitors. This company enjoys the success of knowing on what to focus, when to focus and how much to focus. And it knows this because it’s tracked every year!