Customer-Focused Management


Overview/Description
Target Audience
Expected Duration
Lesson Objectives
Course Number


Overview/Description
Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, is reputed to have said, "There is only one boss – the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company – from the chairman on down – simply by spending his money somewhere else." Effective quality management processes focus on the customer. In today's global marketplace, customers have more choices than ever before. To achieve success, it is vital for enterprises to accurately identify the wants, needs, and expectations of their customers. This course explores the relationship between the treatment of internal customers and the impact on external customers. It examines techniques used to identify and segment external customers, while anticipating customer priorities, needs, and expectations. Strategies for incorporating customer service principles are also analyzed.

Target Audience
Corporate directors of quality, quality managers and executives involved with quality at the organizational or departmental level within an organization.

Expected Duration (hours)
2.5

Lesson Objectives

Customer-Focused Management

  • identify key concepts in the customer-supplier value chain
  • identify a definition of quality level agreement (QLA)
  • identify ways to energize internal customers
  • sequence the steps in a process for working with external customers
  • recognize examples of segmentation variables
  • identify best practices in customer identification and segmentation
  • identify the advantages and disadvantages of using surveys, interviews, and focus groups to capture the voice of the customer
  • identify the steps involved in the QFD approach to capturing and translating customer requirements
  • identify the characteristics of an effective complaint-handling system
  • identify the steps involved in customer value analysis
  • identify steps for improving customers' perceptions of quality customer service
  • recognize examples of the core principles of good customer service
  • identify how to manage multiple customers
  • identify the ways of dealing with conflicting customer requirements and demands
  • Course Number:
    oper_04_a09_bs_enus