As you know, Six Sigma invented Voice of Customer tool (VOC) to find out exactly what is important to your customer, or what your customer requires for them to keep coming back to your organization.
This is where Six Sigma believes the “value” is measured in your product or service. So you have a product that has special packaging, and that packaging costs extra in production costs and materials as well as labor because it has to be inspected before it is finished going through the process. If you find out that your customers do not like that packaging, would you continue to have it? Probably not, because since it is not adding value to your product, it is now waste.
Reaching out to your customers is essential to the success of your business. Unless special packaging is required for the safety of your product, then any extra processing or materials used that is not important to your customer is waste, and it can happen quickly.
By the same token, for an entirely different reason don’t mess with your original product trying to improve it. The year was 1985, the month was April, and the day was the 23rd. This was the day that will forever haunt the Coca-Cola Company as they introduced New Coke. Needless to say, that dark period is over and we shall not speak of it, but please note the customers never asked for Coca-Cola’s original formula to change; the company just went ahead and decided to make the change. If the customers ask for it or request it, then it is the VOC and you as the business owner are doing your due diligence in keeping a customer-focused business.
Ways to Reach out to Customers
- One-on-One Interviews
- Surveys
- Focus Groups
- Customer Suggestions
- Call Centers/Complaint Logs
For more information on our Lean Six Sigma courses and services, please visit 6sigma.com.
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