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National Guard
Black Belt Training
Module 13
Voice of the Customer
(VOC)
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CPI Roadmap – Define
8-STEP PROCESS
6. See
1.Validate 2. Identify 3. Set 4. Determine 5. Develop 7. Confirm 8. Standardize
Counter-
the Performance Improvement Root Counter- Results Successful
Measures
Problem Gaps Targets Cause Measures & Process Processes
Through
Define Measure Analyze Improve Control
ACTIVITIES TOOLS
• Identify Problem •Project Charter
• Validate Problem Statement •Project Selection Tools
• Establish Strategic Alignment •Value Stream Map
• Gather Voice of the Customer & Business •Various Financial Analysis
• Create Goal Statement •Effective Meeting Skills
• Validate Business Case •Stakeholder Analysis
• Determine Project Scope •Communication Plan
• Select and Launch Team •SIPOC Map
• Develop Project Timeline •High-Level Process Map
• Create Communication Plan •Project Management Tools
• Prepare High-Level Process Map / SIPOC •VOC and Kano Analysis
• Complete Define Tollgate •RACI and Quad Charts
•Strategic Alignment
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Learning Objectives
Know the source and type of process/service
requirements
Know why Voice of the Customer is important
Apply the four steps for gathering Voice of the
Customer
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Process Output Requirements
Where do process output requirements come from?
Customers (Voice of the Customer – VOC)
Business (Voice of the Business – VOB)
Stakeholders
Regulations
Suppliers
Others
Process/Service
Supplier Customer External
Product/
A B C Service Those who receive/use the
product/service outside your
Supplier Consumer organization
Internal
Stakeholders “The Next Process is Your Those who may be affected
Bystander by production use of the
Those who have some “stake” in Customer”
the product/service process product/service (e.g.
success or failure pollution)
Management
Dealers
Shareholder
Regulatory Agency
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VOC vs. VOB
Voice of the customer involves understanding both upstream and
downstream process requirements
Often referred to as VOC and VOB
Performance Needs (VOC): Define how the process must perform
downstream (Examples: Cycle time, defect free, low cost)
These primarily come from our Customers
Do not be confused by ‘features’ asked for by our Customers. Features are often,
though not always, just solutions to Performance Needs. Validate the need for the
feature or, better yet, gather the base need. Avoid solutions until the Improve phase.
Business Requirements (VOB): Define limitations involved with
performing the process upstream of the output (Examples: Capital
expenditure limits, space limitations, supplier capability)
These primarily come from the business and suppliers
Both are important – Performance needs define how the revised
process must perform within the framework of the business
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VOC vs. VOB
Voice of the Business (VOB) is often best obtained from the
Process Owner
Tends to be very specific. Example: Lead time of 2 hrs, labor efficiency of
85% of standard
Very little need to validate this information
Voice of the Customer (VOC) is obtained from the downstream
customer, the direct recipient of the process/service. This can be
internal (Process Partner) or external.
When obtained from an internal Process Partner, it tends to be very
specific, but might need to be validated with information from the ultimate
external customer (as external requirements flow backwards through the
broader process steps)
When obtained from an ultimate external customer, the needs must often
be translated into something meaningful for the process/service developer
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A Customer Is...
Any person or organization that receives a product or
service (Output) from our work activities (Process)
Supplier Process Customer
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What Is “Voice of the Customer”?
―Voice of the Customer‖ (VOC) is the expression of
customer needs and desires
May be specific – ―I need delivery on Tuesday‖
May be ambiguous – ―Deliver faster‖
Can be compared to internal data (―Voice of the
Business‖) to assess our current process performance
or process capability
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Customers Define “Quality” ...
Flexibility
Who are your & Options
customers?
Timeliness Accuracy
What do the
customers related Customer
to your process
care about? Ease
Aesthetics
of Use
Cost
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Primary Performance Need Categories
Product or Service Features, Attributes, Dimensions,
Characteristics Relating to the Function of the Product or
Quality Service, Reliability, Availability, Taste, Effectiveness - Also
Freedom from Defects, Rework or Scrap (Derived Primarily
from the Customer - VOC)
Process Cost Efficiency, Costs to Consumer (Initial Plus Life
Cost Cycle), Repair Costs, etc. (Derived Primarily from the
Business - VOB)
Lead Times, Delivery Times, Turnaround Times, Setup Times,
Speed Cycle Times, Delays (Derived equally from the Customer
or the Business – VOC/VOB)
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The Kano Model
Kano model helps us categorize and prioritize performance
features of a product or service into three types
Dissatisfiers (Must haves): fulfills a basic customer requirement
(assumes they will be present) BASIC NEEDS
Satisfiers (More is better): fulfills a performance requirement
(the more you provide the more satisfied the customer)
PERFORMANCE NEEDS
Delighters: features that provide a ―wow‖ factor (really delight
the customer) EXCITEMENT NEEDS
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The Kano Model
Excitement Need
Delighted
Customer Satisfaction
Performance Need
Dissatisfied
Basic Need
Missing Present
Feature
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Steps to Gathering VOC
1. Identify and Segment Customers
2. Gather VOC
3. Analyze VOC
4. Determine Primary Y
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Step 1. Who Is the Customer?
What is a customer?
Defined as: ―Any person or organization that receives
a product or service (Output) from our work activities
(Process)‖
Types of ―customers‖:
End-User – Personally uses (consumes) the product. Product does not go
on in the same form
Broker – Transfers product or product given to another in same form
Fixer – Corrects or repairs product, often after end-user receipt
Customers can often be logically aggregated into
groups or segments
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Internal vs. External
External Customers
Those persons or organizations
which purchase your products or
services.
Internal Customers
Whomever is a user of your
process output is an internal
customer.
Regulatory Agencies
Internal and external
organizations which develop
requirements for the safety and
protection of the customer
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Customer Identification
Internal External
Who are the Customers?
Primary
(Directly receive output)
Secondary
(Indirectly receive output)
Indirect
(Set regulatory requirements)
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Identify Your Customer Segments
Transactional
Frequency House Other
Size of Customer
Cost Senate DoE Transactional
Demand Volume
DoD FDA
Descriptive
Geographic
Demographic
Geographic
Product feature
Industry
Attitudinal
Cost
# of customers
Value
Service Service
Month
Price Service
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Customer Segmentation
Customer segmentation is vital for analyzing VOC data
Are all customers of equal importance?
If customers are not segmented, it might prove impossible to get a
single ―voice,‖ and the multiple voices may lead in opposite directions
Customers should be segmented or grouped according to their similar
need for products and services
Identify and focus on the most important segments
The Greatest Importance Can Come From a
Small Portion of Your Customer Base
Customers (count) Total Importance 18
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Step 2. Collecting VOC Data
Getting ―unbiased‖ VOC data is… Direct Methods
Never easy or fast • Focus groups
Key to CPI methodology • Interviews
Crucial to interpreting your existing VOC data • Be a customer
Applying VOC to projects: Indirect Methods
• Surveys
Projects will each obtain VOC as part of their
• Customer observation
Define and Measure phases
• Market research
CPI will test our assumptions about customer
• Customer complaints
needs and behavior
The perception of who our customer is might
change as we understand more about our
customer base and processes
The goal is to obtain the right information to establish good design
requirements - so that process performance will satisfy your customers
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Collecting VOC Data
Typical Existing VOC Data Sources
Customer satisfaction survey responses
Call center logs
Customer interface personnel
Interagency memos and agreements
Other VOC Data Sources
Industry surveys / research
Focus groups
Compare to other states
Interviews / specific surveys
Trade shows / conventions
Pilot testing of product / service
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Information Already Available
Customers are already providing much information
about products and services:
Complaints Web Page Hits
Compliments Problem or Service Hot
Contract Cancellations Lines
Comment Cards Media
Customer Defections/ Others in Your
Acquisitions Organization
How do you get customer feedback?
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Other Sources of Available Data
Additional sources of relevant customer/industry
information are likely available
Some possible information you might have:
Market research reports
Completed customer surveys or evaluations
Industry reports (Benchmarking)
Available literature
Competitor assessments
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Customer Needs Example
Example: Defining customer wants and needs for a Loan Process
Primary Secondary
• Willing to answer questions
Friendly Staff
• Treats me nicely
• Knows loan procedure
Knowledgeable
• Knows market
Staff
• Understands my situation
• Money when I need it
Speed
• Application is fast to fill out
• Doesn‘t make mistakes
Accuracy
• Gives me the right rate 23
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Interviews
Purpose
Learn about a specific customer‘s point of view on service
issues, product/service attributes, and performance
indicators/measures
Interviews are useful at several points during the
process of gathering customer needs
At the beginning: to learn what is important to customers
In the middle: to clarify points or to better understand why a
particular issue is important to customers
At the end: to clarify findings, to get ideas and suggestions, or
to test ideas with customers
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Types of Interviews
Types of Interviews Characteristics of Information Needed
• Unique perspectives
Individual
• Senior-level participation
• Input from large-volume customer
• Information from customers with similar product and
Group service needs
• Mid- to lower-level participation
• Information from many people from a single segment
• Input from customers who are widely dispersed
geographically
Telephone/Mail • Information on basic or simple issues
• Quick turnaround of information collection
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Focus Groups
Purpose
Organize information from the collective point of view of a group of
customers that represents a segment
Uses
To clarify and define customer needs
To gain insights into the prioritization of needs
To test concepts and get feedback
Sometimes as a next step after customer interviews or a preliminary
step in a survey process
Typically composed of 7 to 13 participants who share
characteristics that relate to the focus group topic
Participants will be asked to thoroughly discuss very few
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Focus Group Process
Plan the focus group session
Determine why you are conducting the study
Determine who the participants should be
Write the research questions—keep the list short
Draft the structure and flow of the session
Select focus group location and schedule groups
Develop a plan and estimate resources needed
Test the questions
Finalize the questions and the flow of the session
Lead the focus group
Analyze the focus group findings
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Focus Groups Summary
Strengths
Accommodate face-to-face free flowing dialogue between
small groups of customers
They are typically video recorded to spread the information
more broadly within the company
Concerns
Moderately expensive
Short sessions might not allow for clarification or ‗deep dives‘
Number of participants is limited
The ‗Loudest Voice‘ can bias interpretations
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Surveys
Purpose
Measure the importance of performance against an attribute or
customer characteristic
Uses
To efficiently gather a considerable amount of information from a
large population
To measure ‗as is‘ conditions and drivers
To measure change and causality
Dissimilar populations may require different surveys
Budget time to include:
Develop the survey
Perform data analysis
Integrate results 29
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Exercise: VOC Class Survey
1. Using the Kirkpatrick Evaluation model, what type of learning assessment would you prefer?
a. Level One
b. Level Two
c. Level Three
d. Level Four
2. On a scale of 1-3, please rate these CPI tools:
a. TOC
b. QFD
c. DOE
d. C&E
3. Is the room temperature and classroom set-up acceptable?
4. What is your estimation of the appropriateness of the frequency and duration of periodic
cessations for students physical and mental accommodations?
5. Don‘t you agree that this NG CPI black belt class is the best classes you‘ve ever taken?
Thank you.
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VOC Survey Checklist
Explain the purpose of the survey and how the results will be used.
Include clear instructions.
Keep the survey short.
Allow adequate time for completion.
Include a mix of both open-ended and close-ended questions.
- Close-ended responses are easier to quantify and record.
- Open-ended questions allow respondents more freedom of expression.
Avoid questions that are too broad. Ask for feedback on specific items or areas of particular interest.
Avoid slang and jargon.
Avoid complex and ambiguous phrasing. Do not use double-negatives.
Avoid leading questions.
Don‘t ask for feedback on more than one item in the same question. Ask separate questions for each
item.
Balance positive and negative questions. If you ask what they like best, then also ask what they liked
least.
Define the measurement scale used and make sure the measurement scale matches the question.
Pre-test the survey to see if it elicits the type of feedback you really want.
Collect appropriate demographic information, as needed, to sort and analyze survey data.
Always thank the respondents for completing the survey
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Use a Combination of Techniques
Telephone Interviews to Focus Groups to Obtain Survey to Verify
Identify Baseline Issues Deeper Understanding and Quantify
and Opinions
Increasing Level of Knowledge about our Customer
• How much certainty do you need?
• How much certainty can you afford?
• How much certainty can you risk?
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Ask The Right Questions
Ask, ―A satisfying [product/output] is one which has
what?‖ to find features – often only nice-to-haves
Ask ―A satisfying [product/output] is one which is
what?‖ to find functions – getting closer to required
customer outcomes
Ask ―A satisfying [product/output] is one which
results in what?‖ to find customer required outcomes
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Step 3: Analyzing VOC
Voice of After Clarifying, Customer
the Customer the Key Issue Is... Requirements
―I hate filling out this The form takes too The form takes less
form!‖ long to fill out than five minutes to
complete
Good customer requirements:
Are specific and measurable (and the method of measurement is specific)
Are related directly to an attribute of the product or service
Do not have alternatives and do not bias the design toward a particular
approach or technology
Are complete and unambiguous
Describe the "what," not the "how"
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Translate VOC to Requirements
Voice of Customer Input Key Customer Issue Customer Requirement
Actual Customer Statements The Real Customer Concerns, The Specific, Precise and
and Comments Values or Expectations Measurable Characteristic
• ―This mower should be easy to • Wants the mower to start • Mower starts within two pulls on
start‖ quickly and painlessly the cord
• ―The cord shouldn‘t be too hard • Mower starts with an effortless
to pull‖ pull on the cord
• ―I want to talk to the right • Wants to talk to the right • No additional menu items on
person and don‘t want to wait person quickly voice system
on hold too long‖ • Customer reaches correct
person the first time within 30
seconds
• ―This software package doesn‘t • The software does what the • Every design feature needed is
do squat‖ vendor said it would do built into the package
• The software is fully operational
on the customer‘s existing
system
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Organizing VOC Input
Making sense of qualitative data is an iterative
process
It involves interpretation and prioritization
Often requires follow-up with additional research
Useful tools:
Affinity Analysis
Tree Diagrams
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Affinity Diagrams
The first step in getting value
from customer data is organizing Theme 1
it in a way that will reveal themes Need 1 Need 2 Theme 3
An affinity diagram is a good tool
for this purpose since it organizes
language data into related groups
Gather ideas from interview
transcripts, surveys, etc. Theme 2
Need 7
Generate customer need
statements on cards or sticky
Need 3 Need 4
Need 8
notes (in the customer‘s own
language if at all possible)
Group the cards to find the
―affinity‖ Need 5
Label the groups of cards
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Tree Diagrams
Moves team from high-level customer needs to
greater detail in order to define requirements
A tool for breaking broad process steps or
product features into greater detail
Helps organize needs by level of detail
Tree Diagram
Affinity Diagrams
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Tree Diagrams
Product/Service
Tertiary Need Customer
Requirement
Secondary Need
Customer
Requirement
Primary Need
Customer
Requirement
Customer
Requirement
The goal is to determine customer requirements
based on Voice of the Customer input
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Tree Diagrams – Key Steps
Choose need/process/product to be detailed
Ask:
―What are the components or sub-sets represented by
this need?‖
―Is this part of a larger category of
need/requirement?‖
Add detail and organize components – building
branches and/or trunk of the tree by category and
level of detail
State the requirements in measurable terms
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Tree Diagram Example: Anthony’s Pizza
Whole wheat
Crust
Unbleached flour
No cheese
Cheese Low-fat mozzarella
Customer wants
Toppings Meats
―healthy choices‖
Sauce Low-fat white cheddar
Vegetables
Additives
Other ingredients
Spices
Oil
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Exercise: Tree Diagram
You work for AAFES Garage
You have collected data from your
Pleasant Oil
customer base Change
Experience
Based on your customer inputs:
Construct a Tree Diagram
Identify Customer Requirements
Customer Inputs
• ―No oil filter leaks‖
• ―Use quality oils and filters‖
• ―I don‘t want to wait around so long‖
• ―Your friendly employees are great‖
• ―I want to pay by Master Card ‖
®
• ―Check all my fluids‖
• ―Good price – be competitive‖
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Step 4: Determine Primary Y
Critical-to-satisfaction (CTS) customer requirements
include Quality, Cost, Speed, Safety
Which is the most important to improve?
How will it be measured? What Does the Kano CTS Rank
Flight Passenger Need
Want?
Flight takes off safely Basic Safety 9
Flight takes off on time Perf Delivery 9
Ticket price is competitive Perf Cost 7
Bags are on the right plane Perf Quality 5
Fast electronic check-in Perf Delivery 3
Food service on board Wow Quality 1
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VOC / VOB Template
Critical Customer
Voice of the Key Customer Issue(s) Requirement
Customer /
What does the customer want from us? What does the customer want from us? We should summarize key issues and
We need to identify the issue(s) that translate them into specific and measurable
prevent us from satisfying our requirements
customers.
CriticalBusiness
Voice of the Key Process Issue(s)
Requirement
Business
What does the business want/need from us? What does the business want/need from We should summarize key issues and
us? We need to identify the issue(s) translate them into specific and measurable
that prevent us from meeting strategic requirements
goals/missions.
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VOC Exercise
Using all of the information developed during this
module, interview your customers (Regional Program
Managers) to determine and prioritize the VOC for
the GGA Budget process
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Takeaways
Now you should be able to:
Describe where process output requirements come
from
Describe Voice of the Business (VOB)
Describe Voice of the Customer (VOC)
Describe why VOC is important
Describe each of the four steps for gathering VOC
Use the four steps for gathering and analyzing VOC
on a process
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What other comments or questions
do you have?
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