1. -
Face-to-face
in Delighting,
Customers
As you may recoil, Tenneco
Automotive's BHAG(see footnote above)
is to win every customer's supplier
recognition aword, Now that Operation
Customer Delight - the program that
answers the goal of our BHAG-is in its
third quorter, the results ore already
coming in.
And from customers that don't have
an award system - which ore
numerous, among both original equipment
and aftermarket customers - "preferred
supplier" status has been bestowed on
Tenneco Automotive. So for, more than
46 awords or preferred status desig-
nations have been received in 1996.
Wes Johnson, manager, Operation
Customer Delight, recently spoke with
a number of people throughout TA
to get a reading of how the initiative is
playing. Overall, the program is working,
and working well. More specifically:
Dave Peace, vice president of sales and
morketing for Monroe North America,
works with many customers to identify
OCDgoals.
"Our customers ore delighted to be
asked where things can be improved,"
says Peace. "It's like the hockey player
who's willing to go into the corner of the
rink knowing he's going to be hit-
he's often the most respected competitor
by coaches, opponents and fans.
He generally is the better player.
Our customers appreciate our willingness
to 'take the hits' without making excuses
when we uskthem for feedback.
The results can often be a win-win
for everyone."
On the "other side of the pond,"
Patrick Vanlombeek, director of morketing
planning and services in Monroe Europe's
Brussels office, notes that managing
customer sciHsfactionis less common in
the European-business culture, which
ultimately provides Monroe with a
competitive advantage.
"Relatively few customers have
awords established for suppliers," says
Vanlombeek. "But many of them were
so impressed by the thorough nature
of the Customer Delight process that
they ore interested in developing
a similar process to use with their
customers! Monroe is viewed as
an industry innnovator for being
the first to present the concept."
Monroe and Walker teams supplying
a single customer, Forest City,found
they could achieve Customer Delight
by working in tandem. Jeff Petrangelo .
national account representative at
Monroe, Mich. and Dan Bloedorn,
national a~caunt manager at Walker
Deerfield jointly presented to the auto
parts retailer at a time when that -
customer was just beginning to Critique
their vendors. From discussions with
Forest Citycontacts, they were able
to establish performance benchmarks
in product quality and customer service.
"By being the first supplier
to suggest a ratings and'
award system, we
demonstrated that
Tenneco Automotive
is a step ahead,"
says Bloedorn.
Petrangelo
points out that
the process really
helps make friends
in important places.
"Customers obviously are
interested in achieving positive results,"
says Petrangelo. "We learn more about
their operations and needs to come up
with better solutions."
The challenges and opportunities
are already paying off, but we have .
a long way to go. Congratulations to
everyone who has already seen success!