Survey customers
Every CEO thinks he or she has an organization that provides great customer service, but there’s only one person that knows the truth (and is usually willing to share it): the customer.
Heinen’s uses a customer survey that focuses on three areas: overall satisfaction, likelihood to recommend and likelihood to return.
From there, it breaks down into specific departments, and then into product selection and helpfulness of staff.
“Again, product side, people side,” he says. “I’ve got to win on the product side; got to win on the people side.”
Spend time thinking through what belongs on your customer satisfaction survey. For instance, price questions don’t always yield useful results, because everyone always wants lower prices.
And don’t overload your customers with lengthy surveys.
“We want to keep it to five minutes, because if it’s more than five minutes, you aggravate the customer, and we don’t want to do that,” Heinen says.
To increase participation rates, the customer gets a certificate for 5 percent off an order of their choice within a given time period. But even customer service incentives are areas that might need some additional customer service attention. Initially, the discount was off the customer’s next order, which really irritated some when their next order was only $10. When they can use it within a given period, they can plan a larger trip and maximize their savings. Customers should be highly satisfied, even when it comes to giving feedback about customer service itself.
The goal is to get 60 surveys per month per store, and an outside company manages the process.
The results allow Heinen to compare not just how his stores are performing but also compare his whole company to other supermarket chains that the survey company has as clients. This helps him see how he’s doing in the industry as a whole, which happens to be very well — competitors are around 63 percent on overall satisfaction, while Heinen’s is at about 80 percent.
Driving these numbers up plays a key role in Heinen’s overall business strategy.
“This is so much part of how we run our business, whereas other companies that we know that have them, they’ll say, ‘OK, yeah, that’s information,’ but they don’t introduce it into running the business at all the way we do. And the associates, when you talk to them, they say, ‘Yeah, that’s some survey we do,’” Heinen says. “It’s a big difference.”
Walk into any Heinen’s store and ask what its O-Sat is, all of the leaders and most of the associates will likely know what it is and what it means.
Survey employees
Much like customers, every CEO thinks he or she has satisfied and engaged employees. But in a similar fashion, you have to take the time to ask them if they are happy and what would need to change to improve their outlook. Grumpy employees rarely deliver exceptional service.
The employee survey is administered about every 18 months, often with a shorter, “pulse” survey at the nine-month mark just to get a quick gauge. This survey focuses on whether employees would recommend Heinen’s as a place to work, if they would recommend it as a place to shop, and they rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 5 on how proud they are to work at Heinen’s.
Ninety percent of employees said they were satisfied or highly satisfied to work for the company. While it’s vital for customers to be in the “highly satisfied” category; for employees, “satisfied” is usually good enough. Why? Because customers have far more options and an easier time switching companies than an employee does, and most employees only leave a company when they are dissatisfied with how they are being treated.
The survey also delves into other issues related to employee satisfaction, such as how employees feel about their direct report, whether they feel valued, if they have the tools and equipment they need, does the manager accommodate their needs, how informed they are, how well their supervisor coaches them, how their manager values their opinion and how much clarity they have in their job.
“When we get these back, if we find out, for example, that we’re not doing a good job of coaching and that our managers aren’t communicating regularly, and they don’t understand coaching, then we say, ‘OK, this is an area we need to invest in,’” Heinen says. “It’s about taking the information and learning and applying it and putting it into place and really looking to get better. That process, we’re very married to.”
He says that as much as they want to improve things and make associates feel valued, if the store manager doesn’t get it and doesn’t want to improve, then nothing will happen.
“At the end of the day, it’s about the most important person in anyone’s life on all surveys, and that’s their direct report,” he says. “So whether you love or hate Jeff or Tom Heinen at Heinen’s, the truth is, the most important person is your department manager if you’re an associate. It’s building the relationships with them and coaching them with an effort to helping them get better, and it comes back to being as committed to their success as your own.”
Throughout all of this, Heinen has learned that it’s a long process to get improved results.
“If you strategically decide you’re going to differentiate yourself in the people arena, then that means that it’s all about, No. 1, believing and trusting in your people and then starting the journey that we started, and it takes a long time,” he says. “If you expect to see great results in a year, it’s not going to happen.
“You have to know what you’re trying to achieve, but I don’t think you ever get to the destination. You can take Nordstrom’s or any other really well recognized company for highly engaged associates, and I guarantee you that they never stop trying to get better, and they never think they’ve reached a destination. It’s just the nature of the beast.”
How to reach: Heinen’s, (216) 475-2300 or www.heinens.com.
