Involve your customers effectively in the delivery of products and services by mastering four basic subprocesses: (1) aggressively pursue options to become the “supplier of choice,” (2) offer core clients realistic customization of delivery and supply options, (3) identify each customer’s individual delivery needs, and (4) develop the best capabilities for distributing products and services.
Subprocesses
- Offer broad delivery options to become the “supplier of choice”
- Use Delivery customization to attract and retain core customers
- Identify customers’ delivery needs
- Develop distribution capability
Best-Practice Agenda
- Become the “supplier of choice” by using out-of-box thinking to generate customer delivery solutions that are not bound by conventional wisdom.
- Customize delivery systems to fit the needs of core customers, in particular by creating channels of communication and service offerings to meet their demands.
- Identify customer delivery requirements through a complete understanding of the impact that distribution has on a customer’s business. Build extensive lines of communications…
- Develop distribution capability. Pay attention to the small details…
Top Ten Best-Practice Diagnostic Questions
- How do you respond to customer delivery needs in emergency situations?
- How do you identify the delivery service needs of individual customers? Do you use these needs as a method of customer segmentation?
- Do you have just-in-time supply and continuous replenishment services?
- What steps have you taken to insure reliability in your delivery process? How do you communicate this process to your customers?
- Do you have in-plant reps at customer sites? If so, what do you consider the biggest advantage of these relationships?
- What is your delivery channel strategy? Do you align your deliveries to service specific customer needs?
- Can you continuously track products from the production line to the customer’s door?
- Do you offer special delivery deals for large-scale purchases such as same-day shipping? Twenty-four-hour delivery? Any other customization features in packaging and delivery?
- How do you differentiate your delivery strategy from competitors’ in trying to become the supplier of choice?
- What methods of feedback (other than a payment) do you get from customers regarding delivery and repair information? How do you elicit this input—via phone surveys, the Internet, or other means?