Conference 7.286::digital

Pat, 453.60 appears to solely address the delivery of satisfactory *SWS*
services to customers.  Perhaps if you re-read it, you will agree that it is
more strictly constrained that had first appeared.  I concede that it concerns
an aspect of the business which you are closer to than many of those 120000
other employees.

Yet 453.60 appears not to address the issue of who bears the responsibility for
satisfying a customer when the resources (time, equipment, skills, et cetera)
which the specialist requires to do the job are not forthcoming.  You've dealt
with that issue more than I have.

I believe that every employee has a responsibility towards the customer. The
most difficult part for anyone's job can lie in determining what constitutes
"doing the right thing".  Yet when dealing with a customer, one cannot depend
upon them understanding that a problem may be caused by some other organization
within Digital.  When you are on the spot, you represent all of Digital to the
customer, for better or worse.

Do you wish to discuss the unique risks which are part of a specialist's job?
Perhaps including the responsibility of representing 119999 other people? Or are
you interested in a broader discussion of customer satisfaction.  If it is the
latter, I'm not sure that 453.60 constitutes as general a statement to start
from as you might have thought.
				/AHM/THX

    All employees with customer contact responsibilities are taught
    to say: "We're doing all we can" "We're doing the right thing",
    etc.  The "We" in this case equates to Digital Equipment Corporation.
    
    Such employees are taught to bite their tongue when the issue of access
    to computer systems, software distribution media, or other things we
    euphemistically call "resources".
    
    On a more mundane level consider my current problem: I'm holding
    out a tincup asking for a person with a certain skill set to spend
    some time with a independent software vendor who's basically been
    bullshitted by Digital so many times, they can no longer count.
    
    I had to present the business case to several managers serially.
    Everyone pleads that they don't have a person with the right skill set
    for this ISV, but suggest another manager to contact.  I've spent
    nothing but time and received nothing for that investment except
    getting a lot of Digital managers curious and expecting "action".
    
    I'm reluctant to take on these kinds of assignments with interminable
    internal negotions, but isn't this what it takes to achieve customer
    satisfaction? 

    Customer satisfaction in *my* responsibility. I'm not in the field
    and I have no direct customer contact these days but I still believe
    that first statement and have my whole time at DEC (and at other
    places I've worked).
    
    My current job involves testing to try and find problems before
    customers do (we test something called clusters which I understand
    some big customers are buying these days :-)). Finding and fixing
    problems before they become a problem for customers is part of
    keeping customers satisfied. I feel good about that work.
    
    My last job (at DEC) was in a development group. SPR answers were
    (and still are in that group) given a high priority. Fixing problems
    that customers have now is important.
    
    I can relate to Pat's frustrations to. I've been there. Once upon
    a time when I was in the field a customer asked me if a new hardcopy
    terminal could be used as a console terminal (the SPD didn't say
    yet). I started calling around. No one would commit to it working
    as a console but they would not say for sure because they hadn't
    tested it themselves. I called all over NE for two days trying to
    find any one who'd tried it. Finally someone (I never found out who)
    called my boss and told her to tell me to stop asking people. A
    little order one terminal but because that terminal was 4 times
    faster then what they had it was a big thing for the customer in
    terms of satisfaction. Finally I went on a limb and told them that
    it should work but I couldn't promise it was supported yet. I never
    forgot that. I also never forgot the people in NE who helped me
    out many times when I was trying to solve a customer problem. It
    makes it real hard for me to turn down a person from the field
    when they call me for help.
    
    			Alfred
    

    With respect to a preceeding topic, it is unrealistic to expect the
    point SWS specialist to be THE person ultimately responsible for
    customer satisfaction.  That is how it often works out, but in a
    customer satisfaction workshop I went to a while back there was one key
    phrase emphasized over and over: teamwork.  Without that, it is
    unlikely that the SWS (or FS or Sales for that matter) will continously
    be able to keep the customer happy, often things come up which need
    cross organizational support ... like calling ENG for technical help or
    getting management in to help ease customer concerns about some
    particular burning issue.

	I work in PSS in Pat's district, and I'd like to venture an
	opinion based on my experiences. Frankly I've never had a
	problem dealing with engineers or technical people in trying
	to resolve problems. Where I continually run into problems is
	in getting the resources I need to do an excellent job. By
	resources I mean: proper equipment, documentation, work space,
	network access, training, access to timely information to keep
	current. These things are generally missing or in short supply
	in the PSS environment. The reason for this is that PSS
	operates under a specific business model. This model dictates
	that each PSS unit is a mini-business. All of these things
	must come out of the units budget which is in turn determined
	by its income. Looked at in this light, to send a specialist
	to a week course means that the unit manager must not only pay
	for the transportation, hotel and course cost, but also must
	loose a week of customer billing (at $100/hour = $4000).
	Because of this business model, the main thing that a UM is
	rated on is whether he made his budget or not. This is his
	prime concern. This goes for the District manager, and on up
	the chain of command. What this produces is a whole hierarchy
	of people who have no real contact with the customers and
	whose main objectives are not REALLY customer satisfaction. I
	know someone is probably going to point out customer
	satisfaction surveys and the role they play, but if you look
	at the PSS business model and the results it produces in the
	field, no one could honestly tell me that the management
	hierarchy has *ANY* concern for customer satisfaction. If it
	did, the instances of specialists being sold to a customer as
	an "expert" in a certain area, when in reality the specialist
	has NO experience in that area, would never happen. Instead it
	happens constantly. Not only that, if a manager wants a
	specialist to learn a certain area he will sell the specialist
	as an expert in that area so that he will get experience. I
	wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard a customer say,
	"Oh, looks like I get to train another Digital specialist". 

	-Ed

    For a good slant on this question, go to your Digital library and
    check out the videotape entitled "It's all right, it's only a
    customer".  Great message, and entertaining to boot (from Video
    Arts and John Cleese).
    
    Gary

    Re .6:
    
    Libraries.  Another thing that we do not have in the field.

    
    RE .7  (Libraries)
    
    But you can call them on the phone and make a request, which they
    will gladly send to you interoffice mail.  And if they don't have
    it at the branch which you call, they will ask the branch which
    does have what you want to send it to you.  

	I agree with 487.3:

	    Customer satisfaction in *my* responsibility.

	... and I'm buried somewhere in engineering, as far removed
	from Customers as we can get.

	In fact, I believe that any reluctance to deal with a field
	inquiry is grounds for firing, if not of the developer or
	whoever the field person contacts, then of the developer's boss
	for refusing to assist, however far up the line the trouble
	lies.

	Also, I believe education ought to be funded from a company
	pool fund, not from unit or cost center budgets.  Even here
	in engineering, I have trouble getting training, and I believe
	the problem lies in the feeling that managers somehow get
	"blamed" for spending money on courses.

	Which leads to: advising the field ought to be funded from a
	company pool, not cost center budgets.  Of course, development
	schedules have to receive attention, but somehow I just can't
	believe my work is so important it can't wait a week while I
	grab some info for someone in sales.

	Regards, Robert.

	PS  Remember IBM's slogan?  "Everyone sells."  Experiment:
	    Walk into an IBM building somewhere.  Tell the receptionist
	    you wish to buy a computer.  Do the same at DEC.

    
    	In the field, resources taper so narrowly that "customer
    satisfaction" is paid lip service by management, and that's about
    it.
    	I recently moved from a field office, where customer problems
    went (and still go) un-fixed for months.  Software reps get sent
    to "Time management" courses, "Customer Relations" courses, while
    the company adds 100s of products each year.  The field service
    reps watch parts withdrawn from the stockroom in the interest
    of "centralization", while broken computers wait for "Next day"
    delivery of parts.
    
    	The focus on quarterly budgets and expenses means that customers
    have to yell LOUDLY to get proper service/attention.  
    
    	I believe this is going to be the way of Digital until EVERYONE's
    evaluation is tied to some sort of customer satisfaction measurement.
    There appear to be too many decisions being made where there's no
    channel for natural feedback.
    
    	But, I reckon all one can do is keep one's own corner clean...!
    
                                                                      

Re .9:

>	In fact, I believe that any reluctance to deal with a field
>	inquiry is grounds for firing, if not of the developer or
>	whoever the field person contacts, then of the developer's boss
>	for refusing to assist, however far up the line the trouble
>	lies.

At one point when I worked on Fortran-10/20 development, there was a Technical
Support Group (TSG) which was responsible for handling technical questions from
internal users, the Telephone Support Center, etc.  Theoretically we only had to
answer TSG's occasional questions, rather than dealing with field inquiries. In
such a situation the proper response by a developer to such an inquiry would be
to redirect the caller to the group that was responsible for such stuff.

I think that the CSC provides a similar function for my group today, but I
haven't worked on any products with versions in the field since joining it, so
the issue hasn't arisen for me.

So if you ever decide that someone should be fired for not responding to a field
inquiry, you had better find out whether that is part of their job before making
such a statement.

>Of course, development
>	schedules have to receive attention, but somehow I just can't
>	believe my work is so important it can't wait a week while I
>	grab some info for someone in sales.

Why not ask your management about such a scenario, and let us know what their
reaction is?
				/AHM/THX

On centralized funding of training:

That alone would not be enough to convince a unit manager, because when
the employee is off at the course he is not available to bring in any
consulting income.  In engineering project duration is measured in months
and years, and budgets calculated accordingly.  In the field they bill by
the *hour*.

Without changing what the manager is measured on, the centralized training
fund would have to pay for the cost of the training, the employee's salary
for the duration of the course, plus credit the field manager for the income
that employee *could* have brought in had in been in the office.

It looks easier to change the metrics.

    
    Perhaps the better questions might be:
    
    1)  Who is the single individual who is responsible to telephone
    all customer account decision-makers on a methodical regular basis,
    and who asks open-ended questions to probe on likes, dislikes, and
    customer wants to ensure "ongoing" customer satisfaction?
    
    2)  What is the SYSTEM in place that provides for early warning
    signals that there are developing dissatisfactions with customer
    account decision-makers, and more importantly, with end-users? 
    What is the VAXsim and SPEAR like systems within marketing that
    do what those software programs do on our computers, giving predictive
    information to nip problems in the bud?
    
    3)  What is the SYSTEM that actively solicits new ideas and wants from
    customer decision-makers and all end-users, making it EASY for them to
    input to DIGITAL, and ensuring that the "customer and market
    intelligence" is objectively and fairly reviewed and analyzed, and
    acted upon in an early "proactive" manner? 
    
    

    
    
    	Re: .13
    
    	You've hit the nail on the head.  As far as I know, there is
    no 'Early Warning' system for customer dissatisfaction.
    
    	The first time upper management hears about it is likely to
    be after the customer call to Maynard...and from then on, it rolls downhill.
    
    	Managers at lower levels try to keep the situation covered
    up (if one develops), because it's likely to reflect badly on them
    if they push it up the line.  Yet these same lower-level managers
    have almost no wherewithal to repair the problem (no resources
    to bring to bear), so the experienced customer calls Massachusetts--
    the new one just suffers for a while.
    
    	A good 'DEW Line' program would go a long way toward keeping
    customers happy, and heading off serious problems.  And it would be
    'proactive', the current buzzword for Field Service.
    
    	One can always hope....
    
    Steve H 

    There are some 'early warning' signs of potential or developing
    dissatisfaction:
    
    1.	'new' systems sold or placed in accounts with NO planned
    installation, training, support, etc....
    
    2.	systems under or over utilized
    
    3.	frequency of support calls/questions to Field Service or TSC's
    - BTW is there ever any feedback to the account 'team' on this kind
    of statistic
    
    4.	 frequent 'visits' of competitors to the site - look at the
    visitor log
    
    5.	complaints by 'technical weenies' that are ignored
    
    
    One of the things that will keep the 'no surprises' working is taking
    the initiative and keeping in regular (monthly?) touch with the
    client to see how we are doing.  This will sound like heresy to
    the overworked person who hasn't got enough time to return calls
    now.  Pro-active (or pre-emptive??) contact works wonders!
    
    	-Barry-
    

RE: < Note 487.9 by ASD::DIGRAZIA >
                      -< I thought _I_ was responsible! >-



>	I agree with 487.3:
>
>	    Customer satisfaction in *my* responsibility.
>
>	... and I'm buried somewhere in engineering, as far removed
>	from Customers as we can get.
>
>	In fact, I believe that any reluctance to deal with a field
>	inquiry is grounds for firing....

I agree.  Before I came to DEC, I worked at Prime, which has a very good
reputation for making customers happy (at least that's what they told us :-)
One of the rules for *everyone* in the company is:

   - if a customer calls you on the phone, you talk.  Now.  Even if someone
     has to get you out of a meeting to do it.  If for some reason you can't
     be found, you'd better return the call immediately.

   - if someone from the field calls, you talk.  If you are not by the phone,
     you get 15 minutes to return the call.

If you break the rules, boy are you in trouble.  And woe to the person who takes
a message for you and does not make sure you get it.

In my experience, this worked out very well.  I worked on a project which
shipped version 1 to a very large and influential customer.  The first
release was a piece of junk, and they paid very large $$$ for it.  The
second, and third, and fourth,.... were also not much better.  At one point
they threatened to sue if we did not fix things.

Now they are a reference site for that product.  Because people listened and
got things fixed when the customer called.  It works.  And making sure that
your customer gets attention is everybody's business.  You don't necessarily
have to fix the problem right away to make a customer happy.  But you do have
to pay attention.

	Just some general comments on some of the foregoing ideas...

	The idea of "early warning system" is excellent! I think the
	customer satisfaction survey should be "fixed". I don't know
	how it works in other areas, but in NY the sales reps give the
	survey out to people who they know will give good results.
	This doesn't exactly provide for an unbiased sample. Customer
	satisfaction surveys should be conducted by an outside agency
	which has no axe to grind. The problem is how do they get the
	names of people to give the survey to? From the sales rep?
	There's a problem here.

	Barry, you mentioned the word pre-emptive. Maybe that should
	be PM. ;-)

	At Digital we all talk a lot about doing the "right
	thing". For me it is very definitely the "wrong thing" to go
	to a customer and sell him/her on the "Digital advantage" and
	then place in that account a new hire who in many cases has
	spent less than a week on Digital premises and who has had no
	training other than that which he brought with him to Digital.
	Or a person who has never seen the product with which he is
	expected to work. So training is a very BIG issue and to solve
	this one is going to require some higher level of the Digital
	management structure to take this on and make some large
	committment of money and expense relief and some downware
	pressure to make sure it happens. Any manager whose people
	don't get the minimum amount of training each year should have
	this show up as a factor in his review!

	I agree with Barry that a UM should be in contact with the
	customer on a periodic basis (monthly should be minimal). A UM
	should know what is going on in the account. He should know
	how things are going from the guy who is paying the bill or
	who is directly responsible for the consultant and
	additionally it wouldn't hurt to keep track of potential
	business leads.

    re.9 PS:  A while back i had a job as the computer jack-of-all-trades
              for a small college.  We had a Prime 2250 and an assortment
    of PC's.  The Prime 2250 initially had about 12 users; that number
    slowly declined to about 4 regular users as PC's proliferated.  The
    PC's didn't do everything the 2250 could do, but they were easy to use,
    and software for PC's was generally designed to be used by folks with 
    little (if any) knowledge of computer internals.
         Eventually i was asked to look into replacing the 2250 entirely
    with networked PC's.  Of course, IBM was not overlooked (they give
    very hefty discounts to schools).  The phone number in the local
    Yellow Pages (this place was out in the sticks) got me the through to
    the regional service center in a neighboring state. The tech i talked
    with sent me a package of promotional litterature and gave me the
    number of the nearest sales office.  I called the next day and talked
    with a sales rep. and got all the info i needed; she also sent along a
    detailed brochure and a reference list from a software supplier who has
    an excellant integrated package for small to medium sized educational
    institutions running on networked S/36 and PC's.  Contacting DEC got me 
    a copy of the DECdirect catalog; not much interest in small potatoes 
    anymore, i guess.  
         At least in this case, it did seem to be true that EVERYONE at IBM
    sells, and that every potential sale is important.  Years ago i sold
    appliances and TV's at a small store; every customer was important
    there.  It paid off too; we had a lot of repeat business.  Its unusual
    to find that attitude in a big company.  Too bad.

In many ways, it's easier for me to respond to field inquires that it
would be if I were still in Software Support.  I'm judged by the quality
of my work over the year, not by the amount of dollars I bring in every
day.  Therefore, I don't feel put upon to answer questions about things
I worked on last year (or ten years ago, for that matter).

Recently, I was talking to a VMS field specialist who doesn't have
DCL privileges on the office machine, since "All-we-got" is deemed
sufficient.  At a time when the internal costs of a Microvax II hovers
somewhere around 1.5-2 weeks salary for a senior-level specialist,
the specialist's office is still begging for computer resources.

Perhaps the real problem with the field is the separation between
responsibility and authority.   I wonder what would happen if
Grace Hopper did a tour as a software specialist.

Martin.

    < Note 487.19 by BOLT::MINOW "Je suis marxiste, tendance Groucho" >

> Perhaps the real problem with the field is the separation between
> responsibility and authority.   I wonder what would happen if
> Grace Hopper did a tour as a software specialist.

  The unemployment lines would get a little bit larger? ;^)

re. < Note 487.20 by HACKIN::MACKIN "Jim Mackin, VAX PROLOG" >


>  The unemployment lines would get a little bit larger? ;^)

You mean that the unemployed would stop getting their paychecks?   ;-)

  I'll tell you what would happen -- Engineering would have to 
  *NAIL DOWN* their VAXstations, that's what would happen!

 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  But the suggestion to send grace Hopper to the Field is really 
  the sort of suggestion that cuts right to the heart of the 
  matter.  Better still, send Jack Shields.  He has authority for 
  both Sales and Service and Service, and I bet he has a lot of 
  contacts over in Jack Smith's Engineering world as well.

  I realy wonder how many of the sensible messages from down in 
  the trenches (trenches everywhere, not just Maynard trenches or 
  Anytown, USA trenches or Way-out-in-GIA trenches) ever make it 
  through the middle managers in this corporation to the folks at 
  the top who finally have both responsibility *AND* authority.

                                   Atlant
                            (merely responsible)

>  I realy wonder how many of the sensible messages from down in 
>  the trenches (trenches everywhere, not just Maynard trenches or 
>  Anytown, USA trenches or Way-out-in-GIA trenches) ever make it 
>  through the middle managers in this corporation to the folks at 
>  the top who finally have both responsibility *AND* authority.

So, send Jack Smith and/or Jack Sheilds some VAXmail. Granted they
may not read their VAXmail (all-in-one ....) but it is worth a try.

It certainly wouldn't be the first letter they got from a concerned 
employee...

/Ted

    Okay!  Go ahead!  Who's first?
    
    
    I'm still waiting...
    

    
    Amazing... and I thought that these issues were local/area related!!
    
    I am a software specialist that has worked for Digital for 3.5 years,
    and have been having these same problems/feelings for 3 years now.
    (Is it getting worse recently or is it just me?)
    
    An excellent example of the type of situation that has been discussed
    in previous notes is the one I am in now.
    
    I am on a TPP (Technology Partner Program) residency for 1 year
    at a NIA (Named Industry Account) to help them get direction on
    CIM.  I am the first DEC specialist they have had on site.
    I have no CIM or manufacturing background (my background with DEC
    has been in Networking).  I am currently working on a prototype
    for them using a VAXstation 2000, RDB, a third party graphics package,
    and "C" for programming.  I have no graphics, RDB, or C experience.
    
    Yet *I* am directly responsible for the SWS customer satisfaction
    survey *number* at the site.  It's tied to my PA goal sheet.
    We have been told that we are "responsible for managing the customer
    survey/satisfaction issues."
    
    I won't even bother to go into my feelings/opinions about the Customer
    Satisfaction Survey :^(.
    
    Unfortunately my situation is typical of what I have seen happen
    locally.  New hires are often sent out to customer sites almost
    immediately after they arrive (so they can become "billable"), with
    absolutely no training, and in many instances with no other DEC
    person on site.
    
    I do believe everyone is responsible for Customer Satisfaction. 
    I take it personally reguardless of who I work for, but sometimes
    in my current situation I feel somewhat overwhelmed and unsupported.
    
    I agree that the problem lies with how the "business" is run and 
    the metrics that managers are measured on.  Nothing will change until
    the metrichange.
    
    Now the question is how do we get some of the "Jack Shields, Grace
    Hoopers, or even K.O." to read this note?!
    

    Years ago when I was in the field we had a DM who had come up
    the ranks. He believed in training and over spent his training
    budget every year. I personally had something like 12-14 weeks
    of training over a 2 year time period. Sure sometimes someone
    learned on a customer site but not too often. Sending a new hire
    with no DEC experience was something that happened in other districts.
    
    What happened? That man (and the RM who supported him) are both
    still listed in ELF (though I don't know if they're still in SWS).
    
    I remember District FS guys going to VAX school (it was a new
    product) for 8-12 weeks at a time. It was ok for a SWS person to
    run into a new disk or cpu for the first time at a customer site
    but I never heard of a FS guy doing it. What happened? Jack Shields
    started out in FS. 
    
    These people have to remember what it is like. Don't they? The ones
    I knew cared deeply about customer satisfaction. What happened?
    Did they forget what it's like? I doubt it. Maybe the news isn't
    getting up to them through the bean counters? I don't know. I do
    know that if I couldn't get what I needed to do my job I'd take
    it up the line. If my manager wouldn't take it past his manager
    I would. I've skipped levels in the past and I'd do it again. If
    my management will not get me what I need to do the job right it's
    time to find an other one (manager and/or job).
    
    If your manager knows and does nothing does his manager know? Do
    you know how far up the knowledge goes?
    
    			Alfred

    
    Re: .27
    
    
    	I've not heard of any Field Service training like you describe
     (10-12 weeks a year) in the 4.5 years I spent in Field Service.
    
    	I went 2-1/2 years (the last 2-1/2!) without any training. 
    The first course I had since was when I moved to the CSC.  Guys
    in the office I worked in had minimal training (read: Only if there
    was a corporate mandate that someone had to be trained on the CPU
    to work on it).  It was normal to see a piece of equipment for the
    first time when you installed it...
    
    	This looks great as the customer looks over the shoulder of
    the installing technician as he alternately scratches his head and
    calls support.
    
    	Until training is focussed on the individual and his job, and
    the training money comes from corporate, this trend is likely to
    continue.  
    

    Way back when, before I escaped sws, I was often in a situation
    as described in .26; ie, *I* am responsible for customer satisfaction
    at site X, and by the way, I am also now an expert in manufacturing
    or model glue or something else which I can't even spell.
    
    In .27, you mention to start climbing the ladder.  How far would
    you go?  The customer often wasn't happy, having been sold an "expert"
    and the "expert" can't even spell the name of the application. 
    But the unit manager was aware of it, as was the group manager,
    and the DM was also well aware of it.  Their rationale: "we don't
    currently have anywhere else to put you where your time is billable".
    Maybe get training in those areas first?  Fine, as soon as time
    permits, because training time is not revenue-producing, and we
    gotta look good for the upcoming end of [year/quarter/month/week/
    day/etc].
    
    Going to the RM would not have been in the employee's best interests
    if that employee was interested in keeping within Digital's salary
    continuation plan.  The RM felt that he was too far removed from
    "petty field grievances", and would just have shoved the problem
    back down to the DM.
    
    As was mentioned earlier, in order to get the buck to stop somewhere,
    I think one of the first changes would have to be to the metrics
    whereby these people are measured.
    
    Jon

	re .26

	btw.  I am between projects. I just came back from the
	DECwindows field test training in Spit Brook. I have never had
	my hands on a machine running DECwindows. My UM and DM are
	busy trying to sell me as a DECwindows consultant. Since they
	don't have the funds for me to sit around hacking away at a
        VAXstation (assuming we could find a VAXstation) to teach
        myself DECwindows, selling me to a customer who has the
        hardware and will pay for my time is the most cost effective
        way to have me learn DECwindows. I don't get the feeling that
	customer satisfaction is a factor in the equation.


	-Ed

       
       
       	If they intend to make you a DECwindows consultant then they
       should also give you a VAXstation. Geez, they're not THAT
       expensive!!!!!  Maybe it would be easier for them to include
       the price of a VAXstation in the course and you take it back
       to the office when the training is over????
       
       	This is something blatantly wrong. That's like making you 
       a mechanic and you fix the customers car with the customers
       tools!!! 
       
       							mike

    I believe .... that at the service delivery level, 
    
    	Customer Satisfaction = Employee Satisfaction
                                                         
                                                         
    I believe .... organizations put up many barriers to CS and ES.     
                                                                  
    I believe .... that it is everyone's duty to remove those barriers.
                                                                  
    I believe .... that it is less expensive to remove barriers than
                   implement new customer satisfaction programs.
    
    I believe .... CS and ES are based on trust.                       
                                                                       
    I believe .... ES is a predictor of CS is a predictor of ES        

    I believe .... that if we want to know if our customers are satisfied,
                   we should ask our employees who work with those     
                   customers about their CS and about their ES.          
                                                                       
    I believe .... that high customer satisfaction builds our customer 
                   base by keeping our existing customers as customers.
          
    I believe .... there is not ONE thing you can do to improve CS .
         
    I believe .... it is EVERY thing that you do that improves CS/ES
         
    I beieve .... I've said enough
           
           
    ... Lee
         

    re: .31   -< $2k is too much? >-

    $2K is way too much for most line managers.  It would take sign-off
    at a somewhat higher level for an item like this.  And by the way,
    $2K is probably about the average for a whole year's training budget
    for a SWS resident, including travel expenses.
    
>   This is something blatantly wrong. That's like making you 
>   a mechanic and you fix the customers car with the customers
>   tools!!! 

    Actually, it can be worse, as neither you nor the customer may
    have the proper tools.  I was one of the lucky ones; when I was
    hired, I was originally slated to go directly into a residency.
    Due to several misadeventures in the sales cycle, I didn't go
    into that residency for about nine months.  Those nine months,
    spent in the office doing per-call work and presales, really
    got me indoctrinated into the DEC SWS methods of finding your
    resources wherever you can scrounge them up.  I can't think of
    a single SWS consulting person hired since then who hasn't gone
    directly to a customer site within a short time of being hired.
    
    Geoff

    It's too bad this topic has gotten away from our customers and onto
    the age-old gripe about the field not having enough money.  I survived
    it; so can you.
    
    Now, once upon a time, many moons ago, I supported a customer (he was
    what we called a "commercial OEM") that I greatly respected (and that
    respect was mutual.)   In one business session, he gave me the
    following: 

    
    			Why Customers Leave
    
    Remember me?   I'm the person who goes into a restaurant, sits down,
    and patiently waits while the watresses finish their visit before
    taking my order.   I'm the person who goes into a department store
    and stands quitely while the clerks finish their little chitchat.
    I'm the person who drives into a service station and never blows
    their horn but lets the attendant take their time.  You might say
    I'm the good guy.  But do you know what else I am?   I'm the person
    who never comes back.  It amuses me to see business spending so
    much money every year to get me back when I was there in the first
    place.  All they needed to do was give me some service and extend
    a little courtesy.
    
    The eleven commandments of our business ought to be, we remember:
    
    1.  The customer is the most important person in any business.
    2.  The customer is not dependent on us, we are dependent on him.
    3.  The customer is not an interruption of our work, he is the purpose
        of it.
    4.  The customer does us a favor when he calls, we are not doing
    	him a favor by serving him.
    5.  The customer is not to argue or match wits with.
    6.  The customer is the person who brings us his wants:  it is our
    	job to fill those wants.
    7.  The customer is part of our business, not an outsider.
    8.  The customer is not a cold statistic.
    9.  The customer is deserving of the most courteous and attentive
    	treatment we can give him.
    10. The customer is the person who makes it possible to pay your
   	salary.
    11. The customer is the lifeblood of our company.
    
    
    			Why Customers Quit
    
     1% die                          66% quit because of attitude of
     3% out of business                  indifference toward customer
     5% other friendships                by some employee !!
     9% competitive reasons
    14% product dissatisfaction
    
    
    A recent survey published by U.S. News and World Report gives this
    analysis of reasons why customers quit.   One major reason looms above
    all others -- unsatisfactory customer service.  When a "complainer",
    "unusual requester", or someone you just don't hit it off with begins
    to try your patience ... STOP ... before you become indifferent ... and
    ask yourself, "What is the other fellow's point of view?" You will find
    in doing this, complaint calls will decrease, customer satisfaction
    will increase, and increased sales will put and keep $$ in our pocket! 
              

RE: .34
  I extracted that note and I'm going to hang it on my wall.

RE: .0 - .33
  After reading some of these notes, I'm a relative newcomer.  I've been
working for Digital for approximately 3.5 years on an internal system running
Field Services CHAMP/SMART application.  My wife has been working for Digital
for 6.5 years.  I used to "tag" along with my wife to weekends for the best
branch in surveys, Christmas parties, and picnics.  I used to think, "This is
where I want to work."  Well, after 5 years of waiting I finally got a job.
What I've seen in the past 3.5 years is a total lack of cooperation internally.
A couple of examples; When I logged a call on the system I was responsible for,
which was under contract 7x24 Decservice I would wait the full 4 hours for the
first response which would be, " I have to go to a customer site, I'll see if I
can get someone out there."  Or (this is my favorite) "You're not a real
customer."  But the whole time I was constantly told by management that the
CRR'S, and Contract people were my customers and they come first and my goal
was 98% availability(even though 100% was what my customers wanted).  When I
recieved my first Customer Survey, (which was last year) I nailed F.S. to the
wall, comments and all.  We were the pilot site for this years survey and I was
told I came out as a negative survey.  Now I'm hearing rumors about DIS and how
they're going take over running F.S. systems.  Everybody knows the F.S. way of
fixing things is throw more hardware at it.:-)  Now I hear DIS is asking F.S. 
to justify the hardware they need.  If F.S. has the money they still have to 
justify it.  Try that with an external customer and see how far you get.

  I guess what I'm trying to say (on my soapbox ;-)) is, if we can't treat
each other better internally without petty cross-functional bickering and
who's better than who attitude, how in the hell can we satisfy the customer
who pays our bill.


	Jack

  P.S. I hope I haven't shot myself in the foot. ;->

    RE: 34
    May I please have your permission to use the content of your note
    here at DECdirect...THE Digital Tele-Ordering Center ( DTOC ) ?
    
    Al Raine
    DECdirect Long Range Strategic Planning Manager

    Re: .36:  Distribute as you wish.

    
    Jack [487.35],  You do have some problem.  But I think you make
    a hasty generalization about one of Digital's finist groups - Field
    Service.  You may have had problem with on arm, but have you sampled
    enough of field service to make the statment about of of it?
    
    No, I do not work for field service.  I do realize some of their
    problems, and most groups suffer from it.  Manpower.  With
    insufficent manpower, one has to make decisions on who will get
    the attention next.  Your internal group, or a 'real customer'===
    Jack, what would be the decision you'd make?  There may be more
    diplimatic terms to express the situation in, but you do have the
    truth in front of you.
    
    If DEC put out products that never failed, if marketing didn't oversell
    the product, if our products installed themselves, if.... we would
    not need our friends in field service.  Until then, lets be sensitive
    to them.
    ed
    

  Re: .38 Ed,
Maybe I didn't make myself clear in what I wrote, but I wasn't BASHING Field
Service.  We did have that problem, but it was rectified by the local U.M.
As a matter of fact I'm a strong defender of F.S. since I've spent many a early
morning with them while they fixed my systems.  I was just using that instance
as an example of mis-understanding and cross-functional bickering.

	Jack

    Here is another unattributed piece of wisdom about selling:    
    
    	I don't know who you are.
	I don't know your company.
	I don't know your company's product.
	I don't know what your company stands for.
	I don't know your company's customers.
	I don't know your company's record.
	I don't know your company's reputation.

	Now - what was it you wanted to sell me?

    re .34
    
    I think one way of rephrasing what you are trying to say is 
    
    			"the buck stops here".
    
    This is correct.  Complaining doesn't solve problems - only positive
    action.  We are as guilty as our high-level management if we let
    lack of resources, insufficient pay, etc. affect how we treat our
    customers.  Our customers should not pay the price for how we are
    treated in the field (and wherever else) by management, and
    management's archaic policies.
    
    However, since no amount of constructive, positive action seems
    to change management's unwillingness to support us, then the only
    thing left to do is complain.
    
    I think you misunderstand what is going on in this conference. We are
    commiserating.  We are sharing the hard experiences we have had in the
    trenches.  We are learning that our problems are not personal ones, but
    ones we share with brothers and sisters we have never met.  We are
    blowing off steam, and I strongly resent anyone that hints that I am
    not doing my job or that I am in some way a less than ideal employee
    because I feel that I am not given resources to DO my job and I choose
    to speak out about it.
    
    If you don't like my complaining, read another note.  How dare you
    tell me I can't complain.  I'll match my customer satisfaction skills
    to yours any day, and wager I'd win.  
    
    Because I sound off about perceived injustice doesn't make me less
    of a person than you, less a specialist than you, and less deserving
    to publish my thoughts in this Notesfile.
    
    In fact, I consider myself to very much be the "good guy" your article
    mentions.  And I have been that way far too long.  When I find myself
    in a bad situation, I move on.  Presales was the worst, and I got
    out.  But I'm getting kinda frustrated now.  It seems like every
    store in my neighborhood, my town, my state and my country have
    decided to ignore and mistreat me.  I am running out of new places
    to try to get the service I deserve, for the amount of service that
    I have been putting out.
    
    The worst part is that I KNOW that I can do a better job, if I can
    get the basic tools I need.  I can make my cutomer's happier, I
    can help my manager's make bigger numbers, I can help fill Uncle
    Ken's coffers even more.  And it won't take much more than treating
    me like a valuable resource that should be grown, and utilized to
    my full potential.
    
    In the meantime I am going to complain.  Loud and long.  To my peers,
    to my managers, to THEIR managers.  I am going to use every possible
    avenue I have at my disposal to make Digital the company I KNOW
    it can be.
    
    And don't you or ANYONE tell me not to!
    
    Jim [who feels MUCH better now, and able to go face the same customer
    tomorrow that I have faced for the past year - the one that is pro
    IBM, hates DEC, and is making sure that I know it - the one I keep
    satisfying and amazing day in and out!]
    
    Sorry - no poetry - I was going to invoke Washington, but its too
    late for that
    

DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

I get the same crap from the people in the office.

	re.34
	
	It exists as a poster, I had it outside my office, then one day
	it was gone. 


	re. Field Service.

	A DEC internal contract with DEC Field Service is exactly
	the same as the customer contract. There is no reason an internal
	site should be treated differently. You pay real money for it,
	FS should be able to have right manpower to serve you.
	Make sure you fill customer survey forms.


    

Re.< Note 487.41 by MERIDN::BAY >
    

	Thanks for saying that! In my experience here in New York the
	people who have the committment and the intestinal fortitude
	to stand up, speak their mind and "BE COUNTED" are invariably
	the ones who are the most qualified technically and who have a
	high degree of committment to our customers. They are the kind
	of people who our customers specify by name when they need
	help. Their flames (and mine) invariably are due to being put
	into the position of having to take an adversarial position in
	relation to our management in order to deliver to our
	customers the kind of service they deserve. For a person with
        any self pride and pride in their company to do otherwise is
        not possible. 

	

    I AM RESPONSABLE FOR IT, WHETHER IT IS THE FIELD ENGINEER I AM
    SUPPORTING OR THE CUSTOMER I AM WORKING WITH, IF THEY ARE NOT SATESFIED
    I FEEL I HAVE FAILED. 
    
    I recently wrought a letter, three pages, on some of the reasions
    that we have failed our customers. I includded a salution to this
    problem. My orignal intent was to send it to Jask Shield, Dave S.
    and Ken Olson. I have given it to my manager, his manager and now
    it has gone to his manager who is a VP. I hope it will go on and
    that it will be addressed. What do I do if it is not? Where do I
    go from here?

    re .45:
    
    For starters,  you might want to have someone check your spelling,
    grammar, and punctuation so that your letter has a chance of being
    at least legible.
    
    -Don-

    I wrought the letter in A1 and used spell check, also when righting
    a letter that will be read and viewed in a profesional atmosphier
    I use proper gramer and look up any thing in question. When repling
    in the notes file,
    1. I can not get spell check to work
    2. I don't generaly have time do much but just do it
    I have always had a problem with spelling and evon though the military
    tested my IQ (186) I was told it is a learning disabilaty, I've
    tried every thing to get past it but no luck, my father has the
    same problem.

        To Spell Check a note, press the DO key or the PF1 KP7 combination
        to get to the Command: prompt. Then enter SPELL. Should work fine
        in the character cell interface. Now if someone can tell me how to
        do it using the DECwindows interface I'll be all set.

                        Alfred

re .47:

>    I have always had a problem with spelling and evon though the military
>    tested my IQ (186) I was told it is a learning disabilaty, I've
>    tried every thing to get past it but no luck, my father has the
>    same problem.

It sounds as though you have dyslexia.  There *is* an effective method
for overcoming it.  Check out the ASABET::LEARNING_DISABILITIES conference
(press KP7 or SELECT).  There aren't very many notes on dyslexia yet, but
I hope to enter lots of useful information soon.

BTW, dyslexia tends to run in families, so it's no surprise to me that your
father has the same problem.

        RE: Using SPELL from Notes -- the SPELL command only works
        if you have DECspell installed on your system.  An alternative,
        if you're adventurous, is to get the GRAMMAR CHECKER installed
        (it's available in field test, see the SCRIBE::GRAMMAR_CHECKER
        conference for information and a TPU procedure to call it from
        EVE/Notes).  As for calling either SPELL or GRAMMAR from the
        DECwindows version of Notes, that's an interesting challenge,
        since as far as I know, neither supports other than a character
        cell interface at the present time.  The trick would be to
        fix the EVE_SPELL TPU procedure to cause the subprocess to
        be run in a terminal emulator window, but there may be no easy
        way to do that.  Clearly a suitable question for one of the
        TPU or NOTES conferences..
        
        Tom

    Why not leave this rathole alone and return to the issue of
    customer satisfaction! That would make far more sense than
    nitpicking someone's spelling. If you really insist on being
    "constructive" on spelling, then MAIL the guy a message.

    thank you for your help

    I had the wrong editor and that is why DECspell would not work.
    One of the things that I think would greatly enhance customer
    satisfaction is if we all remembered who we work for (the customer)
    and we could function more as a team. This would have to be from
    manufacturing down. Also develop a more realistic metric system
    that measured reality and could not be pencil whipped. I will continue
    to strive for customer satisfaction in every way I can and continue
    to try to change things when I can.