Sunteți pe pagina 1din 1

COLUMN

Text: Renske van der Heide

Photography: Robin Kuijs

RENSKE VAN DER HEIDE


is a product manager at TOPdesk and chairwoman of the FMN (Facility Management Netherlands) Young Professionals network.

CUSTOMER FOCUS
Customer focus seems to be the new key to success, if were to believe the magazines and blogs. Is it because Steve Jobs, a hero to many consumers, passed away last year? Is it because people feel the urge to improve in the wake of their new years resolutions? Or maybe its just me in my new job as product manager, I find myself focusing on our customers more and more.

hether youre dealing with customers or colleagues, every service provider should keep in

These needs canot always be predicted, as people do not always know what they want. Who could have predicted three years ago that they want an iPad now? Discovering your customers needs and problems takes effort, and that is exactly what I do as a TOPdesk product manager.

and user tests to get the input we need to improve our products. This principle is valuable to all service providers. You can get useful feedback both positive and negative by asking questions and starting discussions. Spending a day with a customer and observing their processes on location also gives great insight into the situations they face on a daily basis. You can use the data you collect to make sure

mind what is expected of them. Everyone who provides services to external customers will have to discuss the services on offer with the customer sooner or later. The customer will often initiate this discussion after all, they want to know what theyre paying for, and will switch to a different provider if they are not happy. The same is true for providing services to colleagues: you need to research and discuss their wishes and needs. Supporting departments such as IT, FM and HR help colleagues to better perform their daily tasks: everyone works together to achieve the organizations goals. However, it isnt always possible to provide products and services that meet your customers wishes. You need to know who your customer is and what their needs are.

YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMER AND THEIR NEEDS

that your services meet your customers expectations. Here at TOPdesk, we are already thinking of new products for next year. I cant wait for the next sessions, where we will be sharing our ideas with you our customers. You see, customer focus isnt just useful: its a lot of fun, too!

My job is to find out what our customers really want. We continually ask for customer feedback during the development of our software. We use interviews, focus groups

S-ar putea să vă placă și