ABSTRACT

The third category in the Baldrige Award Criteria is Customer and Market Focus. The model I outlined in Chapter 3 indicates that Item 3.1 is the major input to the Baldrige system. Well-run organizations target specific groups of customers or markets, learn everything they can about what is important to those groups of customers, and measure their satisfaction. This section asks about all of these points. It also focuses on your approach to building loyalty through strong relationships with preferred customers. Increasing loyalty from select customers can have a dramatic effect on profits. According to the 2013/2014 Award Criteria, Category 3, Customer and Market Focus, is defined as follows:

The customer Focus category asks how your organization engages its customers for longterm marketplace success, including how your organization listens to the voice of the customer, builds customer relationships, and uses customer information to improve and to identify opportunities for innovation. (p. 13)

Figure 8.1 is a macro process model of an organization that shows where customers and their satisfaction are assessed. Customer satisfaction is measured after the external customers have purchased the products or services produced by the organization. As you can see in the figure, this occurs at point 8, and this information is then fed back to the organization to aid them in producing better performing products and services.