How can manufacturing companies serve their customers better??

Feedback's can play a life changing role for your business. If you really value your customers & value their opinions then you will be the apple of their eyes.

When you start working on the suggestions given by your customers then you also improve & learn a lot....thus there is always a win-win situation...

1. While deriving the Strategy, Inputs need to be taken from Customers & all stakeholders, for this they need to segment their customers & market segments so that each segment is catered to with ease

2. While obtaining Customer Inputs, House of Quality (QFD tool) can be used to derive what is most important to the customers.

3. Point 2 will help to capture the Voice of customers on an annual basis, however, through Regular meetings with Customers, Taking their feedback through Satisfaction survey, customised to customer segmets will make this a periodic exercise

4. Over & above the above methods to build Customer relationship, Organizations need to set calendar for regular meetings with Key customers by engaging employees at various levels & those in the response chain, provide customers with key contact persons within the Organization

5. Identify Key Customers & set up Key Account managers for premium treatment

6. Customer Complaint management process should be made strong enough to capture complaints, resolve them with immediate escalation, Feedback to the customers, analyzing these complaints & using the data & Information for improvement throughout the Organization

7. while traking results, Organizations should not only see the key Finanicial performance, but look at Customer Outcomes. the customer Outcomes will remain consistent & improving only if the same stands good for Product results, Product results need to be seen in co-relation to Process Results. Process & product results will sustain only if The HR results are showing substantial improvement. All these results also need to be seen wrt. Leadership results for long term sustenance

I think apart from taking feedback manufacturing firms need to come up with new products and add more features to the existing products.They require to make the product easy to use for the customers.

They can also create helplines to asist in product usage and providing after sale services.

Internal audit n market survey wid company products could be gud tools to increase customer confidence in products. Be clear n tranparent in ur sysytem of processing to customer

Traditional manufacturing companies are not really interested in their customers lives and needs. It is always a better business to know your customers that it is to try to avoid them unless they threaten you with lawsuit.

Most manufacutures build in "competitive advantages" that make the life of the customers a mess. Have you ever wondered why you need to have one unique power supply and battery for each of your electronic devices? Standardized and adaptable power supplies and batteries are both cheaper and easier to live with. 

Any customer wants to be made to feel special. In my opinion the mfg firm should reiterate its commitment to quality by adhering to stringent service and maintenance standards. This implies acting along with taking the feedback. Let your customer know that you care. 

First Find out what your customer requirements are: A product made according to customer needs with good quality and after sales service at reasonable cost, timely supply and service sells better than retains your customer than try ing to sell what you produce with sales gimmics of discounts, promos, celebrity ads etc. Competitive pricing of the product and services should be part of your strategy. Helping / participating in the efforts of your customer to improve his product and service in case of manufacturers where you are a vendor or improving the quality of goods and services of a consumer goods manufacturer or quality of life of end product user will go a long way in stabilising your own share in the market for your goods and services.

Manufacturer need to conduct Customer Survey through various techniques such as E-mails, Telephone, web site feedback, Questionnaire, Interview etc. Based on Survey results, company need to focus its activities such as Redesign, improving marketing / Sales strategy, Use of tools such as advertisements, conference, exhibition to promote products. Getting a more reliable information is more important to sustain the market.