we refer not only to the physical delivery of products or the presen-
tation of services, but also to the marketing channels employed, the
flexibility of response, the linking of buyer/supplier logistics and
information systems and so on. In other words, we view the design
of the value delivery system as a critical means of engineering
stronger linkages between the customer’s value chain and our own.
Because of the increasing fragmentation of the marketplace in many
industries, which has led to a demand by customers for a greater
variety in the format of products or services, there is a consequent
need to engineer more flexibility into our delivery systems.
Flexibility in this context refers to the organization’s ability to
tailors products and services to the precise needs of individual cus-
tomers or segments. It will frequently involve a radical review of
conventional wisdom on manufacturing and distribution – for
example, focusing upon reducing batch quantities in production
and in distribution, moving to a just-in-time delivery environment
and delaying the final configuration of the finished product.
Managing and maintaining delivered satisfaction
Because the quality and strength of customer relationships is so crit-
ical to the survival and profitability of any business, it is essential
that the processes that deliver satisfaction, as well as the customers’
perceptions of performance, are regularly monitored. In the same
way that it is now widely accepted that the quality of physical prod-
ucts is dependent upon the control of the process that manufactures
them, so too the quality of customer service is determined by the
extent to which the delivery process is under control. Service
process monitoring should be continuous and, in particular, all
potential ‘fail-points’ should be identified and, if they cannot be
made fail-safe, should be carefully controlled. Managing the
‘moments of truth’ makes the difference between customer satisfac-
tion and customer disappointment in any service process.
Employee satisfaction studies as well as customer satisfaction
studies should form an integral part of the management of the
service delivery process. Many companies already conduct such
studies but only on an ad hoc basis. Paradoxically, those same com-
422 Relationship Marketing