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Differentiation and Efficiency Through Monument's 'Voice of Customer' Approach

March 20th, 2020

Monument has always prioritized the voice of our customers, but now, we’ve chosen to take communication to a whole new level!

The enhanced approach involves a step-by-step methodology known as New Product Blueprinting, designed to take the “fuzziness” out of the initial conversations with a customer that are crucial to driving strategy, product, and service innovation.

“We’ve embraced this new way of listening to what our customers need so we can better service them,” said Deb Kovacs, Commercial Development Manager. “Our whole tolling team was introduced to this VOC training software through AIM Institute — we went through 2-days of on-site training in Indianapolis back in early February and continue to have weekly e-learning.”

Deb’s team is the first to implement the new process with one of Monument’s largest tollers, and it’s already had a big impact for both sides of the relationship.

“The conversation is at a higher level,” Deb explained. “By flying out to the customer site, having a delivery session face-to-face, and using the software, the customer was able to see how we wrote each of their responses and corrected certain things throughout the conversation. By working through it together, it made us realize how sometimes we can even misinterpret a request. This process enables us to make those corrections right away; where virtually, they could get missed.”

And with the ability to clearly define the customer’s needs from the get-go, it can minimize difficult conversations and issues down the road. It helps reduce commercial and technical risk, so we are focused on those opportunities with the highest chance of success. It's also become a differentiator for us in terms of helping improve our service on existing business, so we are even better aligned with customer needs moving forward.

“It was refreshing to have a strategic discussion on how this key customer would like to see their tolling handled and not an execution-type meeting after the fact. There’s less calls about ‘oh, you missed this,’ and we’re not in firefighting mode. Since they are our largest client, this progress has been great.”

Despite recent travel regulations preventing face-to-face conversations, the tools can still be used to guide virtual conversations too. “We have a lot of great probing questions and techniques to use, so while we aren’t formally using the VOC software, we are taking advantage of the methodology by implementing these action items into our weekly phone calls.”

As for the customer, they’ve voiced their appreciation of the VOC software agenda, which laid out the 5 deliverables in detail, each with a set time limit that kept the conversation moving throughout the meeting. “They love the transparency of the exercise,” Deb explains. “And I think it really gives us a competitive edge. Taking the time to fly out to them and have this type of discussion and really listen to the customer — it really shows we care.”

Check out the three 3 minute videos below on the process, training, and software