As we set goals for the upcoming year, it is important to understand how each one of them impacts customer satisfaction. Although many employees have internal customers—and these customers should receive good service—ultimately the success of a business depends upon the paying customer. Some companies even have plans to collaborate with customers in 2010.

A discussion of some of the following questions may help clarify the link between individual goals and customer satisfaction.

-How does my goal performance contribute to the quality of our product or service?

-How does my goal performance affect the ability of our company to deliver our product or service on time?

-Which departments or individuals rely upon me meeting my goals?

-How does my goal performance ripple through the system to support the delivery of top quality service to customers?

-How would customer satisfaction change if my contribution did not exist?

-What key steps can I take to improve my impact upon customer satisfaction?

-How do I evaluate my impact upon customer satisfaction? For example, do I have access to customer feedback?

References:

Meister, Jeanne. "Five Words to Describe Corporate Learning in 2010." New Learning Playbook [www. newlearningplaybook.com/blog]. December 17, 2009.