VEGA’s Customer Journey Drives 99% On-Time Delivery
By: Marce Esptein, OhioGhostWriter
Our CX and Sales Enablement Community recently visited VEGA Americas, on Cincinnati’s east side, to learn how VEGA Americas leveraged customer insights to optimize the Customer Journey. A broad panel of speakers from within the organization, including President and CEO Ron Hegyesi, Customer Champion and CX specialist Annie Carl, and several other VEGA employees, explained the premise of the CX initiative and its broad reach across the organization. Marce Epstein shares these key insights from the experience.
B2B manufacturing is complex. VEGA, a global manufacturer of process instrumentation, experiences this complexity daily.
A majority of VEGA’s products are made to order. And they are made well. Products in the field can perform upwards of 30 years. Manufacturing excellence and reliability are strong incentives for purchase. Yet, about a decade ago, VEGA was struggling. On-time delivery was averaging 65%.
Today, on-time delivery averages 99%. That’s an impressive statistical improvement. And one that makes VEGA proud.
VEGA’s laser specific focus on the Customer Journey has helped drive this attainment of 99% on-time delivery. VEGA has used multiple techniques to align the entire organization to focus on Customer Experience.
A Customer Focus
A customer focus does not necessarily mean saying “yes” to every request. To drive the entire organization to run more efficiently and to improve on-time delivery, VEGA took an honest, inward appraisal of how they functioned. They optimized processes that would improve overall production efficiencies. Organizational roles were defined. Each person understood the area that they were responsible for executing. Delegation was understood to be an efficient way to pass the information along. Duplication of effort was eliminated.
Historically, back when on-time delivery was averaging 65%, VEGA was more likely to comply with all customer requests — even if that meant duplication of effort across organizational roles. But once VEGA took a good, hard look at optimal production processes, VEGA realized that the best way to achieve exemplary customer satisfaction was to focus on a structured process that would produce organizational efficiencies and allow for consistent manufacturing processes.
Exploration of CX
VEGA has multiple sales channels. Products are sold both through distributors and direct to customers. Exploration of Customer Experience needed to incorporate all of the customer touch points through all of the sales channels.
VEGA understood that organizational change occurs in steps. After soliciting customer feedback and listening carefully to customers’ viewpoints, VEGA designed an ideal process for the Customer Journey. Focusing on the areas that would yield the greatest benefits most quickly, VEGA’s Customer Experience Team began sharing insights and launching Customer Experience training throughout the organization.
VEGA is proudly celebrating their successes on their Customer Journey. But they are not resting on their laurels. In 2019, they plan to increase their Customer Journey knowledge by reigniting relationships with dormant customers.
The Cincinnati Chapter of the American Marketing Association thanks VEGA for candidly sharing their insights for a wonderful learning opportunity.
About the Author
Marce Epstein, A Writer with Steel Toed Shoes™, runs OhioGhostWriter, which develops digital marketing strategies and content for companies in the manufacturing, technology, and medical industries.
