Customer Service...100% goals

So your boss came in and told you that you need to have higher customer service percentages on all the items in your warehouse....

What should you do:
A) panic
B) find a new job
C) run a HITS & customer service report
D) contact: Danah@DistributionTeam.com
        
While I do love option D, I think it would be more prudent to do both C and D at the same time.

Start by asking your boss what he or she means to them. Is this just another edict that was passed down from the C suite to your desk because you are the next logical downhill office to "save money"? Or is this a real issue? Who brought it to his or her attention? Was this sales or management or are you just doing a bad job at maintaining your inventory levels? This is all totally fixable, so relax.

First, don't panic or find a new job, just go into your software and run a HITS report. Sort the report by your top hit items. (Can't find this report, call your software people, they can help)

Second, still don't panic, run another report: Customer Service Percentage report. This will run the customer service on each item in your inventory and tell you what percentage of the time you are able to fill a line on an order.
   Example: I call in and order 100 gizmos from you, you only have 99. You did not fulfill my order 100% did you? Nope. I only got 99. I need 100. So your customer service rate.....not 100%, not 99% either. This is pass or fail, did you or didn't you fill my order?

Your software will calculate how many times you filled the order lines completely for each item. NOW, sort that data so it matches the HITS report and paste that baby on the last column of your HITS report.

Thirdly, check out those top hit items. your "A" items so to speak. Are any of those items below 100% customer service?
  YES some are below 100%: Find out why. Fix it immediately, these items should NEVER be out of stock.
   NO, none are below 100%: Show this to your boss and explain that the items the customer is voting to have in stock with their wallets are in stock and performing well.

Finally, regardless of your report and how it comes out, be sure to discuss what goals are important to your company.

Short story to help you bring this into context:
Recently I went uniform shopping for back to school, some of the uniform sizes and styles were out of stock. A few other minor things like socks and shoes were hit and miss but that wasn't my main focus. I needed uniforms. Due to the fact that the store was out of stock, I ended up going to another store and was pretty put off by the "huge sale" signs and emails that didn't amount to anything more but a waste of my time.

Think like your customers, what items should be in stock and what is it ok to be out of. Just like with me, it was ok to be out of stock of some things, but not ok for the main purpose of my outing. Next year when I need uniforms again, do you think I will brave that store again? Probably not. I will be willing to pay more to know I can get what I need in one shot at another store.

Moral of the story:
* Make sure you have in stock what your customers want (check the HITS report).
* Make sure you stay on top of this report EVERY MONTH so your boss won't come back on that front…and also, your numbers will change here and there, so be sure to not let anything slip past you.
* DO NOT EVER think that you can have 100% customer service on everything you sell, you do not have enough space or money to stock like that. If your boss doesn’t believe you, then show him or her what it would cost to have 100% customer service on every item.
* Choose option D, give me a call or email (danah@distributionteam.com) and I will help you look like a superstar!