By: Helton Haddad 

"The research revealled that our clients are satisfied. So it's ok!"As a marketing consultant I've heard this phrase a lot of times, said by companies' directors from different branches. Good results certainly should be celebrated, but we also should ask: is this confidence justified?

The customer satisfaction researches are evaluation instruments of the level of attendance gived. They allow to check perceptions and stablish improvement actions. Besides marketing tools, this type of study also is part of the total quality programs.

The definition of the attendance standards is made based on the specific situation of each business and each market segment. When results are bad, or when 0 level of satisfaction is under desired, it's common that companies begin improvement programs, envolving changes in processes, personal development iniciatives and many managerial actions.

Although, what happen when levels of satisfaction arrive at the expected standard? At first, this could indicate that everything is good: that the company could continue its attendance activities without changing its routines and procedures.

Unfortunately, maybe things are not that simple. We'll see a practical case: recently we followed the consumer satisfaction research process of a big multinacional company, leader in its sector. In this research was obtained a general index of satisfied customers above 85%, a sufficient high index to cause jealousy at the companies affiliates in other countries. Internally, the index reached has stimulated a sensation of unvulnerableness, corfort and conformism.

But, and what about the other 15% clients unsatisfied? This is also a high number. In fact, this share represents an important minority that could represent big chances of growingto the business.

In the case of this company, the main reasons for unsatisfaction were related to the clients' support area, considered not efficient. The high index of satisfaction was influenced by the perception of excellent quality of products and covered this real problem. In a competitive market, this "gap of satisfaction" could be explored by a competitor more attent and put into risk the market leadership. In this case, fortunately, the executive's atitude was clever: a new model of customer support was defined and introduced.

So, to analyse customer satisfaction researches, is necessary to be attent to the unsatisfied clients, even when they are minority. These "little unsatisfactions" could represent even threats to the company competitive position like oportunities to develop new business.