Dialogue to reach that “Eureka” moment

What do my customers want? And how do stakeholders regard my company or my association? Where do they see strengths, and where weaknesses? Numerous companies, and more and more state institutions and associations, ask themselves these questions every day, among them waste disposal association Entsorgungsverband Saar (EVS).

Since 1997, EVS has been solely responsible for waste water and waste management of all 52 municipalities in the German state of Saarland. Logistics, namely the collection and transportation of waste, is the only service not provided in every municipality by EVS. In recent years, the prices for waste disposal have risen in Saarland. According to a study from 2008, charges for waste in Saarland may be the lowest in the whole of Germany, but what matters is people’s perception: The press, customers and political critics of EVS feel that EVS’s services are expensive. The result: A negative press, dissatisfied customers, and numerous politically motivated run-ins. Together with EVS, IFOK developed an analysis specially tailored to EVS, which consisted of three elements to find out why people define EVS primarily by price: In a stakeholder mapping process, IFOK asked the various stakeholders about their perception of EVS. Numerous viewpoints were revealed: The results showed that to some extent, EVS was justified in its assumptions, but new knowledge was also brought to light. Another element of the analysis was a comparative customer survey: IFOK asked the people of Saarland about what they wanted and expected from a waste disposal association and then asked them how they felt EVS met these particular needs and expectations. In a simplified benchmarking process, IFOK also found out how well EVS performed compared to its competitors and identified solution strategies adopted by comparable companies.