No customer no glory

No customer,
no glory
It’s all about connecting with
people

A customer is not a target group

A customer is the person you are working
for. The one you serve. He is the user of
your products. He knows the best how to
use your products and make them even
better. He talks about you and your
products. He experiences your services.
He should be feeling important,
welcome, embraced, connected,
recognized. He is the one why you are in
business. Without him you’ll be out of that.

But…
Do you know your customer? Do you
understand his needs, wishes, plans,
values? Do you know what your
customer expects from you, and your
products or services? And are you
delivering at these expectations? Or
even beyond them? Do you offer him the
best value possible? Are you consistently
delivering in a way that satisfies and
even surprises your customer?

And…
Do you think that your customer will
give the same answers to those
questions as you did?

Many companies spend
most of their marketing
budgets in lead
generation/new
customer acquisition
and invest 20% or less in
their own customers

That’s an unwise policy
Because 80% of revenues
come from customer retention

Treat your customers well, and they
will stay with you (and will come
back to you at the next purchase)

Surprise your customers, and they
will share their surprise with their
friends (and will convince them to
become a ‘fan’ as well)

So,
find ways to genuinely surprise your
customers…

In our competitive, over-communicated
society, there’s more to deepen
customer relationships than delivering
operational excellence

Managing
efficiency

Managing
affection

It’s about
  Being interested in human beings, not in
figures, numbers etc.
  Spending time and money to get to know
the users of your products
  Continuously engaging with real people
  Willing to build a customer-centric business
  Delivering lasting moments on top of
valuable products and services

‘A deep understanding of the users of
your products and services, leads to
new perspectives which, in turn, spawn
novel solutions’
d.school

Research shows:
Most customers will put service ahead
of price - if you give them the chance

BIGresearch

Unfortunately 79% of business leaders
have only a generalized or superficial/
absent understanding of their
customers…

IBM research

And 60% of marketers
doubt if they can identify their
loyal customers…

Acxiom/Loyalty360

And 60% of marketers
doubt if they can identify their
loyal customers…
let alone their customers’
needs and expectations

Do you know what your customers
EXPECT from your products and
services?

Do you know what your customers
EXPECT from your products and
services?
90% of businesses don’t

Smart Advantage

Reasons why:
  no direct interactions with customers
  unwillingness to ask about
expectations
  unpreparedness in addressing them

Pheng & Nguan

When decision makers do not fully
understand customer’s expectations,
they may cause a chain of bad
decisions and suboptimal resource
allocations that result in poor service
quality
Gap analyses

Management
perceptions of
customers’ expectations
gap 2
ORGANISATION

•  Ineffective
management of
customer expectations
•  Overpromising
•  Inadequate horizontal
communications

Communications with
customers

Translation of
perceptions into services
quality specifications
gap 3

gap 4

Service/product delivery

•  Absence of customer
driven standards
•  Inadequate service
leadership
•  Poor service design

•  Deficiencies of
human resource
policies
•  Failure to match
supply and demand
•  Customers not
fulfilling roles

gap 1

Actual
service/product

CUSTOMERS

Closing this
customer gap will:
•  enhance customer
satisfaction
•  enhance customer
loyalty
•  develop the
lifetime value of
the customer

Past experiences

Perceived
service/
product
gap 5
Expected
service/
product
Actual personal
problems, needs &
wishes

Worth of mouth

•  Inadequate market
research orientation
•  Lack of upward
communication
•  Insufficient
relationship focus

A customer experience starts with a
personal question, need or wish;
which solution is worth paying for

But why should people choose YOUR
COMPANY to solve their problems?

Why should consumers spend their
most valuable and scarce resources
- money, time and attention - on you?

You only EARN these by meeting the
needs of your customers surprisingly
well

HOW?
By putting your customers in the heart
of your organization

‘In high performing organizations,
everything starts and ends with the
customer. This is a radical shift from
organizations whose business design
puts customers as the end-receiver of
the chain.’

Ken Blanchard

Marketers might think that putting
their customers in the heart of their
organization equals CRM, database
marketing or marketing intelligence

But having a customer-centric
organization is not the same as:
  Having an up-to-date client database
  Using profiles and scenarios of your
average client or target group
  Asking feedback from clients when
product modifications have been
developed

Customer-centricity means before
making any decision, find out how that
decision will have impact on your
customers

It means watching at and listening to
real people when you have a business
or product idea or assumption;
focusing on your customers’ needs,
whishes and perspectives

If you do so, you’ll let real customers
involve in the way your products and
services are conceived, designed,
delivered and experienced

But how do you get in contact, and
keep in touch with your customers?
And how can this contact be
effective?

THE GOOD NEWS:
your customers are willing to help you

Nowadays, consumers increasingly
want to participate in the organizations
they feel connected with

Rather than receiving e-mails, news
letters or push-tweets consumers want
to engage in debate, co-create, share
experiences and stories, and build
engaging relationships with organizations that are truly looking for customer
insights to make their customers happy

Especially with organizations that are
reliable, value sustainability, adopt
mindful consumption, and have the
drive to innovate, and are able to
make a difference

It’s a fact:
Organizations that work closely with
their customers and end-users, design
and develop better, more relevant and
more consistent high-impact solutions
for people’s problems, needs or wishes

So, empower your organization to
engage with customers to design
sustainable products and excellent
service which creates lasting
interactions and experiences

Most executives believe that customer
engagement is extremely important to
their business. Nearly 90% say that
customer relationships are very
important to the success of their
business

The Economist

More important; companies with
engaged customers enjoy: improved
customer loyalty (80%), increased
revenue (76%), and increased profits
(75%)

The Economist

REMEMBER,
Customer engagement isn’t realized by
a set of isolated interactions. It’s about
cooperation, involvement, consultation
and dialogue. You have to recognize that
the interactions with your customers are
based on an ongoing dialogue of equals
to nurture trust and form meaningful
relationships

These interactions create valuable
experiences and outcomes for your
customers

It all starts and ends with connecting
with your customers

Inge Keizer

Email: inge.keizer@yabber.nl
Twitter: @ingejk
March 18, 2012

No customer no glory

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