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The Vision Thing
For me the most underplayed and underrated customer strategy is vision. Some executives have a knack for what customers will demand. That's not what the customer will need or want, mind you. It's knowing what the customer will demand. Vision is the difference between opening a new bookstore and starting Amazon.com. It's the difference between firing channel partners in favor of greater efficiency and empowering channel partners to open new kinds of product lines. I stole that last one from John Chambers at Cisco. Vision also seems to be the product of hard work. Even with his current reponsibility of running one of the biggest companies in the world, Chambers still spends more than half his time with customers.
I'd turn this trio upside down and first cast vision as number one differentiator. Vision shapes the customer-willing product. The crucial dimension here is proactive visionary thinking to present the market the product solution in a way they need to give it a favourite status across the customers. Exactly, the way JetBlue did six years ago. Then, you need to keep your product promise operationalizing well the whole delivery. Finally, it's a good idea to practice relationship marketing with your customers. If that holds, people will be happy with loyalty and referrals coming as a feedback. If it doesn't , well, people will get frustrated and look for a trade-off.
If it goes in deep, you will loose customers and money. If it's an episode like in the recent case with JetBlue, your short-term exit strategy is a timely apology (that's exactly how they responded) and get back to your product promise refining the whole operation. There would be probably defectors but the majority will stay. People understand that some goofs happen. This kind of vendor-customer interaction ultimately creates trust, which glues the whole equation.
Its good that some businesses take the initiative to build trust with clients/customers. In a way they are making them friends of the company. When customers feel that they are friends of the company, they are able to trust the company and know they are accountable. So in essence, a business should focus on cultivating relationships with customers initially. Over time, trust and accountability will be automatically introduced into the relationship based on the client's perspective. When customers are happy with the service from their company, trust and accountability are automatically present. With regards to under-the-radar strategy, very simple, treat customers/clients as friends. JetBlue does a good job especially when facing competition from other low cost carriers and legacy carriers.
I see a disconnect between what an organization says it wants and the activities it champions and rewards.
The executive-level conversations and strategic presentations shared at town halls, etc. make for great vision. Then there is reality: the real actions, compensation, and accountability within an organization. If the two are not linked, the vision is about as sustainable as a shooting star.
Like John, I agree that “Vision” is the most underplayed and underrated customer strategy. However, I feel very strong in that this is the organizations executives’ responsibility, and lack of their ownership. It seems for far too long companies across the board have been focusing on the impulsive quarterly profits that earn a quick fix to bottom lines, in other words NEW sales. The truth is that CRM and CEM are not new, they have been around for years, but companies seem to just now be focusing on the current customers as the market bottoms out. The truth that people are aware of, but is often ignored is that it takes 7 times more resources and money to earn a customer then that of retaining one. My vision for the organization I work for is to become as customer oriented and customer centric as possible through the use of new technologies, and communication. Aligning our efforts with the use of these two strategies with our customers will drive a more customer oriented organization. Focusing on the VALUE, I can bring to my customers, and in return, they can bring to their customer’s day in and day out allows me effectively market our company in the best light. I believe strongly that focusing on these two goals for now will drive the basic foundations for a customer centric company for today.
John
The difficulty with senior management Vision is that it is so often defective. Or it is based upon what they want the business to be for their own selfish purposes (most mergers and acquisitions for example), rather than what it can realistically become given its resources and the market in which it operates. The secret seems to be the rather old-fashioned balance between knowing intimately what outcomes customers are looking to achieve, what the company is good at doing or could become good at doing, and of course, knowing how the intersection of these two creates value.
To dream is a fine thing, but vision needs to have both feet firmly rooted in reality.
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager
A friend of mine had strategic sessions with 35 CEOs during 2006.
Of the 35 sessions, only one was visionary in nature, only two focused on something other than 'fixing' day-to-day problems.
The other 32 sessions focused on fixing day-to-day business issues.
'Nuff said.