What Customers Want
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday of this week at the CRM Association’s inaugural National Conference. It was jam-packed with great content, but my very favorite quote of the event was this:
“The voice of the customer isn’t in your head. It’s the actual voice of the customer.”
CRM author and guru Paul Greenberg said this during his keynote. He was making the point that we actually need to listen to customers and include them in the creation and decision-making processes for new products, services, service delivery, etc. Increasingly customers expect this, he said.
Paul wasn’t alone in his sentiments. Harris Gordon, former global vice president of CRM for BearingPoint, told attendees that customers increasing want to manage their relationships and environment. He explained that this is being driven by new, linked technologies and social networks. “If peer social networking isn’t in your plans, then you’re missing the ballgame,” he said.
Chet Meisner, founder of Meisner Direct, added that pull technologies are empowering customers and that "marketing must move and customers' speed to keep up with customer-driven demand."
During his keynote, Peppers & Rogers Group cofounder and well-known customer strategist Don Peppers pointed out one key ingredient to succeeding during this time of social networks and evolving expectations: customer trust. Companies’ actions must show customers that they are acting in the customers’ interest, not just in their own interest. This is the price of entry for any long-term relationship. And, Peppers said, it comes with a careful balancing of short- and long-term strategies.
So what do customers want most? They want to be heard, but they also want to know that you’ve listened to and taken action on that feedback to improve the customer experience in a way that matters to them. This helps to build customer trust, which in the end also creates something positive for the organization: a bigger bottom line.
David, Yes it was Paul who noted Disney's change to the CRM acronym.
Graham, Customer service is indeed one of the basics that many companies still need to work on. I was fortunate to be joined by several of our 1to1 Customer Champions at the CRMA event, and during a special session honoring them I conducted Q&As with them in which they talked about how they deliver a compelling customer experience.
Bill Burris of Lexus said one key to this is to listen to customers; not just to feedback, but also to the data. What story is all that information telling you about your customers? Pete Winemiller of the NBA's Seattle Sonics and WNBA's Seattle Storm said that although it's great to exceed customer expectations when possible, the most important thing is to create a baseline consistent experience that you deliver on time and again. Get the basics of service delivery right every time and customers will love you for it.
One challenge (noted by Burris in his comment below) is that customers are increasingly in control of some aspects of what we might consider the customer experience, like how and when they consume our marketing messages.
So, to your point, companies must first get those customer basics right and then they can focus more attention on the Next Big Thing. And often, getting those basics right gets you halfway to conquering the new thing. Consider trust. It's a hot-button issue right now. If you deliver a consistent service experience that includes treating customers how you'd wanted to be treated if you were the customer, and listen to your customers (and take action that shows you've done so), you're well on your way to building customer trust.
Ginger
Sometimes I wonder if we are in danger of believing our own industry spin!
Most customers just want the basics: a great product that works everytime, at a low cost, with responsive service when they need it. It is common sense that Forrester recently confirmed in a report entitled 'What Do Customers Care About The Most?'.
Trust and a good reputation is something that develops over time when all these things have been done right, time, after time, after time. It is a result of superior business practices, not a legitimate business goal.
Most customers don't want relationships with companies and they don't want the hassle of managing their own 'relationships', not if the company does it competently in the first place, so that they don't have to.
The trouble is, far too many companies don't have great products that work everytime, don't offer them at a low cost and don't offer anything resembling competent service when a customer needs help. Their business basics are broken.
From my perspective as a CRM consultant, far too much heat is generated by consultants seeking the next big fad (engagement, trust, CMR, take your pick), rather than shining a light on the business basics that are broken and how to fix them.
And from my perspective as an interim CRM manager, far too many consultants try and sell services based upon these fads, (or whatever great, new ideas they have on offer) rather than understanding my core business, what makes it tick and how to improve it with the least disruption to the rest of the business.
It is interesting and necessary to discuss new trends in customer business. But if we are to improve our lot as consultants, we have start acting more like doctors trying to find a cure for what ails the corporate patient, than quack salesmen trying to peddle the latest faddish tonic.
Consultant, heal thyself.
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager
Great impressions, Ginger, I too felt that the inaugural CRMA conference was insightful, efficient and without question the beginning of a great series of events.
As a marketer for a large company, the keynote speakers' focus on the customer and our responsibility to reevaluate the way we do business was refreshing. If we would only take Don Peppers' advise and consider Return on Customer more important that Return on Investment, we will have gone a long way toward serving a public that is increasingly in control of their own media consumption and truly voting with their wallets.
Kudos to Art and his team for pulling it all together, it was well worth effort.
Bill Burris
Lexus Relationship Marketing
Ginger,
I agree with your observation of the conference, and I was impressed by all three presentations mentioned. I think that the conference highlighted the need for the CRM community and CRM vendors to address these changing technologies (whether we call them Web 2.0 or something else) and begin to leverage two-way communication more effectively. My favorite comment was made by either Paul or Harris referring to Disney changing the internal term for CRM to CMR (Customer Managed Relationships). I think this is the new reality for the future of CRM. The customers hold all the cards and will manage the companies providing products and services.
- David Gearhart
www.enterprisesoftwareexec.com
Ginger you captured it perfectly. I was also at the event and found it inspiring, reassuring and fun. How often do you get to hang out with other people who "get" the customer experience? I also loved Paul's quote - that the customer voice isn't in your head (meaning it isn't your personal opinions). I wrote that down and will use that with my clients. Everyone needs a reminder to look from the customer viewpoint and not just what they'd personally like.
And Don Peppers keynote was terrific as well, he really drove home that trust is the main driver of business and customer success. No doubt about it.
I also wrote a blog about the idea of trust inspired by what Don Peppers said, you can read that here if you'd like: http://customerevangelism.blogspot.com/2007/04/it-all-comes-down-to-trust.html
And a big thanks to Art Hall and the CRMA for a terrific inaugural event.
James,you make an interesting observation about what you call social compliance. Do you think JetBlue's Customer Bill of Rights is a form of this?
Ginger I think you and the great folks you mentioned above hit the nail on the head about what customers want.
I would say we all know what customers want because we're all customers at some point in every day we live.
So we should bring our personal experiences to our business conversations on how to relate to our customers, so we can give them what they want.
Showing that you deserve your customers trust means having rules about how to act and following those rules and making sure you can show you are following those rules. This requires a way to manage and demonstrate compliance with these new kinds of social rules.
JT