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.
