Saturday, 13 December 2008
One Customer Too Many
Good to see you again!,
A big lesson from the current economic hiccup, climate change, etc. is to keep scanning for opportunities. One organisation's failure is often ripe with potential for opportunity(s).
In just under 10 days, I've discovered many household names that seem to have one or two surplus customers. A few weeks back I pointed out a gap in my customer service expectation with one of the smarter businesses who fixed the problem 'created' by their out-sourced service provider. After a good resolution there were ... 8 dreadful encounters to make-up for one positive one. Can the customer relations barometer be swinging against meeting customer expectations? Was it just me having a poor week?
Your opportunity can be ... What value can you make from (competitor) performance gap?
I'll give a couple of examples. Size matters. A small firm can know its customers well enough to deal with problems at an individual level. Resist as many temptations to add distance between you and customers as you can. If you need to make a service department or outsource; check that your service provider is providing service -- Unfortunately a few service providers have eyes on the 'service contract' not on the customer.
Your customer's ecology consists of over-lapping service experiences with all kinds of organisation and relationships[1]. In my opinion, a non-satisfactory experiences means that the customer's expectations are reinforced, not diminished. It often puts passion behind their preferences.
A recent media campaign from one of my eight non-rich-experiences caused to think: 'they must have one or two, too many customers'. It just reminded me of a non-good experience.
Do you have too many customers in your business?
Things to remember. Any customer calling, or writing, with a problem is your most valuable marketing researcher. Ask for her/his preferred solution. Understand how advertising works; if you do have one too many customers, advertising can reinforce a sub-optimal experience too. Become ecologically mindful to optimise your marketing investment[2].
再见 (zài jiàn),William.
References ...
Labels: customer ecology, customer service, customer value
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