Posts Tagged ‘ customers are cool ’

Predicting the next step in Customer Management

So what happens once all the companies where customers matter have implemented their state of the art CRM platforms? All interfaced, 360 degree customer view, complete control over structured, transparent customer data.... what a beautiful position to be in. What's next? Where lies the the next challenge then? Of course, companies will still have to innovate in terms of products and remaining competitive. But the next real challenge lies in reverse customer management. It's enabling the customer to manage the relationship with its supplier. Self service is part of that - often that afterthought in projects, almost a necessary evil from a company's perspective: 'Oh yes, we have to enable the customer to do this and that himself too'... Reverse Customer Management goes further than that. In years to come, customers will want complete control over their suppliers, preferably in one interface, in their own CRM system. Whereas companies create 'customer accounts', customers will want to create 'supplier' accounts and keep control over their supplier relations. The customer will manage the relationship. Combine this with Gardner's predictions about the future power of social networks in evaluating products, services, organisations and the power balance will experience a major shift from push to pull. We are really just at the start of the customer revolution. [ READ MORE ]

Treat everyone as your customer for just one day

Just bear with me on this one. Around 10 years ago I learned about stakeholder mapping. A stakeholder map, for those of you who don't know, is a big old spider web with you in the middle and everyone who has a stake in your life mapped somewhere around you in the web. Those with a big stake are mapped close to the center, those with a smaller stake further to the outside. Now, just see what happens if you treat all your stakeholders as if they were your customer. In a sense, if they have a stake in your life, they can influence it. In the same way that customers can influence a company they engage with. [ READ MORE ]

Still not getting the basics right.

Yesterday I referred to not having been treated as I think a customer should. With service and respect. And wouldn’t you believe it. This morning I stroll into a huge retail outlet specialising in elecronics to buy a camera. They have just opened, so shop attendants are still standing around doing nothing, talking, joking with each [ READ MORE ]

Come and go with a smile. A pre-condition.

Has it happened to you too recently that you are in shop, restaurant or some other venue and you receive what I call ‘reluctant service‘? That service received from someone whose entire being clearly communicates: ‘I’d rather be at home on the couch in my pyjamas than talking to you, jackass.’ Not that there is anything [ READ MORE ]

Ready for the double challenge of customersarecool? Continue reading.

This is exactly what CRM is all about. Getting your customer so satisfied that when it comes to your products and services, it’s like living on the beach. So there you have it, the double challenge. You need to find your customer very, very cool to be able to understand what makes him tick; what he desires. You need to then ensure that you satisfy this desire with such excellence that he becomes that cool customer on the beach. In the end, if you don’t find your customer cool, he most likely never will be. [ READ MORE ]

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