Standing Out From The Crowd

If you lived your whole life in the U.S., you may be oblivious to some curious everyday situations that I, as an outsider, can’t help but to find amusing.

For example, everyday I tear money apart.

No, I am not saying that I spend more than I should on a daily basis. I am stating that I LITERALLY tear money apart.  EVERYDAY!

Before you start cursing some made up foreign habit of throwing money away, let me explain: Given that all my normal written communication with friends and family is done through the Internet, every time I check my mailbox I rest assured to find only bills and direct marketing. Additionally, I frequently find marketing pieces disguised as money.

Some are checks for pre-approved loans that I didn’t ask for, some are checks to transfer debts to one of my credit cards, and finally some are checks for refund on the first month fee of a new bank service that I don’t want to sign-up for.

So, after the revision of delivered mail, I often pick the bills to be paid and immediately tear apart all the  “checks”, before I feel an urge to credit any of them.

That said, I can’t avoid the sense of wrongness when I think how I dutifully send my money to pay others and, at the same moment, I am throwing away any money that others send to me…

Maybe I am just crazy, but it helps me to think that if the global economy usually doesn’t make sense to me, why my personal one should? In any case, now I can understand a little bit why so many Americans are always in debt.

Maybe I am a pessimist, but I think many companies today focus all their efforts and budgets on projects that don’t solve their main problem. They wait too long to realize when they need specialized help. It’s like being concerned with making dinner while the house is on fire. You don’t call 911 until the whole house has burned down. Do you think the firemen can help you now?

If you work in a corporate marketing department with more than 1,000 customers, you probably spend your days looking for creative ways to obtain new customers and increase revenue. Doubtless, you’ve read at least one Customer Experience article lately and you agree that the best way to keep your customers is to improve customer interactions to meet their expectations. However, all your annual budget and goals are directed to acquire new customers, not retain current ones.

What most companies fail to understand is that the road to credibility and profit lies in devoting at least some of their investment and attention to Customer Experience. The numbers confirm this: It costs 10 times less to maintain a customer than to obtain a new one. It also costs 10 times more to recover one lost customer.

So now, all you have to do is get a holistic view of your customers, evaluate all their interaction points with your company, and implement a strategy that would be valid across all channels. Shift your perspective. It may sound overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.

There are two ways to get hold of the idea and change how you approach your business:

1. Step-by-Step
   • Improve the Customer Experience in small projects. Look for low hanging fruit
   • Constantly review and gradually expand the scope — as you measure results
2. Top-Down
   • Gather related data and numbers
   • Show the merits of customer-centricity to top management
   • Implement a company-wide Customer Experience strategy

Either way, you must realize that the fire is already burning. The market is changing. Customers are becoming more demanding and savvy. Companies are speeding up to adapt and you cannot risk being left behind. It’s a mindset change but it just takes the effort to look at things from a different angle. Refocus how you use your marketing budget. Think about how you’ll see a better return on your investment as you grow your business.

Don’t wait for others to make their move. Most of all, don’t wait for your customers to make their move! Call 911!

*Originally published in May 19, 2006 at http://www.voxinc.com/customer-retention-shift-your-perspective.htm

I always understood that it can be difficult to please a customer, but I never gave much thought about why. Seth Godin has some curious insights though on that matter in two of his recent blog entries: What People Want and The Thing About the Wind.

My two cents to companies: Listen very carefully to your customers and understand them as if you were in their shoes. Without that, you may be catering to your customers’ every whim without ever giving them what they really want.