In the next two years, the most innovative companies will take advantage of 5 THINK BIG disruptions impacting the workplace, consumers, and sellers across nearly every industry. These changes are being played out now, and will reach their zenith by 2025.   1. Renting Things Instead of Owning Them Many large value purchases will not be sold as long-term capital expenditures, but rented as operational costs. The automobile and insurance industry will be greatly impacted by this change. Vehicle ownership will move from individuals with long-term bank loans and high insurance premiums ..read more

 Frederick Reichheld’s seminal article “The One Number You Need to Grow” noted that companies waste much time and resources attempting to measure customer satisfaction via complex surveys which suffer from poor response rates and ambiguous meaning. Building on pioneering work at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the author found that a single “would recommend” question is a useful predictor of growth, focuses employees on the right corporate priorities, and captures true loyalty rates which clearly affects profitability (Reichheld, 2003). Doing business today requires accountability for marketing ..read more

                      The pandemic has upended how brands create customer value. As marketers continue to think what's new and valuable to customers, I have three brands that just got this right. Ø  Airbnb, we all missed travelling during those dreadful lockdown periods. This meant Airbnb was nowhere near as popular as it used to be, but this brand differentiated their value position. They offered 100,000 stay places for healthcare workers and first responders around the world. They also waived all fees for healthcare workers&nb ..read more

How would your customers categorize their experience with your firm? A Forrester Research study that shared the findings from interviews with more than 4,600 U.S. consumers about their interactions with 133 companies across a variety of industries revealed that ONLY 13 firms received “excellent” ratings, while 45 were rated either “poor” or “very poor.” Clearly the results suggest improving customer experience and customer engagement will drive better business results. Defining Customer Experience Forrester categorizes the customer experience as the sum of three ..read more

  Value has many different meanings. To some Value means price (what is the value of this car?) to others it means benefit (the value I got from this car). It also means the worth of something. That is why you hear some people saying “value for money” (meaning they are price sensitive); and others who prefer “money for value” (meaning they are willing to pay for what they consider as benefits, as from a brand or a better product, or more convenience etc.) The dictionary meaning includes: The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. Syn ..read more

  In business-to-business settings, I often hear managers making unsubstantiated statements such as:    "We are too expensive" ·          " Our customers are so price sensitive"               "All that our customers care about is the price”              " We are pricing ourselves out of the market” ·          " Lower-priced competitors are taking business away from us” These “truths” are often spoken in tones bordering on hysteria and hopeless ..read more

  Consider the current economic environment in the United States: gasoline $5 a gallon, inflation approaching 9%, huge price escalation in all consumer purchase categories, supply chain stockouts, the stock market in bear territory, a total lack of political leadership, and a recession imminent in the U.S. (This is not to say that things are great worldwide, as well). This market reality follows two-plus years of Covid lockdowns and restrictions. SMEs as well as giant corporations are facing unprecedented challenges in finding/keeping good employees and coping with large cost increases ..read more

  As one of the primary revenue generators for an organization, Marketing provides three essential roles: finding profitable customers, keeping profitable customers, and growing the value of these profitable customers. Customer-centric metrics offer a good starting point for identifying prospects who most look like your profitable customers, knowing which customers and products are making the largest contributions to the bottom line, and for effectively investing your demand generation dollars.  Besides measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty, the impact on profitability is also ..read more

                                                                  Photo Credit: Clay Banks While most firms should strive to provide their customers with the best experience possible at all times, service incidents and failures will occur from time to time. Although these issues aren’t ideal, they do present companies with opportunities as well. Obviously, companies should no ..read more

There are two schools of thought on customer delight -- it is an extreme form of customer satisfaction (very satisfied) or it is a distinct marketing construct. While the latter position has gained traction recently, this debate is far from settled. Highly Satisfied or Customer Delight? > Position A - Highly Satisfied Customer satisfaction is frequently measured on a five-point Likert scale. While there are many variants of the approach, it is typically measured as follows: 1) highly dissatisfied, 2) dissatisfied, 3) neither satisfied or dissatisfied, 4) satisfied, and 5) highly satisfie ..read more