By John I. Todor, Ph.D., author of Addicted Customers (www.AddictedCustomers.com)
The recent survey results reported by Lior Arussy’s Strativity Group should be a wake-up call to business executives. www.strativitygroup.com/press_releases/pr_02_14_2005.html.
According to the study, 70% of companies indicate that customer strategies are more important than they were years ago. Yet,
- 60% of senior executives claim they do not deserve their customer’s loyalty.
- 51% of respondents claim that their company does not deliver unique and beneficial products or services.
- Only 34% affirm that they have the tools and authority to serve their customers.
Essentially, in spite of believing they should focus more on the customer experience, most companies are still selling commodities. Why is this the case?
There is a gap between KNOWING that they need to focus on the customer experience and customer relationships to foster loyalty and the requisite KNOW-HOW.
What’s getting in the way of know-how in many companies is the prevailing view of the end-game. Very often it is quarterly earnings which, as you push further down the organization, becomes the immediate transaction. This focus does not contribute to customer loyalty and may actually foster a competitive or adversial relationship with low trust. The relationship is frequently one transaction at a time with some inertia contributing to repeat business. This is not loyalty.
What is loyalty? Well that would be a good thing for a company to define. In my view, whether you call it loyalty or not, it is the shift in the focus of the relationship from transaction to bigger picture issues where enduring relationship value is derived. Both parties win. This type of cooperative and collaborative relationship requires trust, and it requires a deliberate process to nurture it. This nurturing is not an event, it is an ongoing journey. If executives had this journey “front stage & center” they could begin to focus on know-how. Additionally, they would discover that the vehicle for the journey is the customer experience. My new book, Addicted Customers: How to Get Them Hooked on Your Company, spells out the psychological principles that underlie this journey and business practices that put these principles into action.
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