Too often a business tells its existing customers that they are the MOST important people to them and that they are the KEY to their success and all sorts of other accolades.  However, what ends up getting exhibited is exactly the opposite.  The business actually REWARDS the new customers more than their existing customers.  For example, when my contract ran out for DSL service through Verizon, I received a notice in the mail that they would be willing to sign me up for another year at the current rate of $32.95 a month – sounded like a good deal, right?  Not exactly. 

When a did just a bit of research I found out that they were offering NEW customers a year of service for $19.99 a month to get them to subscribe to their DSL service.  I have been a customer with them for over 10 years now and I am getting this really super special deal and getting the privelage of paying over $10 more per month – WOW do I feel special.  Of course when I called and complained and threatened to terminate my service they magically matched the intro pricing for new customers and reluctantly gave me the lower pricing.

How many times have you treated your own customers this same way?  I hope none.  Customers are not stupid for the most part.  In a world of transparency, they figure things out – just like I did.  They will eventually (probably sooner than you like) figure out that you are treating new customers better than your loyal or existing customers.  If you want to build LOYALTY, start with treating them at least as good (if not hopefully better) than new customers.  They have proven they will consistently spend money with you, why put this in jeopardy by only rewarding your new customers. 

Acquisition is important for sure – but NOT at the expense of LOYAL customers.  Loyal customers have been shown to spend more and give companies greater margin – why risk this to bring on a new set that may or may not stick with you and lose your existing ones in the process.  In these difficult times, put your money into solidifying your LOYAL customers first, anything left over should go to acquisition.  Hope this helps…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

In this article, Tom said, “If you can’t get people to pay for what they love, we’re all out of business.” WOW – this was a great statement not just for Newsweek magazine but for the world of business.  Think about it.  If you don’t create a customer experience where your customer doesn’t “love dealing with you” how long, in this competitive climate called a recession are you going to last?  This is something i have espoused for years and years that is you don’t have a customer experience that customers love and they don’t absolutely love dealing with you, Trust and Loyalty are always going to an elusive goal. 

If you take anything away from Tom’s message it is this.  Get someone to honestly evaluate your current cusotmer experience from an objective perspective.  NO, ididn’t say do another lame survey.  I said understanding the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE and the PROMISES that go along with being able to deliver on this experience.  Get help in understanding the Promises your customers want from you and figure out how far off you are in being able to deliver on these promises and FIX IT or you run the risk of going the direction of the print media – extinction.

Understand what it takes for your customers to LOVE dealing with you and what PROMISES they want you to keep every day and you will have LOYAL customers that TRUST you and wouldn’t go anywhere else.  And in these difficult times, isn’t that what everyone wants?  Hope this helps…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

Let’s look at Differentiation. Customer Experience 2.0 focuses on helping companies understand the promises their customers want them to make and using the tools of social media to help deliver these promises.  We see over and over again that companies simply don’t understand the promises their customers want.  If they don’t understand the promises they want then they can’t deliver the experience they want either.  Those organizations that understand this can deliver a truly unique and exceptional experience, leading to Differentiation from their competitors.  This is a significant step in building a sustainable competitive advantage.

Now let’s look at Sales.  This is simply being able to increase the sales of your organization.  It’s one thing to have some really cool, leading edge tools to offer your customers and others.  However, if they don’t help you increase your sales, what value do they really have at the end of the day?  We believe all the social media tools are terrific, but it’s only when they are combined with delivering a better customer experience do they allow companies to increase sales.  This is about increasing sales while delivering a differentiated customer experience.

There you have it – the two key ingredients that makes Customer Experience 2.0 an approach and framework we believe can help companies create a great competitive advantage.  More to come in this area…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.