In this era of hyper speed, the Customer Strategy should not be overlooked or discounted, for it’s the foundation of the customer experience. I’ll introduce the idea of a holistic customer profile as the centerpiece that can increase sales potential for you, your business and the technology surrounding it.
As we strive to innovate systems and technology we should never lose sight of the one constant, the customer. In CRM (customer relationship management) and BPM (business process management) the center of everything we do is the customer. There are always three parts to it – the people, the processes, and the technology – with technology being the smallest piece when compared to process or people. The reason I say technology is the smallest portion is because technology is not intended to take over an employee’s position, it’s meant to leverage your existing processes by allowing the people to be more efficient and effective at what they already do. As well, Artificial Intelligence is no longer a topic that we can consider a pipe dream. Automation and artificial intelligence are not meant to replace the employee, but rather used to free up employee’s time, automating time consuming tasks like data entry, and statistical work.
Now let’s briefly talk about people and the paradigm shift of power from business to consumer. In the past, businesses would sell what they could produce, use sales reps to push things onto customers, and use discounts to entice you to buy, thus dictating the buying window of the consumer and what they should ultimately be buying. Now, the reverse is true. Customers are the ones with all of the power. They are the ones actively seeking products, reading reviews, determining the best fit for them, and then buying directly from the company instead of the sales rep. Their expectations in every aspect are higher; they want the newest versions sooner, they want their items delivered to their door (preferably before 4pm), and if it’s not the best, they’ll want to return it free and fast. Businesses need to anticipate the unique needs and wants of the customer, and no longer the assumed demographic. Holistic profiling for that reason is the first step to a great customer strategy. A holistic profile encompasses the entirety of an individual and not a market segment. And understanding the nature of the businesses interactions with an individual will create a genuine relationship that helps retain good repeat customers.
I know what I said sounds kind of like a pipedream. “Let’s make a personalized profile for every individual customer, current – old – and prospect.” Sounds crazy (or expensive) if you have anywhere from a hundred plus customers, right?
Starting with the processes is one of the key success factors of a successful customer strategy. Just like the veins in your body, they are vital for moving things around, and when there is any inefficiency within the complex routing of them, even for a short period of time, it affects the entire body. Another thing to point out is that “the processes” doesn’t correlate to just one process, it’s trying to explain the whole complex sales – marketing – service process. All three are well defined channels, but when they work in harmony, their cumulative strength is a real game changer.
Next week I’ll dive into the processes revolving around sales, marketing, and service, dissecting them and rebuilding them with technology that seems futuristic, but is cost effective and implementable today.
Thanks for reading!