Do you know your customers? Do you understand their needs, wishes, plans, values? Do you know what your customer expects from you, and your products or services? And are you delivering at these expectations? Or even beyond them? Many companies spend most of their marketing budgets in lead generation/new customer acquisition and invest just a bit in their own customers. Nowadays is about relationships; being interested in human beings, not in figures, numbers etc.; spending time and money to get to know the users of your products; continuously engaging with real people; willing to build a customer-centric business; and delivering lasting moments on top of valuable products and services. Read this presentation about being engaged. This presentation uses several surveys/studies to demonstrate the relevance.

1. No customer,
no glory
It’s all about connecting with
people

2. Who is the customer?

3. A customer is not a number

4. A customer is not a target group

5. A customer is the person you are working
for. The one you serve. He is the user of
your products. He knows the best how to
use your products and make them even
better. He talks about you and your
products. He experiences your services.
He should be feeling important,
welcome, embraced, connected,
recognized. He is the one why you are in
business. Without him you’ll be out of that.

6. But…
Do you know your customer? Do you
understand his needs, wishes, plans,
values? Do you know what your
customer expects from you, and your
products or services? And are you
delivering at these expectations? Or
even beyond them? Do you offer him the
best value possible? Are you consistently
delivering in a way that satisfies and
even surprises your customer?

7. And…
Do you think that your customer will
give the same answers to those
questions as you did?

8. Many companies spend
most of their marketing
budgets in lead
generation/new
customer acquisition
and invest 20% or less in
their own customers

9. That’s an unwise policy

10. That’s an unwise policy
Because 80% of revenues
come from customer retention

11. Treat your customers well, and they
will stay with you (and will come
back to you at the next purchase)

12. Surprise your customers, and they
will share their surprise with their
friends (and will convince them to
become a ‘fan’ as well)

13. So,
find ways to genuinely surprise your
customers…

14. … creating WOW MOMENTS

16. In our competitive, over-communicated
society, there’s more to deepen
customer relationships than delivering
operational excellence

17. Managing Managing
efficiency affection

18. It’s about
 Being interested in human beings, not in
figures, numbers etc.
 Spending time and money to get to know
the users of your products
 Continuously engaging with real people
 Willing to build a customer-centric business
 Delivering lasting moments on top of
valuable products and services

19. ‘A deep understanding of the users of
your products and services, leads to
new perspectives which, in turn, spawn
novel solutions’ d.school

20. Research shows:
Most customers will put service ahead
of price - if you give them the chance
BIGresearch

21. Unfortunately 79% of business leaders
have only a generalized or superficial/
absent understanding of their
customers…
IBM research

22. And 60% of marketers
doubt if they can identify their
loyal customers…
Acxiom/Loyalty360

23. And 60% of marketers
doubt if they can identify their
loyal customers…
let alone their customers’
needs and expectations

24. Do you know what your customers
EXPECT from your products and
services?

25. Do you know what your customers
EXPECT from your products and
services?
90% of businesses don’t
Smart Advantage

26. Reasons why:
 no direct interactions with customers
 unwillingness to ask about
expectations
 unpreparedness in addressing them
Pheng & Nguan

27. When decision makers do not fully
understand customer’s expectations,
they may cause a chain of bad
decisions and suboptimal resource
allocations that result in poor service
quality
Gap analyses

28. Management
perceptions of
customers’ expectations • Absence of customer
driven standards
• Inadequate service
gap 2 leadership
ORGANISATION • Ineffective
• Poor service design
management of
customer expectations Translation of
• Overpromising perceptions into services • Inadequate market
research orientation
• Inadequate horizontal • Deficiencies of
communications quality specifications • Lack of upward
human resource
policies
gap 1 communication
• Insufficient
• Failure to match
gap 3 supply and demand relationship focus
gap 4
Communications with • Customers not
fulfilling roles
customers Service/product delivery
Actual
service/product
Perceived
Closing this service/
customer gap will:
• enhance customer product
satisfaction
• enhance customer
loyalty gap 5
• develop the
lifetime value of
the customer
CUSTOMERS Expected
service/
product
Actual personal
Past experiences problems, needs & Worth of mouth
wishes

29. A customer experience starts with a
personal question, need or wish;
which solution is worth paying for

30. But why should people choose YOUR
COMPANY to solve their problems?

31. Why should consumers spend their
most valuable and scarce resources
- money, time and attention - on you?

32. You only EARN these by meeting the
needs of your customers surprisingly
well

33. HOW?
By putting your customers in the heart
of your organization

34. ‘In high performing organizations,
everything starts and ends with the
customer. This is a radical shift from
organizations whose business design
puts customers as the end-receiver of
the chain.’
Ken Blanchard

35. Marketers might think that putting
their customers in the heart of their
organization equals CRM, database
marketing or marketing intelligence

36. But having a customer-centric
organization is not the same as:
 Having an up-to-date client database
 Using profiles and scenarios of your
average client or target group
 Asking feedback from clients when
product modifications have been
developed

37. Customer-centricity means before
making any decision, find out how that
decision will have impact on your
customers

38. It means watching at and listening to
real people when you have a business
or product idea or assumption;
focusing on your customers’ needs,
whishes and perspectives

39. If you do so, you’ll let real customers
involve in the way your products and
services are conceived, designed,
delivered and experienced

40. But how do you get in contact, and
keep in touch with your customers?
And how can this contact be
effective?

41. THE GOOD NEWS:
your customers are willing to help you

42. Nowadays, consumers increasingly
want to participate in the organizations
they feel connected with

43. Rather than receiving e-mails, news
letters or push-tweets consumers want
to engage in debate, co-create, share
experiences and stories, and build
engaging relationships with organiza-
tions that are truly looking for customer
insights to make their customers happy

44. Especially with organizations that are
reliable, value sustainability, adopt
mindful consumption, and have the
drive to innovate, and are able to
make a difference

45. It’s a fact:
Organizations that work closely with
their customers and end-users, design
and develop better, more relevant and
more consistent high-impact solutions
for people’s problems, needs or wishes

46. So, empower your organization to
engage with customers to design
sustainable products and excellent
service which creates lasting
interactions and experiences

47. Most executives believe that customer
engagement is extremely important to
their business. Nearly 90% say that
customer relationships are very
important to the success of their
business
The Economist

48. More important; companies with
engaged customers enjoy: improved
customer loyalty (80%), increased
revenue (76%), and increased profits
(75%)
The Economist

49. REMEMBER,
Customer engagement isn’t realized by
a set of isolated interactions. It’s about
cooperation, involvement, consultation
and dialogue. You have to recognize that
the interactions with your customers are
based on an ongoing dialogue of equals
to nurture trust and form meaningful
relationships

50. These interactions create valuable
experiences and outcomes for your
customers

51. It all starts and ends with connecting
with your customers

52. Inge Keizer
Email: inge.keizer@yabber.nl
Twitter: @ingejk
March 18, 2012