At the Advertising Research Foundation’s (ARF) 2011 annual re:think convention, a key issues forum presentation was held entitled Customer Insights that Matter. Patrick Barwise-Emeritus Professor of Management and Marketing at London Business School and author of books, Simply Better and Beyond the Familiar presents on how to keep customer and business sustainability.

2. Customer Insights
that Matter
Patrick Barwise
Emeritus Professor of
Management and Marketing
London Business School

3. Customer Insights that Matter
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

4. Easy to Say, Hard to Do
Marketing is not a specialized business
activity…it is the whole enterprise seen
from the customer’s point of view.
Peter Drucker
The Practice of Management, 1954
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

5. O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
Robbie Burns, Scotsman
1759-1796
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

6. Sustained Profitable Growth
Percent of large companies 1990-2004
Any 5 consecutive years 24%
Any 10 consecutive years 5%
All 15 years 1%
Source: Chakravarthy and Lorange, Profit or Growth?, 2007
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

7. Back to Basics
Customer
Promise
Innovation Open Customer
Beyond the Organization Trust
Familiar
Continuous
Improvement
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

8. 65 Years of Market-Driving
Incremental Innovation
• 1946: First heavy-duty synthetic laundry
detergent (coincided with first automatic
washing machines)
• Relentless improvement and extension of
the brand (65 years and counting)
• Rigorous use of insights to ensure
continuing relevance
• Brand support
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

9. Customer Insights for
Continuing Relevance
• New and old, high-tech and high-touch
• Formal market research and other sources
• Main new trend: DIY immersive research
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

10. Customer Focus is a Leadership Issue
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

11. Feedback Loops
Aggreko Customers Aggreko
Email Invitation
Client Contact
Information
Sample
Survey File
Management Deposit
Website System
Qx
A
Firewall
Sample DB
SecureSite
Access Control
Satmetrix CEO
Executive
Platform Report Site
Sales Team
Analyst
Report Site
Survey DB Low Scores Email Notification
Operational
Report Site Automatically Sends
Report as Word Doc
Business Managers
(Outsourced Solution) in Email
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

12. Tide Knows Fabrics Best
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

13. You’re Not as Open as You Think
Boss: “Why is Janet leaving?”
Colleague: “She’s been unhappy for months”
Boss: “Why didn’t she tell me?”
Colleague: “She tried”
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

14. Every Layer is a Bad Layer
1 complain to V. P.
2 customers dissatisfied at
middle management
Every layer is a bad layer… obstructing swift and
Vice
President 10 customers complain to
simple communication…. We must create an atmosphere
middle management
where people can speak up to somebody who can do
something about their problem. customers dissatisfied
Middle 50
after front-line effort
Management
Jack Welch
200 who complain
to front-line
Front-line
Service Providers
500 who are
dissatisfied
Source: U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

15. 60 Years of Rejecting
Unwelcome Messages
1946: Drucker’s The Concept of the Corporation
An attack on the company, as hostile as any
mounted by the left.
2007
I found GM impossible to deal with. They had their
own fixed ideas and always thought they were right.
Wally Olins
Brand Guru
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

16. Opening Up the Organization
Customer
Promise
Innovation Open Customer
Beyond the Organization Trust
Familiar
Continuous
Improvement
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

17. Five Questions for Your Company
1. Can your middle managers accurately describe your
customer promise?
2. Can every member of your top team list the three things
that most erode trust among your existing customers?
3. Is your brand really the best option for customers, and will
it still be next month and next year?
4. Have you acted on any novel ideas in the last year which
led to a significant innovation beyond the familiar?
5. Have your front-line staff asked you any uncomfortable
questions or suggested any important improvements over
the last three months?
www.beyond-the-familiar.com

18. An Endorsement from
Last Night’s Speaker
The value of Beyond the Familiar lies almost
as much in the silver bullet solutions it debunks
as in the infinitely wise marketing principles
it advocates.
In their search for the secrets of consistent
growth, Barwise and Meehan distil the
experience of others with merciless objectivity.
Shareholders could sleep better at
nights if every CEO had absorbed their
fundamental lessons.
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO
WPP
www.beyond-the-familiar.com