The common wisdom of every business should be to continually capture the voice of their customers, especially in this volatile, competitive marketplace. Oh boy, another customer blog…WRONG!!!!!!!
Some do, but with half-“as..d” effort. I know of companies that send an ineffective customer feedback request weeks after the service delivery to some obscure person in the company. How stupid is that!
Customers supply the money to run the ship. Not a VP in IT, or the HRVP who is constantly worring about happy people. Don’t jump up yet, yelling in a pitched voice about the virtues of employee engagement. “Having a best friend at work” is NO substitute for happy customers.
The NPS, or Net Promoter Score was brilliant stroke of genius that came from the Bain company in Boston. “Would you recommend our service to your best friend or family member” became the hallmark question asked of millions of customers, and the smart business folks used that feedback to producing remarkable results.
Is that 1 question the right question to ask? Who cares? The point being that the ongoing collection of customer feedback BECOME THE SENSORS that guide the ever-changing strategy of a business. The perfect example is the amazing success of Amazon. Bezos commented that a key element of his success was giving customers what they didn’t yet even know what they wanted. That’s anticipation…
With technology advances morphing so fast, especially with the evolving business SaaS programs, being agile is simply not enough. Responding quickly when the “horse is out of the barn” is simply not enough.
The new business strategy is using SENSORS to “anticipate.” Customer feedback from the sensors need be the conversations at monthly executive strategy meeting. The financials are the past. Focus and anticipate the dreams of your customers, and be prepared to adjust product and marketing as easily as the winds change. That agility. Anticipation and agility go hand-in-hand.
Technology is changing so fast that today’s best buys will be tomorrow stale bread…So do what Amazon does… Satisfy your customers wildest dreams!
