June 3, 2010

The Axes of Brilliance

As I have said before, a continuous process of learning about customers (as opposed to periodic market research studies) is a core competency that organizations need to create.

Here are three avenues to explore:

> Deep segmentation - define as many different customer segments as you can. Obviously the more segments the more you will know about each individual in the segment. The qwest is to learn about the unique fingerprint of each person; avoid getting trapped by the notion of the ‘average’ customer. There is no such thing as an average customer. If you think there is, you haven’t segmented deep enough.

> Ask the Customer - on a regular basis (actually every time you contact a customer) ask questions that will give you a better insight into the individual. Every time your organization ‘touches’ a customer you have a strategic opportunity to learn something about them that you can put to good use: top-line revenue generation or loyalty-building. Stop talking and actively Listen to what they say. Revise the compensation plan to reward this behavior.

> Understand Customer Behavior - track and study how your customers use your products and services. Actual usage will help you understand the value they get. Product and services that tend to be bought together and in specific combinations will also be evident. Use this information to develop Predictive Purchase Models to aid your marketing efforts.

Work on all three fronts and take your marketing efforts to BE DiFFERENT levels.

Cheers,
Roy

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Posted 6.3.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)