March 2, 2010

Empowered Customers Rule!

There is a compelling case for Customerizing your organization in current market and economic conditions. Making a right-angled turn from pushing products and services at people to determining what their individual desires are and creating VALUE to enhance their lives.

Yet it is amazing to me how many companies don’t get it. They continue to market the way they have done in the past, believing what worked then will get them to where they need to get to in the future. It won’t work. We all need to look at the evidence and then take action to renew our organizations to SERVE customers not flog at them.

Here’s the evidence that customers are empowered and show no sign of letting g of their new-found power:
- customers are avid researchers, a capability made possible by the Internet. They spend copious time analyzing various suppliers and what they offer before making an informed decision. Businesses better respect the intelligence customers have and their willingness to impose themselves for their own good.
- they make faster decisions than ever before as cyber space provides real-time information for them to process.
- customers are becoming the subject matter experts in the fields they must research to get the value they desire.
- switching suppliers is easier than ever before as options become more numerous and customer muscle tone improves.
- there is almost a limitless number of competitors to choose from; the Internet is giving birth to most new business formation.
- customers have leverage on the prices they pay for the value they receive. And they are becoming astute negotiators that can’t be pushed around.
- expect loyalty to be the illusive challenge if you don’t dazzle them. Customer fickleness is on the rampage and is ravaging organizations not sensitive to the serving philosophy.
- people are suddenly mirroring common business behavior and are inflicting pain on organizations when their needs aren’t met. They are just not taking it any more!

Ignore this evidence at your own peril. The control has moved from organizations to those that they serve.

Winners will be those organizations that first, recognize the empowerment shift that is rapidly upon us and, second, adopt BE DiFFERENT Practices to serve their customers in a compelling way that is unique versus the competition.

Cheers, Roy

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Related Blogs
Serving Customers NOT Providing Customer Service
The Four Steps to Dazzle Customers
Customerize your Marketing
Marketers: You are in the VALUE creation business

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Posted 3.2.10 at 08:02 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment