The Technology/Customer Disconnect
Maximizing the value of IT investments and boosting customer satisfaction should take the company outside its own borders.
Content: Article | Authors: C.K. Prahalad, M.S. Krishnan, Sunil Mithas | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subjects: Customer Related, IT / Technology / E-Business
What Are You Trying to Accomplish?
Without a crystal clear understanding of how the value determiners, your customers, perceive and value what you offer, the ability to effectively, profitably, and consistently meet their needs becomes an uphill battle.
Editor’s Note: the meat of the article are the lists of questions.
Content: Article | Author: Michael L. Perla | Source: CEO Refresher | Subjects: Customer Related, Management
Why Some Companies Succeed at CRM (and Many Fail)
What makes some companies so much better at managing customer relationships than their competitors? Put a different way, how are companies like Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Pioneer Hi-bred Seeds, Fidelity Investments, Lexus, Intuit, and Capital One able to stay more closely connected to customers than their rivals, in ways that significantly influence the profitability of the firm? It’s a question that Wharton marketing professor George Day answers … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subject: Customer Related
Outlook for Online Customer Service
Relationship Branding: Fulfilling the Promise of a Brand
The other day I was speaking with a colleague, and I was quite surprised to hear him say that while he knew what a brand was, he didn’t really know what a brand was, why some brands were stronger than others, the deep purpose of the brand concept, and why some consumers are so brand loyal. This got me thinking, and made me consider the … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Kristine Kirby Webster | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales
Walt Disney
You don’t build it for yourself. You know what the people want and you build it for them.
Content: Quotation | Source: Abraham.com | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales
View Customers Strategically (a 2×2 matrix)
Too Many Choices? Research Directions in Consumer Control and Empowerment
Today, consumers exert fuller control over their choices than ever before, a development heralded as greatly empowering for the consumer. But is it possible fro them to have too much control? INSEAD Professors Carmon, Chattopadhyay, Wertenbroch and colleagues pose this and other questions, and describe a set of research directions for understanding the consequences of increased consumer control and the factors that shape … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Amitava Chattopadhyay, Klaus Wertenbroch, Ziv Carmon | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales
The Customer Profitability Conundrum: When to Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em
he customer may always be right, according to the old adage. But here is a not-so-old adage that is just as true: The customer may not always be profitable. That’s why more companies are starting to take a harder look to determine which customers are worth serving and which should take their business elsewhere. The notion of eliminating customers may seem counterintuitive but in many … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Sources: Knowledge@Wharton, strategy+business | Subjects: Customer Related, Management
Customer Option Value: Counting the Apples In a Seed
“Ken Kesey, the celebrated author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, once remarked: ‘You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can’t count the number of apples in a seed.’ Kesey’s words resonate strongly in the context of customer data analytics. In particular, they can be interpreted to mean that a company can determine the current value of its customer … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Jeff Zabin | Source: Line56 | Subjects: Customer Related, IT / Technology / E-Business
Hidden Value In Customer Calls
Companies are using call-center apps to learn more about customers.
Content: Article | Author: Rick Whiting | Source: InformationWeek | Subject: Customer Related
E-Mail Response Time Lags
Job Opportunities Calling at EMEA Call Centers
Use the Psychology of Pricing To Keep Customers Returning
When to charge for a product or service can be more important than how much to charge, says Harvard Business School professor John Gourville. If you want to build long-term loyalty with customers, you better understand the difference.
Content: Article | Authors: John Gourville, Manda Mahoney | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Customer Related, Pricing
Customer Service Handbook
A personal guide (12 principles) to listening to, working with, and learning from the most important person in our business – the customer!
Content: Article | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Customer Related
Pricing and Fairness: Do Your Customers Assume You Are Gouging Them?
In trying to assess consumer attitudes towards pricing, marketing professor Lisa Bolton and two other researchers conducted experiments designed to measure whether shoppers feel they get a fair shake from the businesses they regularly patronize. The answer, it turns out, is no. Consumers in fact routinely assume that companies gouge them and reap large profits. The results of this research are summarized in a new … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subjects: Customer Related, Pricing
Not All Customers Are Created Equal
You may think a buck is a buck, a Euro is a Euro, no matter who pays you. But not all customers are of equal value. In this Harvard Business Review excerpt, Werner Reinartz and V. Kumar say the link between customer loyalty and profits is weak. Here is what you can do about it.
Content: Article | Authors: V. Kumar, Werner Reinartz | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Customer Related, Management
Collect Metrics That Will Provide A Basis for Fundamental Improvements
A project manager is asked to collect metrics to measure customer satisfaction. At first glance, it may seem obvious which metrics to measure. However, there’s more to the decision-making process than you might think. Here’s some advice on the right kind of metrics to collect if you want to make improvements.
Content: Article | Author: Tom Mochal | Source: TechRepublic | Subject: Customer Related
Customer Centered Communications©
Perhaps our communications problems lie not in “how” we communicate, but rather in “what” we communicate. Use information to create value for your customers.
Content: Article | Authors: Michele Richards, Rick Tate | Source: CEO Refresher | Subjects: Customer Related, Management
He Who Is Always Right: Customer Relationship Management
Not all customers want a relationship. Of those who do, not all want the same depth. And even among those who seek deep, emotional relationships, different customers will respond to varied degrees of their interaction. Some customers might be thrilled if the sales person remembers their name, but others might desire an effusive, personalized relationship with the seller. Can a firm comprehend how its customers … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Prashant Malaviya, Sarah Spargo | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subjects: Customer Related, Management