The reality is that business is about satisfying customer needs with the things we make and sell, and not in itself about the making and selling of those things. Valuing the customer and meeting their needs help to grow your company.
In my last post,
I reviewed 6 things that Customer Intelligence is NOT (Database Marketing, CRM, BI/DM, SFA, Data Warehouse, Social Nets). In the interim, I had a chance to speak at the Net.Finance 2010 conference in Chicago on May 12, and elaborate further on four powerful business myths which blind us to the true nature of CI, and four truths which can help dispel those myths and release the power of CI in our organizations. These business myths prevent us from seeing the true nature of business and, in turn, blind us to the possibilities of true Customer Intelligence in our organizations.
They are:
Myth #1: Business is about making and selling things
This myth pervades so many of our companies, because on the face of it, it’s obviously true: that’s what we do every day, isn’t it? But if we examine this just a little more closely, we can see something missing – the “who.” After all, we’ve got to make these things for somebody, don’t we? And somebody has to buy what we sell, don’t they? The “somebody” missing is, of course, the customer.
The reality is that business is about satisfying customer needs with the things we make and sell, and not in itself about the making and selling of those things. A truly successful business is all about satisfying customer needs in a particular space, and will change the things it makes and sells as those needs change, rather than trying to force-feed obsolete or out-of-touch products to unwilling customers because “that’s the business we’re in.”
Myth #2: Profits come from our products and services
So many times in the past 25 years, I’ve heard my clients say that profits come from a particular geography, or a particular kind of checking account, or a set of SKUs. But the truth of the matter is that, without a customer willing to plunk down some cold, hard cash in exchange for your products or services, there are no profits at all! This myth is especially pernicious because it can actually destroy value in our companies: it is the combination of a product or service sold to a particular customer that can be either profitable or unprofitable, not the product or service itself.
Think of two customers, Customer A and Customer B: Customer A buys products from you only when they’re on sale, calls customer service reps every 10 minutes to complain about features she thinks your products should have but don’t, and winds up returning 4 out of every 5 products she purchases, while Customer B buys products from you consistently (and in fact has been buying from you for years), never buys products on sale, thinks your products are perfect for her, and has never returned a product. Which customer do you think is profitable, and which unprofitable? Would you rather have more customers like Customer A, or more like Customer B? This scenario and the answers to your questions show how dangerous Myth #2 can be.
Myth #3: Selling is about pushing products and services on customers
Does anyone really believe, in the age of the Internet and Google, Facebook, and Twitter, that customers are passive and will willingly buy a product or service just because we lure them into our showrooms and stores with glitzy advertising and full-page ads, and then seal the deal with high-pressure sales tactics? That sales model is officially dead and has been for some time; customers now hold all the cards in sales interactions.
They research purchases, listen to what their peers have to say about their interactions with our companies, and discuss our products and services in detail on message boards, in tweets, and on Facebook pages. What this shows is that selling is about listening and building relationships with our customers in which we hear what they want and need, educate them about our products and services, and engage in long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships supported by a transparent exchange of information – not about pushing a product or service that may not be suitable for everyone. Remember Myth #2: we need to get our products and services in the hands not of everyone, but of the right people, to whom our products and services provide real value and who will, in turn, provide our companies with real value in the form of profits.
Myth #4: Technology is the answer
Heretical though this may sound in the age of the Internet, technology is not the answer – and never was. You can never buy a piece of software that will provide a “magic bullet” solution to any problem you may have in your organization, especially not a problem having to do with our focus on customers or Customer Intelligence. The real answers to our business problems lie in the people, processes, and culture we put in place to address the issues we may encounter as we conduct business (as Jim Collins of “Good to Great” fame says, it’s all about getting the right people “on the bus” and then figuring out what seats they should occupy and where the bus is going).
Technology is merely a tool (albeit an extremely powerful tool) which can help our businesses tremendously – or inflict mortal wounds if used improperly. Technology implementations must always be preceded by a thorough analysis of the business problem, carried out by people who care and always keep the end result in mind, accompanied by business processes that support the technology and not hinder it (think training and tech support, for example), and surrounded by a company culture that is focused on the customer and on “doing what it takes” to satisfy him or her.
These myths are so pervasive and so reinforced by what we see every day all around is in our companies and in the business media, that it’s remarkably easy to fall victim to them. So how do we release ourselves from their grip and release the power of Customer Intelligence throughout our organizations?
