The Customer is Always…
In a whitepaper called “Surviving and Thriving in the Customer-Driven Age” released by the CRM project, Michael Betzer astutely points out two facts that are changing the way companies do business. First: There is more competition than ever before. And Second: Consumers are more informed than ever before.
He roughly sketches an older way of doing business, where competition was local, media and advertising was not as pervasive as it is today, and companies had more information about the products they were selling than the consumers buying them. These facts no longer hold true. Buyers frequently begin conversations with sellers having already done research and looking for a level of insight into the product that goes beyond what is available through some web searching. Having sales agents who cannot begin the conversation from that informed baseline will lead to a customer look elsewhere.
There’s never been a business without competition, so it’s nothing new, but what has changed is the sheer volume of companies competing from every corner of the world and the ease with which they can reach consumers, or be reached by them. When a company fails to deliver the kind of service that a customer wants, many alternatives are just one search away. And increasingly, these searches are carried out on a smart phone that the consumer has with him at all times. Consumers are smart and they are equipped. There are plenty of companies providing an alternative to companies that just don’t have it right.
So how do you succeed in such an environment? Customer-centricity. It’s long been an axiom of business that “the customer is always right.” But it may be more prudent in today’s competitive landscape to keep in mind that “the customer is always right about to get a better offer.” Any company that isn’t equipped to provide superlative service simply won’t survive. Providing the best possible service is only possible by creating an “organization that (is) agile and adaptable as market, competitive or regulatory conditions change.”
Agility and speed are core concepts to survival in modern business. Being the first to contact a lead is critical in turning that lead into a customer. Being able to engage the customer in an ongoing way with relevant content is critical in maintaining a meaningful customer relationship. Know as much about your customers as they know about your product. And know more about your product than they do. With a lead management software and CRM, it’s possible to transform your organization into one that can thrive with empowered consumers in today’s super competitive marketplace.
