EXPERT RESPONSE
Yes, I do believe you need to know what your customer is experiencing with your brand or product, and the service associated with it, in order to build a stronger relationship. There is no way to know everything, but you need to know enough to be able to draw general conclusions about the customer's motivation and need in buying from you.
Most companies focus the majority of their customer-differentiation efforts on understanding customers' values – most valuable customers, least valuable, etc. But that is only half the battle. A customer's value profile (i.e., is this a customer you should try to retain, or grow, or cut costs on) will be important in setting your objective, but you can only reach your objective by understanding what it is that motivates the customer to act. You won't ever change a customer's behavior unless you have the customer's perspective in mind, and that means understanding as many details of the customer's own experience as possible.
Hear more in Creating Customer Value, a SearchCRM.com monthly podcast series with Peppers and Rogers.
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