I don’t have the time to talk to customers
…was a phrase I heard from one marketer, self-proclaimed as the best marketer in their team. The one who supposedly brought in the most revenue, devised the best strategy, briefed and executed the best creative, had the most impressive CV. A strange statement from someone so obviously at the top of their game. In fact, a dangerous Brandhabit for a marketer to have.
I’m a passionate marketer who advocates for the customer to be placed at the centre of everything we do. This marketer made me feel angry. I’ve talked to many customers throughout the years. Granted it’s not always an easy conversation and usually if they’ve reached me it isn’t to congratulate me on the great job I’ve done. However, the chance to actually speak to them is invaluable. If you can’t understand what it’s like to be in their shoes how can you be entirely sure that your strategy is correct?
If you’re a not for profit, this is intensified ten-fold. Bonds are stronger, expectations are higher. The old adage of “it’s harder and more expensive to acquire new supporters than it is to retain” has never been more true.
Talking to with customers should be a frequent activity – a Brandhabit – for all good marketers. Why?
1) Let them rant
You should absolutely know if something that your brand has done has irritated, frustrated or annoyed them. You probably didn’t intend it. Hearing this different perspective should give you a gentle slap and remind you that you’ll never know your customer as well as you think.
2) Ask questions
I’m the first to admit that it’s probably not your customers that are going to come up with your next big idea. But, their thoughts and comments can sometimes spark other ideas or different ways of approaching your strategy. Guided, they can be very valuable based on how much you’d like to involve them.
3) Sign them up
They obviously care enough about your brand (in one way or another) to let you know what they think. Why not convert them into a more loyal customer. It’s a chance to upsell (ever tried cancelling your mobile phone contract and hang up having extended it?) or even just add them to a panel for future advice.
Of course there will be times when you’re too busy. But, by conversing occasionally with customers you can start to place them at the centre of your brand and marketing. A Brandhabit that will ultimately see you ‘even more successful’ than the marketer above.
Brandhabits
great blog site Andy nice work. Richard
I read along quite bemused, thinking about the marketers that I have worked with over the course of my career.
To me, it comes down to a very simple thought. How do you know how to influence or motivate your target if you know nothing about their needs. That is, after all why organisations are set up. To meet a need and to make a profit and as consumers, fulfilling a need (or want)is what motivates our purchasing decisions. Basics really. How can so many marketers and at a higher level, the directors, general managers and decision makers just get it so wrong.
Working in a needs based organisation, I am surprised at how long it has taken to change the steering of the organisation to do the right thing by the customer. It has taken a change of CEO to machinate the process, but it is still far from ideal. My organisation, in theory, puts the customer at the heart of everything we do, but to change the mindset of 27000 employees is a task. It is a mantra that is reinforced at every possible opportunity and one that as a marketer I try to practise.
For marketeers to credit themselves with any sense of accomplishment, I think we need to look at how we are measured. Delivering to budget and on time is a gateopener. Delivering revenue is simply part of our job. The testimony to our efforts is in those basics of consumer behaviour we studied at university. The old adage of if you have a bad consumer experience, you will tell 9 people. Have a good experience, you are likely to not promote to nearly as many. Customer centric design is becoming more and more a larger focus of my role, with my KPIs shifting from revenue and efficiency to now include a considerable weight towards customer advocacy. I think that for a marketer to consider themselves hot, they need to be prepared to talk to customers, build around the customer and most importantly measure their efforts, self-awareness and credibility through the result of customer advocacy and how they can influence customers to be net promoters.
Thanks for your comment Jacqueline. It can be very frustrating if you’re in an organisation that only delivers on its customer centric strategy in fragments. Mobilising and motivating 27,000 employees certainly is a massive task. Some departments (marketing, call centre’s, customer service staff) will naturally have customer measures as a core KPI. However, it needs a CEO to make it mandatory for the entire company. Other departments should realise that they can still be customer centric in the way that they serve stakeholders, suppliers and (in a company of your size) the way that they talk about the brand to others in an environment outside of work.
Thanks again for your comment…
Andy