Outra vez a diferença entre evento e jornada (processo)

"Anybody can open a beauty salon. Any company can sell groceries. Any entrepreneur can invent a cool new technology. And any firm can purchase a fancy CRM system to collect mountains of data about their customers. But that’s not enough.

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CRM alone does not make a company customer centric. It is not the solution to every customer-centric challenge. It is merely the first step-albeit a massively important step-toward customer-centric success. Companies that do CRM correctly don’t just collect data about their customers. ... they also know how to use that data to serve those customers better. They align their marketing and sales strategies based on that data. They strive to reinforce relationships with their customers based on that data."

Isto acontece tanto, compra-se a tecnologia, mas não se a usa, não se investe na formação de quem a terá de usar. Acredita-se que o acto de a comprar é que merece a atenção. Outra vez a diferença entre evento e jornada (processo). O mesmo se pode dizer da certificação, sem a trabalhar no dia a dia, apenas algo que se subcontrata a um consultor, se ele puder fazer tudo, então é que é bom!

Trechos de "Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage" de Peter Fader

"Now we need to be focused on the state of the customer"

"In the Age of the Product, customer service ensured that the product lived up to its specifications. Everything after that was the customer’s responsibility, not the vendor’s. In the Age of the Customer, the bar has been raised. Now it is the outcome that must live up to the customer’s expectations, else it is the vendor who is left holding the bag.
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First of all, we still need customer service. Products still break, implementations still go awry, and parts still wear out, and they all need to be attended to. The traditional CRM customer service model is admirably suited to the task. It is organized around a trouble ticket generating a case which is managed through to a resolution with the data captured in a knowledge base to better inform the next case.
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What this system does not measure well is the customer side of the equation. In a B2C world we call this the customer experience. In a B2B world, the critical variable is the customer outcome. In both cases it is the reason the customer bought the product in the first place. The problem with this variable is that it is, well, so variable. Experiences and outcomes are in the eye of the beholder, and there can be as many as you have beholders—even more if some of your customer tend toward schizophrenia as they so often seem to do.
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The point is, in the past we were focused on the state of the product. Now we need to be focused on the state of the customer. That means there is market both for programs that can help change state and for systems that can help maintain state."

Trechos retirados de "From Customer Service to Customer Success: Taking the Next Step"

Estratégia e relacionamento com os clientes

Uma empresa tinha o seu modelo de negócio bem montado. Tudo estava a correr bem, apesar da lentidão portuguesa, a empresa crescia, tinha boas margens e os concorrentes iam caindo como tordos.
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Enquanto a concorrência usava o preço mais baixo como a proposta de valor, a empresa aprendeu a dar cartas com um negócio assente na representação de marcas topo de gama associados a um superior serviço de customização da solução e do produto.
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A empresa, independentemente do tipo de cliente e do tipo de produto, tinha um serviço único para todos os clientes, todos mereciam e eram servidos como clientes-premium.
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Gostam deste último pormenor? Eu também não, contudo, as margens permitiam esta abordagem.
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No último ano as convulsões económicas do nosso país provocaram um corte no paradigma e originaram uma migração de valor e um acentuar da polarização do mercado: continua-se a vender o produto-premium; desaparece quase por completo a procura do produto-intermédio que migra para o produto mais barato.
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As margens caem... O que vai fazer a empresa?
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Fácil!
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Primeiro: caracterizar os clientes:

• clarificar muito bem o que é um cliente-alvo do segmento premium;
• estabelecer que soluções e produtos se enquadram nesse segmento premium;
• clarificar muito bem o que é um cliente-alvo do segmento low-cost (hard-sell);
• estabelecer que soluções e produtos se enquadram nesse segmento low-cost (hard-sell);

Segundo: definir para cada segmento os processos:

• divulgar serviço junto de cliente-alvo;
• receber e tratar potencial encomenda;
• apresentar e seguir proposta;
• customizar e entregar.

Terceiro: definir competências dos intervenientes em cada binómio segmento-processo e preparar as pessoas para a transição.

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Nem de propósito, isto encaixa com a leitura do capítulo 5 "Creating Competitive Advantage with Relationship Strategies" de "Customer Relationship Management" de Kaj Storbacka e Jarmo Lehtinen.

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"Since all customers are different, relationships evolve differently. Thus, it is unlikely that all relationships would benefit from being managed in the same way. Most companies, however, manage their relationships using the same process, regardless of whether or not they have grouped their customers according to different criteria.

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Competitive advantage is a result of relationship strategies that in a superior way support the value creation of customers. Developing competitive advantage therefore includes the differentiation of relationships, i.e applying different processes to different relationships.

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Providers need to determine the different phases in their customer relationships, the structures needed to manage processes in each phase, and the types of exchanges required by various relationships.

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To choose a strategy, the provider needs to have a thorough understanding of how the customer creates value in his own processes as well as a clear vision of how provider competence can support customer value creation.

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The problem in many companies is that all relationships are handled according to the same formula. In other words, companies think in terms of serving their average customers. This type of average customer seldom exists.  (Moi ici: O fantasma estatístico) At its worst, this kind of thinking can lead to a large share of the customer base being served by a process that is too complicated and that customers are not able to appreciate. Conversely, truly valuable relationships are managed by a process which is too simple due to a lack of resources. Relationship strategies can therefore be thought of as tools for allocating resources."

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E a sua empresa?

Cuidado com os algoritmos

Excelente metáfora de Seth Godin sobre o fim das relações entre um cliente de longa data e o seu fornecedor:
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"Not fade away"
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Ontem, relia Storbacka e Lehtinen em "Customer Relationship Management":
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"Up to 75% of customers who switch providers say that they were "satisfied" or even "very satisfied" with the previous provider.
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Traditionally, loyal customers have been assumed to be more profitable than other customers.
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Cutomer base analyses indicate that a large share of customer relationships are unprofitable regardless of their duration. These analyses also show that loyal but unprofitable customers do not become more profitable over time unless relationship revenue can be increased or relationship structure is altered to cut relationship costs.
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Thus, if we accept that satisfied customers are not necessarily loyal and that loyal customers are not necessarily profitable, we can conclude that the best way to start improving the value of a relationship is to focus on the actual purchase behavior of customers.
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The less important a product is, the more important encounter-related issues are."
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De certa forma, relaciono isto com "Markets vs Customer Driven Business Model Design", acredito que temos de nos concentrar, à partida, num grupo de práticas-alvo que geram certas experiências que grupos de clientes-alvo procuram e valorizam. Contudo, depois, todo o trabalho tem de ser feito individualmente, cliente-a-cliente. Assim, que confiarmos em algoritmos ... como os bancos o fizeram, we're doomed!

Bons conselhos para uma empresa

"Relying On Customer Trust To Help You Weather A Tough Economy":
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"In tough times, buyers want to economize every bit as much as sellers do, so customers cut back, simplify, and search for reliability. Discount stores benefit as consumers look for bargains, but customer-oriented sellers also benefit, as customers seek out businesses they can trust."
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"Think about it. Even in the worst economy imaginable--even if unemployment were 20% instead of just 9% -- there would still be some customers happy to buy your product. If you have the tools and systems to know which customers those are -- if you have the right customer insight -- you can almost certainly outrun your competitors. Customer insight is always helpful, but in a recession it can make the difference between success and failure. Retaining good customers is simply a more cost-efficient way to compete in a more cost-sensitive environment.
So when the economy tanks, rather than simply assuming the fetal position and hoping for the best, take some time out first to bolster your customer-oriented services and do a better job of earning your customers’ trust. Here are four places to start:

• Identify the most valuable 20% or 30% of your customers and reach out to them with unsolicited benefits and personalized offers. Consider prioritized service, facilitated deliveries, customized invoicing cycles, more helpful information, and so forth.
• If you have to cut costs, then economize first by reducing or better automating the service provided to low-value customers. (Moi ici: Gronroos escreve muito e bem sobre a eficiência interna e a eficiência externa)
• Strengthen your customer interaction processes. Reinforce your phone and email communications resources and set up better listening posts in social media as well. Create priority channels for your best customers to reach you. 
• And when you look for ways to streamline your business and run more efficiently, think about focusing on the particular types of customers whose needs you meet best."

Afinal uma série de sugestões que já costumamos dar aqui no blogue. Quem são os clientes-alvo? Como desenvolver a relação e melhorar a experienciação que eles sentem durante o uso?

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Por fim, gosto do realismo da frase final:

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"Economic cycles are inevitable. You can blame the Tea Party or the Orator in Chief, hedge fund plutocrats or the ratings agencies, but the simple fact is that downs are as inevitable as ups are, and it doesn’t take anyone to “cause” them. The right economic policies may help soften the blow of a downturn, but simulation studies have shown that any competitive economic system will oscillate, even with no outside perturbation at all. It’s just what economies do."
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E não deixar escapar a história dos caçadores e do urso no início do artigo... uma empresa não precisa de vencer a macro-economia, só precisa de ter mais sucesso na sua micro-economia.