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Where
to focus: on Wall Street or the Customer?
The
reality is that you need to focus on both. If you are like me, you
have read a number of articles featuring companies that focused on
the needs of Wall Street to the detriment of their firm's
long-term viability.
Do you
want your company to be profitable for the long-term? Is your firm
like many that are focused on squeezing out every bit of revenue
to make the current quarter look favorable, at the cost of
long-term growth and profitability? Isn't this cutting off your
nose to spite your face? There is a better way.
If you
haven't read the March 3rd edition of Fortune, you are encouraged
to do so. The article "America's Most Admired Companies" (page 81)
states: "The top ten won the business world's regard, too, by
refocusing attention where it counts the most: on customers and
employees. The article quotes A.G. Lafley, chief executive of No.
10 Proctor and Gamble, which rejoined the list after a five-year
absence: "Over the last half of the 1990s, we were all a little
bit too shareholder focused, too growth-at-any-cost focused. I
tried to get people to flip that around. If we create brands that
make a difference to our customers and focus on the fundamentals,
ultimately shareholder growth will take care of itself."
Why not
take the opportunity, in this down economy, to refocus on the
needs of your customers and employees? If you do Wall Street's
admiration will follow, as it has for other companies that have
done just that.
The
challenge is the quarterly earnings reporting cycle. Wall Street's
expectations are that you will achieve specific results, this
quarter. Remember the proverbial statement "PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME
LATER?"
To turn
the economic conditions of this country around, business leaders
need to focus on adding real value to customers and employees,
rather than on short-term decisions that make the quarterly
numbers look favorable. As A.G. Lafley's states, "…create brands
that make a difference to our customers and focus on the
fundamentals, ultimately shareholder growth will take care of
itself."
To
learn more about “America’s Most Admired Companies", as featured
in Fortune magazine, click on the following link. I hope to see
your firm on this list next year.
www.fortune.com/fortune/globaladmired
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ACTIVE - Part 2
By Ida Zecco
This is the second
article in the series, which covers the six-step self-assessment
process, ACTIVE, to help you to hang-on to and grow your single
source of revenue, the customer.
A - Account Management
C - Customer Lifecycle vs. Sales Cycle
T - Account Team
I - Internal Infrastructure
V - Value Proposition
E - Enable Customer Involvement in Product/Service Development
C –
Customer Life Cycle should replace Sales Cycle. As long as there
is a relationship with a customer, on any level, there is an
opportunity to generate additional revenue. There must be a clear
and simple strategy that everyone, from your company’s CEO to a
receptionist, understands when engaged in any activity with a
customer or potential customer. Every call, every letter, every
visit, every e-mail, every fax has the makings of a potential
sale.
Do your
employees know who your most valuable customers are? Do they
recognize a potential sale, and where the letter/ call/e-mail/fax
should be referred? What are the processes in place for every
level of employee as to what to do; what to say, if they are
engaged with a customer/potential customer? Are employees
authorized to act immediately on behalf of all customers: “do the
right thing?” Do they know what the “right thing” is? What systems
are in place that enable employees to have as much customer
information as possible at their fingertips, to create a
“one-company” impression with your customers? Can every employee
give an “elevator speech?” Is your employee orientation a few
hours of company benefits and HR forms? Or does your employee
orientation prepare your greatest company assets to become your
greatest revenue generating organization? Is everyone trained,
developed and worthy of wearing your company “t-shirt?” The
customer experience results from how you have prepared each and
every employee.
I will
review remaining elements of this self-assessment (the "TIVE" in
ACTIVE) in subsequent newsletter editions.
Previous articles
in this series:
Part 1
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Strengthening
Customer Relationships With Data Integrity
By
Lauren Weiss
To have a strong
relationship with your customers, you need to know everything you
can about them, particularly as pertains to your company’s
interactions with them. Some of this information needs to be at
the fingertips of all customer-facing personnel. Other information
needs to be reportable at various levels of granularity. How do
you make sure you have all the information you need, and that it
is complete and accurate?
What Data to Gather
To keep data manageable, store only what you need. Gathering
information from customers takes time – yours and theirs. Don’t
gather information that you won’t use, and be sure to use anything
you do gather. Determining what data you need results from
analyzing all of your customer-related needs: troubleshooting
procedures, reporting requirements, billing requirements, service
needs, government regulations, etc.
Data Entry and
Maintenance Processes Once you’ve determined what data is
necessary, it is important to implement data entry and maintenance
processes. If no one is responsible for initial entry or ongoing
upkeep of the data, it will become spotty or stale, and virtually
useless. Do not create a new data field without first establishing
data owners, often groups, who are responsible and accountable for
insuring it stays current and complete. A single data element may
have one owner for initial entry and another for changes made at a
later time. Hand-off points between groups, such as from Order
Management to Customer Care, should include acceptance of required
data elements. In other words, the receiving group must identify
all required data elements, and the transferring group must
provide those data elements before the receiving group will accept
the hand-off.
Data Validation To
make the most of the specific data elements you capture, you
should validate the data being entered at the time of data entry.
This validation can take the form of restricted lists of values,
parameter ranges, or validation against other data elements. The
use of free text fields should be limited to descriptive
information. Reporting on information embedded within long,
free-text fields is not worthwhile. Critical data for reports
should be stored in separate fields; this allows for greater
flexibility in presenting and using the information.
Primary Data Sources
A common problem, especially within large organizations, is the
duplication of data in multiple systems. Customers want to provide
their information once only, not once for each system your company
has. In addition, depending on how the multiple systems are (or
are not) kept synchronized, data from these multiple sources can
be in conflict. In such a situation, it becomes difficult to know
which data is correct. It is important to identify which system is
the primary source for each data element. Secondary systems should
then rely on the primary data source for data feeds, whether
automatic or manual.
Customer data is a
vital component of maintaining strong customer relationships.
However, for data to be an asset, it must be complete, accurate,
and available. Following the guidelines outlined in this article
will improve the integrity of your customer data and strengthen
your customer relationships.
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