A Little R-E-S-P-E-C-T

A friend of mine obsesses over competitive advantage.  He's in a tough software space--like I am-but his take is that his company is in a "technology arms war" requiring an ever escalating investment in new technology to win.  I disagree.  When he talks, and when his CEO and CMO strategize, they talk speeds and feeds and almost never mention the customer.  It's all about the Pentiums, so to speak.  I think most companies can do more with the intangibles before spending precious shareholder money on an arms race.  Make the business all about the customer, get inside the customer's headset, invest some respect before you invest money.  The customer will not only value the experience--preferentially so--but you'll learn what really matters.  Customers want their problems solved.  Be a co-conspirator in their quest and you've got a revenue stream for life.

Comments

[J. Botter]

The new paradigm for marketing and the business/customer relationship is to remember that customers are no longer customers. As you said, they are co-conspirators, and should be treated as such. The opinions of your customers, of the people that buy your product, should be taken much more seriously than those on your staff or on your focus group. If you've got people who are dedicated enough to your product to take the time to offer feedback, there's a chance they want to see something improved and will continue to buy what you're selling for years down the road. I'd rather have ten customers like that than 100 customers who just buy your product once and then forget about it.