Customer Centricity - The Old Paradigm Rules

"In today’s world, customer centricity is well emphasized. This is what one used to see in the world’s oldest profession from time immemorial. Nothing new. They allowed customers to decide what they want. When they want and where they want. They were symbols of true marketing. They offered the best platform for networking and sharing. Allowed customers to drive policies, drive pricing, drive product and of course, experiences. They allowed customers to give, take and share. An ultimate flexibility that was just a norm of doing business. Frankly, it was really all about personalized interactions. And technology did not enable it. Yes, am still talking of the oldest profession.

Today, corporate marketers try to use the same principles in varied degrees of success. They use the latest widgets in Web 2.0 to increase interaction with customers. Interestingly, Web 2.0 rules on the same premise as the oldest known business. As a consumer/customer, it allows you to share your opinions, beliefs, feedback, dreams, needs, apprehensions, joys, emotions, fears, anger …the list can go on. Believe me, there is someone at the other end who is listening. Or at least we like to believe so. Web 2.0 actually allows you a path to customer centricity."

I repeat this section from my previous post. The reason is simple, I have just gone through an experience with a large multinational car marketer (incidentally they also manufacture some of the best cars).

No I am not going to talk about Web 2.0 here. Am talking about customer centricity.

Customer centricity is allowing him to decide on the 'WH' questions and for the marketer to deliver it exactly the way the customer wants or may be a few shades beyond.

Let me give an example. I bought a pre-owned Mercedes Benz E320 last month from a non-Mercedes Dealer. Obviously, I did not have the warranty. I got a good deal, and I could have got the same deal for many other cars in the range, may be much cheaper if I changed the range. It is that basic belief that a Merc is a Merc and always a Merc. My dealer told me that he had bought it from the Mercedes dealer at Bellevue, WA. And that they felt the car was in immaculate condition. A month later I fix an appointment online after registering with Mercedes website as an owner. The website promised that someone would call me soon (somehow I hate the word 'soon' - it is so customer unfriendly). No response from the showroom. I call them back in the evening to fix a date for the next day and I immediately get an appointment - very prompt. Before I leave the next day for my car's health check-up, I updated my contact details. My experience was good. I walk in and there is someone to see me. Find what issues am facing with the car and finally giving me a 2 hour schedule (not 'soon') for the entire check-up. I also got a ride from them - the driver was not Mercedes to my mind as he was too grumpy, but I let it go. A $ 5 bill did the trick and he was good.

I was promptly picked up after a couple of hours. My car inspection was over, and I had a complimentary car wash thrown in. I paid my bills, swiped my card and then requested the service manager to tell me what was the issue. This is where the whole Mercedes image fell in my mind.

01. You ask me to pay the bill even without explaining what is the condition of the vehicle - this is not Mercedes

02. The service manager very grudgingly explains that the car is a piece of shit. He talks very clinically - did not say 'shit' exactly. He of course advises me, "if I were you, I would do these three corrections on the car immediately. The others can wait." Certainly not Mercedes.

03. I get a mail from Mercedes to rate my experience with the dealership. I rate them well. I add a comment about, "how can Mercedes sell a car that is so bad to another dealer and make money and still believe that their image will remain clean?" No response for almost a week. Am still waiting. This is not Mercedes at all.

They did all the right things. Well almost! This is what goes wrong. The almost bit. One, you want to make small money at any cost. Two, you ask for feedback and do not act upon it. This is certainly not Mercedes.

How often have each one of us experienced something such as this? And you feel that these guys do not know their front side from their back side. And customer centricity is just a good word for advertising campaigns. Often, corporate houses and marketers have annual initiatives and customer interaction and customer satisfaction surveys become one of them. Of course they also have sales targets and budgets to achieve them. Invariably these line to-do items reside with a person or a group who take the command from management and drive it to the best possible way – within their limitations and vision. No marketer in her true sense will let an opportunity go when devising the program. They have the best of strategies, best plans ahead, best of intentions yet, they fail to achieve. At the end of they day, it will be a line item in one presentation to the board.

Yes, there are monthly reviews and reports to management. They talk of leads to walk-ins to conversions. Cost per conversion. Revenue per month. Cost of revenue. Split of revenue from sales and services. How many customers registered with us online. What percentage have liked our clean loos... etc.

Hello! wake up. Its not about your revenues, its not about your product. Its not about your quality of your products. Its also not about what you think the customer said. Its about what the customers feel and what they say - which means, explicit and implicit. Are you geared to handle your brand? Every touch point with the customer injects your brand. The effect of this injection is very delicate. You can gain a customer for life or you can lose a customer for life. Gaining a new customer is tough. Losing an existing customer is the toughest. What are marketers doing today? Why do they create the best of strategies and have such poor implementations? How come the oldest profession beats them - almost every day?

This is how it goes. Tough questions are asked: "how many participated and how many were good remarks and how many were bad". "How many have given a positive recommendation and how many were neutral". These are numbers – and we are so comfortable with numbers. Statistics can tell lies - always. The first two quarters goes and the teams run with flying colors. Good data. The novelty dies - good marketers take a year others take a quarter to two. Now this is a liability and enters the balance sheet on the expense side. The management is no longer interested, as they have proudly tried a new initiative and the finance department asks for a cost cutting there. Most unfortunate are the companies where these initiatives continue for years and years to come - Mercedes for example - and now it is a routine. This is what I call the ISO (or any other quality initiative) - do what you have done every time predictably, even if it is headed wrong way. Wake up marketers or companies who believe that you are a marketing driven company. Today, it is not about whether I have the will to learn about my customers or not. It is not about making the fast buck. It is about time, we all looked at our customers more closely. Try to understand them. Try to walk the talk of the brand. Intent and execution, each of them are critical from a customer perspective. Take a harder look at your plans for this year and the next or for this week and the next - both from a design and implementation perspective at different levels in the organization. And this is not limited to marketing.

Every part of the organization is working for 'a' customer. Take a hard look. Do not commit on doing what you can't do. That better than not gaining a new customer. At least you will not lose a old one.

Good tools, technologies and ideas have always been the walking sticks of marketers. Bad implementation – a function of commitment to customers is the key. What a lot of companies such as Mercedes miss is customer centricity – it was certainly better done by the oldest profession without these tools and technologies. They were simple – customer satisfaction focused.The next time you decide to tread upon one of the new buzzes in the industry, remember the old paradigm. "Customer Centricity". You would do any of these only if you are committed to your customers and to serving them better.

How about hearing your experiences as consumers or customers (good and bad) for a change. I am sure all of us can gain a lot of insights about sales and marketing from our collective experiences as customers or consumers.