Tagged : wow

in Business, Customer Experience, Excellence, Management, Technology, Thoughts

Don’t compete on price. Compete on Value.

Want to succeed in your startup?
Don’t compete on price. Compete on value.

You can’t compete in price when you’re starting out. The big players, already established, have greater leverage on pricing. They undercut, lower prices, offer discounts, offer freebies. They can afford it. You can’t. That doesn’t mean you can’t compete.

If there’s one thing successful startups have shown us is that you don’t have to come out of the gates with the lowest price in order to succeed. You have to add value to what’s already available to customers.

From the customer’s point of view, your company or brand exists only to create value for them and to provide them with results.

Having the LOWEST PRICE is the sacrifice you have to make for not having the HIGHEST VALUE.

If your service or product offering adds value to what is already available in the marketplace or if the value is added by offering something that’s not found anywhere, you don’t need to be a low price leader. The lowest price is the last place you want to be in to compete because it’s too vulnerable to too many variables. Supplier costs, shipping costs, and competitor pricing, are dangers lurking and could potentially knock you out of your lowest price leader in a split second. If you’re focused on the greatest value, your main concern isn’t managing the external variables that could affect price, but are focused on adding what matters to your customers to your offering. There’s little to be concerned with price as long as you set it at fair market value.

Loyal customers want value because your offering is an investment to them.

One of the arguments in pricing strategies is that if you don’t have the lowest price, people won’t buy. It’s false. If you don’t have the lowest price SOME people won’t buy. But in the end, who are those customers? Customers who shop solely based on the lowest price can never be loyal to brand customers, because they’re loyal to price first. In the end, there’s always someone out there willing to make some crazy deal, even if it’s just temporary, and when there’s that possibility, those price-only focused customers will always leave for the lower price.

Value-based customers are your prime group for creating long-term loyal customers because value customers realize the potential in your offering. To value customers, your offering is an investment, one that they want to see mature because there’s benefit for them. They’re the ones who take time to give good feedback, work with you on product enhancements, and evangelize for you my marketing through word-of-mouth, one of the greatest (and cheapest) marketing tools startups have available.

in Business, Customer Experience, Customer Service, Excellence, Leadership, Management, Popular

12 Customer Service Trends for 2012, the Year of Customer Experience

As a new year begins, let’s look at 12 customer service trends for 2012, the year of customer experience. We’ve recently seen more and more evidence of the shift in power from companies to customers. Companies will have to adapt to the ways customers want to engage with them in the overall experience with the company.

Organizations in all fields should see themselves as SERVICE companies that provide a product. Or service companies that sell merchandize. Zappos, is one of those organizations leading the way. They set the tone for their entire company mission by making their stand on customer service. There are certain customer service trends that have brought a lot of success recently which experts see as becoming more mainstream in the years to come. I think that 2012 will be one of those transformational years as most organization reach out to customers, focus on the customer service experience, and engage the customer online and on a personal level.

Regardless of our structure, our goal is to position Zappos.com as the online service leader.

If we can get customers to associate the Zappos.com brand with the absolute best service, then we can expand into other product categories beyond shoes. And, we’re doing just that.

It’s customers who grow companies. Not shareholders.

The stock market over the years of 2000-2010 demonstrates how effective business has been done without great customer service focus. This is a sample of a company’s stock value over the last decade. It’s a snapshot of the stock value of many companies.

The old method of doing business is dead. Long live the customer.

Customer is King

I see 12 customer service trends for 2012 that will continue to contribute to this customer-is-king phenomenon in business as more customer-centric organizations continue to outperform those that remain committed to the “our way or the highway” business mentality. Social media, online communities, on-demand cloud computing services all contribute to a new model of customer service where the customer is in control of the overall experience.

Rob Findlay, with TheBankChannel.com suggested that “the Customer is King” can be also said as “the Community is in Charge”. It’s customers who lead business to what is right, to what is fair. It’s customers who determine the right direction of products and services. Why? Because in the end it’s not the CEO or the shareholders that are buying the service or product. It’s not the CEO or the shareholders who buy from the company, it’s the customer. Success in 2012 and beyond, will require the fundamental change in the way business is done.

From matching customers to products, we need to match products to customers.

-Seth Godin

My 12 Customer Service Trends in 2012 - I’m hoping I see more of these come true in 2012.

1. Customer is King in Customer Service

2. Hyper Responsive Customer Service

3. Customer Experts as Part of the Community

4. An Answering Machine is NOT 24/7

5. Flexible & Generous Return & Exchange Policies

6. Empowered Customer Service Teams

7. Bigger and Better Word of Mouth Promotions

8. More Emphasis on Community Reviews

9. Company-wide Customer Service Focus

10. Personal Touch Service

11. Purchasing Products or Services Seen as a Journey

12. Do Good, Be GREAT.

The key trends in customer service in 2012 can be summarized in 3 words: Instant. WOW. Value.