EMPOWERING EXCELLENCE technology trends, especially those which may impact their products or industry, and make appropriate investment decisions to ensure they are always one step ahead. A recent shift in focus from the traditional customer satisfaction model to the “Customer Lifetime Value” approach means that not only do excellent organizations strive to provide the products and services customers want today, but they anticipate what their customers will want tomorrow, next year, and five years from now. Attracting new customers is much more costly than keeping existing customers happy. Excellent organizations get to know their customers well. They manage current products and services in a way that delights their customers and develop new products and services that will keep them coming back year after year.
Efective Promotion, Marketing of Products and Services
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Marketing your products and services is all about creating the right value proposition. Developing a value proposition is an essential part of business strategy. It defines the value that an organization can deliver to its customers through its product and service offerings. Combining this with a clearly defined business model that irons out the core capabilities, processes, partners, and target markets, an organization can identify a “unique selling point” that can aid in marketing strategies. From here, other details such as target customers, market positioning, and distribution can be determined. Once an organization has defined its value proposition, it then uses savvy marketing strategies to promote products and services to target customers and various user groups. The excellent organization carries
Issue 5 - MAY 2015
out its marketing in a systematic way, targeting current customers as well as seeking to attract and develop new ones to broaden market share. Organizations are often accused of false advertising and in many cases fail to deliver all the great features and benefits claimed about their products and services. This is never the case with excellent organizations. Advertising should never go overboard; great organizations make sure they can deliver on all the promises they make in their marketing campaigns because they know and understand the risk of damaging their integrity.
Production, Delivery and Management Understanding customer expectations and needs while keeping your value proposition in mind is a difficult task. Organizations must incorporate this delicate balance in production and delivery processes. Unsuccessful organizations disappoint, mediocre ones meet needs, but excellent organizations’ products and services are strong enough to not only fulfill, but exceed all expectations and delight their customers. Product management is important, but excellent organizations understand that this process does not end once a customer receives a product or service. They provide post-delivery support in the form of customer service, technical support, warranty and refund provisions, as well as provisions to recycle and reuse products where applicable. Such mindfulness helps organizations be considerate of the environment and society, and allows them to give something back to the planet. It is a great way to limit the depletion of natural resources and to maintain a good and healthy public image. Production, delivery, and prod-
uct management are processes that should concern a wide range of stakeholders. Excellent organizations have learned to involve their people, customers, partners, and suppliers in optimizing the effectiveness and efficiency of their value chain. Key among these stakeholder groups are the front line employees. Employees need to be provided with the necessary tools, competencies, information, and empowerment to be able to maximize the customer experience. Additionally, processes can be continually improved by comparing them to internal and external benchmarks including local and international market leaders, in order to recognize and incorporate innovative and beneficial practices in the organization’s processes.
Managing Customer Relationships Customer Relationship Management is an art that differentiates mediocre organizations from excellent organizations. Customers need to feel valued, cared for, and respected by their favorite companies. When they buy a product or use a service they enter into a bond. It is the job of the organization to solidify this with integrity, honesty, and openness. Customers should feel that they can reach the organization when needed, and that the company should be accessible and attentive to their needs. Thus, excellent organizations have made themselves available to customers on a daily basis, some even going as far as being available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Offering memberships and subscriptions to customers is one way that excellent organizations use to add long term value and customer engagement. Etihad Airways has come up with a nice way to help customers remain open with them about any breach of values and ethics. Their Ethics Line is