Today’s customers have an increasingly wide range of options. Some firms and pundits are referring to them as “empowered” customers, but that suggests organizations should “grant” power or offer concessions to customers. Today’s customers are instead liberating themselves as they're enabled by external forces such as technology, global communication and... read more →
Jan
17
Jan
04
It’s rather astonishing. Many firms are neglecting a very simple yet crucial part of their customer interactions. And, as a result, their success with customer loyalty is inconsistent and often disappointing. What is this simple element being neglected by so many companies? It’s building relationships with your customers. If you... read more →
Dec
20
Is it time for you to dive deeper into the creation and execution of your company’s overall business strategy? In our groundbreaking report on Advanced Practices in Customer Advocacy and Engagement, we found that the most advanced firms are bringing advocacy managers into their strategy deliberations. In one case, the... read more →
Dec
08
Having trouble attracting enough passionate customer advocates? It's a huge issue--a perennial top 2 or 3 challenge in our surveys of customer reference, advocacy and engagement programs. As a result many firms struggle with questions like how and when to incentivise their advocates--a slippery slope. I've urged firms for years... read more →
Dec
05
Based on our research, these are the top challenges--most of which also present significant opportunities--for customer advocacy and engagement programs. I say "opportunities" because that's how leading firms are responding to many of these challenges. We'll be addressing all of these challenges, in one form or another--and in some cases,... read more →
Nov
29
I'm really excited to share a heads up on our just completed, groundbreaking research on Advanced Practices in Customer Advocacy and Engagement. We uncovered seven critical imperatives that Advanced Practices (AP) firms like Misys, Adobe, LinkedIn, BMC, Citrix, IBM and others are establishing in this field. Following is a high-level summary of... read more →
Sep
18
Most firms get the importance of marquee customers (sometimes called "rockstars," "customer champions," "MVPs" and the like). But there's a lot of misconceptions and confusion about them. In this issue of Reference Point, we're going to clarify what you need to know about marquee customers. By the way, these findings come... read more →
Aug
09
For years athletes have ignored or at least keep silent about doping among their fellows. And as we saw in cycling in the Lance Armstrong era, that led to an unspoken but powerful social norm in the sport: “I have to do it because everyone else is.” In this year’s... read more →
Aug
06
Yes, we're talking about the airline industry. Again. I'll let the emails do the talking: August 6, 2016 Dear William: As hard as we try to ensure that our flights operate on schedule, there are occasions when that just doesn't happen -- like your recent flight with us. We are... read more →
Jun
10
Executive suites at many of my clients are increasingly looking to use data to glean valuable customer insights--an important trend! But when I ask how often the CEO is actually talking to customers, there's often a long pause. Your C-suite needs to get information from customers about--as well as build... read more →
