Achieving Customer Innovation: Fast strategies and tips for switching from Inside-Out to Outside-In.pdf

Imagine that you have a company which is characterised by average leadership capability and behaviours; top down directive change; poor communication; an inside-out customer perspective; a focus on lag measures and metrics; an historical and embedded emphasis on processes over people and all operating in the context of an increasingly commoditised and competitive market. If you were faced with the challenge of making this company more "outside-in", i.e. customer and market-oriented, how would you go about it? What are the key issues that will drive change? What would be the likely high level internal strategic issues? And exactly how would you embark on a programme of change? In this short white paper, we provide answers to these challenging questions.

Building trust and relationships through customer advocacy.pdf

Building customer advocacy is one response to the vulnerabilities of CRM and marketing in the face of rising consumer empowerment and growing transparency in customer relationships. It creates new opportunities for customer dialogue, knowledge creation, more authentic brand values and critically, the context in which the interests of a firm and those of its key customer segments can be more closely aligned

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Are you a customer innovation pioneer?.pdf

In most firms, there is rarely a collective demand or recognition amongst managers for “radical” customer innovation. Instead, many managers tend to be “suffocated” by “defensive routine”, focused on maximizing efficiency from existing operations and resources rather than looking at opportunities and potential to create breakthrough customer value.

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New perspectives in customer knowledge creation.pdf

Advanced customer knowledge is an essential competitive requirement for most companies. Indeed, developing capabilities to create and act upon customer insight can make a vital contribution to successful CRM as well as product, service and even business concept innovation. Yet whilst customer information in the form of profile and spend data typically provide the decision-making foundation of most CRM and customer-centricity programmes, companies are beginning to pursue more radical and alternative strategies and methods for sourcing valuable customer knowledge.

ValuePATCH:A framework for building positive brand, marketing and customer context

This paper explores the distinctive purpose, values, alignment and architecture of buyer-centric brands through the twin lenses of established branding concepts and current marketing practices. It develops a brand and customer value-creation framework using the mnemonic PATCH, which identifies and distinguishes the multiple attributes of buyer-centric transformation. Download the summary here.

The personal concierge service opportunity.pdf

Concierge services are one of the fastest growing small businesses in the USA. Born from the long tradition of the hotel concierge and their promise of ultimate personal service and local knowledge, these new concierge businesses are sprouting up in all the major metropolitan areas, promising to help manage the busy lifestyles of their corporate and personal customers. Previously, personal management and information services were the preserve of the very wealthy. Now, with falling data processing costs, cheaper direct channels of communication and the wider and easier availability of information on the internet, these services can be delivered more economically, and are within the reach and affordability of a wider audience.

Changing the long-playing marketing record.pdf

This paper examines the growing friction between present-day marketing practice and the emerging technology- and information-empowered consumer. It describes how many progressive companies can respond to "the current marketing and CRM problem" by adopting a new marketing logic, one capable of building extra brand capital and true, long-term loyalty from customer and partner relationships.

Integrated customer management: Creating the customer-centric business.pdf

A number of compelling forces are now colliding to create a new and rapidly evolving business environment, forces which are derived from two all-powerful agents of change. First, the communications revolution is enabling faster and more efficient customer, partner and supplier interactions and the global development of a huge networked economy. Second, the ability to create, own and distribute information and ideas within and outside traditional organisational boundaries is the new capital and the primary driver of business innovation. At the same time, consumer behaviour, expectations and demands are changing. To compete and lead, businesses must seek to perpetually reinvent and innovate their core service and market propositions.

Are you becoming customer-centric?.pdf

There is an ongoing debate about the scope and influence of relationship marketing and what is meant by customer loyalty. This paper synthesises opinion by arguing that loyalty can only be earned by having a superior customer value proposition in the first place. It describes a four-zone “customer value impact” framework for the measurement, planning and implementation of strategies designed to grow firm customer-centricity. It highlights the key principles that must be followed for any development programme to be successful. Although recognising that most initiatives will be highly context dependent, the paper concludes that in all situations, an optimised programme of change is the only route to enhancing levels of organisational “customer-centricity”.