Big Data, Market Research, Customer Analytics, and a host of other terms are flooding our mailboxes and airwaves. This is the era of more data…more research…more analysis to show us who are customers are and how we should be marketing to them. While all this data is supposed to answer all our questions, there is one big question that is the real “elephant in the room”…do you really care about them?
I can give you 100 Business Owners and CEOs in a room and ask them if they “CARE” about their customers…and there will be a resounding YES from all 100. No surprise here. That’s like asking a room full of 6 year olds if they want some ice cream.
But change the question up a bit and you get a very different response. Ask the same 100 leaders if they are “PASSIONATE” about their customers and build their entire business around them…and they can prove it with the processes and programs they have in place. Now I am lucky if I get 10 hands up in the room. So why is there such a big difference between “caring” and “passion” when it comes to your customers?
All the analytics in the world won’t solve this dilemma. We can know everything about our customers from the time they wake up until they go to bed and what they feel and do in between. But it doesn’t matter if we don’t have a passion for delivering the most awesome experience we can deliver. Why? Because the customer knows…the customer can tell, feel, and see when you are passionate about them and when you simply do things for them.
Don’t get me wrong…having data is great and very helpful in providing the right, and timely information to your customer. But it doesn’t come close to exhibiting a PASSION for your customers. And if you don’t believe me, ask yourself the same question your customer is asking about you, “Is this company over the top passionate about trying to make my life better and easier in everything they do…and I know it because it exudes from every employee?” Based on your answer, you will know which strategic direction you need to head going forward…
Don’t give up on the analytics…they are important, very important…but not before you have identified to yourself, your employees, and most of all your customers that you are incredibly PASSIONATE about them, their lives, and how you can help make it easier and better with what you do. This is ALWAYS THE STARTING POINT if you are to be a truly Customer Centric company and you have Word-of-Mouth on Steroids from your customers…because they love that you are passionate about them and can’t wait to tell others!
