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Customer Centric Measures

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In this Issue:

1. Forward
2. Developing Measures for Customer Centered Goals
3. Shameless Self Promotion
   Meet me Friday in Northern Virginia USA

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Forward

Today's lesson will help you develop simple measures to improve customer service while advancing your business objectives.

This newsletter is changing to prepare for new email related laws. Newsletter publishers are experiencing problems with false-positives in corporate mail systems that cause some readers to miss publications they requested.

The newer format will be slimmer. Instead of reducing the value of the content, each edition will have a single feature article, print newsletter like the Strategic Relations Journal will still be packed full of detailed strategies.

This email newsletter will still hold value for those who print their copy (or fax it around the office), and will be presented in a more "bite sized" fashion.

You will probably save time with a smaller newsletter; I am interested in your feedback.

Sincerely,

Justin Hitt
Strategic Relations Consultant, Author & Speaker
https://iunctura.com/

Developing Measures for Customer Centered Goals

Customers are the heart of your business. A customer centric goal orients the efforts of your company around the buying desires of a specific segment or market. In order to operate your business in a customer centric manner, you must understand the measures of success for your business.

Here are several tips to develop your own measures:

1. Your most profitable customers define success. Ask your most profitable customers for details about what they consider a successful delivery of your service. Measure factors inside your company that contribute to reaching the customers definition.
2. Focus on specific solutions of value to the customer. When customer definitions of success are unknot available or unclear, measure the efforts solving specific problems. Orient your efforts to solve these challenges more efficiently, more completely, and in less time.
3. Use short but regular surveys to collect details. Small surveys are invaluable to developing a clear picture of customer desires and concerns. Use your findings to improve existing services while orienting your focus on what customers will purchase.
4. Identify what results a customer desires as they contribute to long-term objectives. By measuring factors that contribute to customers' objectives, you will know exactly how you benefit buyers. Use this insight to describe every product as if it were a critical factor to reach those desired results.
5. Document changes in customer desires over time. Use measures that inform you of changes in customer desires. Track what triggers these changes and you will become more flexible and be able to solve the right problem at the right time.
6. Work through the point-of-purchase from the customers' experience. Understand how your customer perceives a purchase from before, during, and after the interaction. Look for triggers that initiate action or identify a need.
7. Ask, "Does this contribute to a positive customer experience?" Every process of your company should advance customers objectives, if it does not; it is not advancing your own objectives. Measure those things that reduce distractions, placing more efforts on improving the customer relationship.
8. Focus measuring relationships not transactions. Reevaluate your current measures refining those who just measure short-term gain without considering the long-term value of repeat customers. Calculate customer lifetime value, acquisition costs, and return on retention efforts.
9. Determine how you will test measures early in the process. Your first measures will not be the right measures, know how you will determine this before investing too much time or money. Test every measure against control efforts to verify its usefulness.
10. Only measure those things useful to improving experience. Every measure must advance your customers experience, do not waste time measuring things you are not going to use. Ask, "What do we do with this measure?"—require a clear and logical answer.
11. Develop measures specific to customer segments. Each customer segment will have identifying characteristics that validate a buyer's inclusion to that group. Analytical measures can improve your ability to qualify accounts for particular products or demands.

Your measures of customer centric efforts are unique to your organization and contribute specifically to your business objectives. They should wrap around your customers desires in respect to your unique value; in fact, advances in customer relationship should differentiate your organizations from competitors.

Justin Hitt helps executives build stronger business relationships that ethically increase profits. Learn more about coaching and training programs at http://ApplyingStrategicRelations.com/

Shameless Self Promotion:

Meet me Friday in Northern Virginia USA

I will be at George Mason University the morning of 3 October, if you would like to meet and talk about issues facing your business I will be available from noon until 6pm. If enough people are interested, I will do a short workshop. This complementary meeting is available for newsletter subscribers only.

Email me with the time best for you (reply to this message); include a phone number where I can reach you Friday morning. I will confirm meetings Thursday evening.

If you cannot make Northern Virginia, leave your question on my voice mail on 2 or 3 of October after 7am EST. The first five callers will receive a no obligation 15-minute consultation the following week. Leave your name, email address, work phone number, and time zone. Call +1 (877) 207-3798

This time is available to you because it gives you an opportunity to try my value before any financial commitment. These no obligation consultations are only available in person on October 3 on the campus of George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA�reserve your time right now.

If you want a more involved consultation, please schedule an appointment next week by visiting https://iunctura.com/phone-based

[Ed-- Strong customer relationships come from a high perception of value, sometimes produced in face-to-face meetings, or by sampling what you provide. This can be as simple as listening to the concerns of customers, without a sales pitch or obligation, just being uniquely useful. How do you provide extra value to your customers? ]