Strativity - Creating Profitable Customer Experiences

Prices Not Friendly

Posted on: November 13, 2011 by: Lior Arussy

I was strolling in Venice and the sign from the furniture store just hit me "our prices are so low we do not need to be friendly" and here it was the essence of the business decision of every executive. Would you establish your reputation on lowest price or friendly service? What is your value proposition? I of course do not agree with the logic. A smile should cost nothing and an authentic experience should be built into every business that expect to do business with human beings. But apparently the owners of this store see friendliness differently. They are concerned about the expenses associated with being human to the point they would rather reduce their price than succumb to being friendly. WEll for all those executives who see a trade off between price and friendliness, you get what you wish for. Assume that friendliness is expensive and not worth the efforts and very quickly you will drive your prices even lower to compensate for the lack of friendliness and authentic experience. I was strolling in Venice and the sign from the furniture store just hit me "our prices are so low we do not need to be friendly" and here it was the essence of the business decision of every executive. Would you establish your reputation on lowest price or friendly service? What is your value proposition? I of course do not agree with the logic. A smile should cost nothing and an authentic experience should be built into every business that expect to do business with human beings. But apparently the owners of this store see friendliness differently. They are concerned about the expenses associated with being human to the point they would rather reduce their price than succumb to being friendly. WEll for all those executives who see a trade off between price and friendliness, you get what you wish for. Assume that friendliness is expensive and not worth the efforts and very quickly you will drive your prices even lower to compensate for the lack of friendliness and authentic experience.

Sales Centric Organizations - Selling Despite the Customers

Posted on: November 01, 2011 by: Lior Arussy

I used to believe that it is impossible to sell unless there is a willing customer on the other side who agrees to pay. I am no longer convinced that this is true. As we observe the state of relationships many companies have developed with their customers, it seems that it is possible. Many companies have sold despite their customers’ lack of cooperation in this pursuit.

Employees' Pride and Passion - Stop The Erosion - Drive Loyalty.

Posted on: September 25, 2011 by: Lior Arussy

Employees' pride and passion drives loaylty. But you can't pay people to deliver them.

The 2 Golden Rules To Customer Experience Success in 30 Days. Guaranteed

Posted on: June 22, 2011 by:

After conducting over 120 transformation projects around the world touching over 300,000 employees and impacting 150 million customers, we know conclusively that there are no shortcuts. There are no 2 golden rules for immediate customer experience transformation in 30 days. Guaranteed.

Lady Gaga and Customer Experience Principles.

Posted on: June 20, 2011 by: Lior Arussy

Got your attention with this title? No I am not going to write about the theatrics of Lady Gaga and how they raise the bars on the customer’s expectations for theatrical experiences. I will leave this job to authors Pine and Gilmore and the Disney magic developers. But Lady Gaga songs are carrying a message to all marketers and customer experience professionals. If you seek to understand he mind of the customer and how to exceed their expectations then listen to their soul food. In this case it is “Born This Way” one of Gag’s latest hits.

IMF , Public Scandals and The Root Cause of Non Customer Centric Organizations.

Posted on: June 20, 2011 by: Lior Arussy

Watching the IMF former leader scandal unfold followed by other public figures succumbing to undispicable behavior, I was amazed. What were they thinking? Many leadership gurus have responded to this question. Pages were filled with theories about the stress and loneliness of the leader at the top of the pyramid and their need to escape. The truth however lies in a simple truth:

Stop Selling – Innovate the Sales Experience

Posted on: April 13, 2011 by: Lior Arussy

Hopefully your comfort zone is somewhere between 0% and 100%. Did I mention this was a tricky question? Trust, like pregnancy is not subject to percentage. You’re either pregnant or not. You either trust someone 100% or you don’t trust that person at all. Similarly with sales people, you either trust their claims fully or you do not trust them at all.

Customer Experience 2.0 – A Disciplined Blueprint for Execution

Posted on: January 17, 2011 by:

“We are tired of the entertainment,” is the statement we heard from a chief customer officer of a major European mobile provider. It was a message of frustration from an executive who has been engaged in customer experience efforts for several years but has very little to show for it. He engaged consultants who sold him cool stories about Disney and Starbucks but failed to provide a recipe to turn HIS employees into those customer loving evangelists

The Only Question You Should Ask Yourself.

Posted on: December 16, 2010 by: Lior Arussy

Everyone loves change so long as they aren't the ones that have to change.

Today's companies are facing greater pressures than at any other time in recent memory with increasingly stiff competition, intense price pressure and changing market dynamics that threaten existing business models. Despite these challenges, corporate executives seem under prepared to address them and propel their organizations forward. One executive recently confided in me that

In Customer Experience, change is NOT an option.

Posted on: December 15, 2010 by: Lior Arussy

Today's companies are facing greater pressures than at any other time in recent memory with increasingly stiff competition, intense price pressure and changing market dynamics that threaten existing business models. Despite these challenges, corporate executives seem under prepared to address them and propel their organizations forward. One executive recently confided in me that "in our lifetime, half of our customers will be out of business." Another stated that "we aren't sure what our value proposition is." I used to believe that organizations operating in commoditized markets and facing threats to the long-term success of their businesses would place the innovation of customer experiences at the top of their corporate agendas. Similarly, I thought that companies would be racing to undergo dynamic change given the severity of the challenges they face. On all accounts, I couldn't have been more wrong.

VoC is not Customer Experience Management

Posted on: October 26, 2010 by: Lior Arussy

Imagine a husband who tries really hard to listen to his wife. He watches What Women Want, reads Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, and sets aside dedicated "quiet" time each week where he listens to his wife as she pours her heart out and tells him whatever is on her mind. He would appear to be the quintessential husband. The problem is that our quintessential husband does nothing with these conversations. He simply listens, nods his head, files what he’s heard in that back of his mind, but doesn’t act upon anything he’s heard to improve the situation or comfort his wife. He asks but will not act. His wife now calls him “idiot.” I know that many vendors and CE practitioners may take offense to this article’s title. Yet as the saying goes “the truth will set you free.” A Voice of Customer (VoC) program is but one important component in a customer experience management strategy – but it’s only a component. Too many executives see VoC as something they need to do, but not something they in which they will truly invest the requisite time and resources. Practitioners and executives should be cognizant of the fact that VoC is not the pathway to delivering great customer experiences. While such programs are critical to understanding customer needs and employee performance, there needs to be follow up action with respect to employee training, and product and service offerings to ensure that customer needs are met.

Lessons from a Japanese Customer Experience.

Posted on: August 04, 2010 by: Lior Arussy

I recently spent a week in Japan working with a client and had an eye opening experience. Although I had visited Japan on a number of prior occasions, I had never done so through the eyes of a customer experience professional. While in Asia, I had the opportunity to experience once again so much of what I enjoy about Asia and particularly Japan, particularly the culture and hospitality. The notion that it truly is a privilege to be of service is but one aspect of Japanese culture that never ceases to amaze me.

Customer experience: It’s a strategy not a complaint reduction programme

Posted on: June 23, 2010 by: Lior Arussy

At a recent visit in Spain I was introduced to a local bank that describe to me his customer experience challenges. "We are very committed to customer experience," the Spanish bankers declared. "We even commissioned our own scent to be sprayed in all the branches." They reaffirmed the commitment. "So where is your next challenge?" I inquired. "The employees, "they responded, "they are not engaged."

Social CRM - Stop The Hype! - Get Ready

Posted on: June 02, 2010 by: Lior Arussy

I recently attended a panel at SAP annual conference SAPPHIRE NOW in Orlando where the subject of social media and Social CRM was discussed. The need to engage with customers through the new channels was iterated multiple times. It is about the communication with customers and listening to what they have to say, it was stated clearly. Recently I noticed the proliferation of new Social CRM stacks by several gurus and analysts. For those of you who are too much in the cloud to remember what a software stack is, it is basically a diagram that illustrates the relationships between different software tools. The new Social CRM stack described the relationships between tools designed to listen to customers, software designed to analyze and to decipher the voice of customer and reporting tools to deliver the message loud, clear and crisp to the executives who need to act on it. It was a beautiful depiction of how all the tools work together. But…

The Frustration of the Customer Experience Leader

Posted on: April 29, 2010 by: Lior Arussy

Throughout our work in designing and deploying customer experience strategies, we often come across a sad phenomenon. We receive calls from customer experience professionals who are seeking help. For many of them, this is a first time launching a customer experience and they have absolutely no experience in it. They are fishing for ideas and seeking frameworks and references to speak to and then comes the critical moment. This is the moment of truth when we discuss the kind of help they need. And you can hear them squirming and eventually saying "we don’t really have ANY budget."