One of the challenges facing companies today is the trap of finding themselves in direct competition with their customers; fighting over their budget, and its distribution. The customer and the company both target the same pot of gold and each fights for its rightful share. Customers want to spend the least amount for the product or service they seek, while companies seek to obtain the maximum price, hence, budget share, for the products or services they sell. Each intends to retain a majority of the pot and leave the other with the least amount necessary.

The pot of gold we are referring to is, of course, the customer’s money. In the current short-term, adversarial relationship, the customer is trying to retain most of his money and pay the minimum price necessary, while the company tries to charge as much as they can. This competitive situation locks companies and customers in a zero-sum game with a no-win resolution. The success of one side is the failure of the other. In most cases, both sides lose.

As much as companies refuse to admit and accept it, this is the nature of their current customer relationship: a competitive struggle over price impacting the future level of trust, already shallow to non-existent.

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2005 has taken off with a bang and I am pleased to share with you two recent announcements key to implementing successful customer-centric strategies in your organizations. First, on Valentine's Day, we released the results of our 2nd annual Customer Experience Management study and the rather alarming results indicate that the divide between companies and their customers has increased. Highlights include:

	Only 41% of the global respondents agree that their company deserves the customers' loyalty, as opposed to 56% in 2003.
	65% state that their company's executives do not meet with customers frequently (a significant increase from 2003 - 54%)
	54% state that their relationship with the customer is not well defined (as opposed to 60% in 2003)

Additionally, we discovered that the vast majority of executives, lacking basic information, do not understand the financial value of their customer relationships. For more information on obtaining the complete study results, please visit our web site at www.StrativityGroup.com.

Secondly, my new book Passionate & Profitable, Why Customer Strategies Fail and 10 Steps to do Them Right (John Wiley and Sons, February, 2005), is out and ready to help you promote the customer cause within your organization.
In the book, I.

Packed with diagrams and examples, this book is the perfect tool for customer strategy practitioners, marketers, customer service professionals and executives. Be prepared, however. This book does not offer any shortcuts; rather, it delivers a serious blueprint for customer relationship success. Buy one for your boss today!

As always we welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Please contact me directly at Lior@StrativityGroup.com

Have a great experience.