Bill Gore wanted a company where employees’ spirit grew by what they accomplished, not by which corporate scrimmage they had won—where more time was spent generating ideas rather than generating ways to cover one’s backside. He decided to create a “non-organization” approach for his new company that would inspire creativity in its employees. He envisioned a “lattice” structure where people would work interconnectedly with each other rather than through a hierarchy. Gore wanted “leaders” to emerge through the ideas they presented and the commitment received to put ideas into action. “Power” is about ideas and the ability to get them sold.
If your customers look back on the part of their lifetime when they used your products, will you be remembered?
The need for wheels without the resources for owning a car has been a perennial dilemma of college students. Zipcar wanted to provide the solution and do it in a way that appealed to waves of collegians reared on technology, increasing gas prices, and the power of community. The solution itself is game changing—zip in and out of a parking spot near your dorm without going anywhere but the Internet to do the paperwork.
Zipcar’s goal is to connect with customers early in their car-driving experience and hold them close through adulthood. Playing to the college student’s desire for instant gratification, the Zipcar experience is a perfect fit.
CEO’s no longer need to be convinced of the importance of developing relationships with profitable customers and keeping them around. What they need now is a way to accomplish this feat. Some are considering the creation of a C-level position to drive the action. However, beyond the notion that it’s a good idea, not many [...]
As we all know, great customer experience requires great customer experience professionals doing great work in a supportive environment. That’s why I am thrilled to announce the launch of the Customer Experience Professionals Association…
I recently interviewed with Gaspedal as a Word of Mouth Supergenius (I’m truly honored!). I’ll be speaking at the Word of Mouth Supergenius conference on July 20th, 2010 in NYC. I hope you can make it. Click here to listen in!
An real world example of the key elements of apologizing well
Two-hundred forty wallets were planted by University of Hertfordshire psychologists in Edinburgh, Scotland because they wanted to understand if the contents made people return a wallet. Some wallets included a picture of a baby, or a family, or a dog.
In total, 42% of the wallets were returned and the rate of return varied based on the contents:
88% of wallets with baby photos were returned.
54% of wallets with dog photos were returned.
48% of family photo portraits were returned.
So, what does this have to do with business? It’s about being human and knowing your customers and their lives.
This is a post that the Ann Hadley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs.com, published on the AMEX Open Forum Site. Ann asked me questions about my new book, “I Love You More than My Dog:Five Decisions that Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad.”
Net Customers = Incoming Customers – Outgoing Customers. This is the best way I know to start to get your company and leaders to understand that it is managing this asset that is the business of the business.
