New Aberdeen Group Study on Customer Experience Management

Aberdeen Group has published a new research report, “Customer Experience Management: Engaging Loyal Customers to Evangelize Your Brand.”

The study explores the adoption of Customer Experience Management (CEM) and isolates the leaders in customer retention and satisfaction to examine why these Best-in-Class companies outperform others when it comes to growing and harvesting customer advocates.

The study finds:

• Best-in-Class companies achieved 91% customer retention on an annual basis, versus 59% for All Other organizations.
• Best-in-Class companies achieved 88% current customer satisfaction rates, versus 69% for All Other organizations.
• Seventy-five percent (75%) of Best-in-Class companies increased customer loyalty as a result of CEM initiatives, versus 53% of Average Industry organizations.

While the vast majority (96%) of survey respondents saw value in formalizing a CEM strategy, only 37% currently have a formal program in place to identify and encourage customer advocacy.

Formalized Program to Promote Customer Advocacy (All Respondents)

Source: Aberdeen Group, September 2009

"Every customer experience is an opportunity to influence customer acquisition, customer retention, loyalty, and advocacy," explains Ian Michiels, Practice Director of Aberdeen's Customer Management Technology Group and author of the study.

The report outlines Best-in-Class strategies and examines process, organization, technology, and other enablers that superior performing organizations use to maintain a competitive advantage.

A complimentary copy of this new report is available at www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410558&cid=6196

Courtesy – Randy Saunders

Don’t Forget. The History Won’t

The Day it shocked India like never before. The Day when we all had a realization that no matter which section of the community you are….YOU are vulnerable. The Day a sense of fear homed every hearth. The Day when I realized that I may not be able to see that someone special. The Day when a mother lost her only son. The Day when GM at Taj lost hid Wife and Two Young Kids. The Day When we saw the ugliest site of human mankind. The Day when we saw the bravest side of the human mankind. The Day we saw Dirty Politics. The Day we saw people helping each other. The Day when we saw the most unselfish side of a human being in line of the fire. The Day when a Local Cafe entered into History books. The Day when a landmarks of the city was hit. The Day when Smiles turned to Horror.

The Day we call as 26/11. 

According to investigations the attackers traveled by sea from Karachi, Pakistan across the Arabian Sea, hijacked the Indian fishing trawler 'Kuber', killing the crew, and then entered Mumbai on a rubber dinghy. The captain of 'Kuber', Amar Singh Solanki, had earlier been imprisoned for six months in a Pakistani jail for illegally fishing in Pakistani waters.

The first events were detailed around 20:00 Indian Standard Time (IST) on 26 November, when 10 Urdu-speaking men in inflatable speedboats came ashore at two locations in Colaba. They reportedly told local Marathi-speaking fishermen to "mind their business" before they split up and headed two different ways. The fishermen's subsequent report to police received little response.

Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai: at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe,Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, the Metro Cinema,and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College.There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle. By the early morning of 28 November, all sites except for the Taj Mahal Palace had been secured by Mumbai Police and security forces. An action by India's National Security Guards (NSG) on 29 November resulted in the death of the last remaining attackers at the Taj Mahal Palace, ending all fighting in the attacks.

This is the Day when we all should realized that how vulnerable we all are, or how less time we have to say Sorry, how less time we have to say “ I Love You”, how less time we have time for small things in life.

Hence Don’t Forget This Day as THE HISTORY WON’T…..

Content Marketing Playbook: 42 Ways to Connect with Customers

A while back I wrote an article titled “The End of Marketing and PR.” The article reviewed a lot of the new media applications, platforms and networks that can help you connect with customers. Things like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Animoto, StumbleUpon, SlideRocket, widgets, blidgets and a bunch of other whatchamacallit-idgets. But they all require two things …

WORK and  CONTENT

But not just any type of  content. It should be content that is helpful, educational, unique, credible, and yes, occasionally, maybe even entertaining or humorous.  Delivering all that is hard work. Some people refer to this as  …

CONTENT MARKETING

“Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. In contrast to traditional marketing methods that aim to increase sales or awareness through interruption.” -Wikipedia

NOT REALLY THOUGH

But it’s not really “content marketing.” It’s not PR. It’s not marketing. It’s survival―for you and your business. It can help you:

• Be more “findable” on the web
• Connect you with customers and new prospects – and most importantly,
• Create new business

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE OF SOME GREAT CONTENT AND HARD WORK

“The End of Marketing and PR” focused on the new media tools more so than the content. But Joe Pulizzi  over at Junta42 (http://blog.junta42.com/) has created an exceptional e-book that is a helpful guide to all the different types and formats of content that can be used with the new media applications, platforms and networks.

It’s a super example of unique, educational, helpful content … and it was most certainly hard work putting it together. Hats off to Joe (@juntajoe on Twitter) and Jonathan Kranz(@jonkranz) for putting it together.

Check it out at 42 WAYS TO CONNECT WITH CONTENT (PDF)

Courtesy – Steve Kayser

To Burn or Not to Burn … That is the Question

In 1519, Hernan Cortés landed with a fleet of 12 ships near present day Veracruz, Mexico. The flotilla held 500 Spaniards, 300 natives, a dozen horses and a few cannons. Cortés’ aim was to conquer the Aztec Empire and take possession of its great wealth.

The legend is that before launching the attack, Cortés burned his ships to prevent his men from retreating.

Through the ages this brazen act has come to represent fully committing to a course of action. Going all in. Burning all bridges.

SAND BURN?

The legend is also wrong.

It turns out Cortés had nine of the twelve ships sailed into the sand, grounding them. There is no word on the other three ships. According to Hugh Thomas in the Conquest: Montezuma, Cortés, and the Fall of Old Mexico, the burning ship error derives from sloppy handwriting. Two Spanish words were confused in the written record: quebrando (breaking) and quemando (burning).

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter– it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

- Mark Twain

Cortés was successful in his conquest, but one wonders if he intended to use the three unharmed ships as a backup plan in case the expedition didn’t go well.

TO BURN OR NOT TO BURN … THAT IS THE QUESTION

While there are times it makes sense to burn ships to prevent retreat, there are other times when doing so is foolhardy. How do we discern which is which? The sketch below provides some insight.

As the personal cost of being wrong about an idea or decision increases along with the uncertainty of success, the size of the bet should be reduced.

For example, the negative consequences for a twenty five year old with no dependents who quits her job and maxes out a few credit cards to start a business that ultimately fails is much less than for a fifty year old with a child in high school and another in college who also quits his job and liquidates his 401k to start a similar venture.

The twenty five year old has many more years to get back on her feet whereas the fifty year old’s failure could have catastrophic consequences for his retirement.

Earlier, I mentioned testing new thoughts, trying new things, is the essence of expanding the present, but not everyone is brave enough to do it. Learning to scale our new endeavors based on the uncertainty of success and the personal cost of being wrong increases our courage to try new things.

I love the concept of the piecemeal engineer introduced by Karl Popper in Poverty of Historicism. A piecemeal engineer is a tinkerer—someone who doesn’t believe in burning ships. Piecemeal engineers seek to achieve their aims by “making small adjustments and readjustments which can be continually improved upon.” Like Socrates they know how little they know so they are always on the “lookout for the unavoidable, unwanted consequences of reform.”

The leading edge of the present is where the best ideas are found. It is also the realm of maximum uncertainty because it’s the jumping off point into the unpredictable future.

Experimenting is the key to minimizing pain amidst such uncertainty. Experiments increase flexibility to react to the unintended consequences of our actions, both the positive and the negative. And on the present’s leading edge there are always unintended consequences. Having a ship to retreat to when a surprise turns nasty not only can save our hides but it provides a safe haven to regroup before venturing out again.

About the Author

J.D. Stein has served as an investment strategist to institutional investors for over thirteen years. He writes about how to live and work on the leading edge of the present at NowSquared.com. J.D. resides within the Greater Yellowstone region of Idaho. Contact J.D. Stein at nowsquared@gmail.com

Who Should Own Your Next Technology Project?

Every key decision maker in business, regardless of their role, will face a technology decision at least once in their professional career. The goal is to ensure that the professional is best equipped with the knowledge and insight to make the best decision around IT implementation. A key consideration for any technology solution revolves around four key pillars. It must provide HIGH business VALUE; have LOW COST relative to the expected business value; generate a RAPID ROI to payback the stakeholder’s investment in the project and carry with it a LOW RISK of failure.

What follows are some ways to best overcome challenges in terms of IT and business executives collaborating on technology projects. Understanding how to empower both IT and business decision makers to collaborate is key to maintaining your competitive advantage.

Why Collaborate?
Collaboration is the key to the long-term success and while it might be difficult at first to implement, IT purchasing decisions should not rest only on the recommendations of the IT department, but rather be an engaged, invested and empowering decision process between business solution users and the IT department who supports them.

Using a race car analogy, you would view the IT people as the very necessary pit crew who know everything about how the car is put together and how it should run. The crew chief is responsible for making sure the pit crew works together to keep the engine in top-performing condition but he’s still not the one driving the car. That’s for the driver and in terms of business it’s the business executives leading the race to get their product to market more expediently and smoothly than their competitors.

The driver has to be able to make split-second decisions and help the car respond proactively to any challenges on the track. But the key is that one cannot win without the other. The pit crew needs the driver and the driver needs the pit crew in order to have a successful team and win the race.

IT and Business Execs Who Focus on Collaboration Succeed
As companies face global competitive challenges it’s vital for them to have both the IT (pit crew) and the business executive (driver) collaborating to beat the competitors in the marketplace (track).

The IT and the business-side have to understand that long-term it’s going to ease everyone’s pain points to work closely together. No longer will all the blame lie in the IT department’s lap. On the business-side this type of collaboration empowers the business executive’s usage of all the tools available to him.

In this race for global market share, IT provides the technical expertise to verify the solution will work in the existing environment while the business unit builds ownership for the product in terms of using the application to its desired end.

A collaborative effort boosts the speed and power of a business’ ability to get products to market. Businesses need to get new products out to the market faster and faster to win their competitive race. The more complex your product – such as industrial equipment or commercial insurance – the more difficult this can be. Providing product information to sales teams, dealers and other channels on their desktop can speed this process. But relying solely on IT to convert the product needs for the business units into a software solution can significantly slow their market response in a time when businesses must be very agile.

Oftentimes companies will throw a decision over the wall to IT and say, “Give me the application that’s going to solve my problem.” However, the real challenge lies in ensuring that both IT and the business-side work together to find the best solution.

Source: Luigi FDV

Planting the Seed for Collaboration (Who Does What?)

Companies must start by planting a seed in terms of germinating successful collaboration. First plant the seed and assist both sides to understand the benefits of collaboration, because there are two very different objectives that have to come together for success.

On the business unit side, IT’s job is to implement the product knowledge. This includes all the product data, user experience and user interface which impacts how the company sells in the marketplace. All the solutions and the collaboration have to be market-driven and the product side has to deliver what the market wants.

In the past, while it has served companies to develop their own solutions or configurations, it only serves them well in the short term. In the long run, it costs companies more time and money to keep these internal non-collaborative solutions meeting the needs of either constituent.

Take the case of a leading manufacturer of ventilation equipment, with sales of excess in $475 million annually. For this company, it was especially challenging because the business units were trying not only to build a current product but also to introduce new products concurrently. Getting the product knowledge implemented into their sales tool was time-consuming for this company.

Bottlenecks and IT Resolution
Companies frequently incur a bottleneck in the IT department. IT is often tasked to translate product knowledge gathered from different business units and implement it into the sales tool. This can lead to many product errors which have to be tested, reconfigured and solved. It also can cause significant additional added costs due to confusing work instructions, lost time and rework. One of the most significant exposures of incorrect product information is an unhappy customer and the loss of future business from that customer forever.

The challenge lies in effectively explaining to IT the product knowledge so they can get it implemented correctly. In the ventilation equipment company’s case, the product experts were in the business units – not the IT department – so many wasted hours could have been avoided with proactive collaboration on both sides.

If you have IT responsible for everything, then you’re going to have them on the hot seat all the time, and business units won’t always (if ever) truly get the resolution they need. This type of pressure builds a dysfunctional relationship and costs a fortune to the company in terms of productivity and improved business processes.

Instead, a collaborative engagement between both sides offers immediate benefits: it allows IT to control the framework of an application, and allows business units to control the business application itself. This includes having the capability to control the rules, knowledge, and customization of the solution for their specific needs.

Enabling this control lets businesses take ownership and react with speed when new features or functions are required. This is an improvement over describing what you need to IT and hoping they understand and can create the right fit for business units.

Everyone Has a Stake in the Race
Giving the business-side a stake in the process lets them incorporate necessary knowledge including: product rules, product data, how they sell their product, and how they position themselves in the market and with customers.

The most compelling benefit to dual collaboration is that it enables businesses to go to market faster, and be proactively responsive to customer demands.

When companies choose to collaborate, the results can be seen very quickly not only in terms of the whole teams working for the greater good of the customer, but also in terms of exceeding sales and being able to compete more adeptly in the market.

As in NASCAR, it is so in business, collaboration must come from the top down and everyone needs to have a stake in it being successful.

Once everyone takes ownership for their part and knows their roles, all the units can move forward together instead of in a dysfunctional fashion.

Now that’s the way to speed past the checkered flag and win the race in business.

Images sources:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/3855375117/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/luigistrano/502363112/

Courtesy - Jerry Miller

2009 Marketech Tools and Trends in New Media

The MarkeTech Guide to Marketing Technology and Social Media Market­ing is an updated and upgraded version based on the successful e-book originally written for the American Marketing Association in 2008.

Marketing used to be simpler. Fewer technologies, fewer channels, less di­easier. That said, I personally can’t think of a time that marketing has been more fun. Our jobs have been transformed by technology

To say that much has changed in 18 months is a bit of an understatement. For example, Twitter was on the scene but was far from being a marketing opportunity. In fact, as of Q4 2008, HubSpot estimated that 70% of all Twitter users signed up in 2008 , in spite of Twitter’s founding back in March of 2006.

The effectiveness of the tools that we’ve used for decades has been called into question on the past few years. It’s interesting to note that consumer time spent watching vid­eo on the “best screen available” continues to rise quarter-to-quarter while their usage and consumption of CGM (consumer generated me­dia) content represents almost 20% of their time (surely there’s some overlap there!) but grabs a paltry 3% of the average marketing budget .

Marketing technology goes well beyond and before the advent of social media. Surely, some of the tools we discuss in this e-book are social media tools. However, and more importantly, they are the state-of-the art vehicles that today’s marketers need to understand to grow their bottom line and keep pace with the ever-advancing customer base and marketplace.

10 Questions Marketers Want Answered About Digital & Social Media

You’re not alone if you have more questions than answers when it comes to approaching social media marketing and market­ing technology. Michael A. Stelzner, author of the, “Social Me­dia Marketing Industry Report” , conducted a survey of 900 people regarding social media marketing. They received 700 open-ended responses and summarized the major questions marketing professionals wanted answered. I’ve included these questions because they so closely reflect the same questions that I’ve been receiving month after month while conducting the AMA’s two-day “TechnoMarketing” training course on marketing technology & social media. They include:

1. What are the best practices and tactics to use?

2. How do I measure the effectiveness of social media?

3. Where do I start?

4. How do I manage the social balance?

5. What are the best sites and tools out there?

6. How do I make the most of my available time?

7. How do I find and focus my efforts on my target audience?

8. How do I convert my social media marketing efforts into tangible results?

9. How do I cohesively tie different social media efforts together?

10. Does social media marketing work, and if so, how effective is it?

One in three marketers surveyed indicated that identifying best practices, measuring results and knowing where to begin were their top questions with social media. The MarkeTech guide aims to address many of these top-of-mind questions in the following pages.

For Detailed Report Click Here

Overcoming Resistance: One Tribe at a Time

SOMEDAY

You have this story to tell. It’s gut-wrenching. True. Meaningful. It will change lives. It will save lives … lots of them. It has to be told.  You have to tell it – because you’ve lived it.

The "Someday, One Day" Story. Photo courtesy of H. Kopp Delaney

BUT

You have a family. Responsibilities. Spouse and kids. Your  job is pretty demanding. Business travel and all that. When will you ever find time to tell your story? Save those lives? So much to do …

IS THIS YOU?

Years later do you still have that story in you? Still have that idea for a new invention? New company? What’s stopping you? What’s stopped you?

RESISTANCE

You’ve heard about it before in, “The Power of Resistance: Lessons Learned” from bestselling author Steven Pressfield. It’s the intractable foe of all working writers and the death of most aspiring writers—and entrepreneurs, painters, astronauts, and <insert your dream here>. Resistance is a brutal, intangibly tangible force, an implacable foe. Evil. Toxic. It wants you dead—or dying slowly so it can laugh at your misery.

ONE DAY IS YOUR ENEMY

How many of you reading this right now intend “one day” to write a book? Start a new business, do charity work, paint, do something meaningful? “‘One day” is your Resistance. It’s also the unrelenting foe of anyone wanting to achieve anything substantive in this life.

THERE’S THIS PERSON I WANT YOU TO MEET

He has a spouse, kids, demanding job – a lot like you. His job requires travel and ongoing training – probably a lot like you too. But  he has this story in mind – that just won’t quit. This concept. He’s been writing, researching and working.  This story will change lives. It will save lives … lots of them.

RESISTING RESISTANCE

He’s committed to writing this story – and is – while still maintaining his commitment to his family, his work, his country. Passionate about it. He’s been doing the work – regardless of all other commitments. And — his job is making him travel soon – back to Iraq.  Yes, he’s a soldier.  He’s getting ready to deploy to Iraq, where he will lead an Iraqi commando battalion — but he finished the story. Along the way he made a friend, the bestselling author Steven Pressfield who uses him as an example of how to overcome resistance.

“Resistance, it seems, melts away in the face of conviction, passion and hard work.”-  Steven Pressfield.

The person’s name? Major Jim Gant. The story?  “One Tribe At A Time.”

“‘One Tribe At A Time‘ is not deathless prose. It’s not a super-pro Beltway think tank piece. What it is, in my opinion, is an idea whose time has come, put forward by an officer who has lived it in the field with his Special Forces team members–and proved it can be done. And an officer, by the way, who is ready this instant to climb aboard a helicopter to go back to Afghanistan and do it again,” said Pressfield.

IT CAN BE DONE

For those of you that are, at this very moment, being slowed by Resistance, taunted by Resistance, need inspiration to fight Resistance, aspire one day to defeat the evil beast of Resistance … read “One Tribe at a Time,” by Major Jim Gant.  Or – download “One Tribe at a Time” to your computer.

If you’d like to comment or ask questions of Major Gant or Steven Pressfield about “One Triibe at a Time” and the “Tribal Engagement”  concept go to Steven Pressfield’s commentary section.

Courtesy – Steve Kayser

Expert Access Features Hollywood, Hitman, Tribes in Afghanistan and Tin Man Humor in Latest Issue

Expert Access (http://expertaccess.cincom.com), award-winning online business magazine's latest edition, features an eclectic mix of Hollywood, Hitman and Humor in these articles and sites:

HOLLYWOOD

"A Simple Timeless Tale: Lessons Learned from a Legendary Hollywood STORY Guru" shows how to use timeless storytelling methods to win in the complex sales process.

HITMAN

"Hoodwinked! An Interview with Economic Hitman John Perkins," pulls back the curtain on the real cause of the current global financial meltdown.

TRIBAL THINKING

"Overcoming Resistance: One Tribe at a Time" shows how to really win the war in Afghanistan. The article features Major Jim Gant and Steven Pressfield, bestselling author and screenwriter. "One Tribe at a Time" is an idea whose time has come, put forward by an officer who has lived it in the field with his Special Forces team members -- and proved it can be done. And an officer, by the way, who is ready this instant to climb aboard a helicopter to go back to Afghanistan and do it again." -- Steven Pressfield.

TIN MAN CLAIMS INNOCENCE -- THIS MIGHT NOT BE TRUE

"The Proof Will Set Me Free," a humorous Web 2.0 fundraising site featuring Jerry Shawhan, Cincom treasurer, and a Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Most Wanted Citizen.

JACK BAUER WISHES HE WAS AS SLICK-LOOKING AS JACK BROWSER

"Jack Browser Case Files" (http://jackbrowser.cincom.com), a new Cincom WebVelocity site. WebVelocity is the latest tool for building dynamic web applications. Yes -- it is a bit geeky. Gamey. But good.

TRIED AND TRUE

-- Who Should Own Your Next Technology Project? by Jerry Miller, managing director, Cincom Manufacturing Business Solutions

-- The Broken Bridge Between Think and Work by Dr. Woodrow Sears

-- How to Make Every Dollar Count in Your Channel Management Strategies by Louis Columbus, Cincom market analyst

-- Superstar vs. Team: How Manager Mistrust Prevents Growth and Winning by Devin Meister

BANISH THE BORING

The editorial goal of Cincom Expert Access is to provide objective ideas, information, insights and inspirations (sometimes in an irreverent, humorous manner) to help readers:

-- Do their jobs better

-- Become aware of new ideas, products and services

-- Occasionally have a B2B laugh