Comments on: Relationship Marketing Economics

By: Beth Pinson

Beth Pinson — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:30:42 +0000

I'm diggin' this post. It's nicely laid out and different from the run of the mill. Today business is about relationships...PERIOD. Currently the customer is running things and the economy is tight. The key is to meet the customer on a level, that makes them feel like you (as a business) care. A great example of reaching customers on their level can be found in a post by Walter Pinson called Hyundai schools us on Relationship Marketing

By: Ian Morrison

Ian Morrison — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:44:36 +0000

First post – just signed on to the program.
But..this is a well written example of something missed daily by companies everywhere – profit opportunities derived from customer satisfaction.
The real challenge is indeed getting and keeping the attention of the other players in the organization. I’ve seen this behavior in numerous F500 companies – usually junior employees, those without agendas, point out a ‘problem’. And we certainly do like to shoot the messanger.
Keep up the good work. Hopefully both ends of the spectrum will read it and be inspired to ‘do the right thing’.

By: Nour

Nour — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:34:10 +0000

thank you Mr.Jim Novo for this wonderful explianation.

By: Jim Novo

Jim Novo — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:42:54 +0000

Thanks for the comment, John.

I’m in full agreement with the operational efficiency / Six Sigma notion. Not that it’s a bad idea per se, but now what we need to do is Six Sigma for customers – focus on the processes or policies that create “defective customers”.

The more I think about this issue, the more I’m convinced that Root Cause is management lacking awareness of the risk / reward equation mentioned above. All they see is the cost savings, because proof is not offered on the profit reduction. This is primarily Marketing’s fault, in my opinion.

What we need to do is foster a culture of measuring the impact on customer value of operational decisions.

By: John Gerzema

John Gerzema — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:26:59 +0000

Loved the line “friction gradually grinds the relationship to a halt.” It speaks to the absolute necessity of having marketing and the customer at the fore of an organization’s management planning. In this case, a smart, customer focused marketer (C-Suite or elsewhere) would have made the connection and used the delivery of the product as an opportunity to enhance the experience. The problem in the case you illustrate is that you have an efficient operations focus at the core of the organization. Many executives see internal operations as the area where they have the most control and therefore give that area the most attention. The challenge for executives is recognizing that the user experience, something outside of their immediate control, is the primary point of interaction for the brand. Eliminating customer, not operational friction is the key to energizing a brand and executives must shift their focus from Six Sigma to an authentic interaction between product and customer. The value in a transparent marketplace is embedded in the trust between customer and producer.

By: Jim Novo

Jim Novo — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:38:32 +0000

Really? Based on the first comment, I was thinking I had failed the mission to explain a complex marketing issue with a simple example. But since that’s your talent, perhaps I did OK.

Thanks for the (simple) comment, Seth.

By: Seth Godin

Seth Godin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:45:29 +0000

This is a brilliant post, Jim.

Wow.

By: Jim Novo

Jim Novo — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:11:22 +0000

You know, when I was taking the pic, I thought to myself, “With this crowd, perhaps I ought to take a picture of the correct nozzle as well, but Nah, nobody would be that anal”.

Don’t you think I know how long the nozzle should be? I’ve shipped, dunno, maybe 2000 of them. It’s too long. Honest!

By: Ron Shevlin

Ron Shevlin — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:59:26 +0000

Nice try, Novo. I know that that’s just an optical illusion. If you moved the bottle further away from the sprayer, then they’d both be the same size.

By: Dave Cook

Dave Cook — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:56:48 +0000

This looks like the sort of sprayer that has a flexible hose to *reach into the corner of the bottle*. A shorter nozzle would leave wasted product in the bottom of the bottle.

Looks like the product design is OK to me. Or am I missing something?