Listening to your customers can make a big difference. Customer information is often overlooked in forecasting business performance. And yet, loyalty leaders clearly outperform laggards in projecting their earnings. Discover how you can leverage customer insights for greater stability and more confidence amongst shareholders.
At the Walker Spring Forum last month, we rolled out a framework for World Class Customer Listening. After several years of development, we have “cracked the code” on how to make positive things happen for a business by leveraging the voice of the customer. It is no longer a matter of us knowing what to do. We do know what to do. It is only a matter of commitment to do what it takes and that is why we have instituted a “zero-tolerance” policy for failure to take action.
The third item on my list of common reasons I have encountered for forecasting errors is a lack of objectivity.
We all want our business to be good. We all want to hit our numbers. We all have good intentions. Fact is, many of us are just plain overly optimistic. How many times have you heard someone say, “We had a great meeting with this huge prospect!” yet nothing ever comes from the meeting or the relationship? Or one of my favorites, “This could be the Deal of the Century!”
During the next several weeks in Customer Connection, we're going to talk about motivation. I'm excited about the topic because it is one that I want to learn more about. I'll use this blog, and leverage other resources like the weekly video highlight, and the library to share what we're hearing.
As customer advocates, our role is to motivate employees to become more customer-focused, and to help them adopt behaviors that customers will respond to with increased loyalty, retention, and future purchases.
