7 Ways To Outservice The Competition Wp
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Transcript of 7 Ways To Outservice The Competition Wp
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white paper | 2009
Seven Ways to Out-Service the Competition
Exiting the Recession a Leader
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©2009 Peppers & Rogers Group. All rights protected and reserved. 2
Executive Overview
It’s a well known fact to every business leader today: hard times have come again. And,
unfortunately, the easiest strategies for survival have been exhausted. As a matter of
fact, 86 percent of Fortune 500 executives admit that the low-hanging fruit of cost-cut-
ting has already been implemented.1 Yet, within every challenge resides undiscovered
opportunities. As the White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently advised,
“Never let a serious crisis go to waste. …it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t
do before.”2
History supports this thesis. In studying previous recessions, it’s clear that the com-
panies that increase their marketing and customer interaction investments during tough
times improved profit margins, sales, and market share relative to those that do not.3,4
The short-term objective of getting through this recession shouldn’t dilute the long-term
goal of positioning your company to exit the recession a leader. To do so, you need to
first recognize the unique opportunities that today’s downturn provides and second,
capitalize on them while they exist.
This white paper highlights seven such opportunities, each of which—if acted upon—
allows a company to out-service its competition and secure the business benefits that
are desperately needed now and in the years to come.
Seven Ways to Out-Service the Competition
Exiting the Recession a Leader
“Keep your business
safe, but keep building
for the future.”5
—Jeffrey Immelt,
CEO of GE
1. Accelerate customer loyalty and company profits
2. Enhance the customer experience and save money
3. Close the gaps
4. Leverage empathetic and emotional experiences
5. Improve the multichannel experience
6. Leverage a centralized knowledge base
7. Use customer insight to drive agility
The Seven Ways to Out-Service: Climbing Up from the Recession
Today’s recession provides seven unique opportunities for a company to position itself
as a service leader as we exit the recession and transition into recovery.
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Opportunity #1: Accelerate customer loyalty and company profits
With fewer customers—and each spending less—in a recession, it is critical for your business
to retain every customer and maximize their potential. Surprisingly, less than half (46 percent)
of senior marketers have good insight into customer retention rates, lifetime value, and prof-
itability. Not surprisingly, however, most (76 percent) believe that the full revenue potential of
their current customers is unrealized.7
Since it is five times more expensive to gain a new customer than keep an existing one,8
retention is key. Achieving that goal is driven by the quality of the customer experience which
correlates with retention, future purchase rate and positive word-of-mouth.9
Where do you start?In challenging economic conditions, your company should be
asking two questions when thinking about each strategic invest-
ment. First, can the initiative produce a return within 60 to 120
days? Second, how will a new initiative impact customers’ expe-
riences with your company? “These questions are intertwined,”
notes Marcus Bragg, Vice President and General Manager of the
Americas for RightNow. “They reflect a recognition of a compa-
ny’s need to deliver a current payback, on the one hand; and, to
ensure that the customer is nurtured on the other.”
A majority of companies agree. 63 percent of firms report
that the customer experience will be more important in the
presence of a continued economic downturn (see Figure 2). For
companies wishing to act on that belief, today’s circumstances
provide seven opportunities to consider. These opportunities
represent a chance for your company to become stronger and
more viable when the economic turnaround arrives.
©2009 Peppers & Rogers Group. All rights protected and reserved. 3
Map the customer journey. Identify the sequence of key customer-company interactions that
illustrate the path from “need/find” to “buy/get” to “use/support” to “loyalty/profits.” While
each of these critical touchpoints either serve to build the brand (or to damage the relation-
ship), all are not created equal. In times of limited resources, focus on (a) those interactions
that are most influential, as determined by customer feedback; or (b) those products or ser-
vices that are strategically most important for your company.
Treat customers differently. Customers vary in their actual value and in their potential value.
Knowing both types of value allows a company to invest more effectively. Concentrate on
delivering superior experiences that either enhance customer loyalty or tap unrealized value.
Doing so requires insights into each customer’s needs—the “why” behind the “buy.”11
Service is the new sales. Customer service is especially important now, since the service
interaction is one of the few times that companies have to personally interact with their cus-
tomers.12 As indirect sales through channels become the norm, the first time that a company
talks with its customers may be through service. This interaction shapes the perception of the
brand which can influence future purchase consideration. Service experiences allow a com-
pany to further understand a customer’s needs (e.g., the way in which a product is being
used) and to leverage that knowledge to more effectively promote additional items.
Getting It Done
”What is it about trust that
makes customers feel
valued? In part, it commu-
nicates one-half of a part-
nership reaching out to the
other half. And, customers
reward partnerships. The
smart money is on cus-
tomer retention—turning
transient samplers into
long-term partners.”10
—Chip Bell, founder of
The Chip Bell Group
Source: Forrester Research6
Figure 2: Importance of Customer Experience in a RecessionMany companies report that a continued economic downturn willcause customer experience to be more important.
37%
26%
28%
8%
2%
Customer experiencewill be significantly
more important
Customer experiencewill become
more important
No change
Customer experiencewill become somewhat
less important
Customer experiencewill be signicantly
less important
63% of firms think customerexperience willbe even more important
!
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Opportunity #2: Enhance the customer experience and save moneyAn economic crisis creates the urgent need to save money. That urgency sometimes hits expens-
es that support the customer experience. If the economic downturn continues, only 20 percent of
customer experience decision makers expect to continue the spending necessary to meet the
desired customer experience levels, and 42 percent expect cuts
at the same or at a higher rate than everything else.13 “During
tough times, it takes courage to stay focused on the customer,”
explains Bragg, “but that’s precisely what is required to thrive in
the upturn.”
Staying focused on the customer allows a company to save
money in three ways:
1. By reducing the number of unsatisfactory customer experi-
ences, companies can reduce the costs associated with
resolving them.
2. When service suffers, the reputation of the brand is dimin-
ished through negative word-of-mouth, making it harder
and more expensive to attract new customers.
3. By delivering excellent customer self-service (e.g., through
customer-to-customer online support forums and dynamic
website FAQs), the company is able to deflect costs.
“Self-service solutions can deliver a 30- to 50-percent reduction
in email volume and a 10- to 30-percent reduction in telephone
calls, all while increasing customer satisfaction,” notes Bragg.
©2009 Peppers & Rogers Group. All rights protected and reserved. 4
Opportunity #3: Close the gapsGaps arise during turbulent times, both internal and external
to a company. Each gap represents an opportunity for a com-
pany to improve its business performance (Figure 3). The
three key gaps focus on (1) funding, (2) best practices, and (3)
share-of-customer.
1. Funding. There is a gap between (a) the recognition by com-
panies of the importance of customer experience in driving
growth and (b) the extent to which those areas are funded
(Figure 4). By increasing investments in the areas that drive
growth, a company is able to realize business benefits.
2. Superior Service. A gap may exist between a company’s
current efforts to deliver superior customer experiences and
accepted best practices. The size of this customer experience
gap between leaders and laggards differs by industry, and is
greatest for Internet service providers (39 percent), credit card providers (37 percent), medical
insurers (32 percent) and airlines (31 percent). In all companies, a new phenomenon is emerging:
customers are no longer comparing a company’s customer experience efforts against competitors
in the same industry, but against all other companies in all industries. Ask yourself these questions:
• If a customer can easily find the information that she or he needs on the British Airways website,
why is search so difficult on our website?
• If eHarmony offers its customers access to a highly effective foundation of answers to common-
ly asked questions, why is the information on our company’s website limited and out-of-date?
Understand the cost. The expense of mishandled cus-
tomer interactions has a financial impact on customer
satisfaction and the willingness of customers to recom-
mend the brand to a friend or colleague.
Always consider the customer’s perspective. Ask “Will
this new action enhance or reduce the strength of our
customers’ relationships with our company?” Increases
in long-term customer equity from superior experiences
are more valuable than any short-term savings that
damage customer relationships.14
Demonstrate early wins. Show management that the
cost savings from superior experiences isn’t “theory.”
Choose and concentrate on a customer touchpoint that
is (a) especially influential in impacting the customer
relationship and (b) is one where small investments in
automation may have large benefits.
Getting It Done
Figure 3: Close the GapsFor companies seeking to exit the recession in a leadership position,a recession provides opportunities to close gaps accelerating busi-ness performance.
Funding of Customer
Service Initiatives
Best Practices inDelivering SuperiorCustomer Experiences
Recognized Importanceof Customer Servicefor Business Growth
Existing Efforts to Deliver Superior Customer Experiences
Current Share-of-Customer
GAPPotential Share-of-Customer
Source: Peppers & Rogers Group
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• If Overstock.com can provide a personal experience to every individual using its contact center,
why can’t our company?
Customers are making these comparisons and expecting the best practices from others to be best
practices from you. Unfortunately, only 16 percent of businesses state that their goal for customer
experience is to differentiate themselves from their industry.
3. Share-of-Customer. A recession may provide a chance for a company to close the gap between
a company’s current and potential share-of-customer by selling a wider range of products and ser-
vices. Since some competitors will have reduced investments in customer experience, you may
now have the opportunity to grow your relationship if you deliver superior service. This positive
customer experience can help you gain greater share-of-customer, create positive word of mouth,
and acquire new customers.
These influences may ultimately enhance your stock price, as suggested by the pattern of results
for companies with above average and rising American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scores.
Over the period from 1996-2006, which included both a bull and bear market, these companies
grew more than twice the level of the Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) stock index. Even in the
current economic cycle, retailers with improved ACSI scores experienced less of a share price
decline than the S&P 500 in 2008.
©2009 Peppers & Rogers Group. All rights protected and reserved. 5
Marketing Categories that Contribute to Growth . . .
Source: Forrester Research16
Figure 4: Are Companies Investing for Growth?When comparing marketing categories that (a) contribute more to growth with (b) those that the company most invests in,
there is a gap. Note especially the misalignment of importance versus investment for the categories of customer experience
and for customer service.
Advertising and branding
Customer experience
Customer service
Loyalty/CRM programs
Direct sales channels (like eCommerce)
Promotion and trade
Traditional-media spend
Demand generation
New-media spend
Press and public relations
Market research
I don't know
Marketing technology
Sponsorships
43
31
2926
21
17
17
16
15
15
8
8
51
34
12
2622
18
19
17
13
16
10
13
31
Advertising and branding
Traditional-media spend
Promotion and trade
Loyalty/CRM programs
Customer service
New-media spend
Press and public relations
Customer experience
Sponsorships
Direct sales channels (like eCommerce)
Market research
Demand generation
Marketing technology
I don't know
57
. . . Are Not Necessarily Aligned with Investments
“If customer experience is a
differentiation strategy in
good times, it is doubly so
today. At a time when most
firms will cut back, hunker
down and reduce staff, it’s a
wonderful time for those who
truly understand the potential
of the customer experience
to rise to the occasion.”15
—James Barnes, Ph.D., Principal,
Barnes Marketing Associates Inc.
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Understand the growth drivers. For each business objective, identify the customer-
focused initiatives that are most likely to contribute to success and pair them with the
processes and employee skills required to get it done. About 80 percent of businesses
fail to meet their growth objectives for revenue and profitability, because of inade-
quate consideration of opportunities and the lack of organizational infrastructure.17
Look broadly for best practices. Adopting customer experience excellence—regard-
less of industry—is a proven way to accelerate closure of a performance gap. It
requires a mindset of “being humble enough to admit that someone else is better at
something and being wise enough to learn how to match and even surpass them at
it,” advises APQC (formerly known as the American Productivity and Quality Center).18
Grow share-of-customer. By concentrating on fulfilling an expanding set of customers’
needs with excellent experiences, opportunity exists for a company to increase the
value of its customers. Instead of differentiating products from those of the competi-
tion, the goal becomes differentiating customers from one another, collaborating with
them, and selling an increasingly large number of products to them over the course
of their lifetime.11
Opportunity #4: Leverage empathetic and emotional experiencesNo doubt that the current economic crisis is causing anguish among consumers. The
American Psychological Association reports that this economy is a significant cause of
stress for most (80 percent) adults in the US, who recognize its impact on becoming sick
(86 percent), having a heart attack or stroke (48 percent), or experiencing insomnia (36 per-
cent).20 Under these conditions, companies have an opportunity to strengthen customer
loyalty by delivering empathetic experiences that strengthen relationships. Ford, Hyundai,
and GM are all now promoting programs that ease the burden of a car payment if a job is
lost; Bank of America waives fees for customers who have lost their jobs; and FedEx Office
invited job hunters to print their résumés
free of charge.21,22 As the American poet
Maya Angelou once said, “people will forget
what you said, people will forget what you
did, but people will never forget how you
made them feel.”
Communicating concern for customers is
part of a company’s character—an important
component for building and maintaining
trust: “a belief that the company has the best
interest of the customer at heart, and can be
depended upon for respect, openness, toler-
ance and honesty.”23 It’s important, because
trustworthiness has the greatest impact on
customer loyalty;24 and, in the majority of
cases when a customer decides not to buy,
the primary reason is lack of trust.25
Capture and leverage the customer’s emotion. Use today’s advanced technol-
ogy to detect positive and negative emotions in contact center telephone
queues and within email text, and route the communication accordingly. For
example, when the contact center is integrated with a CRM system, it’s possi-
ble to provide high-value customers in a negative state of mind with interac-
tion treatments designed to quickly address the problem. In addition, the com-
panies are able to survey or request referrals from happy customers.
Train and incent for empathetic customer service. Just as it is possible to
understand customers’ emotional states, it is also possible to do the same for
contact center agents. Those who are empathetic may be rewarded, for
example; while those who are less so may be identified for training to
enhance their level of competency.26
Convert complaints into satisfying emotional encounters. No company is
perfect, and few customers expect perfection. They do, however, expect that
problems will be resolved promptly and professionally, with courtesy and
compassion. Make it easy for your customers to voice a complaint—and, have
a complaint management processes in place to address the concerns. If han-
dled well, a resolved complaint can actually increase a customer’s loyalty.27
Getting It Done
Getting It Done
”If the Securities and Exchange
Commission had any sense,
it would require all publically
traded corporations to,
along with their financial
data, reveal their level of
customer satisfaction by
some impartial method.“ 19
—Claus Fornell, Ph.D., Professor,
University of Michigan; and
developer of the American
Customer Satisfaction Index
©2009 Peppers & Rogers Group. All rights protected and reserved. 6
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©2009 Peppers & Rogers Group. All rights protected and reserved. 7
Opportunity #5: Improve the multichannel experience
It isn’t enough for companies to engender trust with their customers through empathetic encounters.
Good intentions must be followed with excellent execution. Building trust requires both character and
competence.28 In today’s multichannel world where customers assess a company’s trustworthiness in
the store, on the web, over the telephone, through email and by using chat, companies can enhance
trust by improving the competencies of continuity (i.e., seamlessly bridging conversations across chan-
nels) and consistency (i.e., receiving equally accurate and com-
plete information regardless of channel).
For example, if a customer sends an inquiry through email,
will an agent in the contact center be able to pick up the conver-
sation when that individual later calls about the same incident—
or, will the customer need to begin again and repeat the
description of the problem? Will the customer be routed to
the same agent who answered the email? Will that agent
have access to prior transcripts of chat sessions with the cus-
tomer? Will the information that customer receives be com-
plementary to the FAQs that she first read on the company’s
website? When continuity and consistency in a multichannel
interaction break down, customers become frustrated, their
relationship with the company is fractured, and service costs
escalate. In contrast, when it works well, the customer’s expe-
rience is enhanced and the company’s costs are reduced.
Test drive your company’s own multichannel customer experience.Was the interaction pleasant, prompt and productive? Did it
develop or diminish the perception of the trustworthiness of your
company? What’s helping (and hurting) the success of the multi-
channel experience?
Develop a multichannel strategy. Assess how each channel might
optimally support your company’s brand promise.
Develop a multichannel tactical plan. Design a dashboard of
performance metrics that will help to establish accountability
and drive budgets. Examine existing capabilities within your
company to identify opportunities for reuse or retooling, then
look for options to accelerate progress.
Getting It Done
Opportunity #6: Leverage a centralized knowledge baseIn a recession when the resources of a company are limited, each must be used to its fullest. This is
especially true for customer-facing personnel who have a direct impact on the strength of customer
relationships.
When customers contact a company, they expect to interact with an informed person who knows the
company’s products and procedures. Today products are constantly being introduced and updated, so a
centralized knowledge base becomes essential for delivering support that is accurate and consistent across
channels. Customers also expect to see a second type of knowledge displayed in the interaction: namely,
knowledge of themselves—who they are, what products they own, and a record of their past inquiries.
Beyond increasing efficiency and effectiveness, a knowledge base further reduces costs by enabling
self-service. When customers can answer their own questions by accessing a web-based knowledge
source, support costs are reduced.
Start simply. Make a core set of answers to FAQs available and searchable. This improves the experi-
ences of customers and the productivity of agents. Once the knowledge infrastructure is in place, it will
be easy to add new information gradually.
Push and pull content. Actively push content from the knowledge base to users to enhance its visi-
bility, relevance and impact. Use artificial intelligence techniques such as collaborative filtering (i.e.,
suggesting content based upon the pattern of information consumed by other users) and automatic
usefulness rankings (i.e., ordering the sequence of answers to a question based upon their stated
helpfulness to other users). Actively pull content from agents, other internal functional areas and
from partners to enhance the knowledge base.
Include the community. Customers increasingly use search, and social networking sites for self-service.
These tools extend the depth and breadth of the knowledge base and the support experience. The
dialog that occurs in these communities may be captured and used as the basis of new entries in the
centralized knowledge base; and, agents may reach out and directly participate in discussions.
Getting It Done
“A foundation of knowledge
is the bedrock upon which
all successful customer
experiences are built.”
—Greg Gianforte, CEO
and Founder, RightNow
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©2009 Peppers & Rogers Group. All rights protected and reserved. 8
Opportunity #7: Use Customer Insight to Drive AgilityIn turbulent economic times, it is especially important to say on top of the pulse of customers.
Knowing more about your customers than your competition is a potent advantage that allows you
to respond quickly to changing conditions. In addition, during a recession the pain of wrong deci-
sions is exacerbated, placing a higher premium on fact-based, customer-centric knowledge in
business planning.
Customer service interactions provide a mechanism to secure that advantage by capturing
feedback. When customers are already engaged via a service encounter, the opportunity exists to
glean insight. Customer feedback also allows a company to more quickly detect when a well-
intentioned change to customer service has gone awry.
Don’t delay. Customer feedback is especially rich when it is collected immediately after an inter-
action, when both the memory and the emotion of the incident is fresh. Doing so typically ele-
vates response rates significantly. For example, an email containing a survey may be automati-
cally sent when a support ticket is closed. Beyond assessing satisfaction, the survey can also
solicit information that aids in understanding the customer’s needs and propensity to engage in
beneficial behaviors (e.g., word-of-mouth referrals). Survey participation has also been shown to
positively impact the likelihood of purchases and the responsiveness to promotions.29
Keep it brief. Ask a small set of core questions that are stable over customers and over time.
Allow ongoing comparisons; and supplement as needed with items specific to the customer
segment or a timely business issue. Closed-end (i.e., rating scale) questions are easiest for
customers to answer, but you should always give the option of providing open-end text com-
mentary. Integrating all this data into your CRM system also allows your company to better
customize communications and increase their relevance.
Tune up the touchpoints. Because resources are limited in a recession and because not all touch-
points are equally important, it may be beneficial to use customer surveys to gain insight into
ways in which the customer experience may be improved—for example, the extent to which the
channel(s) that were employed during a customer support incident were easy to navigate.
Getting It Done
ConclusionIn today’s economic environment, opportunities exist for astute companies to improve their mar-
ketplace position when the recovery occurs. Yet, opportunities do not guarantee business benefits—
it’s the action you take to capitalize on them that propel profits. The opportunities described in this
white paper simply can’t wait 12 to 24 months while enabling processes are established and tech-
nology is installed. Today, more than ever before, it’s wise to start with results, adapt as you go, and
layer success upon success. It takes an iterative, focused approach that begins with a pilot and grows
into a program based upon insights along the way, minimizing risk and maximizing reward. “The
key is to start—to map the customer journey and to select the points of pain which, if ameliorated,
will have the quickest and greatest business impact,” notes Bragg.
“When the recovery arrives, we won’t be returning to normal,” explains Don Peppers, Founding
Partner, Peppers & Rogers Group. “We’ll be beginning a ‘new normal’—the start of a period in
which customers’ view of companies are forever colored by their experiences during this reces-
sion.” The trustworthiness exhibited by companies during these times—both in their character
and in their competence—will be long remembered, and the residual impact will be long lasting.
By capitalizing upon today’s opportunities to out-service the competition, companies will be wise-
ly securing both short-term gain and laying the foundation for long-term success. �
“The capability to support
‘learning relationships’—
one-to-one dialogs that
become smarter with each
interaction—is a powerful
strategic advantage.”
—Don Peppers, Founding Partner,Peppers & Rogers Group
“The world isn’t standing
still.To gain competitive
advantage right now it’s
time to start out-servicing
the competition—and,
outsaving the budget.”
—Marcus Bragg, Vice President and General Manager of the Americas for RightNow
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©2009 Peppers & Rogers Group. All rights protected and reserved. 9
Getting it Done at Motorola
Opportunity:Accelerate customer loyalty and companyprofits. A key objective for Motorola has been to improve
the customer experience and enhance loyalty. The compa-
ny has succeeded: customer satisfaction is up 15 percent
year-over-year, as a direct consequence of the “One World,
One Desktop, Any Channel” initiative. Critical to this trans-
formation has been the implementation of a global CRM
platform providing integrated eService, Agent Desktop,
IVR, and a common knowledge base.
The initiative is guided by Motorola’s vision: “Great
Support Experiences Today: Accelerating Innovation
Tomorrow.” For Motorola, “great” is defined by criteria
including responsiveness, accessibility, effectiveness, and
pleasantness. “Our goal,” explains Dacia Hurter, Senior
Director of Customer Care at Motorola, “is to ensure that
customers are ‘always up’—always operating, always live,
and always successful.” Making the vision real has
involved a cultural change, a shift in emphasis from the
device to the customer’s experience with the device. “It is
not enough that the mobile device itself works fine—the
phone is now part of an ecosystem of components (for
example, bluetooth connectivity to a PC), and the cus-
tomer’s experience is based upon how well the entire
ecosystem works,” notes Hurter.
Opportunity: Enhance the Customer Experience andSave Money. Motorola’s efforts are not only enhancing cus-
tomers’ experiences, but also delivering significant savings:
about $15 million to $20 million annually, driven by
improvements in first call resolution (13 percent), average
handle time (32 percent), email deflection (66 percent), tele-
phone deflection (29 percent) and cost per contact (25 per-
cent). “We’ve seen dramatically higher right-channeling
and self-service rates,” reports Glenn DuBois, Senior
Operations Manager at Motorola, “with live agent channel
usage decreasing by 26 percent, for example.”
And, there is yet more to come. “We are in the process
of rolling out CTI, which will allow for customer segment-
based routing to the most appropriate agents,” explains
DuBois, “as well as on-device help (allowing customers to
view knowledge base articles on their phone) and syndi-
cating our knowledge base content to the carriers’ websites
(making it easier for customers to access the content).”
Opportunity: Improve the multichannel experience.When using 22 different and totally disconnected agent
desktop systems, Motorola was hindered in its ability to
preserve conversations across channels and to provide a
seamless customer experience. Today, however, the com-
pany has implemented a single global platform and a
standardized set of processes to provide agents with com-
plete visibility to a customer’s support interactions.
Additionally, because the customer support and CRM sys-
tems are intertwined, a customer doesn’t need to repeat
information (e.g., product ownership details) when inter-
acting with the contact center, saving expense for the
company and reducing frustration for the customer.
“A link between all channels,” explains Hurter, “gives us
the ability to bridge together customer support in a global
on-demand environment, and to provide information that is
always correct, consistent, and seamless across channels.”
Opportunity: Use customer insight to drive agility.Motorola is now efficiently collecting voice of the customer
information through an automated email process that
invites the individual to complete a standardized survey fol-
lowing each incident. On a weekly basis, insights are
shared across the world-wide organization to drive ongo-
ing enhancements. For example, using analytics on this
rich customer feedback allows the company to identify
consistent trends between products and to address the
common ‘pain points’ in the design of future products.
The insight also enables continuous improvement in the
customer support experience. Issues are able to be priori-
tized based upon an examination of customer dissatisfac-
tion and of failures to achieve first call resolution, which
may result in the the addition of new content into the
knowledge base or of a proactive communication to cus-
tomers to help them better understand a product’s fea-
tures. Additionally, by examining customer feedback by
agent, Motorola is able to recognize and share best prac-
tices as well as to improve agent training.
“Customer data is shared across the organization,
including engineering, quality assurance, manufacturing,
and sales—all the way up to the CEO,” explains DuBois.
“Marketing is using the customer service database to tar-
get and segment opt-in customers for campaigns, too.”
Case Study
Delivering a superior support experience can be challenging—especially when you have 28 contact
centers around the globe. Yet, Motorola is getting it done. Consider how the company has capitalized
upon the following opportunities.
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RightNowRightNow (NASDAQ: RNOW) delivers the high-impact technology solutions and services organizations
need to cost-efficiently deliver a consistently superior customer experience across their frontline ser-
vice, sales and marketing touch-points. Approximately 1,900 corporations and government agencies
worldwide depend on RightNow to achieve their strategic objectives and better meet the needs of those
they serve. RightNow is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana. For more information, please visit
RightNow.com. For more information, please visit www.rightnow.com.
Peppers & Rogers GroupPeppers & Rogers Group is dedicated to helping its clients improve business performance by
acquiring, retaining, and growing profitable customers. As products become commodities and
globalization picks up speed, customers have become the scarcest resource in business. They hold
the keys to higher profit today and stronger enterprise value tomorrow. We help clients achieve
these goals by building the right relationships with the right customers over the right channels.
We earn our keep by solving the business problems of our clients. By delivering a superior 1to1
Strategy, we remove the operational and organizational barriers that stand in the way of profitable
customer relationships. We show clients where to focus customer-facing resources to improve the
performance of their marketing, sales and service initiatives. For more information, visit
www.peppersandrogersgroup.com
AuthorWith over fifteen years of marketing experience and advanced study in cognitive psychology,
research methodology, and statistics, Thomas Lacki, Ph.D., is privileged to contribute to the cre-
ation of higher value solutions through best thinking for the clients of Peppers & Rogers Group. In
the role of Senior Advisor, Peppers & Rogers Group Faculty, he leverages his own expertise in
understanding individuals behaviorally and analytically to achieve measurable marketing results
today, and to elevate the practice of one-to-one marketing tomorrow. Lacki has shared his insights
with conference audiences throughout the world, has published research about CRM, and serves
on the editorial board of an international marketing journal.
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Endnotes1 Couto, V., Divakaran, A., Mani, M. and Lantz, C. (2009) Survival vs. Success: How Companies are Responding to the Recession, and Why It’s Not Enough.
Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://www.booz.com/media/uploads/Survival_vs_Success.pdf
2 (2009, January 28) A 40-Year Wish List. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310466514522309.html
3 Bartold, J. (2009) Fire Insurance: How to Survive an Economy in Flames. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://www.colloquy.com
4 (2009) The Opportunity of This Recession. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://blog.willowcreativegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/willow_article_short.pdf
5 Prokesch, S. (2008) Crisis Advice from GE’s Immelt: Stay Committed to Growth. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from:http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/hbr/hbreditors/2008/10/leading_in_tumultuous_times_ad.html
6 Temkin, B. (2009, February 20) Obstacles To Customer Experience Success, 2009. Forrester Research, Inc.
7 (2008, December 8) Full Revenue Potential of Customers Not Being Realized, Report 76 Percent of Marketers. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from:http://www.cmocouncil.org/news/pr/2008/120808.asp
8 Hart, C., Heskett, J. and Sasser, W. (1990) The Profitable Art of Service Recovery. Harvard Business Review
9 Temkin, B. (2009, February 17) Customer Experience Correlates to Loyalty. Forrester Research, Inc.
10 Bell, C. (1993) In customers we trust. Executive Excellence, 10(8), 13-14
11 Peppers, D. and Rogers, M. (2004) Managing Customer Relationships: A Strategic Framework. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
12 (2007) The Boomerang Effect: How Market Dynamics Are Driving Customers Back to the Manufacturer. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://www.rightnow.com/resource-wp-the-boomerang-effect.php
13 Burns, M. (2009, March 17) Customer Experience Budgets Weather the Storm. Forrester Research, Inc.
14 Peppers, D. and Rogers, M. (2005) Return on Customer: Creating Maximum Value from Your Scarcest Resource. New York: Doubleday
15 Lavers, P., Todor, J. and Todor, W. (2008, December) The Importance of the Customer Experience in a Down Economy. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from:http://www.thewhetstoneedge.com/papers/cexdowneconomy.pdf
16 Kemp, M. (2008, December 9) Can Marketing Deliver Growth In The Downturn? Forrester Research, Inc.
17 Liabotis, B. (2007) Three Strategies for Achieving and Sustaining Growth. Ivey Business Journal Online
18 (2009) Custom Benchmarking. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://www.apqc.org/portal/apqc/site/?path=/services/custombenchmarking/index.html
19 Fornell, C. (2003) Boost stock performance, nation’s economy. Quality Progress (36)2, 25-31
20 (2008, October 7) Stress in America. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://apahelpcenter.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=pageC&item=46
21 (2009, March 31) Lost Your Job? Ford, GM Will Make Car Payments. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://www.kptv.com/money/19060137/detail.html
22 Feldman, A. (2009, April 16) Wooing the Worried. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from:http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/09_17/b4128024994922.htm
23 Bondar, L. and Lacki, T. (2009) Connecting with Wireless Customers: The Relationship Opportunity. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://loyalty.carlsonmarketing.com
24 Smith, S. (2009, February 26) Winning Customer Loyalty in an Economic Crisis. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from:http://www.customermanagementiq.com/article.cfm?externalID=676
25 (2009, March 31) Winning True Customer Loyalty and Trust in a Recession: A Conversation with Expert Shaun Smith. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from:http://www.customermanagementiq.com/podcenter.cfm?externalID=71
26 Parish, J. (2002) Relational Intelligence Theory in Marketing. University of Alabama, Doctoral Dissertation
27 (2009, May 22) Turning Customer Complaints Into Profitable Opportunities Using the Six Sigma Tool Kit. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://www.customermanagementiq.com/article.cfm?externalID=850
28 Covey, S. (2008, June 22) Trust Is a Competency. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from: http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/human-resources-management/30967-trust-competency-stephen-m-r-covey.html
29 Borle, S., Dholakia, U., Singh, S. and Westbrook, R. (2007) The Impact of Survey Participation on Subsequent Customer Behavior: An EmpiricalInvestigation.
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