Christopher Brown
What is Hewlett-Packard missing in creating its future? Only the most important ingredient!
Almost all organizations develop annual plans and budgets. Many have strategic plans that are designed to chart their way through the next 3 to 5 years. A few use scenario planning to identify possible future environments and plot strategies and contingencies to deal with...
The Secret to High Impact Customer Communications – Lessons from Virgin
A challenge all businesses have is to be noticed by their potential customers. How do you grab attention with a message that resonates with customers and keeps your business top of mind? A really great example comes from Virgin Mobile in Australia, they developed a…
Where is the innovation in American retail banking?
More than 150 nominations representing over 30 countries were received for the 2012 BAI-Finacle Global Banking Innovation Awards for breakthrough innovations that positively impact banks and their customers. Of these, 27 were from banks operating in the US and 4 from Canada. The awards are...
5 traits companies must have to play in free-for-all energy industry
Traditional electric utilities are on the verge of facing massive competition. The barriers to entry have fallen and a large number of new and old companies have entered the power generation business. Numerous and diverse competitors – non-utilities – have already entered the electricity business....
4 reasons internal competition helps companies win with customers
People view competition in many different ways. In the business world it is often viewed negatively as it can impact profit margins and companies must compete for a share of the pie. From a customer's perspective competition drives better service, better prices and better...
Changing Customer Expectations – How the publishing industry is adapting to the writing on...
A December 2011 report by Deloitte on the educational publishing market points to the fundamental market shift – digitization, the changing preferences of younger readers to e-books, and the massively reduced cost and time to market provided by "print-on-demand" publishing technology. The institutional education market...
2 Massive Trends impacting your customers in 2013
Understanding the broader customer environment is crucial to managing and meeting their expectations. For example all retailers customer's expectations have been impacted by the innovations and success of the Apple retail platform. Customers expect to be able to walk in speak to anyone in...
The Mobile App Revolution – Why Telcos must reinvent themselves or die
New Research by Vision Mobile, entitled "The Telco Innovation ToolBox", suggests that telecoms must reinvent themselves in order to survive. Their research highlights the need for telcos to transform to the new app culture as new solutions kill off traditional offerings. The report notes that...
Why are companies grappling with basic customer service?
Adam Bender from Computerworld Australia recently reported on an event hosted by IPscape exploring the challenges companies continue to have delivering customer service that meets expectations. With exploding connectivity and consumer expectations for instant service one would think businesses would be forced to respond. ...
Why global competition means every company must be more customer focused
Global competition is coming to the telecommunications industry in a major way. Yes Skype and others have been around for a long time but direct competition between the telco powerhouses has been slow to evolve. America's largest telco, Verizon, is planning to make a push...
How much is the Starbucks experience worth?
"Starbucks represents something beyond a cup of coffee", says Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. He's right. Consumers are not quibbling about the new $7 cup of coffee. In fact, it seems to be a runaway success. When consumers are connected with a brand emotionally, as...
Competing for the future – How Australia Post is reinventing itself in this new...
Australia Post recently released its annual results. Revenues from "regulated mail" – standard postage – are $1924 million and falling, and it made a loss of $148 million. "Non regulated parcels and retail" revenues were up 8.5% to $3073 million, returning a profit of...
Is Wells Fargo regaining its customer culture?
We all have a love-hate relationship with our banks. We see this in the annual customer satisfaction ratings that are far from stellar for all banks. Wells Fargo slipped to second-place behind JPMorgan Chase in customer satisfaction among big banks in the American Customer Satisfaction...
Has the word “customer” lost its impact?
There is a lot of discussion these days on the importance of being "customer" focused, of having a "customer" mindset, of delivering a better "customer" experience. Sometimes there is so much reference to customers that the word is starting to lose its meaning. Now...
How to sell the change necessary to create a powerful customer culture
In today's world of intense competition, disruptive technology and the age of the customer, we know that we have to change and our organizations must change to survive. But, how do you sell change to others when you know that on average there will be...
Are customers at the heart of your business? Here’s what that means to Virgin
Image Source: http://www.customerattheheart.co.uk/ In a recent British Parliamentary Enquiry into the awarding of rail franchises to private companies, Richard Branson said: "Our customers are at the heart of our business". What does this really mean from a practical point of view to the Virgin Group?…
Think outside the box and profit from your competition
An in-depth understanding of your competitors – their strategies, behavior, intent, how they make their money, how they view your company – is a competitive advantage that can help you increase your market share and profit. A great story about deep competitor insight comes from...
How to communicate without saying a word
Communication is a massive part of any major change initiative. A leadership team's ability to connect with employees at all levels with a clear powerful message is critical to success. Some of the best lessons on communication come from the world of advertising. Agencies are...
The irresistible force meets the immovable object – Customer Experience meets Corporate Culture
In this age of the customer, improving the customer experience has become an "irresistible force". Companies have seen their products commoditized as competition intensifies and the speed of product introductions continues to accelerate. The customer experience provides an opportunity to create differentiation. How you treat...
Why communicate with customers in print?
With the ever exploding options available to marketing professionals and the rise of "inbound marketing" why would you use a communication medium like print advertising anymore? The simple answer is because that's where your customers go to get information. While there has certainly been a...