Jim Barnes
How Promotional Pricing Can Get You in Trouble With Your Most Loyal Customers
Promotional pricing is dangerous, particularly when a company is dealing with regular customers with whom it already has an established and seemingly solid relationship. We're all very familiar with the situation where banks and mobile telephone companies, for example, offer customers who have defected to...
The TRIPPING Point: How To Avoid Relationship-Ending Moves
I keep hearing of customer relationships with businesses that have been going along fairly well for some time, characterized by reasonably high levels of customer satisfaction, if not outright loyalty. Then, suddenly, something happens that is so disruptive and horrific that it causes...
That’s All Very Well and Good, But I’ve Got a Business To Run Here
Some senior executives are in denial. They maintain that they and their companies are customer focused; yet, when it comes to really examining the state of customer relationships or the extent to which they are creating a positive emotional connection with customers, they...
Tap Into a Wealth of Information: Put Your Employees on Advisory Councils
It seems there has been almost complete buy-in in forward-thinking firms to the notion that they must listen to customers and try to understand them and what they are trying to get done, if there is to be any hope of building satisfaction, let...
Now, Let’s Talk About the Employee Experience
There has been a lot of attention paid recently to the concept of the customer experience. Despite the fact that there is little consensus on exactly what constitutes a customer experience, there has nevertheless been a growing consensus that there is something to...
What Are They REALLY Doing on Facebook and Why Should You Care?
Businesses typically struggle with new technologies and how to make them work in a business context. They flail about for years in some cases, trying this and that, before they settle on an application that makes sense and may make them some money....
The Customer Service Bar Is Actually Lower Than You Think
You may think that customer service is improving, but it's a good bet that most of your customers would disagree. They are out there every day dealing with companies that consistently underperform and disappoint. Sure, there are many really good service...
Let Employees Depart From the Script and Sort Out Customer Problems
Everyone has a customer service horror story, especially at this time of year when a large percentage of the population is traveling for the holidays; nerves are frayed and airline employees are stretched to their limits as they cope with the crowds and the...
What Are They Really Telling Us When They Say Service Stinks?
"I'll never go back there; the service is terrible!" "They were able to fix the problem that afternoon; what great service." "The service here is atrocious; we've been here 45 minutes and they haven't even taken our order yet." "I didn't even have to ask;…
If You Really Want To Know What Your Customers Are Saying, Start With Your...
Front-line employees are often referred to as "boundary spanners" not just because they tread that boundary between the company and its customers, but because they are as likely to identify with and empathize with the customer as with their employer. They occupy a...
Where Does Customer Research Fit in Your Customer Strategy?
The more we know about customers the better we can serve them, help them get things done, and generally build retention and relationships. But, most companies don't know their customers as intimately as they need to if they are to develop lasting customer...
So, Are You a “Best Supplier” to Your B2B Customers?
In the B2B space, it has become increasingly difficult to gain a competitive advantage on the basis of product quality or price. If you're honest with yourself, you will agree that the competition has pretty good quality and that there really isn't much...
The Small Wow! Simple Surprises Can Delight Customers
It's Wednesday afternoon and you've come home early because the new dining room furniture is being delivered at 3. Precisely at 3, the telephone rings. It's the furniture store: "Just wanted to let you know that our delivery guys are running a little late;...
There’s Customer-Centric, and Then There’s Customer-Centric
It seems to me that talk of customer-centric marketing or customer-centric retailing is an unnecessary redundancy. What is marketing if not customer-centric? How can one even think of marketing without a focus on the customer? Isn't that what marketing is all...
Customers Really Don’t know What To Expect: Why Asking About Customer Expectations Is Often...
There is an obsessive emphasis on customer expectations in many businesses. I regularly get asked to explore what customers are expecting of the firm. The reason clients are interested in customer expectations is simple: they want to exceed them and, in order...
Think About “Fit.” It Will Build Relationships
There are some product and service categories where "fit" is critical and where firms are missing an opportunity. Customization and personalization are very powerful concepts in the building of customer relationships. Customers routinely comment that they like being paid attention to; that...
Best Practices Aren’t Necessarily Best for Your Business
I am often asked by managers and executives to recommend "best practices" that they might emulate. What they are actually looking for are ideas and behaviors that have proven successful for other companies that they can then plunk down in their firms. ...
FISH: Why We Reward Short-Term Performance and Ignore Relationship Building
I assume, as to you are reading this on CustomerThink.com, that you are interested in customers and the building of long-term relationships with them. You are likely committed to the concept of customer loyalty and have a healthy appreciation for the importance of...
Breaking News: Loyalty Programs Don’t Lead to Loyalty. Duh!
I have been arguing for years that loyalty programs have little or no effect on genuine customer loyalty and now there are solid data to support that view. Colloquy, the loyalty marketing publisher and consultancy, recently released the results of a survey of...
Why You Can’t Script a Customer Experience
The kinds of customer experience that make an impression on customers, those that have some potential to create a "wow" and to contribute to stronger relationships, cannot be scripted. They happen. Let's also remember that negative experiences have as much chance of happening as...