Balancing Personal Experience with Data

Some fascinating insights from a survey recently published by Accenture.

'When making decisions about what customers want, many organizations are just as likely to rely on personal experience as analysis of data and facts.

Even amongst organizations actively using analytics in marketing, sales and service, most are not applying it broadly across the full spectrum of marketing and customer activities such as pricing, product/service delivery, and product development.'

Of course personal experience is important and how that experience is applied can be the difference between the successful and unsuccessful business. However, there is also the need to balance personal experience with data and to explore carefully any significant discrepancies between the two before taking that final decision.   

Customer surveys are therefore an important tool in ensuring that both data and personal experience are available to support the decision-making process.

Where are the best opportunities?

Where are the best opportunities for your business- under your nose?
Whilst techniques such as telemarketing, emailers, cold calling can be effective for some businesses.  For many, including my own, the best opportunities are much nearer to home.
It is very easy to forget about customers who have bought from you in the past and yet they have the perfect profile -  So look through your database of customers, identify those which have you not spoken to in the last few months, give them a call.  You never know what opportunities you may uncover.

Saying no to new business!

With the UK economy showing no real signs of recovery, for many businesses it is a question of grabbing any new business opportunity in sight, just to keep one's head above water.   However this can be a very dangerous strategy and one that can potentially lead to unhappy customers and the downfall of the business.  


In my early years in business (fifteen years ago) I made the mistake of taking on a project where there was clearly a mismatch between mine and the client's expectations of what we could deliver.  I was so keen for the business that I still took the project on, despite some misgivings.  The project took far longer than anticipated and required significant additional resource, the cost of which I had to bear.  However the client was never fully satisfied with the deliverable and we both walked away from the deal feeling hard done by.


This was however a salutary lesson for me and after a few more years experience in business I began to get a better feel for any potential new project and in particular of the people relationships,  client expectations and our business's ability to meet these and add value.


If you have concerns about any of these factors then it is vital that you explore them in more detail and only proceed with the project if you have satisfied your mind against each.  Often it may just be 'gut feel' that there is something not quite right -  my recommendation would be - go with your gut!

Time for Rethink

I had the opportunity this week to meet up for a chat with someone in a similar line of business to mine. He is just building his business and it was refreshing to hear his plans and to learn more about his business model which was very different from that of 4sight.

These kinds of meetings always set me thinking and I now have developed my own new ideas for 4sight, stimulated by his different approach.

It can often take a meeting such as this to shake up your own thinking and take you down new,exciting paths.

It would have been easy to avoid this meeting but I would have been the one missing out.

It is vital to keep an open mind - new business ideas can come from the most unexpected areas.

Tailoring the Message

The arrival of Google+ on the scene has created yet another 'opportunity' for businesses using on-line networking as part of their business marketing strategy.

Maintaining a presence on the various channels whether it be Facebook, Linkedin, Google+, Twitter or some of the smaller more focused networks is becoming a significant overhead for businesses. It is likely that some will fall by the wayside over time and others will become more relevant to businesses, but what should the strategy be until this happens.

In my view companies cannot afford to miss out on the opportunities presented by these channels however it is important that each is used in the most appropriate way with messages being tailored to the medium. It is becoming increasingly frustrating to come across the same material presented as a blog, tweet, status update across different media. My reaction is to ignore or even block these messages.

Your time will be well spent in tailoring your message to the audience you are addressing. Your comments, blogs tweets etc will be better received and your on-line reputation will grow and along with it your business.

Maintaining your Business in Difficult Times

Whilst the UK economy may have avoided a 'double-dip' according to the economists, trading is still very difficult for companies providing a range of services from marketing to training and HR. Sadly, some good companies I know are not able to survive the unwillingness of prospects to commit and have decided to call it a day. Others continue to look for new opportunities but at the same time are relying on their core customer base for survival.

If things are difficult for your core customers, who are they most likely to want to work with to get through this period? Suppliers that they know and trust. This may mean that you need to more flexible and creative in your pricing structures but by working together we can all find a way through and all be around to benefit from the good times, around the corner.

Customer Surveys for new business

B2Group’s business to business tracking study SME Voice has published interesting results at http://bit.ly/gjdXCc .

Web advertising, on-line networking, business networking events and outbound email are the promotional tools most likely to be used in the future by the SME respondents. Customer Surveys do not appear in the list (except possibly under the heading ‘none of the above’) yet we believe that they can play an important role in helping to develop new revenue from existing customers.

For example, asking the question ‘what other products would you like to buy from us?’ is a great way of identifying which new products or services you could be offering.

Balancing Continuity and Innovation in Annual Surveys

Have just completed the drafting of the 4th Annual Customer Survey for a client. Whilst we have kept much of the survey content consistent year to year to allow for comparisons we have also moved the survey forward in different areas.

This year we have decided to ask more questions about the business environment in which the respondents are operating so that my client can understand better the pressures on customers and respond accordingly.

Getting the balance right between continuity and innovation in the survey is also important for maintaining the interest of respondents, to which must be added the need to ensure that the survey does not become long and tedious to complete.

New Email Campaign

Just finalising the copy for a new emailer campaign to promote 4sight surveys.

A good friend has come up with a great summary of what a customer survey can do for a business:

• Assess: why customers buy from them
• Reveal: how they can better meet and exceed customer expectations
• Maximise: the value of their relationships

We will build on this for our next campaign!

Welcome to 2011!

Many businesses are unsure what 2011 will bring. Has an upturn started already? How fast will the economy recover? What are the chances of a double-dip?

Whilst of course we have to take account of the economic environment in our planning, to what extent should it really be impacting what we do on a daily basis:

Whatever the situation, all businesses still need to focus marketing on the fundamentals:

• Ensure they understand and meet the needs of customers
• Have on-going plans for finding new customer opportunities
• Have in place programmes to maintain regular contact with customers
• Know who their competitors are and how they compare
• Be vigilant in monitoring changes in the market
• Retain the flexibility to respond to change and seize new opportunities

The economic environment may impact exactly how you do this but ignore any of them at your peril.