Description
Customer Relations
Skill #6: Develop new ideas that solve customer problems.
Skill #7: Cultivate your customers and their employees on every level of the organization.
Dwight
knows that building relationships with customers is important but EC is
global now and that personal connection seems to be shrinking. One
customer, in particular, is on his mind. The Sunny Dale Heath Center.
One of
EC’s
first
clients, Sunny Dale Health Center came to Dwight and Ike to try to
create a wheelchair that would fit the small hallways of the old
Victorian Home they used for their center. It was a great project and
the two owners really enjoyed getting to know them all, even the
orderlies that pushed the patients. In fact, they were really helpful
because they explained some of the major problems, they had with manual
wheelchairs. Ideas that led to the unique design of EC’s manual chairs.
To this day Dwight and Ike stop by the center once a month on their way
to work to see how everything is going. Moreover, it is part of the
mission of the company to put their customer’s needs first. How can they
do that if they do not see them? So, the problem is how can we create this same approach with our global and national clients who do not live next door? Dwight also knows that this issue goes hand in glove with customer service. In fact, he recently read in an article from Byteag
ai
n,
a major e-commerce consulting firm, that e-commerce is one of the
biggest believers in the idea that customer service is paramount to
developing and keeping customers. These two facts amazed him:
Over 50% of American consumers say they’ve scrapped a planned purchase or transaction
due to bad service and
80% of businesses believe that they’re providing “superior†customer service
, only 8% of consumers feel the same. There’s obviously a disconnect here.
Dwight,
realizing that Inge is going to need a new manager for customer service
has decided that he would like to see how you would tackle creating a
plan to cultivate EC’s long-distance customers so that EC can better
evaluate their problems. Dwight also would like to see techniques for
identifying and solving their problems as well. Using the articles in
this week’s course
material and research
create an executive summary (of a virtual report)
that addresses the following:
Week 5: Customer-driven Innovation
Managing Customers – the Key to Competitive Advantage
New Ideas and Design Thinking
Ethnography, Mapping Tools, and Competitive Edge
Cultivating Relationships
References
Lesson 1 of 4
New Ideas and Design Thinking
Remember my mantra: distinct… or extinct.
Tom Peters
Skill #6: Develop new ideas that solve customer problems.
No matter the size or type of organization, a key job of any manager is maintaining
nancial
sustainability. One strategy that has been used by leaders to help create sustainability for an
organization is known as competitive edge or competitive advantage. This concept is
predicated upon the notion that if a business creates value in producing a good or service that
is highly desirable to its customers, then the business will be set apart from others in the
same industry bringing more business than others in the same
eld. This notion has reigned
supreme and is still relevant today.
However, it has become noticeable to many leaders and business educators that technology
and its disruptive nature has in many ways leveled the playing
elds of many businesses.
Traditional methods of creating competitive edge, speed of production and delivery, direct
access to materials, market availability, etc. have lost their uniqueness to customers leaving
price an area where competition remains. So how does a leader separate his or her company
from competitors? Innovation is the answer and not just product innovation. Coming up with
the next generation of Apple product keeps customers coming back but can every company
always have the new “thing†that will keep or increase their customer base? Not realistically
but a manager survey again tells us that “Developing new ideas to solve customer’s
problems†is a key skill to have in this social media world (Moss, 2018). Many products and
services are sold today based on customer ratings and reviews. To get the
fth star or the
Triple A rating on Angie’s list requires that you more than exceed the customer’s needs.
Design Thinking
Design Thinking De ned
–
According to WhatIs.Com, “Design thinking is an iterative approach to problem solving that
intentionally seeks out people with di erent perspectives, knowledge, skills and experience and
has them work together to create a practical solution for a real-world problem.”
There are Five Steps in Design Thinking:
1. Empathize
2. De ne
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Test
Design Thinking Explained
MIT Management provides an excellent explanation of Design Thinking. They talk about the
importance of:
1. Understanding the problem
2. Involving Users
3. Developing Solutions
4. Prototyping
5. Testing
–
How do these steps relate to those that you learned about in the Design Thinking De ned Tab?
Design Thinking Process
–
Stanford created a Design Thinking Process document that provides more explanation for each
of the steps in design thinking. It provides the What, Why, and How for each step and also
provides a transition phase between each step. You can download the document here.
Lesson 2 of 4
Ethnography, Mapping Tools, and Competitive Edge
There is only one boss. The customer. And he can re
everybody in the company from the chairman on down,
simply by spending his money somewhere else.
Sam Walton
Ethnography
WH AT I S E T H N O GR A PH Y R E SE A R C H ?
WH E N A N D H O W T O USE E T H N O GR A P…
According to the National Park Service’s Ethnographic Research Center, “Ethnography is the
study of people in their own environment through the use of methods such as participant
observation and face-to-face interviewing.”
Read this article to learn more about the following (click titles on the right column within the
article):
1. What is ethnographic research?
2. Why is ethnographic research conducted?
3. How is it di erent from other social science research?
4. Who uses ethnographic research?
WH AT I S E T H N O GR A PH Y R E SE A R C H ?
WH E N A N D H O W T O USE E T H N O GR A P…
According to Spotless, “Ethnography can help investigate very complicated or critical design
challenges. A good researcher is essential when observing and/or interacting with target
audiences in their real-life environment.”
Read through the rest of this article to
nd out more about:
1. What is ethnographic research?
2. Methods associated with ethnography
3. When to use ethnography
4. Advantages of ethnography
5. Disadvantages of ethnography
6. Risks associated with ethnography
What were the similarities and di erences in these two articles in
terms of Ethnography and its uses? How can this be bene cial
when looking at customers and their habits? What other ways can
businesses use ethnography to help with competitive advantage?
Customer Mapping
According to MindTools, “Customer journey mapping helps you to map out the ways your
customers experience your organization.” Customer journey mapping is a way for an
organization to record and analyze the interactions that they have with their customers from
the time that they
rst interact with them through the the post-sale follow-up as a way to
improve retention. There are eight steps in customer journey mapping:
1
De ne your objectives
2
Gather information
3
Identify your customer “touchpoints”
4
Outline the key stages of your customer experience
5
Start mapping
6
Validate your results
7
Analyze your map
8
Treat your map as a living document
Read through the article for more detailed information on each of these eight steps. Each step
has its own section in the article that goes through all of the di erent points to keep in mind
for that step. Some steps also have sub-steps.
Customer Journey Maps
Harvard Business Review developed an article about improving the customer experience
through the use of customer journey maps. You can view that article here.
Innovation
Going back to what we covered in the last module, innovation and creativity are still at the
forefront of the success of the 21st century leader, so while these tools are important to learn
more about the customer and his or her needs, preferences, and habits, creativity and
innovation are what will be needed in order to satisfy those needs, preferences and habits.
Read the Creativity and Innovation article to learn more about this concept.
Lesson 3 of 4
Cultivating Relationships
Skill #7: Cultivate your customers and their employees on every level of the
organization.
Isn’t cultivating customer relationships a duh point you ask? Of course, you have to get along
with your customers. No that is one of the biggest mistakes a manager can make. All the new
ideas in the world will not get you to keep your customers if you cannot get their attention.
Cultivating customers means getting to know their business and the problems they face.
Intimate contact with the customer and/or their employees is the only way to collect this
information. Trust raises its ugly head again in our skill set. How does a manager build the
kind of relationships with their customers that will a ord them the opportunity?
Five Ways to Build Customer Relationships
–
According to Entrepreneur.Com, “To create customer relationships, and keep them strong, you
must do all you can to engage customers.” They provide a list of ve ways that you can build
relationships with customers to ensure they return:
1. Communicate
2. Exceed expectations
3. Ask for feedback
4. Connect
5. Show appreciation
Make sure to read the entire article to gain more detailed and speci c information about these
ve ways to build relationships with customers.
Managing Customer Relationships
–
According to Business.gov.au, there are three main areas important in managing customer
relationships:
1. Build customer relationships
2. Maintain strong customer relationships
3. Measure customer relationships
According to the article, each of these three main areas has several subpoints that are
important to read about as well, as these are very general topic areas. Make sure to read the
entire article to capture the important details.
How to Build Personal Relationships With Customers: CRM
–
According to Inc.com, “Companies in all industries and of all sizes understand that customers
are perhaps their most valuable assets. Improving the overall customer experience is vital for
continued success and survival, and always has been.” They provide ve main ways to build
personal relationships with customers:
1. Communication
2. Rewards
3. Enhanced customer services
4. Start small and emphasize human touch
5. Be exible
There are many more details to each of these ve points, so make sure that you read the entire
article to capture all of the important speci cs. As you are reading, make sure that you are
noting the similarities and di erences in the articles.
Six Strategies for Building Relationships to Succeed in Business
–
According to Inc.com, building a good product is not enough. It is also important to have
strong interpersonal skills to have a successful business. Here are six ways to step up your
relationship results:
1. Build new relationships by diversifying your networks
2. Give as much as you expect to get from every relationship
3. Selectively spend quality time on key relationships
4. Keep your focus on the local social and business landscape
5. Apply your time, brand, and resources to key social issues
6. Prune, renew, and reshape your networks frequently
Make sure to read the entire article to understand the context of these six concepts. Although
these can apply to relationships in general, how can they relate to the other articles and what
they said about customer relationships speci cally? What about leader/employee relationships
as a leader for the 21st century?
Considerations for Building Strong International Relationships
According to TradeReady, strong relationships are especially important in international
business. They provided ve considerations for building strong international relationships:
1. Focus on building credibility with global business partners
2. Set the right expectations so you can always follow-through
3. Listen to your global customers and adapt your o erings accordingly
4. Share any knowledge that will help your partnerships succeed
5. It comes down to trust for building long-term international business relationships
–
Make sure to read the entire article for more context and depth on these ve considerations.
Although this is about international relationships, how do these concepts relate to those in the
other articles about customer relationships? What is similar and what is di erent?
Lesson 4 of 4
References
1
An introduction to design thinking process guide. (n.d.) Institute of Design at
Stanford. https://dschoolold.stanford.edu/sandbox/groups/designresources/wiki/36873/attachments/74b3
d/ModeGuideBOOTCAMP2010L.pdf
2
Agbor, E. (2008). Creativity and innovation: The leadership dynamics.
https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jsl/vol1iss1/JSL_Vol1iss1_Agbo
r.pdf
3
Anonymous. (2020) How to manage customer relationships.
https://www.business.gov.au/people/customers/how-to-manage-customerrelationships
4
Dubois, L. (2010). How to build personal relationships with customers.
https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/how-to-build-personal-relationshipswith-customers.html
5
Kappel, M. (2017) 5 ways to build killer relationships with customers.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282364
6
Linke, R. (2017). Design thinking, explained. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideasmade-to-matter/design-thinking-explained
7
Logan, B. (n.d.) When and how to use ethnographic research.
8
Louei, A. (2015). 5 considerations for building strong international business
relationships. http://www.tradeready.ca/2015/trade-takeaways/5-considerations-
building-strong-international-business-relationships/
9
Mind Tools Content Team. (n.d.). Customer journey mapping: Seeing your
business through your customers’ eyes.
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_85.htm
10
Richardson, A. (2010). Using customer journey maps to improve customer
experience. http://www.iimagineservicedesign.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/07/Experience-Maps-Using-Customer-Journey-Maps-toImprove-Customer-Experience.pdf
11
What is ethnographic research? (2020). Park Ethnography Program.
https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/ERCb.htm
12
Zilling, M. (2018). 6 strategies for building the relationships you need to succeed
in business. https://www.inc.com/martin-zwilling/6-strategies-for-buildingrelationships-you-need-to-succeed-in-business.html
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