Customer World

At the Gartner CRM 2010 Summit, there were some interesting trends that were discussed. Here is what I thought were some pretty compelling points for marketers and companies to take note of :

• Relationships will no longer be company-controlled, but more company-guided – "Customers tell us which direction to take, we’re just going to guide it... more and more you’re going to give the customer the impression that they’re on their own, doing it themselves..."
• Rather than focusing entirely on employee empowerment we’ll be empowering the customer – "They’re going to write their reviews they may even select the price that they are willing to pay – Procter and Gamble is a great example. You don’t like the toothpaste at this price point, what price point would you like it at? Perhaps you don’t like the size..."
• Metrics are changing – Rather than how many times you answered the phone, how many orders you took, what were your gross margins, it will move to what was the experience.
• Corporate data and information will be more accessible - "We’re going to have to give customers more and more access to what used to be the ‘private’ information. No you’re not going to give out price sheets or privacy information, but more and more of your corporate data is going to be transparent to the customer. They are going to know why you ran a test or waited six months to tell the general public."
• The mode of ‘we tell you’ communications is changing to participation – "If you find your firm does not foster, encourage and manage participation with customers you’ll probably be out of business."
• Customer insight is going to drive a lot of what we do.