Round Table Discussion: Customer Champions, chaired by Hugh Burkitt 

The Marketing Society in partnership with dunnhumby
Round Table Discussion chaired by Hugh Burkitt
6 June, Soho Hotel 

Attendees
Fiona McAnena - PepsiCo International
Jeremy Caplin - dunnhumby
Sylvie Barr - Grohe
Nick Smith - Accenture Marketing Services
Richard Tolley - Dairy Crest
Martin Hayward - dunnhumby
Steward Walker - Mini UK

Background

In many companies, while marketing’s role is to create demand, the rest of the company exists to supply. While this continues to exist, making companies’ customer centric will remain difficult. It would be valuable to have examples of best practice.

The delegates were then asked to score their own organization out of 10 for customer centricity. Overall these were quite low ranging from 4 -7 out of 10. While there are often the best intentions expressed customers often get pushed down the agenda in favour of achieving the company’s sales and financial targets.

The theme that emerges is that customers are a cost rather than a benefit to the business and therein lies the flaw. Pleasing customers seems to fine as long as it does not get in the way of profit. It works when it does not collide with the short term targets of the business. Customer centricity is a long term strategy and in a short term focused business environment it remains a challenge to be addressed.

The measurement techniques also favour the short term. We do not have long term metrics so the drive to the short term is relentless.

Companies with well known brands tend to believe in the longer term because they have evidence of the benefit and a track record. Smaller companies do not always have this history which makes it harder for them.

In fact even many Professional service businesses do not even talk about clients, they talk about propositions and how to sell these but not how to better deliver against customers’ needs.

Too many companies remain very production led and while the journey of putting the customer at the heart of the business has started it is still not
optimized.

Key Challenges

Creating a core purpose with which the total company can engage.

Tesco’s Core Purpose is “To create value for customers to gain their life-time loyalty”

Dunnhumby has completed an analysis of companies’ Mission and Values. In many the customer does feature but not with Financial services. This is a good sign but does it translate into real company behaviour?  Many companies are working on it but it is hard to achieve which is probably why it does not always stick.

Maybe we should replace the Business Plan with the Customer Plan to federate the business as does Tesco?

The importance of getting the right metrics in place

What are the right measures? Mostly we in marketing tend to focus on proving what we do, but we need broader business measures that the whole company can focus on. Marketers need to shift from measuring what marketing is doing to what the business values.

Metrics need to be rolled up for the whole company. What does success look like? We need a higher order level of success. The only metrics shared are the financial ones. There is a need to measure what customers’ value.

Working closely with the Financial team is really critical to agree how business performance will be measured for the longer term.  . A standard range of measures need to be established. These need to endure and provide a legacy. Marketing should build trust in their capabilities by proving success

Once customer measures are defined and become embedded then it is more straightforward to get the business to follow.

Marketers should move from “Managing the message” to “Activating the agenda”

Marketers should become leaders of the practice area of marketing and surrender their role to the whole organization. Give up the brand, the stewardship of the communications etc, because while there is a marketing department doing this, everyone else defers this to them and does not make it their responsibility.

Marketers should bring the external perspective to an organization, help the company to define its purpose, use language which everyone understands, not jargon, orchestrate the various views of the company, engage everyone in the process.

Define Customer Centricity for your organization

What does Customer Centricity really mean? Defining customer segments and that each of these segments value - NOT necessarily what they want.

The Ryanair example - consistent about delivering its benefit of cheap flights with a no-frill service.

Best Practice Examples

Get Customers and Customer facing staff to define what a company does and not have the marketing department do this. British Gas

Conduct a Strategic Category Vision with a future perspective and share this with the industry and all personnel to encourage them to consider the impact for their own area. Follow this up with KPI’s and test in employee surveys. Dairy Crest

When there is a crisis the company’s customer centricity becomes very evident eg.s
Rely Tampon product recall in the US was handled really efficiently whereas Cadbury had clear data about the salmonella contamination but did not react quickly and take appropriate action. Also T5 was a disaster for BA.

Providing excellent service at milk&more.co.uk which has increased spend by 50% and improved retention.

Gestures do matter and even small actions can make a real difference to the customer experience.

o Employee stopping to help a Mini driver who had broken down.

o Waitrose direct calling to check an order 30 minutes after it had been placed.

o Universe.com engaging customers in an enjoyable experience

Other thoughts

Similarities exist across industries - reputation marketing is common. What you stand for really matters.

Insight what does it really mean? Is very important and often comes from inside the business. Need to use it better it or drop it! Do not confuse it with market research.

In Summary

General agreement with Manifesto statement regarding Customer Champions.  Question - Should brand be replaced by business or customer experiences delivered by the business e.g

…ensuring that brand promises become efficient and compelling total consumer experiences delivered by the business

Visions and Values
Measurement
Value
Owning up to mistakes
Small gestures matters
Understanding macro-trends
Not managing a message - activating an agenda

Bringing it to life? How ruthless will we be in saluting and recognizing the best customer champions and potentially criticizing poor practitioners??