How value can be created Analysis and planning: creating value through insight, knowledge and effective planning

Analysis and planning: creating value through insight, knowledge and effective planning

Value is initially created by:

• understanding which customers you want to manage;

• understanding how much you can afford to spend in acquiring and retaining them;

• putting the appropriate plans in place to acquire the customers that will add value over time;

• retaining those who are worth retaining;

• developing those with potential, efficiently.

Planning is also used to match resources to gross value, so that time spent on attracting, retaining or trying to develop customers is relative to likely value.

Value is often destroyed through

• a lack of customer knowledge and insight;

• absent (or poor) data quality and/or data analysis;

• a mismatch of costs to revenues;

• missing or ineffective planning.

Proposition: creating value through a proposition that helps you find, keep and develop those customers you want to manage

Value is created:

• when you are in a position to develop a proposition to attract similar customers, retain them and develop their value;

• when your proposition development involves all your supply chain providers (to ensure that your proposition can actually be delivered);

• when you communicate your proposition to staff who actually manage customers and to their immediate managers, so that they manage customers in a way that is consistent with the proposition;

• when you support the delivery of the proposition with incentives, rewards, competency development, process standards, measures, IT content and accessibility.

Value is often destroyed through:

• poor targeting or disparate incentive measures that encourage poor quality lead generation;

• propositions that are poorly defined or articulated or go no further than a set of brand values;

• propositions aimed at low value customer groups (a problem compounded from poor analysis and planning);

• poor communication of the proposition to the people delivering the proposition (employees and partners) and the people experiencing it (customers).

People and organization: creating value through effective people and partners

Value is created when:

• you have clear visible leadership for CM;

• internal communication works smoothly, especially between customer-facing staff and between them and the rest of the organization;

• you have slick decision-making structures and the right competencies;

• motivation and supplier management are employed as key enablers of good customer management;

• ability to execute is made practical through an appropriate strategy and governance system for business transformation.

Value is destroyed:

• when there is no clear board level leadership and commitment to CM;

• when the organization stifles quick decision making relating to CM;

• where objectives are misaligned with the goals of the organization;

• when incompetent people or ineffective systems influence the customer experience;

• when employees are not motivated and rewarded or when suppliers are badly managed;

• when ability to execute is undermined by inappropriate culture or poor governance of business transformation programmes.

Processes: creating value by being customer centric

Value is created when all customer management processes are:

• defined with the customer proposition in mind;

• based on an in-depth understanding of how they will affect customers.

Value is destroyed when processes:

• confront or conflict with good customer management;

• are set in stone and cannot be changed.

Information and technology (including data): creating value through efficiency, service and intelligence

Value is created when:

• IT applications support or enable new processes;

• customer and transactional data is acquired and managed professionally;

• customer and transactional data is made available to customers, partners and employees where and when it is required;

• integration of systems reflects or enables appropriate integration of the business.

Value is destroyed where:

• data of poor quality is acquired;

• data is stored with no specific purpose;

• data is poorly maintained;

• contact permissions are not stored;

• systems are not available at key customer contact points;

• fragmentation of systems limits CM capabilities;

• customer access is not provided.

Measurement: creating value through understanding of performance

Value is created when:

• what gets measured gets done!

• the relationship between resource, activities and performance is understood, which enables CM resources to be managed effectively.

Value is destroyed if:

• effectiveness and efficiency are not measured and then action taken;

• the organization does not learn from its activities, successes and failures.

Customer experience: creating value through understanding the customer experience

Value is created when there is an understanding of how:

• satisfied and committed the customer is;

• the customer experiences the different aspects of the proposition, which is essential for monitoring whether your proposition is being received as it has been designed to be;

• you recognize that the customer experience is dependent on being able to understand and respond in a timely and appropriate manner when customer needs change.

Value is destroyed when:

• poor customer experiences or your proposition are not known about or are ignored;

• you focus on customer satisfaction and not on customer commitment;

• you do not benchmark the experience of your customers against that provided by competitors and best of breed suppliers in other markets.

Customer management activities: creating value through excellent acquisition, retention, development and recovery activities

Value is created when:

• the plans are put into action, targeting the right customers efficiently;

• you make the most of all enquiries received and responses to outbound contacts;

• you ensure new customers understand, use and enjoy your product;

• new customers are retained and developed;

• you service customers well;

• you manage well customers who are dissatisfied;

• customers can easily configure what your company offers to meet their needs.

All of this can be done through a variety of channels, which are appropriate both to the customer and your business.

Value is destroyed:

• simply through inactivity;

• when your CM activities are not aligned with your CM plan (maybe because the plan did not exist or was poorly communicated);

• when your CM processes leak value through poor control and inefficiency (eg enquiries wasted);

• if your customers leave without being asked why;

• if your customers become inactive and are not stimulated back into action;

• when you stop focusing on customer service excellence;

• when customer dissatisfaction is handled badly.