When Customers Rule!

Highlights of Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post

2013-08-06T09:47:00.001+05:30

(Photo courtesy CNNMoney) The news world is abuzz with news & conversations about the Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post. Here are a few points in the announcements that caught my attention: Bezos’ first communication to The Post'’s employees elaborated clearly where the priority lies – the customer. “The paper’s duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its

Customers Must Be Part of the Co-Creation Process

2012-12-07T09:04:00.001+05:30

The Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 226 executives at global enterprises to find out how smart companies innovate as part of a Oracle sponsored study about cultivating business-led innovation. One of the key findings of the study has been that “companies furthest along the innovation path utilize customer data and customer participation in their product and service improvements.

Who is your customer?

2012-02-08T22:17:00.001+05:30

Seth Godin rocks in packing wisdom in nugget sized blog posts. This one on customers stands out. If you can only build one statue, who is it going to be a statue of? http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/02/who-is-your-customer.html

25 Ways to Show Loyalty to Your Customers

2011-10-11T09:33:00.001+05:30

(Photo courtesy flickr | woodleywonderworks) A business that values its focus on its customers, regularly find ways to show their loyalty to their customers. It is a good practice for your & your customer facing teams to regularly find novel & memorable ways of doing this. Chip Bell & John Patterson have listed 25 ways of doing this in their Wired & Dangerous blog: Invite a

Suddenlink | Customer Experience Lessons

2011-05-24T18:00:00.000+05:30

(Photo courtesy flickr | Dex Encarta) In his post FastCompany | 7 Timeless Ways To Improve Customer Satisfaction, author Drew Neisser filters out the following success factors for customer (satisfaction or experience – call it what you may) initiatives based on Suddenlink’s success. In a struggling economy & in an industry with a questionable reputation for bad customer experiences,

Customer Experience Resolutions

2011-01-06T09:43:00.001+05:30

“Many companies have customer experience efforts underway and it’s time for them to embed customer experience management into the rhythm of their business — making it a fundamental part of how their organizations operate. Here are my 2011 resolutions for companies that have the courage and resolve to get to that next level.” - Bruce Temkin Read the full post here.

Reinforce The Positives

2010-10-25T21:44:00.001+05:30

(Photo courtesy Express Photorail) India is gaining in reputation for being the services & hospitality capital of the world. But, instances of bad experiences introduces doubt if the country & its professionals have what it takes to deliver on this promise. I came across a Vir Sanghvi article today that deals with the issue of service attitude (or the lack of it) amongst

Customer Needs As Innovation Source

2010-09-30T22:49:00.001+05:30

Starting with a specific customer need leads to an innovative new product for senior citizens in India. Also another example for a developing nation innovation finding a market in the developed world.http://s.hbr.org/9XtZY3

Amazon – World’s Most Customer Centric Company

2010-08-30T21:06:00.001+05:30

Want to know why the Kindle is more differentiated? What does Jeff Bezos think about his competition? What does the “world’s most customer centric company” mean to Amazon? Do you think Walmart has a chance against Amazon? Watch Jeff Bezos discuss all the above & more with Charlie Rose in this interview.

Tony Hsieh – Delivering Happiness

2010-06-08T17:35:00.002+05:30

With Tony Hsieh’s new book Delivering Happiness hitting the stores today, there is a buzz around about Zappos, Tony & his book. One of the first write-ups I have read about the book is a Fast Company blog post. The Happiness Culture: Zappos Isn't a Company -- It's a Mission Some quotes I like from the write-up are as follows: But today Zappos has an employee culture that

Volvo’s Quest For Customer Centricity

2010-05-19T18:43:00.001+05:30

Here is an interview of Volvo’s Stuart Lennie where he shares some of the thought processes behind Volvo’s quest to become customer centric. Customer Centricity: It's Not Easy, But Worth It In this interview with Stuart Lennie, President, Volvo IT, North America and VP, Volvo's Global Sales to Order Solutions Unit, we get the opportunity to learn from another company that is not just

Pay For Customer Service

2010-05-11T22:08:00.001+05:30

Airtel - a leading Indian cellular service provider has (supposedly) announced that it will start charging customers for service calls to its call centers. Though a nominal amount, the first reaction to the news has been indignation. Here below is my take on Airtel's move. (Image referenced from Livin’ On Tulsa Time) From being one of the most expensive countries to make cellular calls in (

Customer Service Champs

2010-02-25T22:03:00.001+05:30

I finally got up to reading the BusinessWeek 2010 listing of customer service champs. LLBean (retailer), USAA (financial services & insurance), Apple (cool gadgets), Four Seasons (hotels) & Publix (retailer) share the spoils at the top of the table. Some snippets that caught my fancy amongst the leading customer service champs are : Four Seasons Hotel – to beat the

Social Media Lessons From FedEx

2010-02-16T21:38:00.001+05:30

-------------------- Over the last few weeks, at least a dozen friends have commented on the lack of activity on this blog. This was inspiration enough. -------------------- I came across this interesting post by Matt Ceniceros about how FedEx is using social media to connect with its customers. In the post, Matt explains 5 lessons : Social media expedites your ability to

Amazon & Zappos on the same tree!

2009-07-23T08:42:00.011+05:30

Jeff Bezos mentions in his video that he "gets all weak kneed" with customer obsessed company. Well, I am a sucker too for businesses & business cultures that make customer the focus of their existence. And its great to hear that two of these exemplary companies - Amazon & Zappos - are coming together (link to the news).In announcing the coming together of these brands, Bezos mentions a

Tony Hseih on Zappos Culture

2009-05-06T22:55:00.002+05:30

From ITConversations :Tony Hsieh