Becoming a great at selling – or anything else for that matter – is about making adjustments. In order to make an adjustment you need feedback – something you see, hear or feel that informs your ability to adjust. Take Baseball for example. When I watch my son hit he receives instant feedback from every swing of the bat. He usually crushes the ball and that suggests that no adjustment is needed. If he tops the ball or pops it up it is probably an issue with timing. If he peels the ball to the right, he probably opened his front shoulder too early. If he squares the ball up but doesn’t drive it he probably failed to use his legs. He also has 5 private coaches who coach him or, in other words, provide feedback.
That brings us back to selling. Salespeople need feedback too.
http://customerthink.com/how-getting-feedback-and-making-adjustments-are-the-keys-to-sales-improvement/
So you’re about to launch a new product on your shelves. There’s a clear market for it, it’s the right price and customers really liked it during the research phase.
Then you launch it and it fails to sell. So what went wrong? Are the customers to blame?
Well, no. It turns out we’re actually not very good at knowing what drives our own behaviour and what we say in focus groups is not always a reliable predictor of what we’ll end up doing in the real world.
But there is hope. A relatively new field of research called behavioural economics has been making huge progress in understanding what drives our behaviour.
https://www.retail-week.com/retail-voice/understanding-the-forces-that-shape-consumer-behaviour/7030517.article?authent=1/
Back in 2015, I wrote a post titled Hey! You Got Your Metrics in My Journey Map! In it, I advocated for mappers to add data to their journey maps. I wrote that…
…mapping tools had to evolve because people failed to see the value in mapping with the then-current approaches; in addition, maps were not proving to be that catalyst for change that they are designed to be. In order to be that catalyst, maps have to be actionable. And the only way they can be actionable is if you have some data to support or to drive that action. Executives love data and metrics, right? Data-driven decisions are all the rage, and rightly so.
What kind of data? There’s no shortage of data, right?! Obviously, the data needs to be related to the journey you’re mapping, but here are some examples of the types of data you can add to the map.
http://customerthink.com/why-do-i-need-data-in-my-journey-maps/
Marketing in the B2B world is always tough. Let's face it, the topics can be a bit dry, at least compared to the consumer segment.
So with the year coming to a close, it's a good idea to think about new approaches. What are customers looking for? What will resonate?
To get some answers to these questions, I reached out to various marketing experts. Here's what they had to say:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomtaulli/2018/12/01/b2b-marketing-strategies-for-the-new-year/
While over three quarters (78%) of brands now measure customer satisfaction, most admit to failing to get real business insight from listening to the Voice of the Customer (VoC). That’s according to new research conducted for Eptica, which found that less than a quarter (24%) of brands feel that existing measurements such as NPS, CSAT and CES give them the deep insight they need to transform their business, and the experience they provide to customers.
The research found that despite brands analysing the growing number of interactions they have with their customers, they struggle to get real value from them.
https://contact-centres.com/brands-failing-to-listen-to-voice-of-the-customer/
Consider the rise of customer success. Because 74 percent of consumers feel contacting customer service is a frustrating experience, few speak up until they’ve had a truly bad time. The trouble is, just one negative experience is all it takes to send more than half of consumers packing for a competitor.
That’s why, instead of waiting for customers to call in, customer success managers monitor usage data like average session duration and login frequency. Although customers might hesitate to reach out about a page that won’t load, constant refreshing can signal that they’re struggling. Among U.S. adults, 87 percent want companies to proactively contact them before small issues turn into serious trouble.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/322362/
https://www.business2community.com/ecommerce/how-b2b-ecommerce-marketers-can-use-the-voice-of-the-consumer-to-boost-sales-02133114/
A few years back, it seemed forecasters everywhere were predicting the demise of the call center as self-serve digital channels accelerated up the steep curve of early customer adoption. More recently, with the advent of automation in the form of Intelligent Virtual Assistants, natural language processing and other artificial intelligence-based tools, the extinction of the call center was revisited.
It is true that digital interactions are increasing. According to this 2018 McKinsey research, 48% of all customer care interactions will be digital by 2020.1 But another study states that a majority of consumers ranked speaking with a human on the phone as their preferred communication channel with a business.2 When you peel back the onion, it’s clear that digital channels and call centers need to work in concert to optimize customer engagement.
http://customerthink.com/the-value-of-cross-channel-voice-of-the-customer/
Customer experience (CX) professionals have it so easy today. In the past we relied on surveys as our primary source of customer insights. Now with so many options for connecting with customers, CX professionals have it made!
But can so many options actually make it more difficult? How do you keep track of the options? How do you determine which are best for you? How do you pull everything together into one cohesive voice?
On second thought, maybe today’s CX professionals have it harder than I thought.
https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=128311/
In today's highly commoditised age where there is often little differentiation when it comes to competitive products and offerings, the biggest factor that prompts customers to patronise one brand over the other is often customer engagement. There are several studies that show the impact of customer experience on both customer acquisition and retention.
A study conducted by Bain & Company, in association with professors from the Harvard Business School, found just a 5% increase in customer retention rates increased profit by 25% to 95%. Therefore, customer experience is an important influencer of an organisation's profitability. Organisations are already starting to realize this. A recent Frost & Sullivan study found that about 80% of organisations in Asia-Pacific recognised customer lifetime value as the most significant business benefit delivered by customer experience.
https://www.itweb.co.za/content/Pero3MZgRyEqQb6m/
