EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

this you need transparency and integration across your value chain so you know how your processes , systems and behaviours are contributing to customer service levels , both positively and negatively ?

First ask yourself the difficult questions on how you ’ re managing customer relations , and the most fundamental is : “ Do they feel like a valued customer , and how do we know ?” Is your business prepared to act on their feedback to improve customer relations : many are surprisingly unwilling to change !

You really need to understand your customer priorities to ensure you understand what they value : do you ask them ? We ’ re in a world of consistent change – are the priorities of your customers today the same or different to a year or two ago ?

Strong customer relationships are built on trust , and trust grows from actions – does your business consistently do what you say you will do ? Are your processes , systems and behaviours providing effective transparency , integration and insight on where you succeed and fail with delivering your promise ? If you don ’ t know where you are falling short , how will you ever improve things ?

Are you delivering excellent customer service today ? Probably not if you have not understood and aligned with your customers on how to best measure your performance to them ? For

Controlling costs is important for every business , and you need to understand not just what will drive internal efficiency , but also the impact of price and quality changes on your customer relationships .

Whether you are a retailer with many customers or a specialist business with just a few , you need to ask yourself if you understand both the impact of short-term variability in your service level on them and what your customers will need from you over the longer term . Are you willing to be open and honest about your capability over time to deliver this , and are you identifying and mitigating risks that would negatively impact the customer relationship ?

You also need to be clear on whether you want a partnership or a transactional relationship . Both can work , but many businesses kid themselves they have a close relationship with customers and then behave like the latter . If you want a close relationship with your customers , you need to ask yourself : “ At what level are you prepared to integrate knowledge and / or processes and / or systems to achieve a much better view of the customer throughout the business ?”

It ’ s a lot of questions , and probably a lot of work . Are you prepared to invest in your people , systems and data to improve customer experience ? You will need to be if you are serious about making an improvement across your business . x

WE ’ RE IN A WORLD OF CONSISTENT CHANGE – ARE THE PRIORITIES OF YOUR CUSTOMERS TODAY THE SAME OR DIFFERENT TO A YEAR OR TWO AGO ?

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