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To be meaningful, our understanding of our markets has to be detailed and specific. We must see those who use our products and services not simply as gapping-jaw consumers, but as people — as customers and clients. Companies must recognize that nothing is more important than the development of customer and client loyalty. No single transaction is as important as repeat business and positive word of mouth. This is just as true on a day-to-day basis as it is over the long term. (Market Share) |
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A mutually rewarding, long-term relationship is the goal. This is the key to customer satisfaction excellence. It is the only way to develop customer loyalty. To do this, we need to see them individually, not as part of some faceless, boundless whole. The market is in fact, not an ocean, it is a mosaic. |
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Just picture it. A grand wall or a broad walkway, inlaid from edge to edge with tiny, tight fitting, multi-coloured stones. Each stone, though maybe similar to another, is indeed unique. Likewise, every customer in the market is unique. The challenge is to find out exactly how they are unique and how your company can uniquely satisfy them. This high-resolution focus on individual customers is what companies need to succeed in the information age, the knowledge economy, and the new era of the web-enabled customer. Those who can customize their products and services to perfectly match what their customers are looking for, will win market share and achieve sustained growth. (Product Customization) |
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This is because mass markets no longer exist. The oceans have dried up. What large markets still do exist are being fragmented as we speak, by a variety of factors, including; competitive innovation, technological advancement, macroeconomic evolution, globalization and geopolitical change. |
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To succeed in the new millennium, companies must abandon the outdated and misguided mass-market approach of the industrial era. This old way sought to mass-produce products and services with generic appeal, and then push them on faceless consumers using a variety of market driven strategies. What is needed instead is a quality-driven strategy. |
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The new way requires low volume production of customized products and services for micro-market saturation. The idea is no longer to keep things simple enough to supervise, but rather to raise the bar of complexity high enough to thwart potential competitors. Accordingly, organizational agility and learning have become a key factor in achieving and keeping competitive advantage. (Flexible Production Systems) No pushing is required. On the contrary, companies must use their detailed understanding of their customers to pull wining products and services out of their workforce. This is how companies can put market fragmentation to work for them, instead of against them. |
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By actively and purposefully fragmenting the market place, companies do not have to chase customers — they corner them. Competitors are left to follow the leader. To engage in proactive market fragmentation, companies must develop an understanding of commercial activity that is adequate for these increasingly complicated times. |
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The old understanding saw business as a two-way, linear flow between customers and suppliers. Products and services flowed in one direction towards buyers, and money flowed in the other direction, back towards suppliers. This simplistic view of business fails to provide companies with an understanding that can serve them in meaningful ways. Therefore, it must be abandoned. |
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The new way to look at business is to see it as a never-ending cycle. It all begins with a customer focus. Without this, failure is certain. This focus is used to guide the company’s actions through design, production and delivery. At this point payment occurs. But this is not the end of the cycle. After the sale, companies must support their customers, with even more products and services, so that nothing gets in the way of the customer’s full satisfaction and delight. After-market add-ons designed to complement the customer’s original purchase can go a long way to cementing customer loyalty and enhancing the reputation of your company. |
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But more sales is not where it ends either. Companies must evaluate how satisfied their customers really are with their products and services. They must understand exactly how their products and services have been used, and how they could be made even more useful. |
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This refined understanding brings us back to the beginning of the cycle, and provides us with an even sharper customer focus. (The Continuous Improvement Cycle) The result is customer loyalty. And when these loyal customers tell others about your company’s excellent products and services, the result is increased market share and a greater share of your customer’s business - a business which is beyond the reach of your simpler competitors. |
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