What relationship should technology and data have with the customer relationship?

You hear it all the time. People will start the discussion on customer experience based on what the existing technology can do. The will say "Our technology can do this or can't do this," or "There's a new technology that allows for this," or  "Our relationship with our customers is changing based on technology."  I think this is the exact wrong way to go about defining the customer relationship with your business. Think first about what the ideal relationship would be. Period. Do not even think about the role technology will play as part of the ideal relationship. Once you have figured out the ideal relationship with the customer then think about how technology can get you as close as possible to that relationship. How many businesses would have been saved if they thought about their relationship with their customer this way instead of thinking about technology infrastructure first? This also plays into the discussion around big data.
The starting point is the ideal customer relationship and data can help you recognize how far from the ideal you are or trends.  If big data is helping determine the ideal relationship with the customer that's terrific, but the starting point should never be the data.

Say you're running a bank and you looked at life from the customer experience first, what sort of decisions would you make? I think USAA did a great job thinking this way with remote check deposit. The first question wasn't  "What does technology enable?" The first thought was that people want to be able to make deposits from home and how could USAA develop the technology to  allow their members to do that? And they quickly realized its not even that people want to make deposits at home, really they wanted to be able to make deposits wherever they were and so they enabled mobile deposits. They did this at a time when everyone else was thinking the technology would not allow for it.

 Of course the technology does not allow for it if you don't even think of the idea.

When should I use storytelling for marketing?

I have written before about the power of storytelling and metaphors. I think the ability to tell a good story is important to growth, but to others storytelling may be conceived as just the latest marketing fad.  Why would stories be more effective than just clearly displaying the price, features, and benefits?  If you are selling one product and it is very, very straight forward you probably have no need for stories  (but this is not a simple assessment, mortgages should be a commodity, but Quicken Loans is selling customer service too), you just need to say what it is and the price. But,what if there is more to your product? What if your product is different than any thing else on the market? What if the future state potential is difficult to describe using current paradigms? What if you're creating a customer service experience that is on a whole new level? What then?

The basics just won't cut it because there is nothing in the customer's mind to compare it to. In these instances, a metaphor or story can be the most powerful way and perhaps the only way to convey what you offer and get beyond just words to emotions. Zappos is a great example. Yes, they have exceptional customer service which now defines their brand, but before that was established how could they convey how amazing their service was?  How about a story about an eight hour customer service call?  Zappos offers "wow" customer service and the story about the call is a great way to show what "wow" means.

Another great example is Google's series of ads showing how their products are used in real life.  The commercial below called "Dear Sophie" is a great example. These ads are clearly stories about both life and Google products.  The ads also connect on an emotional level. They are essentially parables, telling a story so we can relate on how we could use the products.  This ad has been viewed almost 10 million times on YouTube which is pretty amazing for an advertisement.  

So when should you use storytelling?  When your offer is different than what else is out there...and really, I hope that applies to 99% of us.  

Why should you look forward to challenges?

I have never worked at a place that did not present challenges. I don't think there is any place you can work that does not present challenges. The reality is that it is the challenges that make you better, that make you stronger for the long run, that ultimately lead to success. If you show me someone who has not been challenged, I'll show you someone that is headed to failure. You don't make Marines by going to the spa and many great businesses rose from the ashes of previous unsuccessful attempts.

That being the case, don't you think that we should embrace challenges? Look forward to the  challenges? Realize that those challenges are how we're going to get better? And as a leader, it is important to challenge those who work for you and as a good teammate it's important to challenge those who you work with. If you go in with the mindset of embracing challenges how much happier will you be when they come then going in with the mindset of dreading them?

Is agile marketing just a better way to manage projects?

I certainly think that managing projects using agile practices is a better method than more traditional approaches, but if you just stop at the practices and never embrace the culture you are leaving the largest opportunity on the table.  

You can get things done more efficiently and improve quality by breaking your work into cross functional teams, working in sprints, having daily stand ups, using retrospectives to continually improve, and creating backlogs.  But, the culture shift of validated learning, team ownership and strategic contribution is what will really propel success.  You don't simply want a more efficient assembly line, you want an inspired team working on the right things. 

As with most of life, the changes with the highest reward are also the changes that are most difficult to make. It is much easier to implement stand ups and backlogs than to give ownership to a team and just as importantly have them take it willingly.  

Reason one for creating a meaningful vision: Align your goals with the customers' goals

My fundamental principle with regard to vision creation is, "Your vision should be the same for your company and for your customers."  At first glance, this statement probably seems a little strange.  The customers' vision for shopping may be something like being able to buy things at a good price and as easily as possible. Can Amazon have that same vision? No, but to achieve long term growth Amazon's vision must enable the customers' vision. It must define its success as the customer's success. The reason this is so critical is that successful customers make successful companies and unsuccessful customers will make unsuccessful companies.  When a company has something else as its vision, something else as its primary goal, the time will come when it will sacrifice customer success to accomplish that goal.  It will take shortcuts to save money, it will increase prices and take advantage of a customer's trust, or it will create hurdles to change behavior.   These actions may work temporarily to improve the organization's financial position, but ultimately those actions will fail because the customer is not satisfied.

Question: Do you have goals that could be in conflict with customer success? 

5 steps to fixing flaws that are holding you back

So you suspect that your company or organization might have an issue...maybe you are missing some goals, you hear grumbling from employees, the energy seems to be missing, or you are getting more complaints from customers.  These are some of the indicators that you might have a larger issue.  For the sake of this article, it doesn't matter what the issue is, the key is to address it correctly.  Here are five steps to address the issue

1. Recognize you have an issue and determine what it is
Sounds simple, right?  I actually think this is the most challenging step.  It is too easy to brush of the indicators of an issue and assign them to some temporary cause that will pass on its own or accept the cause of the warning signs as just the result of how things are.  You can imagine the first conversations when the warning signs showed up at some of the companies that have failed recently because they did not innovate quickly enough, "We can't do anything about the fact that people just don't want to go to stores as much as they used to.  Let's try to make more money on each individual who does shop with us." No issue there...
2. Be humble enough to be willing to take advice from unexpected sources
The second step is almost as challenging as the first, realizing you don't have all of the answers and that the person who has the answer may not be a high-powered consulting firm.   When a problem arises a leader asks the team for a solution what do they propose?  I think it is a fairly common dilemma that they propose more of what they know...  Should we use an open sourced solution?  No, says the developer who is an expert of the current closed platform.  Should we consider agile marketing? No, says the project manager who has invested a lot of time and energy in long term static resource planning methodologies.  This is not done with malice, but because every incentive points to doing more of the same.  The unexpected source can be source with the right answer.  
3. Be prepared to overcome opposition to the solution 
Once you determine a solution, it is almost certain there will be opposition to that solution.  Just like the established players  are hesitant to propose a new solution they will be hesitant to adopt a new solution.
4. Fully implement the solution 
5. Recognize those who contributed to fixing the issue

The challenge is that implementing these steps is difficult prior to the issue becoming a crisis.  You may notice that things seem slightly off, but convince yourself that the issue is temporary or it will resolve itself.  If the issue is now a crisis you can no longer delude yourself.  When an issue isn't a crisis you can convince yourself that you can solve the problem yourself, not needing the opinions of others.
When an issue isn't a crisis the opposition's arguments seem to have more merit making it more challenging to overcome the opposition or to get them on board. No one wants to update business as usual if they don't need to and

Proud marketer

I think this is a great time to be in marketing.

It used to be that marketing was almost a dirty word. The perception being that marketing was using slick techniques to get people to buy things that they may not really need or that marketing was used to mask some of the truth. On the flip side, if marketing wasn't thought of as deceptive, it was thought of as useless, adding no value to the customer. I think all of that is changing.

 Many marketers are using marketing to put the customer first. The great marketers are creating brands that at their core are about customer success. Brands that are about delivering on a vision.  This marketing transformation is everywhere.  I read articles everyday about being honest, talking about the pros AND the cons of your product and posting the good AND the bad reviews. I read articles about using storytelling to help prospects know what it is really like to use your product and really understand the company. I read articles about using content marketing to help prospects accomplish their goal, knowing full well many of those customers will never make a purchase and will be getting something for nothing. I read articles about consultative selling where the end result is not pushing for the sale, but letting the customer know the product might not be a good fit and offering suggestions on a better option. I read articles about consistently measuring customer satisfaction using net promoter score or other metrics and using the results to address situations immediately, not just as a data point in some quarterly review. I read articles about taking the time and effort to perform extraordinary acts for customers and working to delight them. These are just a few examples of how marketing is changing. The list of examples showing marketing adding real value to customers could go on and on. And this change is being embraced by both big and small businesses and both start-ups and established organizations.

I love it. I love that marketing is leading here. Honestly, it makes me proud to be in marketing. I want this new marketing outlook to continue to expand, to be embraced by everyone in marketing.

The other day I was speaking with someone and in trying to make a statement about someone else's sincerity, he said "he really meant it, it wasn't just a marketing technique." I was slightly offended by the statement. Obviously, perceptions about marketing still have a way to go, but with the great efforts I listed above, we are getting there. I look forward to the day when the statement becomes, "He really meant it, it WAS a marketing technique."

P.S. The best news of all for those in marketing is that this shift is not simply altruistic. In the end, treating people right, putting them first, produces results.