Is this a bad picture of  Albert Einstein?

or Marilyn Monroe?

Customer Relationships are the top strategic focus

• Despite the media hype about innovation, a recent study by Forrester Consulting has shown that business managers hold other areas more strategically important to their organization:
   
• 55% rated Customer Relationships as the organization’s #1 top strategic focus
• 21% rated Customer Relationships as the organization’s #2 top strategic focus
   
• 21% rated operational excellence as the organization’s #1 top strategic focus
• 31% rated operational excellence as the organization’s #2 top strategic focus
   
• 18% rated innovation capability as the organization’s #1 top strategic focus
• 23% rated innovation capability as the organization’s #2 top strategic focus
   
• 6% rated partnerships as the organization’s #1 top strategic focus
• 25% rated partnerships as the organization’s #2 top strategic focus

The Skills Gap

• The Computer Technology Industry Association ("CompTIA") recently conducted a survey of 273 CompTIA members to determine the biggest challenges for the next 12 months. Filling vitally important functional positions in sales and technical customer service ranked as the most critical obstacles in the coming year.
  • 53% of respondents expect it to be extremely difficult to adequately fill sales positions in the next 12 months.
• What are the skills gaps?
  • 55% need to improve the ability to spot new business opportunities
  • 43% need to improve the ability to generate incremental revenue from existing clients
  • 41% need help to better anticipate customer’s future needs
  • 37% need to build better relationships with existing customers
  • 34% need to be able to close new business

Job Satisfaction and personal fulfillment

• 75% of executives say that employee retention is a critical priority, but only 15% of executives have a plan – Leigh Branham, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave.
• 89% of managers surveyed believe that employees left for “more money”, but 88% of the employees surveyed left for reasons “other than money” – Leigh Branham, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave.

1. Job not as expected
2. Job does not fit talents
3. No feedback or coaching
4. No Career Growth
5. Devalued or unrecognized
6. Overworked and stressed
7. No confidence in leaders

2008 Year of the Customer

• 2008 has been cited as the year of the customer according to the third annual New York Stock Exchange CEO Report.  With this in mind, it appears essential for companies to take focusing on and utilizing customer-related metrics seriously.  The following statistics illustrate the current state of attention. -VisionEdge Marketing / CustomerTHINK

o    2/3 of the 140 business executives and marketing professionals surveyed, include metrics in marketing plans

o    only 8% track or measure share-of-wallet

o    less than 10% measure customer lifetime value, customer advocacy or customer tenure

o    78% track leads to conversion, but only 25% track the rate of customer acquisition

o    Only 25% measure marketing's impact on business goals.

The importance of Ethics, Integrity, and Authenticity in Business

• According to Industry Week Magazine Survey Results:
  • 24% of Americans have been asked or ordered to do something on the job that they consider to be unethical
  • Of those, 41% said they did the unethical act anyway
• According to the 2005 National Business Ethics Survey of over 3,000 employees:
  • 69% of employees said that their organization has Ethics Training
  • 52% surveyed had observed discrimination, stealing, or harassment
  • 21% observed abusive or intimidating behavior
  • 19% witnessed lying to customers, vendors, employees, or the public

Trust Gap between Management and Employees

• A survey of more than 7,000 executives, managers, and employees found a distinct trust gap in many companies, between the employee and the organization – Leadership IQ
  • Only 20% strongly trust the top management of their organization
  • 36% moderately trust the top management of their organization
  • 44% don’t trust or strongly distrust the top management

The payback for engaging and training employees

• A three year study by Towers Perrin-ISR found that companies that consistently engage employees are more profitable
  • During the study there was a 3.74% increase in operating profit for companies that engaged their workers
  • During the same period there was a 2% decline in operating profit for companies with poorly engaged employees

The Retail Sales Experience

·         A recent study by Accenture reveals that there is room for improvement at the retail level.  Not a big surprise!  Common retail annoyances felt by customers:

o    7.1% "quite frequently" felt they received too little attention

o    17.3% "frequently" felt they received too little attention
 

o    4.4% "quite frequently" felt they received too much attention

o    10.7% "frequently" felt they received too much attention
 

o    3.4% "quite frequently" felt cross-sell pressure

o    8.3% "frequently" felt cross-sell pressure
 

o    2.3% "quite frequently" felt rudely treated

o    7.5% "frequently" felt rudely treated
 

o   Even worse the study indicated that within their last four shopping experiences 89% to 95% (categorized by income) consumers were irritated by a retailer's actions

Social Media and Internet impact on Sales Decisions and Relationship

• Human connection and expression are in high demand
• Consumers want more than marketing spin. They have access to facts at their fingertips. What they really want is authenticity, commitment, and relationship.
• 77% of online shoppers indicated that they rely on consumer-initiated reviews and ratings – Juniper Research
• 59% of users consider customer reviews to be more valuable than those from experts, according to a recent survey – Bizrate

·         According to Media Usage Survey / Ketchum and USC Annenberg Strategic Public Relations:

o   55.6% of adults turn to family and friends as a source of information

o   34.6% seek advice from co-workers

o   20.7% use Blogs as a source of reliable information

o   18.6% use social networking web sites

• According to Bridge Ratings and the University of Massachusetts:
  • Consumers give advertising a 2.2 trust rating on the same scale