Customer Centricity is Not What You Think

It is literally everywhere now ... customer centric experiences, customer centric marketing, customer centric sales force and yet most people use this term incorrectly. If you cannot individually quantify who is a good customer and who is not, then you cannot be customer centric. Period.

This is the main reason I am hosting the Customer Centricity Conference on May 10th and 11th 2017 at Wharton's beautiful San Francisco campus. We need to help data driven leaders see good examples from their customer centric peers and then apply the theory in an actual game simulation. Feel like being on the cutting edge? Check out what leaders from Salesforce.com, Viking Cruises, Electronic Arts, Wealthfront and the San Francisco Giants have to say.

Now why does correctly calculated customer value matter so much? Because the value of your customer portfolio now drives the valuation of firms more than brand equity. See this research study of private equity firm valuations that proves my point. So if you are a marketer, traditionally a cost center for the company, and you want to prove that your efforts deliver real value, using customer value is hands-down the way to do it.

But perhaps you think you're already calculating customer value correctly? I would bet money that you are wrong. Most firms do this by cohort or other grouping method which naturally leaves a discrepancy of at least 10%. What's ten percent worth to a billion dollar company? 100 million dollars. How would you like to walk into the CEOs office and share how your marketing efforts added 100 million dollars to the company's valuation? Yes, sir. That's a conversation I'd love to have. The customer centricity simulation on day 2 will give you the power.

Now it doesn't happen overnight. As the leaders speaking at the conference will tell you, there are lots of hurdles to navigate. You need senior leadership to want the change. You need accountability. You need new metrics to permeate the organization. And above all, you need to stand up ways to remove friction and add delight to your valuable customers. Do you ignore your less valuable customers? No! In many ways they benefit along side the changes. But you don not blast marketing efforts at those who have indicated they really do not want a deeper relationship with you.

For example, I live in an area of Oregon with a lot of older adults. On a regular basis I get invited to events to check out the local retirement homes. I'm not even 50. I am indicating that I am not interested by never responding. If you look at basic demographics for me as an individual, or even my household, you'll see why. I am absolutely a low-value customer and I want to stay that way for quite awhile. Don't be that marketing guy.

Come to the Customer Centricity Conference on May 10th and 11th 2017 and learn how to make marketing a customer centric revenue generation center. Be precise. Be data driven. Be successful now.