EC

For most of the last century, it was Product Economy that ruled the scene. To succeed it was enough to have a product and a method of its distribution. This model changed over the last 20 years of the previous century – mainly because suppliers began to multiply exponentially. What was the product and distribution for if a customer did not know about it? Marketing started to govern the world – a notion of Marketing Economy appeared. Some people still believe that it is valid. They do not see the changing paradigms of modern economy.

It is estimated that an average city dweller is exposed to 3,000–8,000 marketing messages a day. Marketing communications is devalued now. People trust more other users and consumers than even the most interesting marketing campaigns. Business shouts to Marketing, “Check! Show me the ROI!” Buyers – thanks to other consumers like them armed with smartphones, social networking websites and modern technology – know perfectly well what to think about a product and what benefits it offers. Buying behaviors started to be ruled by experiences which customers get throughout their relationship with a particular brand, company or product at all touchpoints. More and more often, the actual experiences of customers rule. Unnoticed by many, the era of Customer Experience Economy began.

The desired business and financial results are not accidental. They cannot be achieved at one’s behest too. Reaching business results is a systemic process of dependent events that are interconnected and entail the development of a company and a certain level of its profitability. Working with our customers we use the so-called Service–Profit Chain (see: James L. Heskett, Thomas O. Jones, Gary W. Loveman, W. Earl Sasser, Jr., Leonard A. Schlesinger Putting the Service–Profit Chain to Work, HBR). It shows how leadership actions affect at first employees’ behaviors and then customers’ experiences as well as the resulting level of their loyalty. This, in turn, contributes to the development or decline of a particular enterprise.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In EC we:

• support identifying the strongest and weakest elements of both the inner world of a particular enterprise (the alignment level) and its customers’ world (the level of satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to recommend, key purchasing factors, etc.)
• develop and recommend the best solution
• bring about the implementation of the proposed actions together with a customer.

The main mission of EC is the improvement of our customers’ business performance. Each of our interventions is to end with an increase in the customer’s turnover or their costs reduction, and preferably both. We do not deal with the implementation of specific tools or concepts such as Customer Management Experience. With a recognized know-how and considerable business experience, we define our task as seeking points of application of a lever in a given organization (the biggest challenges), choosing the appropriate lever (defining a solution) and lifting the enterprise to a higher level at the lowest cost.

As everyone knows, what a customer expects does not always equal what they need. Our consultants are (regardless of education) business people – practitioners. Therefore, we know how to find a solution that is exactly what a customer needs. Only such solutions are offered by our company and that is why we sometimes have to refuse to cooperate with a customer who expects something we believe has no business justification. We always follow the chief mission of EC – improving our customers’ business performance.