"The big change in the world is that patients are taking control." The remarks from TEDMED's Jay Walker at last week's World Health Care Congress captured the prevailing sentiment of the conference for medical and healthcare executives. Nearly every session and keynote focused on the theme that consumers, once a secondary business consideration in the industry, have shot to the forefront of healthcare business strategy.

Continue reading "Executives Put Customers at the Center of the Healthcare Discussion" »

Posted by Elizabeth Glagowski | Permalink | Comments ()

Relationships revolve around trust. The need to surround ourselves with people we consider trustworthy is ingrained in human nature. Whether it's determining who to share confidential information with or which email in our inbox we should open, trust is often at the back of our minds.

Continue reading "Global View: Maintaining a Trust-Focused Relationship in Turkey" »

Posted by Simge Alpargun | Permalink | Comments ()

Our latest book is now available: Extreme Trust: Honesty as a Competitive Advantage.

But what is "extreme trust" and what does it mean for businesses? Our argument is that in a more socially connected, transparent world -- a world of Twittter and Facebook, Wikileaks and YouTube, companies will be held accountable by customers for proactively protecting their interests, rather than simply passively refraining from cheating them or deceiving them. "Extreme trust" comes when a company is proactively trustworthy, or "trustable."

Continue reading "What is "Extreme Trust"?" »

Posted by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. | Permalink | Comments ()

Mark Twain once said, "Never let formal education get in the way of your learning." I couldn't agree more, especially when it comes to customer strategy.

Look around at different campaigns out there trying to entice new customers or programs that reward existing customers. How long have they been in the market? Are they effective? Most of them, sadly, aren't. And here's why. Brace yourself people...this secret hits the proverbial nail on the head when it comes to messaging and product development:

Continue reading "Why Playing Fast and Loose With Customers Is a Good Thing" »

Posted by Jonathan Marcus | Permalink | Comments ()

Being more trustable to customers means that companies, their managers, and their employees, must behave in a way that demonstrates empathy.

Continue reading "Corporations Must "Put on a Human Face" to Build Customer Trust" »

Posted by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. | Permalink | Comments ()

It's a reasonable bet that very few customers would want to pay $25 a month for AOL's dial-up ISP subscription - a subscription they don't need and never use, and that they don't really know they're paying for. And most likely no one would actually want to incur NSF (insufficient funds) charges by accident. There may be times a person would choose to incur such fees, and (who knows?) some people might simply choose to pay for dial-up service just so they can say they do, but on the whole, we don't think we're going too far out on a limb by suggesting that these are not examples of companies proactively protecting their customers' interests.

Continue reading "How Trustable Companies Use Customer Insight" »

Posted by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. | Permalink | Comments ()