Don Peppers and Martha Rogers Ph.D. invented one-to-one business strategy over 15 years ago. Today, they are recognized gurus, acclaimed authors and globally sought-after speakers.
As the U.S. House and Senate make last-minute changes to the final wording of the financial-overhaul bill, one thing seems fairly certain: U.S. banks and brokerages stand to lose billions of dollars in revenues as a result of the new rules aimed at providing additional safeguards for consumers on investments and other products.
Which customer groups offer the most potential? How do you bundle your services to get the greatest return? And how can you balance maximizing customer value (attract, grow, and retain the potential) with acting in the best interest of your customers (customer experience)? These are questions that vex most every company today.
Amazon.com's goal , as they say in the tagline of their correspondence, is to be "Earth's most customer-centric company." Don Peppers and I love hearing this, and hugely admire what Jeff Bezos and his colleagues have built in the relatively few years since amazon.com first appeared as an online source for books, CDs, and DVDs.
I've been a frequent user of amazon.com ever since, gradually expanding into more and more categories of merchandise. Of course, I depend on amazon.com to tell me which business books I need to read next; even if I don't hear about a particular one, I can count on amazon.com's community-search engine to find the next highly relevant recommendation for me. (Don and I are amused and not a little reassured by the fact that each time we publish a new book, that new book we write heads the list of books we'll want to read next! So we know the relevance is spot on.)
More than once, when we've gone to order a book, amazon.com has reminded us: You've already bought that book; are you sure you want to buy it again? (Haven't we all accidentally bought something we forgot we already have?) Risking the immediate lost sale to save a customer the hassle (and themselves the expense) of returning an unwanted book just makes sense. Couple all this 1to1 with amazon.com's free shipping, low prices, and huge selection and we can see why Jeff & Co. have done so well.
So what suggestion do I have?
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