Getting Close to Customers

Many organisations find themselves between a rock and hard place. As markets mature and life cycles shrink, differentiation of the core products/services becomes increasingly difficult. Almost any innovation brings an immediate response from competitors, applying what Tom Peters called creative swiping.1 There are signs that the customer is feeling shell shocked from the rate of innovation. We are not happy when, having bought the latest model, we find six months later that we are now behind the times: we feel cheated. On the other hand, customers are becoming more demanding, more vocal and more willing to exercise the choice they have. As consumers we are raising our sights. Organisations that once could feel secure in the knowledge that they were the best at serving the customer, now find themselves under pressure. Industry standards are no longer sufficient: we expect the same level of service from our bank that we get from our car hire company; we want large corporations to be as friendly as our local pub. We translate our experiences across industries with consummate ease, and wonder why suppliers find it so difficult to do the same. We are also learning to be more vocal, even the normally reserved English are now more likely to complain. I use the term ‘vigilante customer’ to describe people who know what they want and hang on until they get it.