February 2nd, 2014

Developing True Solutions – Not Product Development

Typically in the Form phase of the Customer Intimacy Journey, you will develop the initial True Solutions™ sets and take them to market. Like product development, a framework and process exists to define, develop and take your Solutions to market in a deliberate and defined manner. This building block is key to your Intimacy Engine™ success, so it is important to recognize early on what is different about developing True Solutions™ compared to typical product development.

So what is different?

October 25th, 2013

Under Investment: The Biggest Threat to Customer Intimacy Transformation

What puts the Customer Intimacy journey at risk? Under investment is the answer. 

It will require: money, time, effort, attention, adjustment (things never work as planned), and most of all perseverance.   Something to always keep in mind – think about the transformation as pushing something through a brick wall – if you push just a little you still have the rest of the wall to go through. If you push fast you have less to go through.  Let me be clear it can move fast and you can have great success in the first year – but you would have to invest heavily in new offers, acquisitions, talent, talent development etc.  Also remember the longer it takes the more likely the company will lose interest and find reasons to stop.

May 28th, 2013

Customer Intimacy: Getting Buy-In & Making the Case for Change

The Customer Intimacy journey requires focus for an extended period of time, and even when companies take the long view, living through the natural disappointments of this size of business model transformation can discourage the best organizations. 

Thus, the importance of gaining a shared view of the business cannot be overstated.

There is no consistent way for organizations to absorb and adopt truth. But, I think understanding what they need – depending on type of organization and driver of decisions – helps in gaining a shared view.

March 4th, 2013

The Customer Intimacy Journey: A Blueprint for Change

The challenge for any significant change initiative is maintaining motivation and focus throughout the effort. Most change initiatives fail because of this very issue. Both individuals and corporations suffer from this phenomenon – personal improvement (like weight loss) is difficult because the change in habit must be maintained for a long period of time without … Continue reading “The Customer Intimacy Journey: A Blueprint for Change”

January 30th, 2013

The Sustainable Advantage: Shifting Mindsets and Business Models from Innovation to Customer Intimacy

What’s wrong with driving your business using the historic S-curve (innovation) model?  The innovation model has virtually dominated all literature, organization design, sales training, and investment strategies since the world economic boom following World War II. This is the common and erroneous management belief that we can continue to grow our business by improving current … Continue reading “The Sustainable Advantage: Shifting Mindsets and Business Models from Innovation to Customer Intimacy”