Methods kit
Customer centricity is dead. Long live customer centricity!
We use methods from great colleagues in the market – but also our own, which we have developed as a team.
Over the years, we have found – whether it was when we were all still employed or in our own company – that while many successful companies and executives claim to be customer-centric, the reality is often different.
The many discussions in our projects have shown us that there is usually no bad intention: there is a lack of simple and integrated methods that build on each other and thus create a method ecosystem that is easy to understand and also leads to measurable results!
In the beginning is the strategy – a concrete, measurable and structured path to the goal. Very often we find very good strategy elements in the projects, but it is very often the case that hardly anyone can describe in concrete terms what the uniqueness of their own offer is and what the customer benefit perceived by the customer includes.
Modules that are used here:
- Business & brand architecture with corresponding KPIs: where should the journey go?
- Core competencies and their continuous expansion
- Growth strategy design: strategic options and a structured decision-making process
- Customer segments and their potential: from a global and regional to a local perspective
- Integrate competition insights & knowledge into everyday life
- Start and establish growth strategies & anchorthem in the corporate culture with appropriate programs
- We promote change: Integrating managers and teamsin the right way in order to tap the full potential of the market
Through the correct and not only obvious “Customer Insights”, we develop with you blocks of topics where we can generate added value for your customers.
“You can’t push with that rope.” is a famous and apt quote. If the teams (internally in the company, at the customer’s or at the suppliers’) do not pull together, many projects are usually doomed to failure right from the start.
We attach great importance to incorporating the changes that our projects entail in the course of the project from the outset in such a way that those involved also have the chance to be taken along. Of course, time is the most critical factor here: it must not go so fast in total, so that everyone can come along, but the whole undertaking must not take more than a year: then it will usually be a bummer.
Modules that are used here:
- Organizational & cultural orientation (in connection with the set goals).
- Challenger-Love Brand approach: David vs. Goliath, how do I challenge the No. 1 in the market? And how do my customers fall in love with my brand?
- “Customer Insights Collection Process“: looking behind the facade of the customer in a structured way, in the shortest possible time and in such a way that it does not interfere with normal processes.
- Innovation management: Products, services, but also processes or organisations want to be innovative. Incremental or disruptive, that decides the respective situation.
- Value proposition design: a business model comprises about 9 building blocks, of which the value proposition is the central heart. Thinking from the customer’s perspective, it is easiest NOT to fall back into the comfort zone of your own product infatuation.
- People Change Management: dealing with the worries and fears of the teams in a structured way, further strengthening their strengths and growing into a high-performance organization.
- Align management and employee communication in such a way that a continuous exchange of information takes place and the strategy elements and their promise of success are ensured in a transparent and open manner
The trick is to be “more relevant” than the competition to “activate” consumers. Easier said than done. In every industry there are different levers and tricks for this, which have to reinvent themselves again and again in the permanent change of time & trends. The fact is, however, that those who do not offer added value and do not possess differentiating brand characteristics and, moreover, fail to ensure positive customer experiences, will not have long-term success. A safe way to do this is to move away from promotions (as they only educate consumers to wait for the next discount battle) and towards “Engagement-first” content that involves target groups and thus “binds” them via special experiences.
Modules that are used here:
- Experience Design: Develop experiences for consumers that are relevant & generate added value
- Omni-Channel Experiences: Elements of classical advertising, social media, e/mCommerce with the purpose of achieving “commitment” – customer involvement
- The right customer segment-specific pricing strategy
- CRM, Direct Marketing, data-driven Marketing
- Campaign Management
- Stop mechanism in front of the shelf in retail
- “Win in digital” – be part of your clients’ digital lives
- Analytics, data driven insights & decisions (Marketing Automation)
- Events & Sponsoring
Activating consumers or customers alone is not enough: the products must be available locally, where the customer buys – whether offline or online!
The world’s growth centres have been identified and China is playing an exposed role. We are based in Shanghai and Hong Kong, among others, and have first-hand knowledge of the local conditions. We support the growth strategies of our customers here as an extended arm and take care of all operationally necessary documents, approvals, requirements, etc., so that you can concentrate on your growth strategy and even have an office in Shanghai.
But all this alone is not enough to gain a foothold in China. With our own people on site and our partners, we have always managed to implement things quickly, effectively and satisfactorily in a very pragmatic and above all goal-oriented manner.
Modules that are used here:
- Company foundation, for example in China on site to anchor your global growth regionally.
- Legal Setup.
- Custodian Services.
- HR Services: we find the right people for the jointly developed objectives, take care of the employment and legal requirements.
- Network of specialists (e.g. regulatory affairs, certification, etc. in special areas).
- Office rental in our open-plan office with our local partners (single seats for a period, individual offices or separate 4-person office formations up to separate areas with up to 12-16 seats)
- Market research and detailed studies of specific industrial sectors.
- Channel Setup Services: to “fire” social media channels is basically easy, but the channels have to exist first.
- We have direct access to our network partner with appropriate import and distributor licenses, which we can use at any time.
Experiences create emotions! They are the new status symbols and they are intense: through shared moments!They have a higher value than possessions and are also the currency of attention. The confession & identification with the brand and its messages is thus expressed.
Experiences bind customers through values:
- Messages need to pay in to a higher goal
- Authentic and tangible experience for the consumer
- The consumers reflect their own values with the striving & acting of the brand
- Let’s live our image of the world correctly as a company – customers become followers and a Lovebrand is born
Modules that are used here:
- Consumer Campaign Execution and investigation “live” whether the defined goals are achieved
- Establish Sales & KAMorganization: Potential-supported and made “visible & tangible” through measurable data.
- Sales Force Training & Coaching, so that all topics are implemented as planned.
- Product/Customer Segment Strategy: the processing of the individual customer segments and especially their micro-segments require tact and sensitivity.
- Master Sales Action Plan – as part of the growth strategy – brings transparency right from the start
- Performance Marketing: The inclusion of e- & mCommerce is no longer a discussion. The question here lies above all in the right choice within the Omni-Channel Group and how the platforms are to be used.
Since we see ourselves as “implementation companions” and less as consultants, we also want to “pitch in” right to the end. A great strategy without successful implementation that achieves the goals is worth nothing. We attach great importance to the fact that our growth strategies consist of scalable building blocks that do not fail because of the internal organisation: we always start with what is available and extend externally by means of resources that are either built up internally in parallel or that are only needed temporarily for implementation.
Zapplyzer is a software solution that will make especially those happy who don’t really get along with salesforce.com, SAP or Microsoft. It is a tool that combines above all Makreting & Sales Automation with an intelligent recommendation engine, which leads to even more efficient customer processing.
Modules that are used here:
- Our digital platform Zapplyzer (e/mCommerce, ERP + CRM, mobile-first, etc.)
- Integrated “Customer Sales Action Plan
- Business Development
- Innovation Management
- Cooperation and integration of our networks
- co-branding initiatives
- Scalability & the development of “global templates
Familiarisation workshop
Or: if the chemistry isn’t right, nothing will be
And because we have simply experienced too often that sympathy is critical for success, we gladly offer an initial introduction workshop. This is a bit more than just a meeting: You will be given homework in advance and we will challenge you with a few questions to work out your “problem zone”, which we will then translate into opportunity fields. Only when we have been able to convince you of our quality will we continue.