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Customer Engagement and Leadership

By Tom Lambert

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Published: 18Dec2008
Word count: 525
Viewed: 236 time(s)

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Customer Engagement is a simple matter of human behaviour. It seems illogical, therefore, when so many claim to have only encapsulated it in complex systems. That is not to say that human behaviour does not emanate from complex systems - often it does - but at the level that counts it is simple. The preferred form of complex system that has been widely sold, only to disappoint, is Customer Relationship Management, CRM for short.

If ever there were a misnomer it is "Customer Relationship Management System". As my colleague David Butler, a true doyen of the IT industry, has pointed out CRM is simply customer record management. Like all record management tools it cannot aspire to be predictive in a meaningful way. If you plan on the basis of CRM you are in real danger of steering the ship while looking backwards at the wake.

If that were all it would be unfortunate that so many have invested so much with so little return. Sadly that is not all. Many of the vendors that tempt firms into investment in systems solutions go one huge step too far. In effect they say to management, "In volatile and complex situations you are not up to running your business effectively. Hand it over to us and we will run it for you - at a price", (usually a massive price). But Customer Engagement is a very human interaction. To pretend that a technological system can replace humanity is frankly ludicrous.

A conversation and more

Current marketing philosophy is at last becoming enlightened. It holds that marketing can no longer be a one-way street. It is a human conversation between real people in which desires, needs and feelings - particularly feelings - can be fully expressed and satisfied. Customer Engagement is the culmination of that conversation when customer and supplier have developed a "Customer Relationship" in which each is totally committed to the other's success and prosperity. It used to be said that "Unless everybody in a business is marketing that business, nobody is". As recognition of the need for a conversation grows the need for everybody in the business to seek to take forward that conversation at every opportunity grows with it. Sensitivity and involvement are essential.

So is leadership. If the top management in your business do not engage in these conversations that are vital to building relationships then how can they expect a computer system to do it?

Attract and retain

Businesses and governments across the globe are recognising the simple fact that there are not enough really talented people in the world to meet the growing needs of business. Intelligent governments and businesses are working together creatively to attract and retain the best of the best people. Fortunately research shows that a low cost way to attract and retain talent is to provide them with the hassle-free environment that Customer Engagement delivers.

Having attracted the best of the best, however, a need emerges that goes beyond avoiding hassle. Talented people need opportunities to use their talents. They also demand talented leadership that they can respect and follow. Can a system hope to provide it? Customer Engagement can.

Tom Lambert has been researching better ways of doing business, and educating businesses about how to apply these principles, for over 30 years. He is an internationally renowned author and has been dubbed "The World's Friendliest Guru". He is the inventor of the only tripartite measure of your company's Customer Engagement. Meet Tom & the team at http://www.tripleic.com

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