"Our Take" - Profit or Customer

(Past Editions by: Date, Title, Topic)

 
About "Our Take" 
"Our Take" is a collection of daily vignettes covering a wide range of CRM topics. It's an attempt to add our own spin to the world of CRM. We will use the column to share our perspectives, opinions, epiphanies, web nuggets, or quite frankly anything that moves us. Get ready to expect the unexpected. And, don't be shy about sharing your thoughts.
 
 
10/31/07 - CRM's Chicken and the Egg
I ran across a quote a while back that I tucked away in my notes. This morning I happened to find it and I thought I should share it with you: "Designing your product for monetization first, and people second will probably leave you with neither." - Tara Hunt
 
I share it with you today because it leaves me a bit perplexed. I am having a difficult time resolving what I can really take away from the pearl of wisdom and how it applies in the real world. My first impression is that all products should be customer focused. However, a customer focused product that is unprofitable will not be long for the world - especially in a free market world. The other side of the coin, a profitable product without regard for the customer experience, seems equally doomed.
 
To me, this is CRM's "chicken and the egg" debate. Perhaps the right answer to the question is neither of the ones presented. But if we were set free from just these two options, what would we choose? Tell me what you think.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
11/1/07 - CRM's Chicken and the Egg - II
Yesterday, I shared a quote to ponder - "Designing your product for monetization first, and people second will probably leave you with neither," (Tara Hunt). I further asked if the design center should be monetization or people, or something completely different. Because we have a customer focused readership, I knew the overwhelming response would be for the customer. And, the response volume tells me you are passionate about that. Here is one response I want to share with you today:
 
"It's all about value creation. This cannot be done unilaterally or in a vacuum. Many companies still try and create value using industrial age strategies with its primary focus on financials to derive measures of success. Some don't yet realize that capital has been replaced by information and knowledgeworkers as the most important factors of production. Value creation should always be co-developed with the collaboration of the customer to reaffirm the strategy. This relationship minimizes risk and offers a forward view to profitability through differentiation."
 
The email finished with a quote that gets to the heart why the business of customer experience doesn't simply boil down to a few metrics - A strategy with a multi-perspective view echoes the eloquent words of Albert Einstein, “Not all things that can be counted count and not all things that count can be counted.”
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
11/2/07 - Keep the Customer First
On Halloween, I shared with you a quote about the importance of designing a product first for the customer and secondly for monetization (see quote). As expected, your responses were a collective, resounding affirmation for the customer over monetization/
 
One reader wrote, "Designing your product for people first, if done right, should always take precedence over monetization. Assuming you have done your product development, you should have identified your target market, one that will happily pay for the product you are offering. Hence design your product for the target market, not just to make a profit." Another wrote, "Pricing it to be profitable comes second. Many offer early products at a loss just to get the market excited about the product and then jack the price up when everyone thinks they have to have it."
 
Lastly, we have this input: "We define a customer opportunity as adding new value to customers in ways that add new value back to the company." This last thought seems to answer the chicken and the egg question quite well. It's both! Make it a great weekend.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)