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December 05, 2005
Customer planning in 2006
Right now, a lot of companies are putting together their plans for 2006. They're setting stretch goals and brainstorming ideas for reaching new markets.
Many of the people in the 2006 planning meetings arrive armed with data from research firms, stacks of magazine and newspaper articles, perhaps analytics from customer behavior and certainly their own experience and intuition. What's often missing, though, from these meetings is customer input from a board of loyal (and early-adopter) customers who spend major dollars with the company.
As Kevin Eikenberry puts it, "Who better to give you feedback about future direction? Who better to help you find your blind spots?"
It's never too late to ask customers for feedback.
Other blogs that reference Customer planning in 2006:
» Great Advice On Planning Your Business from Much Ado About Marketing
It's obvious, maybe, but the key point made by Ben McConnell at The Church Of The Customer blog is that now is the perfect time to get feedback from clients on where you should be headed in the future. This post about planning makes a strong case for... [Read More]
Smart advise. Customer feedback doesn't have to cost much, either. Companies with significant and frequent "face time" with their customer, either in person or on the phone, likely can cull quite a bit of customer feedback by just talking to front-line employees. If you're able to effectively filter for any internal biases, this can be ongoing, inexpensive and powerful feedback.
It's so much common sense, it's innevitable we won't do it. I'll remind my colleagues, though, and put this post on Tuesday's (12/06) "Much Ado About Marketing" blog.
Thanks for the tip. Great advice.
Mike Bawden
Brand Central Station
