More from Smart Customers (Stupid Companies) on sales

More from Smart Customers (Stupid Companies) on sales

We are confronting a fundamental shift in the ways that
companies interact with – and serve – their customers.
At many firms, their “social media strategy” involves creating
a Facebook page, monitoring social sites for mentions of the
company or its products, and generally extending its existing
business model into the social media world.


But this approach stops short of confronting the real issues.
If you could physically see the thousands of social influencers
crowding the space between your sales team and your
customers – if they were physically present in your store or office
– you would no longer accept the misguided notion that a few
extra posts online would solve your problems.


The reason so many companies are vulnerable is because
the state of relationships between companies and customers is so poor. Products and services tend to be impersonal. Responsiveness tends to be uneven at best, or miserable
at worst.


It is reasonable to assert that frustration, annoyance, and
anger have been building among customers for decades. They are tired of being treated as numbers, of being misled or even lied to, and of being considered targets instead of living, breathing
human beings.