One of the reasons for this is that our world is commoditised says Keith Dugdale, an internationally acclaimed author and customer engagement expert, who is in South Africa sharing his findings on his research, which was conducted in over 26 countries, on the latest global indicators impacting customer engagement trends.
Brought to the country by the Consultant Powerhouse this is his fourth visit to South Africa. Vanessa Bluen, MD of Consultant Powerhouse explains that he will again be talking to local entrepreneurs, SMEs and large businesses about what he is seeing organisations around the world do to address the changes that are needed.
According to Dugdale: "Today customers want the truth and to be successful, organisations need to cut through the clutter and authentically connect with their customer."
He adds that another reason is that, thanks to the internet, by the time customers are standing in front of your sales person in your store, they know more than your salesperson about your products. "Customers no longer require information - they receive an overload of messages every day."
Through his research he found that to achieve this businesses have to build a relationship of trust and added value with their customer. "Business growth in the future will be achieved by working with networks of partnerships and adding value to these. The underlying principle is that the business development person owes the customers. The customer is giving their time and money therefore the onus is on you to return that investment by proving value through ideas, advice and contacts," he explains.
"Every organisation we work with is trying to improve its relationship with the economic power at the top of another organisation. To be successful today you have to build trust with the person in that position and assist them in growing their business. Only then can you talk about your specific business," he says.
Therefore when the director of an advertising agency talks to the COO of a company, he must be able to talk to him about his world, not advertising. The director needs to possess the skills and knowledge to understand what is happening in the COO's world. The focus is on building trust, not selling your services or products.
Dugdale says this is challenging the approach that we go in and pitch our products and services. "Now it has to be a pitch without a pitch; instead you must engage them in conversation. The COO will give his time to the one that gives him the most value."
This is where the challenge lies. Organisations need to recruit people who have the fundamental ability to build trust at the top of the organisation quickly and then become the interface between the two organisations. This is not a common skill and not easy to find.
However, these skills can be created in people. "The earlier in their career this is done the more successful. "It is our experience that 10% of people naturally have these skills, 10% never acquire them and 80% of people can learn the behaviour," he says.
Bluen maintains that if you follow this approach then you will see the work come in faster. "It is not a trick. This new thinking and approach as well as language is the big shift in business. First movers will have a distinct advantage, with others having to catch up."
