by Natalie Grbic
Delivering customer value is essential with any firm. It means:
- Elevating the customer experience
- Improving customer satisfaction
- Paying close attention to customer feedback and attitudes.
A firm should constantly change itself in order to deliver more value to customers. A firm should also seek out customer insight through quality improvement initiatives.
The automobile industry demonstrates the importance of creating customer value. Lexus adopted a customer-driven approach with particular emphasis on service. The service quality goal is to treat each customer as one and pursue a person-to-person relationship.
If you are interested in creating customer value:
-Offer products that perform
-Give consumers more than they expect
-Avoid unrealistic pricing
-Give the buyer facts
-Offer organization-wide commitment in service and after-sales support
Susan:
Using Natalie’s example of car companies, let me illustrate customer value. I’ll compare my experience with two types of car dealerships: Acura and a less expensive American dealership.
I used to have an Acura. A very old Acura, but an Acura, nonetheless. I needed it serviced, so I scheduled an appointment at the dealership. I was fain to do so because I’d always heard the dealership will charge you an arm and a leg.
When I arrived, I already had an employee assigned to work with me. He ushered me into a comfortable chair and offered me a selection of beverages. Once our paperwork was complete, he handed me the keys to a brand new Acura to borrow while my car was being serviced. It didn’t matter that I had an older model…I was still part of the family.
The waiting area had a cappuccino machine and impressive snacks. The employee called me 15 minutes later to tell me the issue with the car. The checkout process was seamless.
The experience at the less expensive American dealership was fine, but less enjoyable. Employees shuffled around trying to find my paperwork. There was no car to borrow, and no beverages offered. My car got fixed just the same, but the experience wasn’t as memorable. You can be sure I’ll consider Acura when buying my next car.
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Susan Payton is the Marketing Eggspert, and owner of 
Tuesday I was searching for Blogs related to email topics but more specifically to compare email marketing. I found your blog and find it intersting.
An interesting view of the automotive industry. Where do you see the future of the industry, will it ever recover or will there be major casulties?