Competing through customer intimacy by kurt verweire

Flanders DC Kenniscentrum

Competing through customer intimacy What does it mean? What does it take?

Prof. dr. Kurt Verweire


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Competing Through Customer Intimacy: Agenda

A remarkable case study

The choices of customer-intimacy firms

Strategy implementation at customer-intimacy firms

27-2-2013| Competing Through Customer Intimacy 6 |


A Case Study: Châteauform’

A unique concept of venues totally dedicated to meetings and seminars

In various European countries

Sites are castles, big farms, big houses

“Feel at home, far from home”



A Case Study: Châteauform’


http://www.google.be/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=UFrjaQCGhF026M&tbnid=oR1NUdSRh_W-KM:&ved=0CAgQjRwwAA&url=http://www.imd.org/about/facultystaff/horovitz.cfm&ei=DCIdUc63NZCGhQee4IGQDA&psig=AFQjCNEzZSBeD6PB1xpfNsIk0b748Hkzvg&ust=1360950156908833


Competing Through Customer Intimacy



Developing a winning strategy

Clear choices + unique choices!


‘Competitive arena’

‘Competitive theme’

What do we provide?

Whom do we serve?

What is our operating model?

What is our value

proposition?


Châteauform’s winning strategy

Big multinational companies

To meet their needs in terms of meetings, seminars, events

Special attenttion to the wishes of the different sub-segments Participants: “Feel at home far from home”

Assistants: Easy to do business with and total care

Decision makers: All inclusive, no surprises

Facilitators: High tech, high touch, no stress

Unique in what it does: Less costs and higher customer satisfaction


• 95-100% client satisfaction

• Customer delights


Châteauform’s winning value proposition

The five attributes of all commercial transactions: Product: Goods and/or services purchased

Price: Cost of goods and/or services

Access: How easy consumers obtain and use goods

Service: What is done extra before, during, and after the sale

Experience (connectivity): How consumers feel about themselves as a result of goods and/or services


Source: Crawford & Mathews (2001) Consumer relevancy framework


Châteauform’s winning value proposition


Level Access Experience Price Product Service

Consumer seeks the company

Turn my hassle into a positive experience.

Establish intimacy with me by doing something no one else can.

Be my price agent; let me trust you to make my purchases.

Inspire me with an assortment of excellent products I didn’t know about.

Provide me with a solution, take my problems away.

Consumer prefers the company

Make the whole interaction reliable and convenient for me.

Care about my needs and me.

Be fair and consistent in your low pricing (this does not necessarily mean lowest price).

Offer continuously high-quality and well-performing products.

Educate me when I encounter a product or a situation I don’t understand.

Consumer accepts the company

Make it easy for me to find what I need.

Respect me, treat me like a human being.

Keep the prices honest; don’t jack them up or offer big savings when there are none.

Be credible in your product and service offerings.

Accommodate me; bend over backward some-times to show me you care.

Consumer underworld

Block my way, hassle me, keep me waiting, make it hard for me to get in and out.

Dehumanize me; disrespect me; ignore my needs.

Be inconsistent, unclear, or misleading in your pricing.

Offer me poor-quality merchandise and services that I can’t use.

Give me an experience I’d just as soon forget; give me a reason to tell my friends to stay away.


Châteauform’s winning strategy



Châteauform’s winning operating model



Successful strategy implementation


Source: Vlerick Business School & GDF Suez (Electrabel) (2004)


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Successful strategy implementation



Conclusion


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Competing through customer intimacy by kurt verweire