Flying around the world as an event speaker and trends expert who works with top corporate businesses to improve strategic innovation, leadership and management strategy, you quickly discover that everyone has their own definition of concepts like sales, marketing and social media. In many ways though, what every organization is talking about is customer service: Finding ways to please and delight the audiences we serve, even if the customers we’re simply referring to are those we interact with – i.e. coworkers, strategic partners, industry peers, etc. – as opposed to those who buy from us. As oft-discussed here, we many times present keynotes, workshops and breakouts around the concept of The Relationship Economy: A world in which trust is the primary currency and social interaction is the medium through which business is done.
Therefore it’s crucial that we recognize this new definition of customer, and how it impacts our ability to build relationships, as well as these relationships’ fundamental impact on how organizations operate. From inbound marketing to content strategy, social media campaigns to public service announcements, it’s all designed to create resonance, and emotional empathy: We’re constantly aiming to contact with others, and form lasting bonds through which to effect change of one sort or another. But whether you’re looking to compel TV viewers to action, or convince online shoppers to take part in conversations surrounding your business or brands, it’s vital to recognize: We always have to be creating value for them. The cornerstone of customer service, as it’s now defined, is found ingiving- not what we simply get from the exchange, as dialogue and positive interaction must flow both ways.
As you’ll seen in the following video, a brief sample of our event speaker programs, it’s a brave new world, which requires us to adopt entirely new definitions and business practices. Happily, this can be a win-win for both corporate audiences and consumers, and lead to more trust, open dialogue and better products, services and initiatives all-around.
