The Wisdom Of Management Consultancies.
No, not a blank post. But, I have been struck recently how these advisers remain stuck in their old ways of pushing tactics rather than practices.
A piece I cannot find at the moment suggested that retailers should be trained to recognise their most loyal customers and to offer them better service in the certainty that this would lead to greater sales. No consideration given to how the less well-treated customers will react to this discrimination in terms of negative word of mouth. No consideration given to the impact on the loyal customers of seeing other customers being served badly. And certainly no consideration given to the thought of just providing the best customer experience possible to one and all and the positive returns that would accrue from that.
In similar vein, a german McKinsey report discussing how corporations can exploit web 2.0 opines that "These findings, consistent with our experience of participatory media in business settings, suggest that executives pursuing such projects should start by identifying and nurturing the small percentage of users who post quality content."
It's top-down nonsense. You can't control what other people do - you can merely try to control what you do (and that's hard enough) and focus on it producing something that is so good that people are drawn to it.
posted by john dodds @ 7:43 AM
6 Comments:
I wish I could control what I do...
Well Mark we have all said that about you ;O) - but then the sheer wizardry of your work is by definition elusive.
First thought when reading that report is like "ah, cavemen!"
Then I check Facebook and find the McKinsey & Co network have 2,010 members while the total number of employees is estimated at 6,000 +. That makes it about 30% or so on FB!
But I cannot find any blogs though... well, that fits the report. Playing around in the FB pen is their experience, sticking heads out on a personal/company blog not so much. :)
And how many of those are ex McKinsey tapping into the network?
That advice is the Pareto Principal (aka the 80/20 rule) as applied to customer service. It's heavily stressed in MBA programs, so no surprise management consultants push it so much.
Elitism in marketing works well in some industries, the frequent flyer programs of airlines and frequent traveler programs being two good examples. That leaves us with the question of when does it become so offensive that: 1) it is bad for business, and, even more importantly, 2) is something that the seller doesn't want to be associated with.
Continueing the travel example, some airports have special lines through security for frequent and first class flyers. Sone don't. You will find strong views on what is right, if you ask about it.
I help consultants and other professionals learn to sell. This requires them to build a network. Doing so inevitably raises the question, "Who should I be friendly to and devote more time to?" There are mercenary and tacky networkers out there who will drop cold if you don't fit the buyer profile. Most, however, help many people who can't give back. They don't seek out such situations. The active networking is directed at clients and those who can connect them to clients.
An entry on my blog (www.HardingCo.com/blog/)called "Getting It",describes how a number of professionals resolved such issues in a way that they could actively support.
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