January 3, 2006

We're back from Palau where we had a first-hand experience with great customer service. We had chartered a boat for several days, but there were some problems and we cancelled that part of the trip after paying for it in full. When we explained the situation to the general manager of the tour company the next day, he offered to refund the entire payment, including a deposit made almost one year ago.

By doing so, he chose to ignore a strict cancellation policy. But he made an advocate for his company, and he wisely recognized that advocates are worth gold especially in today's media-cluttered world.

After preaching great customer service all year long, it feels wonderful to take a vacation and actually be the recipient of it.

Shopping Sense

Sally Horchow knows a thing or three about shopping. After all, her father is the legendary Roger Horchow. Her Times article about shopping in Las Vegas reminds me how important all of the senses are to the shopping experience.

Having traipsed through many a Vegas shopping spot (and there are LOTS of them), she ends up at Steve Wynn's new Wynn Resort. She was tired and her feet ached. So, what did that master marketer Steve Wynn greet her with? "The comfort of the plush, parasol-patterned carpet." Sally was in heaven. And, why did she make a major purchase at Wynn's Louis Vuitton Shop, having passed by two other Vuitton shops in other locales? "Because of these serene surroundings, the perfectly controlled mild temperature, and the relative comfort of th the carpeted floor."

It seems as though products - no matter what they are - almost become commodities. What we all buy is the sensory experience that surrounds them.

Book Smarts

I was interested to read that the sales of business books have been declining. And many of today's best-selling business books are titles that have been around for some time (like Good to Great and Who Moved My Cheese?).

There are still a bunch of helpful reads out there for marketing insights. The latest one I've read was touted by the Booz Allen publication as the best marketing book of 2005. It's ProfitBrand by Nick Wreden. And, like so many other business books, it has a plain-vanilla subtitle: How to Increase the Profitability, Accountability & Sustainability of Brands.

Most of this book is about analyzing the profitability (or potential profitability) of your various customer segments and then marketing to those segments in ways that will resonate most powerfully with them. Saying we've moved from a customer economy to a demand economy, Wreden presents a coherent picture of today's marketing landscape. He says that our target is no longer market segments, but profitable customers; that customer insight is no longer databases and analysis, but customer collaboration.

Indeed, we do not define our brands. Our customers do.