Clienting

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The word mark Clienting by the management consultant Edgar K. Geffroy describes a concrete form of management theory for customer orientation in marketing from the late 1980s. Geffroy thus represents an extreme orientation of the company to the needs of the market, in particular the customers of a customer in sales , thus the product policy and corporate culture and employee management in the sense of an approach known today as stakeholder .

approach

Edgar K. Geffroy has been an independent sales trainer and management consultant since 1984 . As a result of his work as Geffroy & Oechsler , he assumed that the one-sided sales orientation in sales would not lead to sustainable success in sales policy . A development that, especially in medium-sized companies, was not very sustainable due to the increasing influence of controlling measures. In contrast to print sales , Geffroy no longer paid the greatest attention to the one-sided presentation of utility values and high closing commissions or cost reduction in order to increase sales success, i.e. customer success, but instead paid more attention to maximizing the success of the customer's customers .

According to Geffroy when his theory was founded in the mid-1980s, this should remedy the poor service character , especially in Germany, and thus the poor economic situation of many companies as a result of widespread dissatisfaction among many customers. He was the first in German-speaking countries to present the relationship with the customer to a broad audience in a screeching manner as a decisive factor for the achievement of business goals and thus achieved a relatively high level of attention at specialist congresses. As a result, Geffroy published a number of bestsellers with a total circulation of around 250,000. His first book is published today in the eighth edition, the clienting title The only thing that bothers is the customer in the sixteenth revised new edition.

Historical classification

Geffroy published his first publications on integrated marketing in the early 1980s. At that time the Anglo-Saxon profit center principle was being strongly represented in the consulting market. Even medium-sized companies were divided into so-called operational divisions, the value added contributions of which had to be invoiced internally so that each area could present a result . Whether the customer was satisfied with the overall performance was not the subject of the controlling concept .

The company's turnover should suffice as a yardstick for success, so-called quality management ( TQM ) was used for quality assurance, the key figures of which in turn put process quality before customer benefit. The appreciation of the customer, his satisfaction due to high availability and constant acting contact persons across the departmental boundaries were just as little measured as recommendation rates or internal losses due to high information deficits along the profit center boundaries. A holistic approach, as it is implemented today by the balanced scorecard , was not widely discussed. In Geffroy’s opinion, the clienting concept should replace the established marketing term, but did not make any scientific statements about product policy , distribution or price policy or details of customer-oriented communication policy . The approaches to customer orientation and the statements about sales or public relations were more of a programmatic nature.

Holistic customer orientation, as demanded by Geffroy and taken into account in modern organizational development , was sometimes ridiculed as a utopia due to its lack of conceptual accuracy, and sometimes rejected by large parts of the entrepreneurship with the argument that it was difficult to measure. Geffroy was referring to the bottleneck-focused strategy developed by Wolfgang Mewes , which had also not yet achieved any prominent economic importance. Systems for the complex recording of employee and customer relationships and thus also the knowledge of the customer (see today's CRM ) have only just developed in the form of so-called CAS systems , with which the seller was given customer data via notebook. Geffroy's demands for conducting sales talks and using the Internet as a sales channel were only realized later, through the use of multichannel commerce and e-commerce systems.

As a synonym for dialogue marketing, however, an approach by Prof. Siegfried Vögele is establishing itself , who introduced his so-called dialogue marketing concept (Bavarian Academy for Marketing and Advertising, Munich ) with easily measurable response figures. At least the response rate to advertising could be increased, even if the much more far-reaching approach of customer satisfaction as a concept was initially not accepted by the market.

It was only with the work of Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton at the beginning of the 1990s that an extensive academic discussion succeeded on how to make so-called old wine conceptually tangible in new marketing tubes and bring all stakeholders into the focus of controlling . Geffroy's theses, some of which are provocative, have found their way into various marketing concepts , most recently in so-called viral marketing . For clienting development, Mr. Geffroy was made an Honorary Doctorate from Newport University, California, and received the Management Strategy Award for Clienting Theses in 2000.

Seven trend theses

He summarizes his approaches in seven theses for the new marketing . These elements are not included in the classic marketing mix .

revolution

Geffroy believed that the market would be facing fundamental upheaval in the mid-1980s. Mergers would create mammoth corporations , small and fast providers would threaten large and cumbersome corporations . It is crucial to change the basic rules if you want to be successful with your offer. This also means ignoring established limits for services (e.g. consistent individualization of offers).

Marketplaces

The marketplace of the future is the Internet . Although most entrepreneurs dismissed the importance of the internet as a playground for erotic providers and as a pastime for chatters, Geffroy propagated that in twenty years (around 2005) practically every company would have an internet presence and a so-called virtual shop, in which the customer can shop 24 hours a day.

Stress balances

In addition to the proven key figures, the company's success should be recorded in the form of so-called soft facts over a period of one thousand days (so-called stress balances) . Too many supposed cost-cutting successes turned out to be negative in the medium-term, as the company would be deprived of the ability to prioritize follow-up business, networking and the level of recommendation.

Astounding customers

It is crucial in the next few years to move even further towards customers. He must be amazed and excited. There has to be suction instead of pressure , for example with new ideas or concepts that help him but that he has not yet thought of. The basic goal is to look at the customer's situation from a higher-level perspective in order to then be able to offer a coherent and consistent problem solution in a second step, with your own ideas and experience .

Geffroy was of the opinion that every provider ultimately had to decide whether he wanted to appear consistently inexpensive or with excellent service. Both are ruinous and implausible. As a means of market communication , provocation or dramatization are suitable in order to reach the customer, since real value presentation is hardly sufficient to attract attention. Later claims by many consumer goods suppliers followed this approach (e.g. “Avarice is cool”, “I'm not stupid” or the Benetton advertising with bloody shirts).

Partner thinking instead of customer thinking

Customers should be seen as partners of their own company. Cooperation with customers, as will later be realized by key account managers , was a touchstone of the corporate culture for Geffroy. Imprecise goals towards satisfaction are no longer sufficient in a market environment in which the following questions remain open:

Geffroy advised analyzing how the company is working towards customer orientation. When it comes to clarifying the questions, the decisive factor is not just how employees think about customer orientation, but how they live it in practice. For example, if the customer calls the company shortly after five on Friday, but the employee has booked a tennis court at 5:30 and therefore no longer answers the phone - then the stake is much more than an angry customer.

Last but not least, Geffroy pretended to first turn to the employee as a partner and only then to sales, as this has a significant influence on customer satisfaction through his behavior. Geffroy calls the conception for a growth-oriented relationship quality within a company Clienting Inside . According to Geffroy, this should include the systematic development of partnership-based cooperation between employees and managers using the dimension of personal and electronic information networks (similar to clienting for the systematic development of successful external customer relationships).

Development of customer networks

In connection with the Internet as a future virtual marketplace, it is crucial to exploit the well-known vitamin B by establishing customer networks. It is not the price of a product that decides whether it is bought, but a recommendation from a good friend. The principle by which normal companies could learn from MLM corporations would be: Networking. To this end, clienting is looking for approaches to promote personal closeness to individual customers, even in large companies, just as mom and pop once did as a matter of course.

Customer success programs

Geffroy himself provoked with the following demand : Forget about your programs to increase sales - design programs that make your customers more successful! In a sense, this is the last step towards truly comprehensive customer orientation . Clienting focuses on the people in the customer company and their increase in success. The salesperson of the future is developing more and more into a producer of life support concepts, a consultant and relationship manager who enables customers to do better business themselves . He should be at the customer's side with information, advice and action and not just ask for useful values and offer financing , since the focus here is too much on one's own product and the factual issues are personalized and made easier to compare. The Controlling - Key figures of the eighties, the time of the invention of the Clienting not contributed to the leadership of such dimensions.

Case study in franchising

Geffroy was contacted with the task of examining the organization of a solid construction house provider in the franchise system and making suggestions for improvement. In the course of the following organizational analysis it was found, among other things, that

  1. the development of internal structures and processes could not keep pace with the rapid growth and these had to be realigned for the future;
  2. a meaningful, uniform corporate mission statement was not yet clearly recognizable;
  3. The practical customer orientation had to be improved, especially with a view to consistently placing the customer and his satisfaction at the center of thought and action.

As a consequence of these analysis results, a number of profound changes have been initiated. The development started with a detailed analysis of customer expectations and a systematic customer survey . As part of this survey, it emerged that the customer and the building owner are generally very unsettled. This is because the customer usually:

  • has no idea about building,
  • Is afraid of breakdowns,
  • Is afraid of a so-called cost explosion,
  • often does not know what exactly he wants
  • has little confidence in the property developer for general image reasons .

There were also some interesting insights into customer expectations.

In order to counteract the customer's uncertainty and to gain their trust, the group of companies subjected itself to a voluntary four-phase inspection by the TÜV for every construction project. Furthermore, together with a special insurance group, the company offered an insurance for the construction completion guarantee, so that the companies working on the construction were checked for solidity and creditworthiness. Membership in the quality association “Professional and Quality Assurance Association in the German Solid House Building” (FQM for short) was seen as a further component in relation to customer orientation.

All members of the FQM Association must adhere to certain rules. This includes five years of successful market activity, the naming of 20 reference builders who were asked through personal and written interviews about their satisfaction with the construction, as well as extensive information about the economic situation of the company.

The program was supplemented by the implementation of building owner seminars, which provide information on what a building owner has to pay attention to and what anyone interested can participate in free of charge. Systematic customer surveys were also introduced. A frequently asked question was: "Would you recommend us to your best friend?" a. to analyze problems and challenges from the customer's point of view, so one tried consistently to empathize with their daily problems and dream world.

Inward clienting required internal restructuring. First of all, the influence of the headquarters was decentralized. She was now mainly responsible for the areas of marketing , system competence (construction know-how) and information management as well as the corporate development of the group. As a result, responsibility was delegated downwards and the management team strengthened. These were now the main contact persons for the franchisees within the company and responsible for providing comprehensive support to them in the areas of organization, TÜV approval and customer orientation.

In order to meet customer expectations, more emphasis was placed on the development of information and communication management. This was expressed in the fact that there were institutionalized meetings at different levels. During these encounters, an intensive discussion took place not only with the problems, but also with the motives (self-portrayal, self-realization, emotions) and dreams of the customers (positioning as a successful person etc.). In addition, structures and processes were changed so that customer orientation was highlighted accordingly.

So it was possible to base the profit-sharing of the employees strongly on the customer orientation, which was expressed in the fact that bonuses were only introduced for reference customers. To support this chosen path, some company principles were developed in moderated employee workshops, which are as follows:

  • I deal with others openly and honestly!
  • I listen and help!
  • I face the criticism!
  • I will be polite and friendly to everyone!
  • I support everyone in their further development!
  • It is our business to help with all possible means so that our customers can live better themselves!
  • Customer problems are to be solved immediately!
  • Every problem is tackled and made a task. A “not possible - does not exist” is a thing of the past!
  • Everyone is ready to take responsibility!
  • The superior does not owe an answer!
  • Don't talk, do!

So that it did not stick to these principles, but that they were actively lived and implemented together with customer orientation, the clienting ideas should be systematically carried internally into the organization. This was achieved with more training and the establishment of an own academy. In regular seminars and workshops, the members of the organization are now made transparent about the clienting ideas so that they can apply or put it into practice in their daily work.

Furthermore, a clienting circle was set up which is responsible for the internal development of the clienting idea. In addition to this working group, internal controlling has been expanded so that corrective measures and development potential in the company can be recognized and no longer just cash flows can be assessed retrospectively. It was about internal clienting in which the employee is viewed as a customer of the company.

With the help of this approach, the group of companies has continuously succeeded in increasing its sales over-proportionally in recent years, from 42 million DM in the business year 1990/91 to over 120 million in the business year 1992/93 to over 220 million in the business year 1995 / 96.

literature

See also

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