Customer Nutrition

What are your customers hungry for?  Do they come to you for food, or are they looking for nutrition?

This WSJ article highlights the effort of some Food Retailers to implement health-scoring systems in their stores.   Shoppers have been seeking satisfied stomachs from their grocery stores for years. Now, they're  seeking health as well.

Food products are the means not the end.  This is customer-centricity at its core and retailers like Kroger, Hy-Vee and Meyer are on the right track.

It is a brilliant extension of value to consumers along a new dimension.  Why sit passively as a storefront when you can create an interchange with a customer?  These grocers are getting out of the commoditization death spiral. They're no longer simply shelf space for the Kellogg's and Nestle's of the world.  The grocers are taking control of the customer experience with this new dimension.  They're also likely to build loyalty.


What are the key factors influencing a grocery shopper's choice of supermarket?

• Convenience - Good Location, Speedy Shopping
• Selection
• Quality
• Prices
• Aspirational qualities - Brand, Look & Feel of store

Now let's add a social and informational component to the value equation: Learning nutritional information.

What this does is accelerate the consumer trend towards health foods and away from empty calories.  With an eye towards leading customers with a valuable information exchange, these grocers are positioning themselves to build lasting bonds with their consumers as an enabler on leading trends.  By shopping at these stores, the consumer becomes more knowledgeable in an area of increasing relevance and importance.  This is a value exchange that goes beyond price stickers the cash register.

Intuit's Taxcaster

A parallel example of adding a value dimension comes from Intuit's TurboTax. Kings of designing the user experience around customers, Intuit included a "Scoreboard" in its software about two years ago.  With  "taxcaster", one can see how data entered in the software results in higher deductions or smaller tax bills.

The concept provides an interaction, a dialog, a level of engagement, that enhances the user experience.  This essentially expands the benefits of the tax prep software. In this case, if getting your taxes filed is food, then excitement is nutrition.

The Selling Process: Integral to Positive Customer Experience

How do you want to be sold to?  It depends a lot on what you're buying doesn't it?  In fact, can you really separate the selling process from the overall product experience?  

A salesperson  is the ambassador for your company, and what goes on in the field has a lasting impact on the overall perception of your business in the marketplace. Certainly those front-line sales persons have a big impact on a customer's purchasing decision.  It goes well beyond this though.  

A good salesman captures the essence of the product or service.  He relates the benefits beautifully. He is selling himself.  He is part of the brand and he's part of the product.  

The McKinsey Quarterly's latest edition features an article on the drivers of the sales experience, Basics of B2B Sales Success. Their survey focuses on the tactical; it nicely relates back into the strategic overall customer experience.  Which features of the selling process are the most influential to the customer?  (a) too much contact (b) lack of product knowledge, (c) lack of understanding of customer's needs, (d) selling style.

From the customer's point of view, the sales process is just one touch-point in the overall experience with an offering.  The classic Consumption Chain tool (below) shows this succinctly.  Transacting with customers is simply a link in the workflow as a customer interfaces with a supplier.  Its an essential function however, and it often carries a very high weighting of importance for customers.  

McKinsey gets one thing spot on: Relating product knowledge is just critical when it comes to care-abouts during the transaction process.  This knowledge is typically forward looking in terms of the consumption chain.  For example, take the purchase of office furniture.  A buyer would rely on the salesperson to augment their understanding of each of the links post-transaction. As the customer steps through the chain, they both receive benefits and incur costs.  What will happen during the process to receive  the chairs & tables, move the products through the office?  How will employees use & experience the furniture, and how will faulty equipment be handled? 

The purpose of this type of knowledge in the sales process is to set expectations. Mis-steps in expectations along these lines will almost certainly lead to unhappy customers and quickly minimize the chances of future business.

Top 5 Subjects to Cover in a Customer Meeting

What do you want?
How much do you want?
When do you want it?
What do you want to pay?
What can we do to get you to buy more?

These five questions are NOT the topic of this post. And setting aside sales calls, these shouldn't even be on the agenda of a customer visit.

I had the chance to meet with the CFO of a promising pre-revenue start-up this past week.  He's talking to potential beta customers, relaying the concept, looking for ways to deliver value and ultimately monetize.  To make the most of the time spent with customers, it is a great idea to be open to sharing information as well as listening to what the customer has to say.  A mutual exchange is valuable in developing a fruitful relationship.

Here are thoughts on five subjects that should be on the agenda:

1. Offer insight on the customer's business.  Rivalry and competition is a great topic. Armed with basic knowledge of a customer's product and marketplace, provide thoughts on the competitive landscape.  If competition is fierce, find out where a supplier can chip-in to push a customer ahead of its rivals.
2. Describe the way that you do business. When a customer knows what's important to you, what the baseline level of service is, this anchors the customer's expectations.  It also is a quick way to get feedback. How does the customer define ease of business?
3. Cover hiring and organizational capability. What are your people really good at?  The value of most businesses lands firmly in the hands of its people.  Find out what the customer believes they have as core skills.  Further, learning where the customer is hiring can provide good insight for future potential business.
4. Describe your corporate goals.  Provide insight into the business goals that you've set for your company. If you've just secured funding, sharing the exciting back and forth with investors is something that everyone will be interested in.  On the other hand, if you're established, what's next and what's the end goal for your enterprise?
5. Listen for the goals of the customer. Dealing with an R&D team as a customer is totally different than selling to sales people.  Look beyond your product. What do they want to get done and how do their department goals fit in with the broader company's intent.

Subjects of conversation such as these can lead to solid dialog between supplier and customer.  Use the customer visit as an event that seeks to obtain the customer's long-term involvement in your business.