Yesterday's panel discussion included some very brilliant minds on the Customer 2.0 Mad as Hell topic. Thanks again to Rebecca Morgan, Matt Heinz and Koka Sexton for their generous time and wisdom on this rich topic. Please check it out and here are a few highlights from our discussion:
The customer is changing, we are not in beta, this isn't a test, there will not be a new release, they are here to stay and they are changing the way they buy.
If you are selling the way you did 5 years ago, it's time to adapt or die.
The universe shifted in 2008 and anything before that is pre-historic; what used to work no longer works now
Research confirms that 70% of buying decisions are happening online
Customer is being more vocal about what they do and don't like
They are angry and they have been for several years because life basically sucks for them; their homes are underwater, they can't qualify for loans, their 401K's are bad, they can't get a raise, so they want to take this out on salespeople and servicepeople.
We are still asking our sales prospects to sleep with us on the first date; we want to move too far too fast; we are assumptive
We need to train our salespeople to engage better and leverage the social tools to engage with their customers and not hide behind the phone and email
The customer is mad because they have been ignored for years and the social networks recognizes them and gives them a voice
The number of salespeople will decrease in the next 5 years but the socially smart and engaged ones will survive
The customer will continue to get mad and have a platform to speak about it