While walking on the beach yesterday near the famous Mavericks surf spot I observed the filming of a young couple and the discussion was around "lowering ones carbon footprint" by planting a home garden. Just three weeks ago near this spot a top surfer was killed by 50 foot waves at Mavericks and it was nice to see something good happening here. Although they call us the "left coast" I often think about us as being the "best coast" and as history has showed us many cultural transformations begin here. The drive toward sustainability is another one that is not limited to California and the US; many European governments and companies understand the full ramifications of sustainability as it relates to all aspects of business, government and life.
The economic storm of restructuring and lack of regulations in the US have been major factors for many companies that have put sustainability on the back burner in our country. Many companies and organizations have done this blindly in an effort to survive the economic storm, but now is the time to start thinking about it again whether you're a business or organization. The first thing you don't want to do is have yourself filmed killing an elephant like Go Daddy's CEO Bob Parsons. Sustainability should be part of your business planning and can be an important aspect of how you create and manage a sustainable customer experience.
Customer Experience Management (CEM)
First there was customer relationship management (CRM), then customer loyalty management (CLM) and customer intimacy management (CIM) now customer experience management, CEM is the latest acronym, but it's not being driven by the technology industry. In some ways it is being driven by two business mavericks, Lior Arrussy and Bruce Temkin formerly of Forrester. CEM is in many ways often related to the now 20 year old CRM acronym and the "One to One" book series by Peppers and Rodgers, and is a revolution in the way we think about our customers and their experience with our products and services. CEM today begins with social customers and their latest review of your products and services on Yelp, TripAdvisor or some other social forum. It is also a discipline that many companies large and small don't get; those that get it will gain significant competitive advantage in the world of the new customer that has much more access to information than any customer ever had in the history of business.
Making the commitment to being a sustainable company and employing sustainable business practices that make sense, will become what I call a brand enabler in the years ahead. Why, firstly energy costs are going absolutely through the roof and they won't stop. The public utility commissions across the US have given the utilities carte blanche on increasing your bill every year by at least 5%. My total energy bill when I moved into my house in California was a whopping $87 a month until just five years ago when it began to skyrocket last month my electricity bill was $437 and gas was over $200. So my energy costs have increased by an order of magnitude of 8 times in just 13 years. Everyone is going to feel this and energy will be a driving factor in increasing the awareness of everything sustainable.
- Even those who are members of the greatest generation will care.
- Baby boomers will care even more.
- The GenXers really care.
- The millennials are now onto it and making choices about who they work for based on corporate social responsibility and sustainable business practices.
So why not make your brand sustainable and enhance the customer's experience? This relates right back to brand experience management and really has nothing to do with global warming, which is now under a propaganda attack from politicos who think they understand science. Forget about global warming, in this country people are too concerned with survival and keeping their homes to care about the average global temperature. But they are really concerned with their utility bills and how that is going to drive the up the cost of everything in a supply chain.
Sustainability is a mind set and it begins with energy and smart business decisions around how to employ its practices wisely and for some creating your our own energy. Recycling and using products and materials that are sustainable is just part of it, creating clean energy from the sun is a demonstration to your customers that your business is sustainable. Guess what, this is a great investment and will reduce your energy costs and dependency on fossil fuels in the years ahead. Unfortunately, the legacy of Ronald Reagan haunts us here; he killed all incentives for solar back in 1980, for those of you that don't remember this, the oil lobby won out. Now the oil companies are repositioning themselves as energy companies after they have had a free for all polluting the planet the last fifty years.
Sustainability and the Cloud
Another strong step in reducing your energy dependence is leveraging cloud computing, this puts less stress on your onsite energy demands and spreads them to a utility model for application use in a data center. SAP will be conducting a cloud computing webinar series which is purely educational and might be a good place to learn about the benefits of the cloud: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=300582&s=1&k=BAA35FA5E5F500A8DC5F9281C75C089A
Net/Net
There is a lot of scrutiny on all aspects of business today and especially on business leaders who fail to demonstrate good judgment. Just because you are a billionaire doesn't mean you can do anything you want and disgusting displays reflect your character. Taking some simple measures to create a culture of sustainability in your company or organization will emanate out to bolster your reputation and your brand. And ultimately create a unique customer experience that others will want to share.
We are a visual society and brand is king:
- What do I feel when I see a brand's logo?
- Do I feel good?
- Can I trust the brand?
- Does the brand experience make me happy?
- If I select that brand will I be secure in my job because of the decision?
- Can I expect the same great quality of product and service?
- Was my last customer experience with that brand good, and if not did they make good on it for me?
- Did I come away feeling like the brand is sustainable?
Some of the more recent failed brand strategies include companies that associated their brand with the images of the brand of others. In some cases it was with the image of "billionaire bad boys" and you know who I am talking about. Build your house on rock, and create a sustainable customer experience where your brand speaks trust, character, responsibility and sustainability. Until next time I wish you great marketing and selling in the millennium.