Jennifer Kirkby argues "Lets have more action (and promotion of it) and stop playing word deckchairs" in response to a few blogs Jennifer Rice, John Moore, John Porcaro and I have had on the changing status and meaning of the word, "customer"... (actually, our debate was about different conceptions of customers - the constant in all this - as objects, partners, or subjects and also about the differences between customer-centric and buyer-centric but anyway...)
Now, gotta say that this is one iceberg (iceblog?) I knew would be coming. Pardon me for looking over the horizon at the looming forces of change which threaten to drive a big hole into the hull of our collective customer-centric failings... but it just happens that the ship I am on aims to steer a passage through the icy myths of modern "customer relationship management" and marketing... and the only way I can give appropriate instructions to the captains of industry is to use new language to build a new set of navigational aids in order to provide a new set of directions.... !! Here is why ...
We need new language and terms to discover, express and design more appropriate ways to understand and respond to ongoing shifts in society, business, consumer behaviour, culture etc etc... Indeed, some time ago, the term "customer-centric" was created to do precisely this - to help businesses to identify and comprehend a new set of business value drivers centred on the customer and to then codify, articulate and deliver relevant strategies that recognise the fundamental differences (in needs, value, expectations, behaviour) between these customers..
The problem is that the consensus of meaning and actions now attached to the term "customer-centric" have become corrupted, manipulated and specifically, inappropriate to modern customer needs. Why? Because the typical customer-centric (for that, read "firm-centric") strategic and delivery framework focuses first and foremost on achieving efficiency and productivity goals for the firm and not those of people as individuals...
Importantly, when we have a consensus of this kind, language can often limit potential for breakthrough change and innovation. Our tendency is to focus on incremental change, to play around at the edges of existing knowledge and consequently, to miss powerful new opportunties for disruptive and radical change....
So, it is to overcome this consensus of thought and action that we must invent, use and socialise new terms and concepts, er, such as "mutual marketing".
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