Thomas Bill - Anticipate: know what your customers want before they do

CONTENTS

Cover image: Getty Images / Rebecca Van Ommen

Cover design: Paul McCarthy

Copyright 2013 by Bill Thomas and Jeff Tobe. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Tobe, Jeff.

Anticipate : knowing what customers need before they do / Jeff Tobe, Bill Thomas.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-35691-3 (cloth : alk. paper); ISBN 978-1-118-41721-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-42023-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-43408-6

1. Customer relations. 2. Strategic planning. I. Thomas, Bill, 1955 II. Title.

HF5415.5.T63 2013

658.8342dc23

2012035833

Its estimated that as many as 90 percent of strategies fail to deliver the value or results they were intended to. In most cases, that value is generally interpreted to mean shareholder value, return on capital employed, or some other proxy for a predictable and dependable return on investment. Some of those failures are significant, some are modest, and some are incrementalbut in all cases, the feeling is... they could have done better.

Our experience shows two main reasons why strategies fail to deliver as promised. They were either faulty in design, or they were faulty in implementation. And oftentimes, its some of both. This holds true whether youre trying to develop a broad business strategy or a more specific customer focus strategy. Chances are, if your organization has a formal customer focus strategy, you feel pretty good about its chances for success. And if you personally played a role in designing that strategy, youre most likely feeling quite bullish about it. Lets see. The following pages contain a brief assessment that will give you some insight into what you might realistically expect about your customer focus strategys likelihood of success.

This self-assessment is meant to help you evaluate the potential for success of your business growth strategy and its underlying customer focus. Generally, the higher your score in a given question or area, the greater potential your organization has of succeeding in its customer focus effortsthus generating the growth you want from your business strategy.

The thirty (30) questions address various aspects of the Customer Focus Maturity Model (CFMM) and 10-Point Customer Focus Framework, which will be covered in great detail throughout this book. Weve chosen questions that represent a wide range of customer focus critical success factors, but it is not meant to be an exhaustive or all-inclusive list of such questions.

NOTE: There are no right or wrong answers, only the answers that most closely reflect your companys current state. Some of the questions may sound similar, so please read them carefully to understand the difference theyre meant to capture. You may struggle a bit on some of them trying to differentiate between a specific department or function in your company and the company as a whole. For this assessment, we are focusing on your company as a whole. Reflect the answer that most closely describes your views about the entire company. Once you have answered all thirty questions, there are instructions at the end of the assessment to help you through the next steps.

To begin, for each question, indicate which answer most appropriately reflects your current view of your company (note we use the term company to mean both for-profit and non-profit organizations).

Scan for printable copy

Access this assessment online at www.ANTICIPATEtheExperience.com/assessment or scan the QR code.

Once youve recorded your answer for each of the thirty questions, add up your totals for sections A, B, and C, as well as your Grand Total Score. Then look to the comments below to understand the implications of your ratings.