Phrase of the Day: “Transaction Myopia”

Just tripped across a great turn of phrase from Peppers and Rogers: “Transaction Myopia.”  Good stuff, and worth checking out. (Via CRMAdvocate)

The key bit:

“It’s far easier for almost any business manager to think in terms of
transactions completed-whether you talk about products sold, or calls
handled, or loyalty points awarded-than it is to think in terms of
asset values improved (i.e., lifetime values increased because of
strengthened relationships). And obviously, having better transactional
data will help any firm do a better job in making customer-centric
decisions. But even sophisticated statistical analysis will not
necessarily change the mind-set of the executives involved. 

We
often say that thinking in customer terms, rather than transaction
terms, is like seeing a different dimension of your business. Rather
than focusing on one type of transaction (or product) at a time, and
trying to sell that transaction to as many customers as possible, the
truly customer-oriented firm will focus on one customer at a time, and
try to line up for that customer as many transactions as possible, over
the life of that customer’s relationship with the firm. 

For
most businesses, the product transaction is the hero. But for truly
customer-centric businesses, the customer is the hero. So, rather than
trying to find more customers for your products (which is the primary
objective for product managers), a customer-centric approach involves
trying to find more products for customers. And this means someone has
to be in charge of the customer relationships, one customer at a time.”

You can read the whole thing here.

(N.B. Unfortunately, it’s behind a not-customer-friendly registration wall.  A wee bit of pot-kettle-black…)

photo: chuck revell