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| customer definition in business: Introduction to Business Lawrence J. Gitman, Carl McDaniel, Amit Shah, Monique Reece, Linda Koffel, Bethann Talsma, James C. Hyatt, 2024-09-16 Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. |
| customer definition in business: Seven Strategy Questions Robert Simons, 2010-11-16 Simons presents the seven key questions a manager and his team must continually ask. Drawing on decades of research into performance management systems and organization design, Seven Strategy Questions is a no-nonsense, must-read resource for all leaders in any organization. |
| customer definition in business: Business Model Generation Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, 2013-02-01 Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation. Co-created by 470 Business Model Canvas practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools, and makes them easy to implement in your organization. It explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model--or analyze and renovate an old one. Along the way, you'll understand at a much deeper level your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition. Business Model Generation features practical innovation techniques used today by leading consultants and companies worldwide, including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others. Designed for doers, it is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new models of value creation: for executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations. If you're ready to change the rules, you belong to the business model generation! |
| customer definition in business: Customer Centricity Peter Fader, 2012 Not all customers are created equal. Despite what the tired old adage says, the customer is not always right. Not all customers deserve your best efforts: in the world of customer centricity, there are good customers...and then there is pretty much everybody else. Upending some of our most fundamental beliefs, renowned behavioral data expert Peter Fader, Co-Director of The Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative, helps businesses radically rethink how they relate to customers. He provides insights to help you revamp your performance metrics, product development, customer relationship management and organization in order to make sure you focus directly on the needs of your most valuable customers and increase profits for the long term. |
| customer definition in business: Understanding Customers Chris Rice, 2010-05-14 This fully updated second edition of Understanding Customers is a recommended textbook for the Understanding Customers Certificate CIM paper. It is divided into six parts covering the social sciences, people as individuals, people in groups, people in society and people in organisations. Each chapter of Understanding Customers consists of: * learning objectives and definitions * the theoretical background * exercises * issues to consider * current examples * implications for marketing * recent examination questions. Chris Rice is Senior Lecturer in the Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University. He is a CIM examiner on the Understanding Customers paper and has widespread consultancy experience in both the private and public sector. |
| customer definition in business: What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services Anthony Ulwick, 2005-09-06 A world-renowned innovation guru explains practices that result in breakthrough innovations Ulwick's outcome-driven programs bring discipline and predictability to the often random process of innovation. -Clayton Christensen For years, companies have accepted the underlying principles that define the customer-driven paradigm--that is, using customer requirements to guide growth and innovation. But twenty years into this movement, breakthrough innovations are still rare, and most companies find that 50 to 90 percent of their innovation initiatives flop. The cost of these failures to U.S. companies alone is estimated to be well over $100 billion annually. In a book that challenges everything you have learned about being customer driven, internationally acclaimed innovation leader Anthony Ulwick reveals the secret weapon behind some of the most successful companies of recent years. Known as outcome-driven innovation, this revolutionary approach to new product and service creation transforms innovation from a nebulous art into a rigorous science from which randomness and uncertainty are eliminated. Based on more than 200 studies spanning more than seventy companies and twenty-five industries, Ulwick contends that, when it comes to innovation, the traditional methods companies use to communicate with customers are the root cause of chronic waste and missed opportunity. In What Customers Want, Ulwick demonstrates that all popular qualitative research methods yield well-intentioned but unfitting and dreadfully misleading information that serves to derail the innovation process. Rather than accepting customer inputs such as needs, benefits, specifications, and solutions, Ulwick argues that researchers should silence the literal voice of the customer and focus on the metrics that customers use to measure success when executing the jobs, tasks or activities they are trying to get done. Using these customer desired outcomes as inputs into the innovation process eliminates much of the chaos and variability that typically derails innovation initiatives. With the same profound insight, simplicity, and uncommon sense that propelled The Innovator's Solution to worldwide acclaim, this paradigm-changing book details an eight-step approach that uses outcome-driven thinking to dramatically improve every aspect of the innovation process--from segmenting markets and identifying opportunities to creating, evaluating, and positioning breakthrough concepts. Using case studies from Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, AIG, Pfizer, and other leading companies, What Customers Want shows companies how to: Obtain unique customer inputs that make predictable innovation possible Recognize opportunities for disruption, new market creation, and core market growth--well before competitors do Identify which ideas, technologies, and acquisitions have the greatest potential for creating customer value Systematically define breakthrough products and services concepts Innovation is fundamental to success and business growth. Offering a proven alternative to failed customer-driven thinking, this landmark book arms you with the tools to unleash innovation, lower costs, and reduce failure rates--and create the products and services customers really want. |
| customer definition in business: The Game-Changer Lafley, A.G. & Charan, Ram, 2008 &Lsquo;A.G. Lafley Has Made Procter And Gamble Great Again&Rsquo;&Mdash;Economist &Lsquo;Ram Charan Is The Most Influential Consultant Alive&Rsquo;&Mdash;Fortune Magazine How To Increase And Sustain Organic Revenue And Profit Growth&Mdash;Whether You&Rsquo;Re Running An Entire Company Or In Your First Management Job. Over The Past Seven Years, Procter &Amp; Gamble Has Tripled Profits; Hugely Improved Organic Revenue Growth, Cash Flow, And Operating Margins; And Significantly Boosted Dividends. How? A. G. Lafley And His Leadership Team Have Integrated Innovation Into Everything Procter &Amp; Gamble Does&Mdash;Creating New Customers And New Markets. Through Eye-Opening Stories A. G. Lafley And Ram Charan Show How P&Amp;G And Companies Such As Nokia, Lego, And Ge Have Become Game-Changers. Their Inspiring Lessons Will Help You Achieve Higher Growth And Higher Margins, Tap In To Abundant Creativity Outside Your Business, Manage Risk And Integrate Innovation Into Your Decision-Making. In A World Of Unprecedented Change And Competitiveness, Innovation Is The Best&Mdash;And Arguably The Only&Mdash;Way To Win. Innovation Is Not A Separate Activity, But The Job Of Everyone In A Leadership Position And The Integral Driving Force For Any Business That Wants To Grow And Succeed. This Is A Game-Changing Book That Helps You Redefine Your Leadership. |
| customer definition in business: Superior Customer Value Art Weinstein, 2018-12-07 Superior Customer Value is a state-of-the-art guide to designing, implementing and evaluating a customer value strategy in service, technology and information-based organizations. A customer-centric culture provides focus and direction for an organization, driving and enhancing market performance. By benchmarking the best companies in the world, Weinstein shows students and marketers what it really means to create exceptional value for customers in the Now Economy. Learn how to transform companies by competing via the 5-S framework – speed, service, selection, solutions and sociability. Other valuable tools such as the Customer Value Funnel, Service-Quality-Image-Price (SQIP) framework, SERVQUAL, and the Customer Value/Retention Model frame the reader’s thinking on how to improve marketing operations to create customer-centered organizations. This edition features a stronger emphasis on marketing thinking, planning and strategy, as well as new material on the Now Economy, millennials, customer obsession, business models, segmentation and personalized marketing, customer experience management and customer journey mapping, value pricing, customer engagement, relationship marketing and technology, marketing metrics and customer loyalty and retention. Built on a solid research basis, this practical and action-oriented book will give students and managers an edge in improving their marketing operations to create superior customer experiences. |
| customer definition in business: Customer Care Excellence Sarah Cook, 2008 Emphasizing both strategic and practical aspects of customer care, this work explains how gaining customer commitment and motivating employees to deliver an excellent service at all of a company's touch points can ensure successful results and satisfied customers. |
| customer definition in business: The Personal MBA Josh Kaufman, 2010-12-30 Master the fundamentals, hone your business instincts, and save a fortune in tuition. The consensus is clear: MBA programs are a waste of time and money. Even the elite schools offer outdated assembly-line educations about profit-and-loss statements and PowerPoint presentations. After two years poring over sanitized case studies, students are shuffled off into middle management to find out how business really works. Josh Kaufman has made a business out of distilling the core principles of business and delivering them quickly and concisely to people at all stages of their careers. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. In The Personal MBA, he shares the essentials of sales, marketing, negotiation, strategy, and much more. True leaders aren't made by business schools-they make themselves, seeking out the knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to succeed. Read this book and in one week you will learn the principles it takes most people a lifetime to master. |
| customer definition in business: Customers Mean Business James A. Unruh, 1996-09-08 Here is the gold mined from interviews with people from companies known worldwide for their dedication to customers. With this wealth of experience, amplified by their information management work with companies all over the world, Unruh and the Unisys team developed a highly focused, six-stage process they call Customerize, and it is described here is clear, simple steps. The real-life stories that flesh out the framework are not sanitized case studies. These are the voices of people of the front lines. |
| customer definition in business: The Effortless Experience Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, Rick DeLisi, 2013-09-12 Everyone knows that the best way to create customer loyalty is with service so good, so over the top, that it surprises and delights. But what if everyone is wrong? In their acclaimed bestseller The Challenger Sale, Matthew Dixon and his colleagues at CEB busted many longstanding myths about sales. Now they’ve turned their research and analysis to a new vital business subject—customer loyalty—with a new book that turns the conventional wisdom on its head. The idea that companies must delight customers by exceeding service expectations is so entrenched that managers rarely even question it. They devote untold time, energy, and resources to trying to dazzle people and inspire their undying loyalty. Yet CEB’s careful research over five years and tens of thousands of respondents proves that the “dazzle factor” is wildly overrated—it simply doesn’t predict repeat sales, share of wallet, or positive wordof-mouth. The reality: Loyalty is driven by how well a company delivers on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not on how spectacular its service experience might be. Most customers don’t want to be “wowed”; they want an effortless experience. And they are far more likely to punish you for bad service than to reward you for good service. If you put on your customer hat rather than your manager or marketer hat, this makes a lot of sense. What do you really want from your cable company, a free month of HBO when it screws up or a fast, painless restoration of your connection? What about your bank—do you want free cookies and a cheerful smile, even a personal relationship with your teller? Or just a quick in-and-out transaction and an easy way to get a refund when it accidentally overcharges on fees? The Effortless Experience takes readers on a fascinating journey deep inside the customer experience to reveal what really makes customers loyal—and disloyal. The authors lay out the four key pillars of a low-effort customer experience, along the way delivering robust data, shocking insights and profiles of companies that are already using the principles revealed by CEB’s research, with great results. And they include many tools and templates you can start applying right away to improve service, reduce costs, decrease customer churn, and ultimately generate the elusive loyalty that the “dazzle factor” fails to deliver. The rewards are there for the taking, and the pathway to achieving them is now clearly marked. |
| customer definition in business: The Art of Definition Ron Legarski, 2024-09-05 The Art of Definition: Crafting Words for Clear Communication is a comprehensive exploration into the world of definitions, delving into the subtle art and rigorous science behind defining terms with precision and clarity. In an age where language is both powerful and rapidly evolving, this book serves as a guide for anyone seeking to enhance their communication skills through the careful crafting of definitions. From legal terminology and scientific concepts to everyday language and cultural expressions, definitions form the foundation of how we convey meaning. This book provides readers with practical tools and strategies for writing effective definitions across a wide range of fields, demonstrating the pivotal role that well-crafted definitions play in ensuring accurate communication. By examining real-world examples, case studies, and different types of definitions—lexical, operational, stipulative, and more—The Art of Definition offers a detailed roadmap for understanding the complexities of language. Whether you are a student, professional, or simply someone intrigued by language, this book takes you on a journey into the heart of how definitions shape our understanding of the world. It also explores the challenges of defining abstract concepts, the importance of context, and the impact of definitions on knowledge across disciplines. With clear explanations and hands-on exercises, The Art of Definition empowers readers to craft definitions that enhance clarity, minimize ambiguity, and improve overall communication. By unlocking the techniques of definition writing, this book offers readers the ability to elevate their writing, their professional discourse, and their understanding of the world around them. |
| customer definition in business: Using Information to Develop a Culture of Customer Centricity David Loshin, Abie Reifer, 2013-11-22 Using Information to Develop a Culture of Customer Centricity sets the stage for understanding the holistic marriage of information, socialization, and process change necessary for transitioning an organization to customer centricity. The book begins with an overview list of 8-10 precepts associated with a business-focused view of the knowledge necessary for developing customer-oriented business processes that lead to excellent customer experiences resulting in increased revenues. Each chapter delves into each precept in more detail. |
| customer definition in business: Introducing Marketing John Burnett, 2018-07-11 Integrated Marketing boxes illustrate how companies apply principles. |
| customer definition in business: Customer Education Adam Avramescu, 2019-01-10 Today's software companies can't afford to be passive with their customers. As software moves to the web and becomes more consumerized, software companies can only grow if their current customers renew and grow over time. Otherwise those customers will leave, creating a leaky bucket of revenue.So, what are smart, innovative companies doing before they end up with severe churn problems? Forward-thinking companies invest in Customer Education early as a way to drive customer growth and maximize lifetime value in a scalable way. Over time, this function has the potential to differentiate a company in the market.Consider this book a survival guide to investing in a Customer Education function, including: -How to drive a Customer Education strategy across your customer lifecycle-Tips for creating killer content that will actually lead to customer performance-What tools to implement as part of your technology stack-Measurement strategies for improving your content and showing ROI-And more... |
| customer definition in business: Customer Experience Management Bernd H. Schmitt, 2010-07-09 In Customer Experience Management, renowned consultant and marketing thinker Bernd Schmitt follows up on his groundbreaking book Experiential Marketing by introducing a new and visionary approach to marketing called customer experience management (CEM). In this book, Schmitt demonstrates how to put his CEM framework to work in any organization to spur growth, increase revenues, and transform the image of your company and its brands. From retail buying to telephone orders, from marketing communications to online shopping, every customer touch-point offers companies an opportunity to maximize the customer experience and establish a bond that will never be broken. Customer Experience Management introduces the five-step CEM process, a comprehensive tool for connecting with customers at every touch-point. This revolutionary marketing guide provides cases of successful CEM implementations in a wide variety of consumer and B2B industries, including pharmaceuticals, electronics, beauty and cosmetics, telecommunications, beverages, financial services, and even the nonprofit sector. A must-read for senior executives, marketing managers, and anyone who wants to drive growth, increase income, and spur organizational change, Customer Experience Management demonstrates the power of collecting truly relevant customer information, developing and implementing winning strategies, and measuring their results. |
| customer definition in business: Lovability Brian de Haaff, 2017-04-25 Love is the surprising emotion that company builders cannot afford to ignore. Genuine, heartfelt devotion and loyalty from customers — yes, love — is what propels a select few companies ahead. Think about the products and companies that you really care about and how they make you feel. You do not merely likethose products, you adore them. Consider your own emotions and a key insight is revealed: Love is central to business. Nobody talks about it, but it is obvious in hindsight. Lovability: How to Build a Business That People Love and Be Happy Doing It shares what Silicon Valley-based author and Aha! CEO Brian de Haaff knows from a career of founding successful technology companies and creating award-winning products. He reveals the secret to the phenomenal growth of Aha! and the engine that powers lasting customer devotion — a set of principles that he pioneered and named The Responsive Method. Lovability provides valuable lessons and actionable steps for product and company builders everywhere, including: • Why you should rethink everything you know about building a business • What a product really is • The magic of finding what your customers truly desire • How to turn business strategy and product roadmaps into customer love • Why you should chase company value, not valuation • Surveys to measure your company’s lovability Brian de Haaff has spent the last 20 years focused on business strategy, product management, and bringing disruptive technologies to market. And in preparation for writing this book, he interviewed well-known startup founders, product managers, executives, and CEOs at hundreds of name brand and agile organizations. Their experiences, along with headline-grabbing case studies (both inspiring successes and cautionary tales), will help readers discover how to build something that matters. Much has been written about how entrepreneurs build innovative products and successful businesses, but the author's message is original and refreshing. He convincingly explains that there is a better path forward — a people-first way grounded in love. In a business world that has increasingly emphasized hype over substance and get-big-at-any-cost thinking over profitable and sustainable growth, it's time for a new recipe for company success. Insightful, thought-provoking, and sometimes controversial, Lovability is the book that you turn to when you know there has to be a better way. |
| customer definition in business: The Practice Of Management Peter F.Drucker, 1975 |
| customer definition in business: INSPIRED Marty Cagan, 2017-11-17 How do today’s most successful tech companies—Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla—design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of people around the world? Perhaps surprisingly, they do it very differently than the vast majority of tech companies. In INSPIRED, technology product management thought leader Marty Cagan provides readers with a master class in how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization, and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love—and that will work for your business. With sections on assembling the right people and skillsets, discovering the right product, embracing an effective yet lightweight process, and creating a strong product culture, readers can take the information they learn and immediately leverage it within their own organizations—dramatically improving their own product efforts. Whether you’re an early stage startup working to get to product/market fit, or a growth-stage company working to scale your product organization, or a large, long-established company trying to regain your ability to consistently deliver new value for your customers, INSPIRED will take you and your product organization to a new level of customer engagement, consistent innovation, and business success. Filled with the author’s own personal stories—and profiles of some of today’s most-successful product managers and technology-powered product companies, including Adobe, Apple, BBC, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix—INSPIRED will show you how to turn up the dial of your own product efforts, creating technology products your customers love. The first edition of INSPIRED, published ten years ago, established itself as the primary reference for technology product managers, and can be found on the shelves of nearly every successful technology product company worldwide. This thoroughly updated second edition shares the same objective of being the most valuable resource for technology product managers, yet it is completely new—sharing the latest practices and techniques of today’s most-successful tech product companies, and the men and women behind every great product. |
| customer definition in business: Superconsumers Eddie Yoon, 2016-11-29 Not your average consumer. Pork dorks. Craftsters. American Girl fans. Despite their different tastes, these eclectic diehards have a lot in common: they’re obsessed about a specific brand, product, or category. They pursue their passions with fervor, and they’re extremely knowledgeable about the things they love. They aren’t average consumers—they’re superconsumers. Although small in number, superconsumers can have an outsized impact on a company’s bottom line. Representing 10% of total consumers, they can drive between 30% to 70% of sales, and they’re usually willing to spend considerably more than the average consumer. And because they’re so engaged and passionate, they can offer invaluable advice to managers looking to improve their products, change their business models, energize their cultures, and attract new customers. In Superconsumers, growth strategy expert Eddie Yoon lays out a simple but extremely effective framework that has helped companies of all types and sizes achieve more sustainable growth: he’ll show you how to find, listen to, and engage with your most passionate and profitable consumers, and then tailor your decisions to meet their wants and needs. Along the way, he’ll let you into the minds and homes of superconsumers of all kinds, revealing what makes them tick and why they’re willing to spend so much more than other consumers. Rich with data and case studies of companies that have implemented superconsumer strategies with great success, Superconsumers is a fun, practical, and inspiring guide for anyone interested in making their best customers even better. |
| customer definition in business: The Discipline of Market Leaders Michael Treacy, Fred Wiersema, 2007-03-20 The classic bestseller outlining tactics for any business striving to achieve market dominance What does your company do better than anyone else? What unique value do you provide to your customers? How will you increase that value next year? Drawing on in-depth studies and interviews with the top CEOs in the country, renowned business strategists Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema reveal that successful companies do not attempt to be everything to everyone. Instead, they win customers by mastering one of three value disciplines: the highest quality products, the lowest prices, or the best customer experiences. From FedEx to Walmart, the companies that relentlessly focused on a single discipline not only thrived but dominated their industries, while once powerful corporations that didn't get the message, from Kodak to IBM, faltered. Presented in disarmingly simple and provocative terms, The Discipline of Market Leaders shows what it takes to become a leader in your market, and stay there, in an ever more sophisticated and demanding world. |
| customer definition in business: Why Startups Fail Tom Eisenmann, 2021-03-30 If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success. |
| customer definition in business: Outside in Harley Manning, Kerry Bodine, 2012 For readers of Delivering Happiness and The New Gold Standard--a revolutionary approach to understanding and mastering the customer experience from Forrester Research. |
| customer definition in business: Customer-centric Product Definition Sheila Mello, 2002 Despite the prodigious research and money devoted to new product development, nearly nine in ten new products fail to solve a perceived need--and are gone within their first two years. This unique new book introduces and explains Market-Driven Product Definition (MDPD), a proven methodology for identifying and understanding customer-value-based needs, then turning them into products that consistently break through the clutter of the marketplace. Drawing on techniques developed by experts from MIT, the University of Chicago, and the Center for Management of Quality, as well as product development experiences from inside hundreds of top companies, including Abbott, Compaq, and Cisco, the book reveals MDPD techniques managers can use to: * Determine customer needs and value-based requirements * Choose which requirements to satisfy in order to distinguish their products from the competition * Determine which trade-offs can--and must--be made in product development * Decrease time to market by up to 40 percent and minimize time to profit. |
| customer definition in business: Consumer Insight Merlin Stone, Alison Bond, Bryan Foss, 2004 Provides comprehensive coverage of the classic areas that market researchers and marketers need to focus on. |
| customer definition in business: Accounts Receivable Factoring Guide - Definition, Best Companies, Cost Guidance. Expedite Your Business Cash Flows Today Curt Matsen, CPA, 2013-01-01 Learn how to leverage accounts receivable financing as an alternative financing source to expedite your cash flows and grow your business. Ideal for companies in growth mode. This somewhat complicated topic is explained in simple terms in this book, along with practical guidance on how you and your business can take advantage of it by increasing and expediting your cash flow. There is too much information on the Internet on accounts receivable financing and unfortunately most of it too complicated to understand and do anything with. In this book, you will also find information on the best factoring companies, types of services, cost structures and various factoring rates. |
| customer definition in business: The Automatic Customer John Warrillow, 2015-02-05 The lifeblood of your business is repeat customers. But customers can be fickle, markets shift, and competitors are ruthless. So how do you ensure a steady flow of repeat business? The secret—no matter what industry you’re in—is finding and keeping automatic customers. These days virtually anything you need can be purchased through a subscription, with more convenience than ever before. Far beyond Spotify, Netflix, and New York Times subscriptions, you can sign up for weekly or monthly supplies of everything from groceries (AmazonFresh) to cosmetics (Birchbox) to razor blades (Dollar Shave Club). According to John Warrillow, this emerging subscription economy offers huge opportunities to companies that know how to turn customers into subscribers. Automatic customers are the key to increasing cash flow, igniting growth, and boosting the value of your company. Consider Whatsapp, the internet-based messaging service that was purchased by Facebook for $19 billion. While other services bombarded users with invasive ads in order to fund a free messaging platform, Whatsapp offered a refreshingly private tool on a subscription platform, charging just $1 per year. Their business model enabled the kind of service that customers wanted and ensured automatic customers for years to come. As Warrillow shows, subscriptions aren’t limited to technology or media businesses. Companies in nearly any industry, from start-ups to the Fortune 500, from home contractors to florists, can build subscriptions into their business. Warrillow provides the essential blueprint for winning automatic customers with one of the nine subscription business models, including: • The Membership Website Model: Companies like The Wood Whisperer Guild, ContractorSelling, and DanceStudioOwner offer access to highly specialized, high quality information, recognizing that people will pay for good content. This model can work for any business with a tightly defined niche market and insider information. • The Simplifier Model: Companies like Mosquito Squad (pest control) and Hassle Free Homes (home maintenance) take a recurring task off your to-do list. Any business serving busy consumers can adopt this model not only to create a recurring revenue stream, but also to take advantage of the opportunity to cross-sell or bundle their services. • The Surprise Box Model: Companies like BarkBox (dog treats) and Standard Cocoa (craft chocolate) send their subscribers curated packages of goodies each month. If you can handle the logistics of shipping, giving customers joy in something new can translate to sales on your larger e-commerce site. This book also shows you how to master the psychology of selling subscriptions and how to reduce churn and provides a road map for the essential statistics you need to measure the health of your subscription business. Whether you want to transform your entire business into a recurring revenue engine or just pick up an extra 5 percent of sales growth, The Automatic Customer will be your secret weapon. |
| customer definition in business: Customer-Centric Product Definition Sheila Mello, 2003-10 |
| customer definition in business: Be Your Customer's Hero Adam Toporek, 2015-04-22 On the front lines of customer service, every day presents new and unexpected challenges—and even the most dedicated employees can be caught unprepared. They need confidence. They need training. They need help. Those who work on the front lines of customer service never know what new and unexpected challenges await them each day. But they do know one thing--they will be needed. But how can you prepare for the unexpected? How can customer service reps get the training and confidence required to tackle the unknown? In Be Your Customer’s Hero, internationally recognized customer service expert Adam Toporek provides the answers to preparing for the surprises awaiting the CSR. Through short, simple, actionable advice, in quick, easy-to-read chapters, this invaluable guide shows customer-facing CSRs how to: Achieve the mindset required for Hero-ClassTM service Understand the customer’s expectations--and exceed them Develop powerful communication skills Avoid the seven triggers guaranteed to set customers off Handle difficult and even irrational customers with ease Armed with the tools and techniques in Be Your Customer’s Hero, you will have all they need to transform themselves into the heroes their customers need. |
| customer definition in business: Key Account Management in Business-to-Business Markets Stefan Wengler, 2007-11-06 Stefan Wengler provides a well founded answer to the question of the economic value and shows the need for the implementation of key account management. He presents a comprehensive, but easy-to-handle decision-making model that supports the decision on the most efficient key account management organization for individual companies. In addition, he gives a comprehensive overview on the key account management conception and its controlling tools. |
| customer definition in business: Ten Years to Midnight Blair H. Sheppard, 2020-08-04 “Shows how humans have brought us to the brink and how humanity can find solutions. I urge people to read with humility and the daring to act.” —Harpal Singh, former Chair, Save the Children, India, and former Vice Chair, Save the Children International In conversations with people all over the world, from government officials and business leaders to taxi drivers and schoolteachers, Blair Sheppard, global leader for strategy and leadership at PwC, discovered they all had surprisingly similar concerns. In this prescient and pragmatic book, he and his team sum up these concerns in what they call the ADAPT framework: Asymmetry of wealth; Disruption wrought by the unexpected and often problematic consequences of technology; Age disparities--stresses caused by very young or very old populations in developed and emerging countries; Polarization as a symptom of the breakdown in global and national consensus; and loss of Trust in the institutions that underpin and stabilize society. These concerns are in turn precipitating four crises: a crisis of prosperity, a crisis of technology, a crisis of institutional legitimacy, and a crisis of leadership. Sheppard and his team analyze the complex roots of these crises--but they also offer solutions, albeit often seemingly counterintuitive ones. For example, in an era of globalization, we need to place a much greater emphasis on developing self-sustaining local economies. And as technology permeates our lives, we need computer scientists and engineers conversant with sociology and psychology and poets who can code. The authors argue persuasively that we have only a decade to make headway on these problems. But if we tackle them now, thoughtfully, imaginatively, creatively, and energetically, in ten years we could be looking at a dawn instead of darkness. |
| customer definition in business: Buyer Personas Adele Revella, 2015-02-24 Named one of Fortune Magazine’s “5 Best Business Books” in 2015 See your offering through the buyer's eyes for more effective marketing Buyer Personas is the marketer's actionable guide to learning what your buyer wants and how they make decisions. Written by the world's leading authority on buyer personas, this book provides comprehensive coverage of a compelling new way to conduct buyer studies, plus practical advice on adopting the buyer persona approach to measurably improve marketing outcomes. Readers will learn how to segment their customer base, investigate each customer type, and apply a radically more relevant process of message selection, content creation, and distribution through the channels that earn the buyers' trust. Rather than relying on generic data or guesswork to determine what the buyer wants, the buyer persona approach allows companies to ask the buyer directly and obtain more precise and actionable guidance. Buyer personas are composite pictures of the people who buy solutions, services or products, crafted through a unique type of interview with the people the marketer wants to influence. This book provides step-by-step guidance toward implementing the buyer persona approach, with the advice of an internationally-respected expert. Learn who buys what, and why Understand your buyer's goals and how you can address them Tailor your marketing activities to your buyer's expectations See the purchase through the customer's eyes A recent services industry survey reports that 52 percent of their marketers have buyer personas, and another 28 percent expect to add them within the next two years – but only 14.6 percent know how to use them. To avoid letting such a valuable tool go to waste, access the expert perspective in Buyer Personas, and craft a more relevant marketing strategy. |
| customer definition in business: Problems of American Small Business United States. Congress. Senate. Small Business Enterprises, Special Committee to Study and Survey Problems of, 1948 |
| customer definition in business: Lean B2B Étienne Garbugli, 2022-03-22 Get from Idea to Product/Market Fit in B2B. The world has changed. Nowadays, there are more companies building B2B products than there’s ever been. Products are entering organizations top-down, middle-out, and bottom-up. Teams and managers control their budgets. Buyers have become savvier and more impatient. The case for the value of new innovations no longer needs to be made. Technology products get hired, and fired faster than ever before. The challenges have moved from building and validating products to gaining adoption in increasingly crowded and fragmented markets. This, requires a new playbook. The second edition of Lean B2B is the result of years of research into B2B entrepreneurship. It builds off the unique Lean B2B Methodology, which has already helped thousands of entrepreneurs and innovators around the world build successful businesses. In this new edition, you’ll learn: - Why companies seek out new products, and why they agree to buy from unproven vendors like startups - How to find early adopters, establish your credibility, and convince business stakeholders to work with you - What type of opportunities can increase the likelihood of building a product that finds adoption in businesses - How to learn from stakeholders, identify a great opportunity, and create a compelling value proposition - How to get initial validation, create a minimum viable product, and iterate until you're able to find product/market fit This second edition of Lean B2B will show you how to build the products that businesses need, want, buy, and adopt. |
| customer definition in business: HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict (HBR Guide Series) Amy Gallo, 2017-03-14 Learn to assess the situation, manage your emotions, and move on. While some of us enjoy a lively debate with colleagues and others prefer to suppress our feelings over disagreements, we all struggle with conflict at work. Every day we navigate an office full of competing interests, clashing personalities, limited time and resources, and fragile egos. Sure, we share the same overarching goals as our colleagues, but we don't always agree on how to achieve them. We work differently. We rub each other the wrong way. We jockey for position. How can you deal with conflict at work in a way that is both professional and productive--where it improves both your work and your relationships? You start by understanding whether you generally seek or avoid conflict, identifying the most frequent reasons for disagreement, and knowing what approaches work for what scenarios. Then, if you decide to address a particular conflict, you use that information to plan and conduct a productive conversation. The HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict will give you the advice you need to: Understand the most common sources of conflict Explore your options for addressing a disagreement Recognize whether you--and your counterpart--typically seek or avoid conflict Prepare for and engage in a difficult conversation Manage your and your counterpart's emotions Develop a resolution together Know when to walk away Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges. |
| customer definition in business: Product-Led Growth Bush Wes, 2019-05 Product-Led Growth is about helping your customers experience the ongoing value your product provides. It is a critical step in successful product design and this book shows you how it's done. - Nir Eyal, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of Hooked |
| customer definition in business: Business Strategy George Stonehouse, Bill Houston, 2003-06-11 'Business Strategy: an introduction' is an accessible textbook that provides a straightforward guide for those with little or no knowledge of the subject. It presents complex issues and concepts in a clear and compact manner, so that readers gain a clear understanding of the topics addressed. The following features are included: * A comprehensive introduction to the subjects of business strategy and strategic management * Complex issues explained in a straightforward way for students new to this topic * Student friendly learning features throughout * Case studies of varying lengths with questions included for assignment and seminar work * A discussion of both traditional theory and the most recent research in the field This second edition features new and updated case studies as well as more depth having been added to the material in the book. New chapters on business ethics, types and levels of strategy, and how to use case studies have been incorporated. A range of pedagogical features such as learning objectives, review and discussion questions, chapter summaries and further reading are included in the text resulting in it being a user-friendly, definitive guide for those new to the subject. A web-based Tutor Resource Site accompanies the book. |
| customer definition in business: Escaping the Build Trap Melissa Perri, 2018-11-01 To stay competitive in today’s market, organizations need to adopt a culture of customer-centric practices that focus on outcomes rather than outputs. Companies that live and die by outputs often fall into the build trap, cranking out features to meet their schedule rather than the customer’s needs. In this book, Melissa Perri explains how laying the foundation for great product management can help companies solve real customer problems while achieving business goals. By understanding how to communicate and collaborate within a company structure, you can create a product culture that benefits both the business and the customer. You’ll learn product management principles that can be applied to any organization, big or small. In five parts, this book explores: Why organizations ship features rather than cultivate the value those features represent How to set up a product organization that scales How product strategy connects a company’s vision and economic outcomes back to the product activities How to identify and pursue the right opportunities for producing value through an iterative product framework How to build a culture focused on successful outcomes over outputs |
| customer definition in business: Customer Relationship Management for Small- and Midsized Businesses in Austria. A focus on CRM On Premise vs. CRM On Demand with mobile extension Thomas Baldinger, 2006-01-23 Diploma Thesis from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Customer Relationship Management, CRM, grade: 1, University of Linz (IDV - Institut für Datenverarbeitung in den Sozial und Wirtschaftswissenschaften), language: English, abstract: Foreword The reason why I chose this topic for my thesis is mainly because of the fact that I have been working as a Consultant for a software company where my main responsibilities are focused on implementing CRM Solutions for small and medium sized companies in Austria. My experiences in this segment were influenced by the meetings with vendors of such solutions as well as during the planning, implementing and service phases with the customer. The projects I have been involved and the studying of news-related articles, websites and magazines in this market strengthened my opinion that Customer Relationship Management has raised a lot of attention amongst the business world in recent years. Not only the hype - but also problems that occurred with Customer Relationship Management forced companies to re-think their methodology and business strategy. Analysts and business men are still aware of the power and growing importance of CRM technology. Companies are adopting the benefits of 360-degree view into their organization that is used to gain higher return on investment of marketing-campaigns and to handle more effectively and efficient customer service. The productivity and value of CRM solutions is steadily increasing because of the influence of the Internet and the possibilities for mobile office integration. The new approach to define CRM not as a single software tool but moreover as perhaps one of the most important keys to support and redesign a company’s business strategy is showing the shift from traditional software to CRM for the 21 st century. On demand services and wireless integration makes the current state-of-the-art solutions scalable, easier to adopt and offer affordable utilities to realize also the visions of small and medium sized companies. [...] |
Customer Discovery Basics - Harvard Business School
Customer discovery involves defining and prioritizing personas and is applicable to both early-stage companies and big companies when developing new products, seeking to target new …
Definition of Customer
We define a customer as a person who purchases the goods and services from the business, in exchange for monetary consideration. The term customer is derived from a Latin term ‘custom’ …
CUSTOMER SERVICE HANDBOOK - University of Arkansas …
This customer service handbook attempts to provide tips, popular dos and don’ts, helpful hints, and checklists as well as proven best practices in a customer setting. It addresses the view …
INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS: HOW ARE THEY …
From a customer service perspective, understanding the needs of your customers can help you clarify workflows and decide whether your company should distinguish between internal and …
The Definitive Guide to the Customer Centric approach to …
Customer Centric approach to Business • Background and Benefits • The Five Tenets • The Nine Imperatives for Leaders • The Customer Centric Business Self-Assessment
Customer Relationship Management - ijbssnet.com
Purpose: This paper aims at exploring the theoretical foundations of customer relationship management and its relationship to the marketing performance from the several perspectives.
1. Introduction to the Handbook on Customer Centricity
explain customer centricity in a context of targeting strategies or customer valuation process (i.e., evaluating the value of specific customers) (CMO Council 2013; Fader 2012). Table 1.1 …
CRM Definitions - Defining customer relationship marketing
Find out how leading experts define the term - and what the corporate world makes of the concept. The following definitions are suggested by leading authorities in the field of customer …
Target Customer Definition - MIT OpenCourseWare
customer. How exactly does it fit into the value chain? What are the key interface points? Why exactly would they acquire it? What barriers to adoption might arise? It is also important to …
Welcome to the topic on customers and customer groups.
Customer groups are a way to classify customers for pricing and reporting. You may wish to classify the customers by sectors or by size. A customer can be assigned to one group. When …
The Customer Concept: The Basis for a New Marketing …
In this paper we discuss the validity of existing marketing paradigms and propose a new paradigm. The new marketing paradigm consists of three elements: a concept (orientation), a …
Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) - Bankers Online
The CIP rule applies to a “customer”. A customer is an individual, a corporation, partnership, a trust, an estate, or any other entity recognized as a legal person who opens a new account. …
The Business Model Canvas Explained - Bauer College of …
Defines the different groups of people or organizations an enterprise aims to reach and serve. • For whom are we creating value? • Who are our most important customers? Customers …
Customer Engagement: An Important Concept for Marketing …
It is suggested that customer engagement represents a strategic imperative for generating enhanced corporate performance, including sales growth, superior competitive advantage and …
PETER FADER CUSTOMER CENTRICITY - Wharton Executive …
As you’ll learn in Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage, customer cen-tricity is not really about being nice to your customers. It is not a philosophy.
An Overview to Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a combination of people, processes and technology that seeks to understand a company's customers. It is an inte grated approach
Importance of Customer Knowledge in Business …
Products and services suitable for customers contributes to increase the loyalty of customers and reduce the cost of their transfer to the competing institutions. Applying the concept of customer …
Introduction to Customer Relationship Marketing
Customer relationship marketing (CRM) opportunities are embedded in the entire customer journey spanning several touch points across all stages including prepurchase, purchase, and …
Internal and External Customers - RAIJMR
the internal and external customer, how marketing is used to build and nurture customer relationships, and will begin to build your knowledge on the customer loyalty. So let’s begin by …
The Economics of Customer Businesses - Morgan Stanley
customer generates while they are engaged with the firm minus the cost to acquire the customer. The present value of cash flows, in turn, is a function of sales, costs, and customer longevity. …
Customer Discovery Basics - Harvard Business School
Customer discovery involves defining and prioritizing personas and is applicable to both early-stage companies and big companies when developing new products, seeking to target new …
Definition of Customer
We define a customer as a person who purchases the goods and services from the business, in exchange for monetary consideration. The term customer is derived from a Latin term ‘custom’ …
CUSTOMER SERVICE HANDBOOK - University of Arkansas …
This customer service handbook attempts to provide tips, popular dos and don’ts, helpful hints, and checklists as well as proven best practices in a customer setting. It addresses the view …
INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS: HOW ARE THEY …
From a customer service perspective, understanding the needs of your customers can help you clarify workflows and decide whether your company should distinguish between internal and …
The Definitive Guide to the Customer Centric approach to …
Customer Centric approach to Business • Background and Benefits • The Five Tenets • The Nine Imperatives for Leaders • The Customer Centric Business Self-Assessment
Customer Relationship Management - ijbssnet.com
Purpose: This paper aims at exploring the theoretical foundations of customer relationship management and its relationship to the marketing performance from the several perspectives.
1. Introduction to the Handbook on Customer Centricity
explain customer centricity in a context of targeting strategies or customer valuation process (i.e., evaluating the value of specific customers) (CMO Council 2013; Fader 2012). Table 1.1 …
CRM Definitions - Defining customer relationship marketing …
Find out how leading experts define the term - and what the corporate world makes of the concept. The following definitions are suggested by leading authorities in the field of customer …
Target Customer Definition - MIT OpenCourseWare
customer. How exactly does it fit into the value chain? What are the key interface points? Why exactly would they acquire it? What barriers to adoption might arise? It is also important to …
Welcome to the topic on customers and customer groups.
Customer groups are a way to classify customers for pricing and reporting. You may wish to classify the customers by sectors or by size. A customer can be assigned to one group. When …
The Customer Concept: The Basis for a New Marketing …
In this paper we discuss the validity of existing marketing paradigms and propose a new paradigm. The new marketing paradigm consists of three elements: a concept (orientation), a …
Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) - Bankers Online
The CIP rule applies to a “customer”. A customer is an individual, a corporation, partnership, a trust, an estate, or any other entity recognized as a legal person who opens a new account. …
The Business Model Canvas Explained - Bauer College of …
Defines the different groups of people or organizations an enterprise aims to reach and serve. • For whom are we creating value? • Who are our most important customers? Customers …
Customer Engagement: An Important Concept for …
It is suggested that customer engagement represents a strategic imperative for generating enhanced corporate performance, including sales growth, superior competitive advantage and …
PETER FADER CUSTOMER CENTRICITY - Wharton Executive …
As you’ll learn in Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage, customer cen-tricity is not really about being nice to your customers. It is not a philosophy.
An Overview to Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a combination of people, processes and technology that seeks to understand a company's customers. It is an inte grated approach
Importance of Customer Knowledge in Business …
Products and services suitable for customers contributes to increase the loyalty of customers and reduce the cost of their transfer to the competing institutions. Applying the concept of customer …
Introduction to Customer Relationship Marketing
Customer relationship marketing (CRM) opportunities are embedded in the entire customer journey spanning several touch points across all stages including prepurchase, purchase, and …
Internal and External Customers - RAIJMR
the internal and external customer, how marketing is used to build and nurture customer relationships, and will begin to build your knowledge on the customer loyalty. So let’s begin by …
