Meaningful: The Story of Ideas That Fly by Bernadette Jiwa

Author:Bernadette Jiwa [Jiwa, Bernadette]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Perceptive Press
Published: 2015-10-07T22:00:00+00:00

THE CUSTOMER IS YOUR COMPASS

Code is easy, people are hard. It often takes the best engineers the longest to realize this.

—STARTUP L. JACKSON

Before self-service shopping, online stores, social networks and recommendation platforms, the consumer’s role was limited to buying what was on offer. Customers’ purchases were dictated by availability and trends, their choices heavily influenced by advertising and seasonal availability and restricted by weekly budgets. It was a safe bet to conclude that if you got people through the door, you’d convert them to sales.

Today, in an era when shops have become showrooms and choice is real, not simply a marketing illusion, our customers are more than just passive consumers of our products and services. They are partners, co-creators, patrons, advocates, evangelists, collaborators and community members. People no longer just want to buy things from us without thinking—they want to become invested in the businesses and brands that they choose to support, and they want those brands to be a part of the stories they tell both to and about themselves.

This is a shift we can and should nurture, not to mention an opportunity we can leverage, not simply to sell more stuff but to do meaningful work that connects deeply with our customers.

The clothing manufacturer Patagonia employs forty-five full-time technicians who complete about 30,000 repairs per year. In the spring of 2015, the company set off on a coast-to-coast road trip across the U.S. in a biodiesel truck to repair their customers’ ‘tired and well-loved’ clothing. Patagonia cares about fixing a jacket that has travelled the world with a customer because that act aligns with their company values, and just as important, it helps to deepen the bond between customer and company. Often the people who send garments in for repair also send their stories about how that piece of clothing has been with them through thick and thin. The customers’ stories fuel Patagonia’s story and have done so for over four successful decades.

The team at Patagonia believe that ‘one of the most responsible things we can do as a company is to make high-quality stuff that lasts for years and can be repaired, so you don’t have to buy more of it.’ They innovate for and market to those customers who believe what they believe. The customer is their compass.

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