Managing Customer Relationships in Uncertain Times 13 of 13

The Bottom Line

The world economy has experienced many shocks over history. Some aspects of today’s economic environment are unique and create a level of uncertainly not seen since the 1970’s. Today, the global economy is more tightly integrated. Capital flows relatively freely across borders. Trade is an increasing percentage of nearly every company and country. Still, the threat of terrorism and other disruptions may become a continuous process.

Customer relationships, especially existing ones, have never been more precious. In an attempt to manage cost and hedge risks, companies must not neglect their customers. Fortunately, as our discussions have shown, investments in improving customer relationships often yield cost savings. Pick two or three areas of sales and marketing that show short-term promise and make sensible investments.

Integrating and standardizing customer data as the foundation for better decision-making are an obvious investment that can yield rapid results. Clear customer processes that span channels enable companies to move any phase of the customer life-cycle to the most efficient channel. Conversely, there are tremendous opportunities to harvest revenue from existing customers if the relationship is strong and data is transformed into actionable information.

This too shall pass. Companies that invest intelligently during this difficult period will have the best chance to ride the next wave.