Pronetos

It would be helpful if this were a live link. Not a big deal but speeds the process!

I'll check out the podcast and give you some thoughts. This is an area where I have significant interest as well and am currently writing a book where this is a component.

Norris, Thank yo for your comment. You do have indeed follow the link, which is currently still live and choose one of the 'listening options'.

Brian. Great to hear that this research area is of interest to you, too. Customer experience has been cited as the 'next competitive battleground' Jerry Gregoire, CIO Dell, but even in times of the service-dominated logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2007), as a survey published at the Harvard Management Update points out ‘Eighty percent of companies believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8 percent of their customers agree’.

My research will increase the predictability of consumer behaviour, I am aware that this is a rather bold statement by exploring the phenomenon of customer experience in all its dimensions. More details following soon.

I am very much looking forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Phil

Phil - what I mean is that I cannot just click on your link - I have to cut & paste it. It's a little thing that would be helpful for Pronetos to add to make it a more superior customer experience (LOL).

It would be nice if BW made it easier to download the podcast to play later, but neither you nor Chris have any control over that...

Looking forward to playing it!
NK

Norris, excellent point which would indeed lead to a more desirable customer experience. Unfortunately the series the podcast belongs to is not available in a downloadable version at iTunes. Looking forward to your feedback. Best wishes Phil

Phil & Norris - Any feedback on creating a better user experience within Pronetos is greatly appreciated. We want to make the UX as good as con be had and are relying on input from the users to make it so. Thanks.

Phil- actually I could download it from Forbes. My problem was the link on Pronetos was not alive.

Anyway, I finally listened to it - and I was a bit troubled. his notion that all economic exchange is dishonest rings false to me; it's certainly cynical. It sounds like Spencer Tracy's famous dictum about acting: "Sincerity is the key. Once you can fake that, you're golden." LOL, but.... For this cat, substitute "authenticity"?

The key to entrepreneurial success is to develop a value proposition where the value is in the eyes of the customer [or other stakeholder]. That I will get paid for adding value to your life. The whole point of economic exchange is that we are both better off. This guys seems to base his thinking on the fundamental premise that we're all trying to scam each other? That we must be fake?

He actually argues there is no true authenticity, only what we perceive. Philosophically, I suppose you can defend that -there is no reality, only perception. However, the ultimate experience is quite real. Ever climb a mountain? Where you could die? That's a bit extreme- but people crave (and maybe deserve?) true authenticity.

In the old TV sitcome "WKRP" there's a mock radio ad that says in essence "... it's made of real plastic, don't accept imitation..." Imitation plastic? LOL! I can accept authentically fake - IFF it's honest about it. Taco Bell is about as Hispanic as Dag Hammarskold, but it doesn't really pretend to be, does it?

However, the whole to-do about providing customers [stakeholders] with a great experience hinges a great deal on its authenticity. It's nice that my barista appears to care about at Dawson-Taylor [Boise coffeespot]; what keeps me coming back is that they DO care about us at a real level.

Maybe I missed this guy's point, but he lost me when he insisted that authenticity is never, well, authentic.

So how DO we provide our customers/stakeholders with "real"?

(ducking now....)

I have to admit, Phil, this interview seemed to take a very cynical approach to not only authenticity, but the nature of economic transactions in general. It seemed like one giant contradiction to me. Doesn't staged authenticity seem like an oxymoron to you?

It is my belief that authenticity is a result of transparency, honesty, and added value. It is not something you manage like an ad campaign or a carefully crafted marketing message. It is, however, a conscious choice on how to do business and it is a result of the culture of the business.

One good point he made, however, was the use of the word "experience". It does not mean selling product in a nicer way. It does mean moving up the food chain from the sale of a product or service. Starbucks is successful because it changed selling coffee to providing an experience.

I do believe a company can provide an authentic customer experience, can still sell a product, and it not be staged or false. To assume otherwise would be to assume the consumer is uninformed and waiting to be duped. All studies I have seen say completely the opposite is true. The consumer is more informed today than she has ever been and understands that companies exist to make money. She just chooses to support with her money the company that provides her with the best experience.

Great thought provoking discussion, Phil. I will be interested in seeing the results of your research.

Dear Brian, dear Norris,

Thank you so very much for your inspiring and insightful comments on the interview with Joe Pine. Authenticity, the quality of being authentic or genuine one might think has not have been the best choice of wording to be included in Pine and Gilmore’s upcoming book title, until you reflect on how much interest and discussions this particular choice sparks. But let us put semantics and philosophies aside for a moment and concentrate on the marketing message, i.e. the impact of the insight revealed by the authors on organizational performance.

The point that our perception is indeed our reality should not strike us as a new revelation; however, organizations very seldom act upon this reality. Hence Pine introduces the notion of customer experiences as a distinct economic offering and gives examples of European companies in a certain sector perceived as ‘authentic’ in the United States, which makes one wonder about the expertise and benchmarking ability of the customers in deciding on the authenticity. But, as pointed out earlier, it is the perception that truly counts. What seems to be missing however is the guidance on how to first define and then create the perfect ‘customer experience’, and I define the customer experience as the holistic picture driving our behaviour in all service and product interactions, not just experiential services, perhaps this is where the ‘Thinking Studio’ offering comes into play.

My research indicates that the customer experience is context-specific, thus we have to first explore what benefits and solutions the customer or customer segment is looking for and use this as a foundation to create the experience accordingly.

Again, thank you so very much for your contributions and I am looking forward to hearing your comments on my new posting on the NetPromoter Metric.

Yours sincerely

Phil