A prime piece on the chessboard

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: that had many similarities including numbers of Customers. One2One was sold for £6.9 bn, while Orange was sold for £20 bn in the same time frame. Both these companies had relatively equivalent physical assets. Orange, however, was closer to its Customers and catered to their needs.

“Orange found out what mobile phone Customers wanted from their service providers in terms of factors, such as cost and network reliability. Orange was able to satisfy their needs more than One2One by providing reliable service, but also by offering per-second billing, a simpler rate plan, caller ID, itemised billing (free of charge), and a money back guarantee if the service failed. Orange was able to establish itself as a company that cared about Customers, and treated them as assets.

“Now you can see that the Customer needs to be satisfied and touched, and...”

Doug steps in. “He needs to be known and appreciated as someone who can give us repeat business. Just as a machine asset needs to be maintained, a Customer asset also needs to be maintained! You can see that maintenance of Customers is just as important as maintenance of machines. We all understand maintenance of machines.”

The Customer Guru nods.

“So why do all companies concentrate on sales and marketing? The thrust is mostly to get new Customers, deliver new products, and, hopefully, build a sustainable competitive advantage. Can you imagine a business where adding new machines is more important than maintaining existing ones?

“Let me give you another example here. Take Cemex, a Mexico-based cement company which wished to understand the basics of what it is that Customers seek, want, and need.

“Cemex, according to Meehan, grew by understanding Customers and competitors. Cemex was able to grow from a regional player to a world leader by focusing on basic Customer needs, not on nice-to-have extras. They found Customers wanted same-day delivery of ready mix, and since 1995 have guaranteed their Customers same-day delivery within twenty minutes of the scheduled delivery time in designated geographic markets, regardless of weather and traffic conditions. Cemex used satellite- and web-based vehicle dispatch technology. Not only did this system increase truck productivity by 35%, it wedded Customers firmly to the brand.

“Another example is that of Veeder-Root in the UK that tracks levels of underground petrol tanks, allowing their Customers to service petrol pump clients effectively. These examples illustrate the necessity of understanding Customer needs.”