The Hindu Business Line : The Ten Demandments

WHEN survival is determined in the marketplace where it is as if the law of the jungle prevails, it pays to know what the key players - the customers - want. But the point is they just don't want, they demand. They have tasted the power, control and variety, and so are unwilling to settle for less. Are there any rules to live by in the `age of the demanding customer'? Kelly Mooney's "The Ten Demandments" may have the answer:

No matter where a buyer interacts with a brand - in a store, at a service centre, online, or on the phone - trust is a fluid commodity that ebbs and flows with each experience.

Inspiration is the ultimate form of communion between a company and its consumers.

Consumers demand options and choices, but they want ones that make their lives easier, not harder. People seek to live their lives, not spend their lives.

Giving consumers greater control over a transaction puts them in greater control of their lives. Some buying decisions are complex and require many layers of decision support that lead to informed, empowered choices.

Today's bankers, brokers, lawyers, and even doctors must also be educators and guidance counsellors, helping people to understand the implications of their decisions and providing them with the resources or referrals they need to make informed choices.

We live in a world where pace has overtaken precision. In a 24/7 world, consumers are less forgiving of locked doors, busy phone lines, or auto-responses.

A 2001 poll showed that 86 per cent of people who bought products online were buying established brands that they already knew and trusted.

Exceeding expectations is the intangible `Wow!' that makes people sit up and take notice, clap their hands in delight, or just want to hug you for getting it not just right, but more than right.

Junkie freebies will probably sit unused in a drawer, attracting more dust than loyalty.

Customer loyalty should never be assumed. It must be won again and again.

A book to be read, again and again.

- D.Murali

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