As I read PMA's story, one of the key elements I found included in the mix was the understanding that they are in a continuous state of change that not only relates to the tech savvy, but to those existing customers that don't want to make use of the newer tools; this is a crucial concept to embrace.
For example in the case of PMA, it also offers the traditional options for loss reporting, for the reason that their clients prefer it. Some of them still want to do their reporting through the telephone, mail or fax.
The reason I find this important is that I recently talked to a graphic designer that talked about their way of doing business. Here is how his boss determines who he will do business with: If they walk through the door of the company or don't have broadband access to the Internet, he doesn't consider them to be eligible for doing business with.
Sometimes it has nothing to do with the technology used or wanting personal contact; these can be preferences, not warning signs. As PMA shows, who is a B2B company, it doesn't necessarily have to do with technology at all, but a way of doing business that the other company embraces. I would think that the company the graphic designer works for loses quite a bit of business through this attitude.
In the case of the insurance industry, typically brokers prefer direct contact over the phone.
The companies that offer the most satisfying customer service learn to offer all the options that their customers require and prefer. To require your customers to adapt to you, will lose you a lot of customer good-will and business.
As you can see, technology is only one aspect of mass customization. A true model that deserves the term is one that employs any and all means that the customer needs or desires to accomplish the task they are attempting to complete; anything less than that is not mass customization or customer-friendly.
There is no longer any such thing as one-size-fits-all in the area of customer service or products and services offered. The customer must be met on their turf, not on what makes it easier for the company.
Those adapting these principals are becoming leaders in their respective industries.
» Mass Customization is Essential - Part 5 from TheAlphaMarketer
To end our discussion about Mass Customization, I want to go over a few points that are essential to understanding what it really means. Most people understand mass customization when it comes to products, it is a little more... [Read More]
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