Five Ideas: Taking Care of Your Customers

“If there were a thousand angry people in front of your company with pitchforks and torches, it would get your attention. Customers don't crowd in front of your buildings today, they comment electronically and virtually about a product"—Stephen Slade, Oracle senior director, applications and industries marketing

“You really have to figure out how to love you customers and find new ones. There is a natural tendency when times get tough to batten down the hatches and focus on the customers you know and love most dearly. And of course you’ve got to serve the customers that are the core of your business. But you’ve got to consistently be thinking of those customers you don’t, can’t or don’t want to serve. And right now it’s important to look around the low end of your market. You have customers becoming increasingly value conscious, and low-cost competitors are springing up all around the globe. Companies that don’t figure out how to love the low end are missing growth opportunities and they are going to get beaten by competitors in the coming years." —Scott Anthony, author of The Silver Lining: An Innovation Playbook for Uncertain Times

“Are your loyal customers your best customers? Successful retailers want profitable customers, regardless of their loyalty. The consumer that's always in your store but only buys the loss-leaders is not profitable. Nor is the shopper that habitually returns items that can no longer be sold at full price." —David Dorf. director of technology strategy for Oracle Retail'

“Our focus has been on building meaningful conversations with our customers around business challenges. Because our sales executives are knowledge specialists, they have the expertise to build a high-content conversation that translates into solution or value selling. One of the reasons we changed to this value model is that it pays off for customers in both good times and bad. They know we are in this with them for the long term." —Keith Block, executive vice president of Oracle’s North America sales and consulting organizations

“The [Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing Enterprise Edition] combines the right blend of IT infrastructure, well-trained personnel, customer-centric business processes, and software applications. It also provides a technology platform integrating business processes that are aligned with leading industry benchmarks, to enable more-accurate billing, improved customer service, and business practices that enhance customer value,"—Zuhair Siddiqui, senior general manager, Management Services, SSGC