Customer Worthy: Why and How Everyone in Your Organization Must Think Like a Customer

Citation

Dupree, J. (2011), "Customer Worthy: Why and How Everyone in Your Organization Must Think Like a Customer", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 315-316. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761111143493

Hoffman's mantra, “Is everything you do customer worthy?,” is a powerful reminder that the entire firm, from operations and finance to marketing and sales, needs to think like a customer. His “CxC” matrix is an interesting and worthwhile template for managing the customer process across company functions. And while a full application of it will require a visit from Hoffman's firm – the proprietary algorithm behind the calculations of the matrix is not explained – the tool itself is a good place to start in recognizing and implementing a stronger company focus. A quick read, the 11 chapters average ten to 15 pages apiece and with the concluding application chapter the book is only about 140 pages long.

Customer Worthy exemplifies Hoffman's approach from cover to cover and is an excellent example of how to use a book as marketing material. Almost every page reminds of you of his C×C proprietary matrix, and by Chapter Six, where he details the matrix, and Chapter 12, where he applies it across functional units, you are practically salivating to see it. To his credit he does not pitch his company until Chapter 8, page 104, and even then it is to offer templates to the reader. But make no mistake, this book is entirely a marketing piece. His resume is impressive and his process is technologically based, fundamentally a sophisticated (and helpful) elaboration of data mining. It is a good read for reminding those who get it, and helping those who do not often think of the customer as their focus, to get it.

The introduction sets the tone for the book, mentioning the C×C matrix 12 times in five pages and the title of the book seven times. The first chapter begins engagingly by asking how we can make better use of the technology around us and demonstrating that with a short story about marketing in 2018. Chapter 2 – “C×C matrix unveiled”, is a bit of a misnomer – you do not actually get the matrix until Chapter 6. Hoffman lays out the concept behind the matrix by using Amazon.com as a masterful example of the concept. Of course Amazon.com can do a few things better, but their execution is nearly flawless. Then we get the five essentials underlying everything: visualize, analyze, monetize, prioritize, and optimize. These concepts thread through the rest of the book.

Chapter 3 introduces us to consumer behavior in the form of the first three organizing categories – need, shop, buy. Hoffman demonstrates how each of these behaviors can be supported or hinder by the firm's customer contacts using the purchase of a lawn mower. He clearly and simply shows how a business should tie the customer's buying process into its marketing efforts from initial offer through e‐mail to web site, to physical store visit. Chapters 4 and 5 build on this, preparing us for the complete matrix in chapter 6.

The visualization concept is introduced with an expanded consumer model – adding the categories of use and dispose. Each category is broken into consumer purchase process sets, from awareness and information gathering, to delivery and payment collection, to repair, and eventual replacement or disposal.

The top of the matrix is now complete. The channels of customer contact are broken into six categories: geographic, digital, location, third party, one‐on‐one, and community. Each is developed with an extensive list of contact points. This breakdown is a thorough and helpful way to think about all the contact points your firm has with your customer. Key to being Customer Worthy is tying the customer behavior – horizontal elements – to the contact points – the vertical elements of the matrix, by illustrating that each contact either supports and enhances or hinders the purchase process. In Chapter 5 the reader runs into a forest of graphs and charts that abundantly exemplify (and occasionally muddle) the impact of “hand‐offs” and their consequences among departments. At mid‐point, page 60 and following, Hoffman begins monetizing these efforts by costing each contact and setting up quantifiable criteria for tracking customer conversion at each point in the purchase process, useful in market resource allocation decision making.

Chapter 6 is the meat of the book, elaborating on the completed C×C matrix. In some ways this might be the place to begin reading. You can return to earlier chapters for detail or read on for more detailed application and elaboration. Here also we are introduced to the power of and lost opportunity of not developing an appropriate digital community through banking and political illustrations. Chapter 7 is simply a list of the nine objectives that should be fulfilled with each customer contact; an important tool for those folks and functions that do not normally have direct customer contact.

Hoffman begins to complete the instructional loop with “How to do it yourself” in Chapter 8. Clearly and simply Hoffman walks through how to use the C×C matrix to make your firm more Customer Worthy. The five key concepts from Chapter 2 are integrated into the matrix of Chapter 6. In Chapter 9, all six pages take us back to customer contacts. Chapter 10 is a pep talk on starting the Customer Worthy revolution in your company, finishing the “confessions” of the author begun in the first chapter. Chapter 11 reminds the reader of the responsibility the company has with all this data on their customer. Hoffman legitimately emphasizes that trust is key to the customer relationship, and the firm's privacy policies and practices and are central to that trust. He brings his point home with scores of violations, suggestions of confirming for these yourself with web searches, and examples of breeches of customer information databases for major companies. Customer privacy is a serious issue that Hoffman drives home.

The concluding chapter is a lengthy application of the Customer Worthy process by firm function – executive, information services, human resources, etc. Hoffman points out what needs to be considered and the benefits of a complete and appropriate implementation of this process. The power of the process, the complexity of the algorithm behind the matrix, and the depth of Michael Hoffman's expertise are cemented here.

Good reading.