Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything.
What do customers really want? And how can companies best serve them? Fred Crawford and Ryan Mathews set off on what they describe as an "expedition into the commercial wilderness" to find the answers. What they discovered was a new consumer - one whom very few companies understand, much less manufacture products for or sell products or services to. These consumers are desperately searching for values, a scarce resource in our rapidly changing and challenging world.
Crawford and Mathews's initial inquiries eventually grew into major research study involving more than 10,000 consumers, interviews with executives from scores of leading companies around the world, and dozens of international client engagements. Their conclusion: Most companies priding themselves on how well they "know" their customers aren't really listening to them at all. Consumers are fed up with all he fuss about "world-class performance" and "excellence". What they are aggressively demanding is recognition, respect, trust, fairness, and honesty.
It is a mistake to believe in the clearly false and destructive theory that a company ought to be great at everything it does, that is, all the components of every commercial transaction: price, product, access, experience, and service. Instead, Crawford and Mathews suggest that companies engage in Customer Relevancy, a strategy of dominating in one element of a transaction, differentiating on a second, and being at industry par on the remaining three.
This book provides a blueprint for companies seeking to offer values-based products and services and shows how to realise the commercial opportunities that exist just beyond their current grasp - opportunities to reduce operating costs, boost bottom-line profitability and, most of all, begin to engage in a meaningful dialogue with customers.
