Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/937194
The Voice of the Consumer W all Street is glamorous. Main Street is quaint. High finance is exciting. Retail can sometimes be a nickel and dime proposition. Big deals are thrilling to work on. Grinding and executing every day can be grueling. The formula for running a big successful business today is seeing the big picture and attending to the small details. Today, however, I fear there is too much emphasis on the view from 30,000 feet above sea level and not enough on terra firma. In particular, I fear the consumer, the sports fan, the average Joe and Josephine are being left out of the mix. When companies work on their newest big deals is anyone in the room raising their hand and saying, "How does this better serve the average consumer?" I don't believe so. Offering an awesome customer experience has never been more important than it is today. Competition is ever-present and a lot of it is really good. Zappos knows what I want before I even know I want it. It feels like they monitor my dreams. Amazon is relentless. They offer an efficient, if sterile, buying experience. And anyone who ever negotiated with them will tell you they play hardball and play to win. So where does that leave everyone else? Especially brick-and-mortar stores? Stores such as Scheels and Lululemon are so good at customer service and creating a wonderful experience, it makes me wonder why most stores can't be 75 percent as good. The customer experience is also why good specialty stores are able to survive in this crazy business environment. Nordstrom ain't what it used to be in customer service, but their heart is in the right place. There is a legend about the Nordstrom organizational chart, which is a pyramid with the customer on the top and the CEO on the bottom. Dear readers, if you take one thing from this publication in all of 2018, let it be that. Customer needs and expectations should rule. And someone needs to make their presence felt in every meeting where a decision is made. I am amused by the new range of titles that corporations roll out every few years. Companies used to have VPs of marketing, now they have Chief Marketing Officers. Every retailer today should have a Customer Experience Director, a CED if you prefer. This person would be the voice of the consumer within your organization. What do they need? How can you fulfill those needs and how can you do it in a way that makes you better and more profitable? Consumers are not a detail to be paid attention to. They are the reason we're in business and they actually pay the bills. O TIME OUT MARK SULLIVAN 4 • Sports Insight ~ February 2018 sportsinsightmag.com Customer needs and expectations should rule. And someone needs to make their presence felt in every meeting where a decision is made.