Relationship Marketing Blog

Merriam-Webster defines innovation as:

1: the introduction of something new         
2: a new idea, method, or device: novelty  

What is your definition of innovation? Does it require the creation of something new? A whole new category of product? A truly original idea? 

Or is innovation something else, something more subjective?

If innovation requires creation of something truly new, then I suggest that neither the iPod nor iPhone come close to being an innovation. I owned three MP3 players before purchasing my first iPod. And there is nothing that my iPhone does that any number of cell phones or PDAs didn't already do. Yet, Apple is widely regarded as an innovator. I would argue that Apple makes game-changing products because of its commitment to usability and design, not innovation.

Arthur Schopenhauer said, "Thus the task is not to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody has thought about that which everyone sees." 

What does innovation mean to you?

Somewhere our there right now is a guy designing another set of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) prompts. With absolutely no appreciation for the irony, he works in the Customer Service department. He most likely works hard, means well and doesn't consider his work to be evil. He probably takes pride in his work. After all, there is a good reason for each of these prompts, for example, to route inquiries to the right department and to track volumes by category. 

But stop and ask yourself a question—do you believe that this guy enjoys IVR prompts when he is on the other end of the phone as a consumer? Is he disappointed if a live person answers the phone?

Of course not. In real life, he is a customer; he is trying to get a question answered or a problem solved. And he is resentful of companies that don’t value his time or his business.

So what’s the disconnect? Aren’t we talking about the same guy?

I believe the disconnect is “inside-out thinking.” And it transforms the way we think when we get to work.

From the inside out, every one of the prompts makes sense. The prompts solve a problem, enhance a report or reflect the corporate organization chart. They are for the company, not for the customer. And because there are teams of people inside the company trying to solve problems or cut costs, there will probably be another release in a few months that comes complete with new prompts to solve these newly identified problems.

But from the outside in, from the customer’s perspective, everything looks different. Nothing about an IVR prompt says, “We care about your time and value your business.” An automated voice doesn’t hold the same value of a friendly, helpful voice of a live customer service representative. An automated voice can’t build a relationship between the customer and your company.

Do you ever try to access your company or department as a customer? How does your service look from an “outside-in” perspective?

Although online Relationship Marketing is a new marketing channel, it’s not a new concept. The idea of creating a relationship with your customer is as old as the second oldest profession. Well, maybe not quite that old. But close. What is new is the way that companies can use technology and the Internet to simulate the give and take, inquire and respond, thrust and spar of the physical relationship. And like the personal relationship (but unlike most technology-based solutions where we expect instant gratification), online relationships take time and investment to bear fruit.

For the company executive wondering if his or her organization is ready to embark on a relationship marketing venture, I would suggest that the following three questions should help.

1. What is the time frame of the initiative? Or better yet, when do you need to see results? If the answer is six months or less, then RM is not the right approach. I would say one year is even pushing it. Yes, there will be results, but that will be more due to the inherent promotional nature of the program and not from the give and take in the relationship.


2. Is your database and website set up to recognize customers when they return? One of the most offensive social faux pas is when someone you previously met at the last industry event comes up to you and introduces themselves anew. What am I, chopped liver? Did I not make an impression on you the last time? Or were you so oblivious trying to find someone important that you didn’t register my name in your mental database? That is exactly the impression we make to a customer when they come back to our website and we treat them like a new prospect. Not a good basis for a relationship. Until your technical system is set up to identify customers through log in or cookies, then don’t launch an RM program.


3. Are you willing to customize some aspect of your product or service in response to your customer’s specific needs? If I invite you over for dinner and I know you are a vegetarian, I’m going to work very hard to prepare a delicious meatless meal. If I simply prepared the same braised short-ribs recipe for every dinner guest regardless of their tastes or values, I would not be a very good host or friend. Similarly, if we embark on a RM program, ask good questions of our customers (see Information Strategy) so we learn their opinions and their likes and dislikes, but don’t do anything with that information, then we are not being very good hosts or friends. And at a certain point, our customers will wonder what we are doing with all that personal information we have collected from them over the years if we’re not using it to create a better customer experience.

These challenges are all surmountable, but it’s wise to consider whether your organization is ready and willing before setting off on a RM journey. The normal give and take of a relationship can become more thrust and spar if you’re not careful.

I don’t know if my spam filter wears out over time, spammers get better at slipping through, or my mood is influenced more than I thought by the lunar cycles, but it seems my level of spam waxes and wanes on a monthly basis. Right now it’s waxing pretty hard. And this is when I get very disciplined about ensuring that the commercial e–mails I get are ones I asked for. I only want e–mails from the companies and friends that I know and for whom I opted-in, not somebody’s cousin, twice removed, living in Bulgaria.

The opt-in concept, although a curious technical term for permission granted, is not unlike what we do all the time in our social life. We give new acquaintances permission to call or e–mail us by presenting our business card or writing our phone number on a bar napkin. We program our caller ID to intercept or even block those callers we want to avoid. And we manage telemarketers with our participation in the Do Not Call list. Those who violate these social norms are guilty of being a boor at the very least, and could be subject to a restraining order at the very worst!

In the online Relationship Marketing world, the protocol is very similar. Legally as well as professionally, you don’t want to be sending a prospective customer promotional information without explicit permission. The best kind of marketing is respectful marketing, and that includes only sending information to prospects and customers who have opted-in, or given you permission to communicate.

The ultimate value for a brand for holding this level of permission is that now the marketing team can communicate directly with the physician rather than going through a third-party intermediary. By communicating respectfully and supplying content that provides value to the customer, you are able to build a healthy and fruitful relationship. And then when it’s that time of the month and your customer is getting trigger-happy with the spam filter, you know that you’re safe. You’re a friend.

I have a friend who I affectionately call the “most connected man in Chicago.” It doesn’t matter who I need to reach or what question I need answered, Bob Jordon knows who to call. And if you ever see him at a business reception, you can see why. He knows how to work a room. If you slide up close and listen to his conversation, you begin to understand his methodology. He asks great questions. He’s not networking to sell himself, he’s using the venue as a way to meet new people, learn their background, and pick up clues and insights. It’s all being filed away in his cranial database to be processed and accessed when needed to solve somebody’s problem. He’s building both the breadth and depth of his network.

The interesting thing about Relationship Marketing is that we can do the same thing online. Unlike most one-way marketing that is primarily used to build brand awareness, Relationship Marketing provides the ability to entertain a response from the customer. In fact, the best RM is the kind that prompts a response. That means the customer is somehow engaged. Now they might be irritated, but better to know that than not, right?

So if we accept the fact that RM can be two-way, then why not be thoughtful about the kinds of responses we get so that we learn about their opinions and pick up clues and insights? If we use this marketing channel to not only deliver our message but to ask great questions, then we are building the depth of our network.

An Information Strategy is simply an intentional approach to determining what kinds of questions we should ask. As we get more scientific about it, we will discover the most important or effective questions to ask that will give us the best information and insight into our customers so we can serve them better. We call these high-value questions, or my favorite term, Golden Questions.

Over time, if we ask the right Golden Questions, then we may be able to boast that we’re “the most connected brand in the industry.”

One of most overused terms during the early adoption of the Internet was “disintermediation.” While it’s one of my favorite seven-syllable words, its primary affect is to stop an ordinary conversation cold. And not just because it forces the brain to rewind and replay the word. It carries with it the ominous suggestion that someone is going to lose their job.

In the early days of eDetailing, there was genuine fear that the online detail would replace the sales rep. eDetailing came of age at the same time as the number of pharmaceutical sales reps was mushrooming, and pharmaceutical firms were becoming very sensitive to the decline in the field force productivity.

In fact, our experience since that time is that eDetailing does not replace an effective sales force promoting a strong product. It might do as well or better than an ineffective sales force promoting a drug in decline, but at that point, most resources are being pulled from the brand anyway.

Most pharmaceutical sales representatives appreciate all the marketing support they can get. They know that they may only get to see a physician once a month, sometimes less frequently than that if they miss an appointment. The eDetail provides effective “air cover” to keep the physician engaged and to keep the brand and its differentiators front and center.

It’s always important to make sure that the sales rep is aware of the eDetailing program and briefed on its content so that if the doctor comments on it, the sales rep isn’t blind-sided. In fact, since we notify the sales rep when a physician in their territory completes an eDetail, this can be a good discussion starter the next time the rep calls on the doctor, as in “What did you think of the recent eDetailing program on our new indication for Petit Dermatological Blemishes?”

By linking the sales force with the eDetailing program in terms of strategy, messaging, and notification, these two channels, one personal and the other non-personal, can actually support each other.