UnleashWD and ZIlliant Webinar Teaches Value of Customer Centric Company Culture
Chicago, Il (PRWEB) July 26, 2013 -- When was the last time that you viewed your company through the lens of a customer?
Deb Mills-Scofield, owner of Mills-Scofield LLC asked attendees to consider this question during the UnleashWD and Zilliant webinar, “Applying Innovation and Thought Leadership to Lead Your Customers.”
Mills-Scofield brings more than 25 years of strategic planning, execution and innovation experience in the manufacturing, service and high-technology industries.
Mills-Scofield recommends that companies go through the process of ordering their own products, contacting customer service and returning the products after use. And, time permitting, she even recommends taking it a step further.
"I would encourage you to look at the world from your customer's perspective," Mills-Scofield says. "Visit your customers and spend time in their shoes if you can."
To demonstrate her level of commitment, Mills-Scofield provided the example of crawling on the floor to better understand her infant child’s perspective. Using this experience, she was able to childproof her house and communicate with her child more effectively.
Understanding your customers is only the first step. The next step is to provide them with solutions for their pain points- solutions that might that not arrive on the first attempt.
"Business is a continual process of experimenting, learning, applying and innovating," Mills-Scofield says.
When Apple started to open retail stores, they did not look to other computer companies or retailers for inspiration, they were inspired by the Ritz-Carlton. Another example that Mills-Scofield used was Taco Bell replicating Toyota’s manufacturing process as a different take on food services.
"We tend to not be good at looking outside of our industry," Mills-Scofield says. "Look outside of your industry. Go to conferences."
Discovering a new approach is an example of what UnleashWD Founder Dirk Beveridge describes as "next practices". Rather than looking to emulate the current best practices in an industry, Beveridge recommends trying something new, often inspired from another industry, to discover a new way to create value.
Beveridge says that your customers ask, "why should I do business with you?" Competing with lower prices alone is often not an option nor is it an effective strategy.
"Customers will buy from companies that lead them to a better future," Beveridge says. "The best way to lead customers to this future is through innovation and thought leadership."
Beveridge noted that distribution businesses now face systemic disruption of their business models. Rather than only trying to improve the way that they do business, distribution companies must seek out new ways to create value. This means offering customers something different from competitors.
"Innovation and thought leadership will provide differentiation for a business." Beveridge says.
Zilliant provides B2B companies with data-driven guidance, enabling smarter pricing and sales decisions to help businesses make their numbers.
The Zilliant optimization platform uses advanced science in its price optimization, cross-sell and retention applications to enable companies to overcome the massive complexity in their businesses.
The webinar is part of a series of informative sessions presented by UnleashWD.
Founded in 2012, UnleashWD is the first and only conference dedicated to bringing innovation to wholesale distribution and manufacturing. The summit gathers only once a year, but do not wait to start innovating. Visit UnleashWD.com for updates on future webinars, eBooks and other valuable information on how to innovate.
About the UnleashWD founder:
Dirk Beveridge is an expert in how wholesale distributors and manufacturers increase market share through examining and improving their relationships with customers.
For the last 25 years Beveridge has worked with more than 3,000 firms as a leadership consultant, trainer and speaker. His clients include: Time Warner, IBM, Andersen Windows, Graybar and Berlin Packaging.
He is available for press interviews, corporate speaking or consulting. To contact Beveridge, call 847-381-7797 or email info(at)unleashwd(dot)com.
Christopher Troksa, 4th Generation Systems, http://unleashwd.com, 847-381-7797, [email protected]
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