The future belongs to the Bold. The world is so crowded that only those who
have a significant and dramatically different story to tell will grab the
attention of customers.
In a world and age when we have come to
expect good level of service and product as given, only an exceptional and
memorable experience will earn customer loyalty.
Different
breed of organizations are now emerging, they succeed because they have courage, confidence or just sheer chutzpah
to pursue a purpose beyond profit:
to engage, entertain and educate their audiences, who see their
customers and employees as members of a like minded community, who create and
administer cult-like following among their brand – both within and outside
their organizations – who are not just different, but dramatically different
and who push to the extreme the consequences of their dreaded positioning and
strategy. 02 is one of the bold brands.
02
02
started life as BT Cellnet, the mobile business of British
Telecommunication. As part of
deregulation in the Industry, BT Cellnet
was spun off as a separate entity in 2002 and rebranded as MMO2. The very name was designed to bring a breath
of “fresh air” to the industry. However,
the Financial Times was less convinced and said the name was daft and the brand
practically worthless. Four years
later, the worthless brand was sold to Telefonica
for a mere $17.7billion. By 2008 02 had
overtaken it’s giant parent (British Telcom) to become the largest provider of
Telecom connections in the UK and the fourth best-loved brand in Great Britain.
What did 02 to turn around an ailing business
and become a power house in UK economy:
- It
was a classic approach of starting with customer insight.
- Having a point of difference
- Aligning your people with it
- Tearing the industry Rule book
- Seeking to dramatize your difference thru
bold innovations
- 02 values was bold, open trusted and
clear
Today, 02 is market leader in UK, being
number one in terms of total revenue, earnings, new customers, customer base,
having achieved more connections than all competitors combined and customer
satisfaction.
Bold Practices
- The
difference between 02 and other companies in their space, was that they were a brand first and foremost,
rather than a company that happen to have a brand.
- Lots
of committed people, genuinely committed to making a difference, talking and
listening to customers about things other than plain vanilla mobile
communications.
- DNA of 02 is changing the rules of the
industry or not playing by the rules at all.
- Our
hypothesis was that would differentiate
in a commoditized market by looking at the experience we delivered as opposed
to the technology – becoming experience focused, rather than technology
led. We become an enabler of great
experiences – we are not in the voice or text business – asking people how they
want their life enable and you make your device to serve their purpose.
- The sim-only tariff broke the industry norm
of attracting and trapping customers into contract so they cannot exit at
will. Competition thought 02 were crazy
and their customers would leave them, but they didn’t.
- 02
did not only change the contract terms, they
changed customers’ experiences,
network experience, shopping experience and tariffing experience - Now
their deeds were matching their word – the keep it simple. Ultimate vote of self-confidence. This attracted loads of customers to 02.
- Changing the way the industry works. Telecommunication is notorious for making the
simple incredibly complex. When a
new customer contacts us, the first thing the industry will say to the customer
was “what you need to do is………, well if
that’s the start of any conversation, you have lost it already. At 02, they became ruthless at taking out the things that customers don’t value and
refocusing more of our energy and our resources on things that they truly value.
- Existing
and new customers were offered new deals
against industry norm of only offering new prospects deals to convert them.
Turning
people to fans
- If
you cannot turn your employees into fans, there is no way that you will turn
your customers into fans.
- Providing
value to customers “If we make 10 things 10 percent better, we become 100%
better – categorize customers into
categories as regards their value to your capacity and treat them accordingly
well.
- We are a customer insight company, first
and data-based second.
Bold
Lessons
- It
only works when it all works – we will be doing well when all of us is applying
themselves, not a few.
- Ying
Yang – Always give customers and employees some love to appreciate them.
- Create
a victors cycle – happy employees, happy customers, happy shareholders.
- It’s about what you do, not what you say
you do. Don’t tell me you are funny,
tell me a joke and I will laugh.
- Courage
of conviction – To build a relationship with customers, you have to be clear in your communication and their
expectations and your deliverables.
- Measure
what matters.
Bold
Practices
- It
bought the naming rights to the “white
elephant millennium dome” – one of
the largest distributors of live entertainment tickets in UK (e/and partnering
with AEG, rebranded it the 02 Arena) which is now the most successful music
venue in the world. (We are in the
entertainment business because we are in the experience business 02.
- Turning people into fans – measures “fandom”, willingness of it’s
customers to become evangelic advocates for the brand.
- 02 pioneered sim-only tariff, against
industry practice of trapping customers with contract phone lines making it
easier for them to leave whenever they feel so.
- Fair
deals for existing as well as new customers.
- 02
products are designed as simple to use as possible.
- 02
took 500 people out of head office and put 2,000 into retail stores and call
centres to interface and change customers’ experiences, i.e. relocating cost to
those areas customers value most.
- 02
bought Ja Jah, a VOIP Technology that is
direct threat to 02 existing technology.
- Launch Apple Iphone into UK market. Apple chose 02 for no financial advantage
over others but because they were the brand that has most of their type of
customers and the brand that is aligned to their own experience in terms of
customers’ experience.
- 02
values were bold, open, trusted and
clear.
- 02
believes to be in the experience business not the mobile phone business.
So,
let’s be bold.
Culled
from: BOLD: How to be bold in Business and Win, by Shawn Smith and Andy
Milligan
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