Strategic Discipline Blog

It wasn’t long ago when speed of delivery wasn’t expected to be next day.

In 2005 Amazon launched its Prime Membership, providing unlimited free two-day shipping for an annual membership fee of $79.

In Winning on Purpose Fred Reichheld shares the key upgrades Amazon went through to achieve success and become the colossal behemoth everyone fears, is following or is obsessed with beating in the retail environment.

When you look at this timeline you can see the developments Amazon made, and how it’s grown.

Reichheld feels Amazon’s growth is fueled by its incredible focus on the customer.

"Keep in mind that back when Amazon launched Prime, it was not at all clear who the real winners in e-commerce would turn out to be. The titan at the top of the mountain in those days was eBay, with a market cap of $33 billion. In 2004, Amazon still sold primarily books and music, and its market cap was $18 billion. The CEO of one of the world’s leading customer research firms proclaimed that by expanding into additional business lines, Amazon.com (as the company was known back then) would soon become ‘Amazon Toast.’ (Part of the reasoning behind this prediction was that Barnes & Noble was about to launch a website aimed in part at crushing the upstart Amazon. Experts warned Bezos to “play the hedgehog” by defending his core business, advice that Bezos wisely ignored.) Fifteen years later, Amazon’s market cap had pushed past $900 billion, while eBay’s had declined slightly to $30 billion. The reason, in my view, is that Amazon not only relentlessly expanded its product lines but also relentlessly upgraded the experience of its customers.”

6 Customer Experience Examples from Amazon to Inspire You

Be Remarkable, Not Merely Satisfactory – Amazon Experience

Perhaps you’ve had a good or bad experience with Amazon?

One Christmas I fell behind getting Christmas presents for my granddaughters. My oldest son Dan lived in the Washington DC area at the time. Somehow, I put in the wrong address for his two daughters. When I discovered they’d already shipped from Amazon I called Amazon to see if I could possibly fix this. The person on the phone indicated they’d take care of it. They’d send the same items out again this time to the right address. These gifts were over $200.

Incredulously I asked, “Really?”

The customer service person said, “Yes, you’re a prime customer, we’ll take care of you on this and make sure your gifts get to your granddaughters before Christmas.”

I couldn’t believe it! I was afraid I’d have to pay again for the gifts, plus I anticipated a hassle getting it all figured out. The simplicity of the solution they provided, and the lack of any hassle at all, have made me a loyal Prime Customer.

Wow Your Customers

Seldom do businesses realize how a complaint or customer issue is an opportunity to be remarkable and win customer loyalty.

The purpose of a great business is to enrich customers’ lives. Enriching customers’ lives means delivering experiences so remarkable they feel loved; they tell others about it. You wow customers.

How do you “Wow” your customer? As Fred Reichheld shares in this video, you find places where customers feel vulnerable, confused, or troubled, and then solve their problem in such a way they feel relief, they wipe their fear and frustration away and say thank goodness that problem is gone.

One Way to Grow a Business

Fred Reichheld believes there's only one way to grow a business

Wondering how to measure Net Promoter Score (NPS)? Visit NPS Grows Revenue – Missing Value from NPS, or Measuring Your Net Promoter Score.

Still skeptical? Watch Fred Reichheld: NPS Leaders are Industry Leaders

NPS: A Learning Score Rather Than a Measure

NPS is not being used or measured right in many companies. Fred Reichheld cautions  NPS shouldn’t be used as a bonus target. Watch NPS as a Learning Score v Bonus Target.

Are you truly committed to enriching the lives of your customers?

When used correctly NPS can become a valuable tool to measure your NET PURPOSE SCORE.

To create an environment where everyone is inspired to give their best, contact Positioning Systems today to schedule a free exploratory meeting.

Growth demands Strategic Discipline.

Building an enduring great organization requires disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action, superior results, producing a distinctive impact in the world.

Discipline sustains momentum, over a long period of time, laying the foundations for lasting endurance.

A winning habit starts with 3 Strategic Disciplines: Priority, Metrics, and Meeting Rhythms.   Forecasting, accountability, individual, and team performance improve dramatically.

Meeting Rhythms achieve a disciplined focus on performance metrics to drive growth.

Let Positioning Systems help your business achieve these outcomes on the Four most Important Decisions your business faces:

Positioning Systems helps mid-sized ($5M - $250M+) business Scale-UP. We align your business to focus on Your One Thing! Contact dwick@positioningsystems.com to Scale Up your business! Take our Four Decisions Needs Assessment to discover how your business measures against other Scaled Up companies. We’ll contact you.

NEXT BLOG – Are Your Leadership Liabilities Canceling Your Strengths?

For over a decade I’ve worked with a leader who has struggled to gain traction in his business. On and off we’ve engaged, then disengaged. He’s made progress but stumbled and fallen back. Always he’s questioned, why can’t I be more successful? Listening to Scaling Leadership by William Adams, and Robert Anderson, I’ve found the answer. Next blog, discover how your liabilities can cancel your strengths and deter your company’s growth.