Studies have shown that it costs about five times as much to secure a new customer than to retain an existing one. This makes sense: just think about how much time and attention it takes to go from the first cold-call to getting the invoice paid—and the percentage of times these efforts lead nowhere. So when we get a new customer, we want to keep that business. We also know that, as consumers, we don’t willingly give repeat business to an organization that hasn’t served us well. And the things that make us dissatisfied are rarely basic design attributes of the product or service: usually, the seeds of our discontent can be traced to an employee’s behavior or attitude, or standard operating procedures that stymie employees as much as they frustrate customers. As a result, the saying “You’re not going to encounter happy customers if you’ve got unhappy employees” resonates with our everyday experience.

Traditionally, organizations have looked to the Marketing function to manage relationships outside the organization, and to the Management function to control what’s going on inside the company. This perspective is way out of date: Marketing and Management need to be highly integrated if either is to function effectively. If the organization is going to deliver on its value proposition, it needs to be managed in a way that induces employees to be customer-responsive, committed to doing a good job, and empowered to take the initiative to create the myriad “continuous” improvements that elevate companies from good to great.

This two-day program shows participants how to select a target market that truly matches core competencies, what it means to be customer-focused rather than internally-focused, and how to manage the organization in a way that keeps employees engaged, responsive, and innovative. In advance of the program, participants fill out a questionnaire that helps them diagnose how well the company is currently operating and serving customers. During the program, the faculty members discuss what is necessary to generate excellent scores for each of the questionnaire items. The program’s “deliverable” is a to-do list of all the changes that should be made to achieve organizational excellence. Then, to help ensure that all the necessary improvements are being successfully implemented, this same questionnaire is sent to them six months after program graduation.

As with any of the Pelham Associates programs, the exact design would be tailored to meet the particular needs of the business sending its managers to the program. But the program would probably include a set of core learning experiences shown in the attached sample program outline. The program would be taught by Dr. Punam Keller and Dr. Leonard Greenhalgh, two highly-experienced senior professors at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth (see appended brief biographies).

SAMPLE PROGRAM SCHEDULE

PRE-PROGRAM PREPARATION
Participants must independently fill out diagnostic questionnaire

DAY ONE
8:00-8:30
Welcome and Introductions
Professors Keller and Greenhalgh

8:30-12:00
Developing and Implementing a Customer-Focused Strategy
Professor Leonard Greenhalgh

1:00-5:00
Choosing and Serving the Target Market
Professor Punam Anand Keller

DAY TWO
8:00-12:00
Creating a Customer-Focused Culture
Professor Punam Anand Keller

1:00-4:00
Managing Employee, Organizational, and Customer Relationships
Professor Leonard Greenhalgh

4:00-5:00
Program Synthesis and Graduation
Professors Keller and Greenhalgh

POST-PROGRAM FOLLOW-UP
Six months later, participants must again fill out the diagnostic questionnaire