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CUSTOMER INTIMACY

Looking beyond our factories to discover new opportunities is a prerequisite. Yet, many manufacturing executives and owners have infrequent, if any, contact with customers or end users. Without direct contact with customers, it is unlikely we will be able to accurately identify the emotional drivers that are important in their buying decisions. Without an intimate knowledge of what is happening in the lives of customers, it is difficult to create products and services they want and processes that make doing business with us easy and convenient.

SOCIAL CHANGE

September 11, 2001 ushered in an era of social uncertainty. Fearful consumers are cautious about what and from whom they purchase. Now more than ever, they want to trust the people with whom they do business. Today more than ever, they are finding trustworthy suppliers not through company advertising, but through the social networks — real and virtual — in which they live. Industry leaders need only look at the explosive proliferation of Web applications like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to understand that our world is changing fast, and the change is not being driven by business.

It’s being driven by social networks of like-minded consumers. Consumers, like Nike’s, are creating powerful virtual communities that are bound together by common interests about which they are extremely passionate. Passionate consumers and citizens are now in control of the Web. The more precisely business owners understand the social network phenomenon, the better they will understand the changing customer and innovate to meet their expectations.