Since the early 1900s, things have changed. Bookkeepers have evolved to a CFO, the head file clerk has expanded to the role of CIO, the gadget wizard is our CTO, and the machine operator / delivery guy is the COO.
The newest evolution is the role of CRO (Chief Revenue Officer). The CRO has DNA from marketing, sales, customer service, product development, the COO, the CFO and everyone else.
Last century’s 100 year fulfillment bubble has transitioned into a few short-lived bubbles that almost before the market can go fully crazy. This century recognizes that every corner of the world uses the same computers, reads the same Google searches, accesses the same internet, watches the same You Tubes, goes to the same universities with the same textbooks and have FedEx ship their stuff sold by Amazon.
It is clear none of those things result in a competitive advantage more than a few quarters. Today survival and the opportunity to thrive is driven by the ability to add value to customers based on thought leadership or scale (price and availability).
SMB (Small-Medium-Business) must be a thought leader to survive over the long-term since scale is a function of capital and operational leverage on a global stage, which works for few if any SMBs.
Today Revenue Science™ rules since it is about long-term value for customers which enable both survival and the opportunity to thrive.
The control Revenue Science™ produces for the long-term is a result of two critical phases. First, every process, strategy, tactic, message, staff hired and daily activity is a result of customer focus. This type of customer focus starts with shared principles like “we are in business to make money with our customers,” and “our long-term customers will share the same purpose and values we do.”
In this case, customer service is more than commitment to process, outcomes, metrics, etc. – it is part of the culture. When Revenue Science™ is cultural, no one has the choice of should we do something that is good for us but not so good for the customer. That thought would not be able to exist – period.
Certainly there are some companies who really try to be customer focused and may even make it cultural, but that is not enough. Saying it, thinking it, believing it and even trying it are not enough. You have to get the right outcomes from deployment for you and your customer’s joint success.
Revenue Science™ provides a 3 element structure to control the outcomes for you and your customer to make the culture survive and produce value for all parties. Element one is selling, element two is margins, and the third is growth.
The selling process aligns traditional product development, marketing, selling and delivery as well as today’s digital platforms. This customer-focused combination allows organizations to grow faster with less investment than ever before.
Margins have a different set of tools and new metrics to measure across today’s complex rapidly changing market. Customer focus challenges traditional cost accounting tactics and replaces them with both leading and lagging metrics that support customer partnerships.
Growth in today’s world shatters past myths and practices. The world talks about innovation and inventing products, which are important, but going forward, the innovation regarding the business model, the engagement model and the structure is at least as important. When you are partnering with a dozen, a hundred or hundreds of customers, just having a different product to sell is NOT customer focus.
Apply the 3 elements of Revenue Science™ for control.