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Christopher Brown

Christopher Brown

MarketCulture Strategies Inc
Chris Brown is the CEO of MarketCulture Strategies, the global leader in assessing the market-centricity of an organization and its degree of focus on customers, competitors and environmental conditions that impact business performance. MCS works closely with the C-Suite and other consulting groups to focus and adjust corporate vision and values around the right set of beliefs, behaviors and processes to engender more dynamic organizations, predictable growth, and customer lifetime value. In short we help leaders profit from increased customer focus.
  • How stupid companies hold their customers hostage
    0 comments 348 reads
    Posted on 2013-03-26

    It never ceases to amaze me how some companies continue to make it hard for customers to leave. As though making it difficult for customers to leave will make  them want to stay. Why do you think businesses continue with such short sighted practices?

    In my experience businesses that rely on monthly membership fees are the worst offenders. Of course there is the notorious case of AOL that lit off a firestorm online a number years ago and continues to be talked about today.

    This is clearly a leadership and corporate culture issue. It happens when leaders behave in a way that suggests it is ok to make it hard for customers to leave. They probably say things like “what ever you do don’t let a customer go without doing everything you possibly can to keep them!” This is great in theory but in practice not every customer wants to stay and its not necessarily because they...

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  • 5 Ways to Start Transforming Your Customer Demand Generation Process
    0 comments 716 reads
    Posted on 2013-03-01

    It looks like 2013 could be “The Year of the Marketer,” according to the CMO Council. Their recent “State of Marketing Audit” results revealed that CMOs are reporting a strongly positive outlook on the role of marketing in 2013.

    However, it will take a lot more than optimism for marketers to see 2013 become their year. Before that can happen, a demand generation process transformation needs to take place A recent post by Carlos Hidalgo, contributor to Software Advice–a marketing automation systems reviews website–outlines four major changes that will pave the way. I have add my own at the end….

    1. Take a Customer-Centric Approach

    Every facet of the organization, even beyond content creation, must adopt customer centricity. Customer now have access to a wealth of product and company information via the Web. Marketers have to appeal to customers who...

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  • Get more customer insights with these 5 questions
    0 comments 4,170 reads
    Posted on 2013-02-20

    If you want really insightful information from your customers, try asking these 5 open-ended questions:

    What is the one thing you think we do really well?

    This question will help you identify what customers really like about doing business with you. You may have your own opinions on this, however more than likely you will be surprised by customers’ opinions on what they consider as your biggest differentiator.

    What is the one thing we do that you think needs improvement?

    This enables you to get real feedback on areas of your business that need improvement from a customer perspective. Some of the customer responses might be unexpected, but this is truly valuable insight for improving your business relative to actual customer experiences.

    What is the one thing we do that we should stop doing?

    Companies rarely ask their customers this question. The problem is that many businesses do things...

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  • Is this the end of in-store customer service and retailing as we know it?
    1 comments 704 reads
    Posted on 2013-02-19

    You would think traditional retailers when confronted with the undermining of their traditional in store purchasing business models would be reaching out for new ways to create value for their customers……

    Although most retailers agree delivering a superior in-store experience will rescue the physical store from the fate of the last buggy whip company. I find it strange that they continue to offer customer service that borders on a slap in the face.

    A recent survey released by Motorola has found that the number of shoppers who prefer to rely on their own mobile devices, rather...

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  • Stop doing stupid things to customers
    0 comments 563 reads
    Posted on 2013-02-15

    stupid_things_companies_do_to_customers

    A good friend of mine in Sydney recently relayed a story I have heard many times over. Yes it involves buying a car and yes the experience was less than ideal to say the least…..

    This particular story comes down to three underlying emotions – fear, trust and anger.

    Here is what happened:

    My friend’s wife decided on the car she wanted at a local car dealership. The car was actually a demo model on the lot and had everything she was looking for apart from leather seats. She told the sales rep she would take the car so long as the seats could be upgraded to a black leather with a white colored highlight on the trim. Of course this could be...

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  • How customer centric companies make service recovery a priority
    0 comments 468 reads
    Posted on 2013-02-14

    In the below video, Chris Zane of Zane’s cycles, probably the most customer centric bike store on the planet, tells the story of how they got things wrong.

    Not only did they gets things wrong but on Valentine’s Day of all days!

    We all get things wrong from time to time, what matters is how we handle things when we make a mistake. People that work for customer centric companies take ownership, take charge and make things right for the customer.

    Is this how your team operates?

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  • Driving high value – low cost customer experiences
    0 comments 299 reads
    Posted on 2013-02-13

    emerging_customer_centric_airline_indigo

    A friend of mine travelled last week from Bangalore to Dubai on IndiGo Airlines. She said it was low cost, with seats that would lean back giving a feeling of more space, along with great customer service. She travelled coach class and yet was addressed by name by the flight attendant.

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  • Extreme customer service on top of Mt Kilimanjaro
    0 comments 371 reads
    Posted on 2013-02-12
    climbing_the_customer_centric_mountain

    Source: crewtreks.com


    It is amazing where you will find people with a “customer first” mindset and an innate sense of understanding customer needs and how to fill them.

    Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, at 19, 340 feet, is the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Mt Everest stands atop a mountain range. The climb from Everest Base Camp to the summit is between 11,000-12,000 feet depending on whether...

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  • Being customer centric means being people centric
    0 comments 487 reads
    Posted on 2013-02-06


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  • Customer Centric Leadership Practices – Lessons from “the HP way”
    0 comments 282 reads
    Posted on 2013-02-05

    In recent weeks I have met several ex-HP employees who told me about the great times they had at HP when the culture embedded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard prevailed – a culture of innovation, customer focus and respect for individuals as flesh and blood people.

    One told me of his early days as an engineer working in one of the R&D labs in the Test and Measurement Division at Palo Alto. While working on a project at his bench he was expected to watch his colleague working on the next bench and through observation and discussion to see what he was struggling with – then to see if he could solve the problem. If he could, there just might be a lot of other engineers in the marketplace who are struggling with the same problem – and this solution might create a new market.

    This practice, or cultural discipline, heightened the...

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