Gary Gerds

E.G. Insight

Gary Gerds is a Managing Partner and Chief Operating Officer at E.G. Insight.

“Quality has always been about the fine points…”

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Posted on 2012-02-07

“Quality has always been about the fine points…” - Don Cornelius

Quality is about the details, the little things that make a difference. And like value, quality is always in the eye of the customer.

Have you ever closely examined a fine pair of shoes to see the detail of the work, the leather, the stitching, the soles, the way they fit, the way they make you feel when you wear them? Quality looks and feels different – it looks better, it feels better, it is better.

The same can be said about food, furniture, wine, practically anything we buy. High quality items are better. We know this because we have learned to tell the difference, to understand what sets one thing apart from another. We have learned to look at the fine points.

Just like you, your customers know quality when they see it, and they are often willing to pay more for it. Customers know when someone has gone the extra mile and put...

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Customers See the World Differently

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Posted on 2012-01-09

Customers see the world differently from their product and service providers. They are interested in different things; they have different goals and objectives. These differences dramatically affect their overall customer experience.

Here is a case in point. I recently asked my financial planner what I thought was a simple question: Where is my portfolio at in relation to the market high that occurred in October 2007? In other words, where am I today relative to the high watermark? How much did I lose, and how long will it take me to make up the loss? I thought this was a simple question. His response surprised me. He said, “I don’t know, no one has ever asked me that question.” While it was standard to measure his customers’ current portfolios against the previous year, apparently comparing that information to the market top from several years ago was a much more difficult question....

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It’s all about Price! (True or False?)

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Posted on 2011-07-27

Why gather customer feedback from purchasing people? They only care about one thing: price. We often hear this from potential clients who believe purchasing people are driven only by the need for price reductions. They are convinced that speaking with employees in purchasing roles is more or less a waste of time. Those who work in purchasing think prices are too high, yet you think your pricing is justified and, if anything, maybe too low.

Too high, too low, never the twain shall meet – why waste the time talking about things you can’t control?

Decisions are not made on price alone. In the 21-plus years we have been in business, our clients have conducted Customer Review process interviews with hundreds, if not thousands, of purchasing people. In the course of completing those interviews, our clients made a very...

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Is It About Value or Business Benefit?

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Posted on 2011-03-18

For the past 20 years E.G. Insight has been in the business of helping our Global 1000 clients collect feedback from their most valuable customers. Our CRp® customer interview process is a structured face-to-face conversation between one key customer contact and two people from our client’s organization. The overarching goal of the CRp approach is to help our clients discover firsthand how well they are meeting their customers’ current needs and how those needs will change in the future.

One very important question our clients have long asked their customers deals with the issue of value. Typically, the customer contact is first asked how he or she defines value, and...

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Don’t try to “boil the ocean!”

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Posted on 2011-01-13

As the New Year unfolds, we begin to feel the pressure to improve our lives overnight. Resolutions are made to eat better, exercise more, stress less, and get things accomplished. Unfortunately, we tend to tackle too many goals, overwhelming and exhausting ourselves before measurable progress is made.

Interestingly, companies – like people – do exactly the same thing when responding to customer feedback: try to accomplish too much within too short a time period. They think they can fix everything and address every customer concern, which means little or nothing gets done, and then they lose focus and move on. All too often these companies lack a sense of realism and priority when dealing with customer feedback. Sound familiar?

Larry Bossidy, former CEO of Honeywell and co-author of Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, asserts that execution is everything. Companies that execute well differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Companies that...

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Sometimes Little Things Drive Big Customer Decisions

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Posted on 2010-12-14

A realtor once told me that home buyers often are swayed positively or negatively over very small things. Buyers sometimes reject a house because they don’t like the color of the living room or the carpet in the bedroom. One realtor told me that he sold a very expensive house because the buyers fell in love with its dining room chandelier. A chandelier sold the house!

Now, we can argue that there were other factors at work. It wasn’t just the chandelier that won one sale or the living room paint that lost another. It’s likely there were other considerations that swung the decision positively or negatively – but the paint or the chandelier provided the tipping point, triggering the decision.

Just like home buyers, customers often make large decisions based on a culmination of relatively small things. Some of their calls weren’t returned promptly, so the supplier is seen as unresponsive. Not communicating effectively about delivery issues can become huge...

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Relationship Equity

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Posted on 2010-11-30

Kind of a strange term isn’t it? Relationship equity, hmm…

Strong customer relationships can save the day. When problems arise, strong relationships help us get important information, help us to overcome obstacles and mistakes. Strong relationships often help us “win the close ones.” In this day of product and price parity, relationship can be the sole differentiator. The relationships you have with your most valuable customers are the one thing your competitor cannot duplicate.

Stephen Covey popularized the comparison between relationships and bank accounts. In our relationships – as in banking – we make deposits and withdrawals, there are credits and debits. Credits happen when we do good deeds, deliver on promises, prove our dependability, solve a problem, and add value in general. Debits occur when we make a mistake and need to ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness comes much...

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Every Client Is Different – and Every Client Is The Same! - By Gary Gerds

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Posted on 2010-11-16

Twenty years. E.G. Insight recently celebrated its 20th year in the business of helping clients collect feedback from their most valuable customers. Throughout these 20 years there are some trends that continue to surface no matter what the client or industry. One of them involves the growing need for innovation.

Customers are thirsty for new and innovative ideas that will help them compete more effectively, serve their customers better, improve quality, reduce costs, improve speed to market, support the environment, and improve safety.

Innovation is always in the eye of the customer. Regardless of industry, it is safe to say our clients often believe they are very innovative and sometimes have the awards to prove it. At the same time, their customers sometimes say our clients either lack innovative ideas and creativity or lack the ability to communicate their innovations effectively.

Who is right...

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