In the past few months our clients have all been severely impacted by the gathering recession, and many of them are taking steps to adjust and reconfigure their offerings for bad times. Recent LEF research in innovation and services strategy suggests that the first consideration should be to improve the customer’s experience and ensure that the offering is presented in the form most likely to help the customer cope with the recession. Some are bundling services with their products to increase their attractiveness, or to perform tasks that the customer has traditionally done for themselves, but at less cost. Others are looking at subscription models that separate the product or service buying decision in time from the need to replace hardware. In bad times, it is often easier for the customer to continue a service than to justify another hardware investment. These and other innovations not only present the offering in the form that helps the customer, they are also ‘sticky’ and make it less likely that the customer will want to change suppliers.
Kirt Mead, who leads LEF EP research in this area, will discuss these and other approaches to coping with recession through the perspective of customer centricity.