Perhaps you’ve heard the term ‘360 degree view of your customer.’ It’s a business term to describe the ability to identify and understand all aspects of a customer’s attributes, wants, and needs regardless of the channel. So if there are indeed 360 degrees to every customer – we must assume that they are round (metaphorically speaking, of course.)

But how does the customer view your business? Is it round or flat?
The answer may depend on the laws of customer relationship physics.

Physics and the Customer Relationship

It took a simple apple falling from a tree for Sir Isaac Newton to recognize that some force was in action. Soon, he had proven that there was a force – called gravity – that constantly pulled on all things in our world. He eventually determined that if gravity were constant around our large round world that an object traveling at the right velocity could orbit the planet – much like the moon!

The next time you look up at the moon, covet her. For the earth is your business and the moon is your best customer. You may not know where she came from or how she got there, but she keeps coming back like clockwork. She is extremely loyal, doesn’t complain, and never ever asks for a refund. Every business should yearn for a few more moons.

Unfortunately, the typical customer relationship is a bit more complex than the moon. To expand our physics analogy, consider your customer; he or she is a body of mass sitting motionless out in space. As a physics refresher – that body of mass won’t move itself. It requires a force to get it moving. That’s where socioeconomic and other forces come into play. Hunger, for example, is a powerful force and will drive customers to the grocery store or restaurant. Socioeconomic factors can push customers into the market for homes, cars, appliances, health care, or other services. The force can be slight (‘Oh, I’m just browsing’) or it can be extreme (‘I’ve just gotta have that now at any price!’).

As a business, you are the earth that hopes it has enough gravitational pull to capture those customers that may be hurtling towards a purchase. The problem, or course, is that there are plenty of other businesses out there competing for the same customer. Typically, the business with the greatest pull will win the business.

Does your business have the right stuff?

The Customer’s Flight Path

So what does physics possibly have to do with your customers and your business? Plenty. A customer in motion is a customer with a want or need that could be fulfilled by your business. If your business world is flat, you’ll lack the pull to capture the customer and they’ll just continue on their path. Apply the right force, however, and you can begin to influence their purchase decision.

The difference, of course, is that gravity is a constant force – regardless of where you stand on the earth. Business forces are quite inconsistent; some touch-points work well while others may send your customers flying away into the market universe.

Apply the right amount of force consistently, however, and the customer may orbit the business for eternity (much like the moon orbits the earth). Miss your opportunity and the customer could behave like a meteor – flying by the business only once – never to be seen or heard from again.

The Fly By
A customer that is in the market for a product or service is a customer in motion. Likely, that customer will continue on her path until the want or need is fulfilled or expires. Often a business will only get one opportunity to capture her attention.

For example, a drop in interest rates may prompt a customer to consider refinancing her home mortgage. This force puts the customer in motion and she may start by researching interest rates online. During that process, she will be exposed to a dozens of potential home loan providers. She may utilize a few of their web sites to get information, but without the appropriate pull, she will simply fly by – never to be heard from again.

Many companies understand this fly-by dynamic and are increasingly requiring customers to enter basic identifying information prior to providing them with product information. By doing so, the business can establish a dialog with the customer to encourage them to come back for a closer look.

The One-and-Done Customer

Many businesses will work tirelessly just to get the customer in the proverbial door. They’ll work even harder to convert that customer into a sale. Unfortunately, many businesses spend all of their time and effort on the sale and neglect the potential that a repeat customer represents. As a result, they may spend all of their efforts trying to attract new customers, but then let them slip away out the back door. Their customer pull may be great up front but weak in the end. Using our analogy of customer physics, that means that the customer will often just keep moving on.

Consider a first-time prospect; they may linger a little longer and take in more than one perspective of your business. If you make the right impression, you just might influence their decision and even ultimately convert them into a sale. But businesses that don’t over deliver and cultivate the relationship can have a customer that is simply one-and-done. First impressions can be hard to overcome, so make sure that yours is a good one.

For example, the customer looking to refinance their mortgage already has an account with a mortgage firm. It may be a strong and reputable firm, but without an effective cultivation and differentiation strategy, the current mortgage firm may lose its existing customers when they look to refinance.

Businesses that understand this relationship dynamic will work to keep their current customers. They maintain an active dialog, create a sense of membership, and offer incentives for sticking around. Without applying an effective and consistent retention force, the customer relationship is vulnerable to the next competitor trying to lure your customers away. And that can lead to customer relationships that are like a meteor – they are one and done.

The Repeat Customer

The holy grail of any business is the repeat customer. Any customer that is willing to stick around can be worth their weight in gold. Keeping your customers around doesn’t happen by accident. Businesses must apply a constant force at every possible touch point. To be effective, businesses should understand two important dynamics of the repeat customer relationship.

First, customers in the pre-sale mode may orbit your business multiple times before deciding to buy. During this phase of the decision making process, business should realize that some customers may require up to 5-7 interactions before they make up their mind. There is a correlation between the type and complexity of the product or service you are selling and the number of pre-sales contacts that may be required.

In this pre-sales phase, many businesses make the mistake of believing that their world is flat; they make only one contact or impression. If there is no sale, they assume the customer either isn’t qualified or interested and they give up. However, this is where persistence can pay off. Continuing the dialog can keep the customer interested and improve your chances for winning the business.

The second dynamic that businesses need to understand is the cultivation cycle. Take a customer that hires a contractor to do some repairs on their house. The contractor does a good job and the customer pays promptly. Businesses that truly value their customers will work to cultivate the relationship. Perhaps the customer – or their friends and neighbors – will have other home improvement projects in the future. It is in the contractor’s best interest to maintain a relationship that could help to circumvent the entire pre-sales cycle altogether. Ideally, the customer will become a loyal customer – and will avoid looking at other contractors.

The cultivation cycle is perhaps the most overlooked element in the entire customer relationship. Many businesses continue to spend an inordinate amount of time and money trying to attract new customers, rather than maintaining their existing relationships. In order to maintain the customer relationship orbit, the force must be applied equally across the entire customer experience lifecycle.

Newton Had It Right

Sir Isaac Newton knew that there was something at play when the proverbial apple fell from the tree. His study of how the force of gravity affects other objects provides us with some insightful perspectives of how customers interact with businesses. Perhaps the law of physics does closely resemble our customer relationships.

Some businesses may indeed appear flat to their customers. The customer may encounter the business, see that there isn’t much to it, and disappear over the edge of the world never to be heard from again.

Businesses should know better.

Your business world is indeed round. Customers will look at your business from many different angles. They may even orbit a few times before they decide whether or not to buy your products or services. Or they may slingshot by – like a meteor – inquiring once but never to be heard from again.

What do you think; is your business world still flat?