It is not unusual to hear of firms wrestling with the turmoil arising from a failure to keep their promises to customers. It is inevitable that such a breach of trust will result in adverse consequences, and such ethical failures are not limited to firms dominated by the greed for excessive profits.
A key reason why firms struggle in their attempts with such difficult situations is the inability to master a set of capabilities which would help them to consistently and continuously deliver positive customer outcomes.
The MAKE Better Customer Outcomes framework includes questions and ideas that business leaders need to ask themselves regularly to ensure that the best interests of their customers is the primary pursuit of their firms.
The MAKE Better Customer Outcomes framework consists of the following key principles:
- Make the right promises
- Avoid empty promises
- Keep your promises
- Embrace broken promises
A key consideration is the extent to which a firm might become more profitable by putting the best interests of customers first, instead of pursuing their own interests. Furthermore, if putting the customer’s interests first leads to profits, this means the best interests of other stakeholders will also be served.