Relationship Types and How to Use Them

We act differently in our various relationships. We have a way we operate at work or school; we act a certain way in public and another way with our friends and family. The difference is the type of relationship we have with the other people involved. This variance in behavior is also at work in our relationships as customers.

In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, we explore how our relationship with customers affects how we interact with them. For this episode, we characterize relationships into two types, Relational and Transactional. You might think that one is better than the other, but it is not the case.

For example, let’s say you want to sell an old car. You make the listing and wait for the responses. It turns out you get one, but it’s from your brother. Would you change your approach to selling the car? My guess is you would—unless you and your brother are on the skids. For my part, my brother and I would enjoy the match up and would have a no-holds-barred approach.

The fact is, most of us wouldn’t haggle the same way with a family member the way we would a stranger. In my case, I would not only skip the haggling, but I would probably back off the price. Moreover, I would worry every time that I saw them that they would tell me there was something wrong with the car.

Advantages and disadvantages exist for each of these relationships on both sides of the equation. 

• Relational: This relationship is emotional. It focuses on value instead of price. These relationships are the foundation of customer loyalty and related customer behavior.
• Transactional: Unlike Relational interactions, transactional relationships tend to be a one-time thing. Rational parts of the experience, e.g., price or shipping costs, etc., often drive the buying decisions. Instead of loyalty, these relationships tend to focus on What’s In It For Me (WIFM).

If we go back to the car example, the idea of selling a used car to your brother is one point in a much more extended relationship. As a result, you feel more responsibility to ensure that it is positive. You also feel more guilt if it is not great.

Listen to the podcast in its entirety to learn more about Relationship Types and How to Use Them for your Customer Experience.

The Intuitive Customer podcasts are designed to explain the psychological concepts behind customer behavior.

If you would like to find out from one of our CX consultants how you can implement the concepts we discussed in your organization’s marketing to improve customer loyalty and retention, contact us at www.beyondphilosophy.com.  

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Are You Using the Right Measures?

Measuring your progress for your Customer Experience strategy is an essential aspect to your program’s success. Not only will it show if your program is working to provide an excellent experience for your customers, but it also shows what customers really value, which can be an elusive thing to discover.

In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, we discuss the importance of measuring Customer Experience correctly. We invited Don Peppers, bestselling author, business strategist, and engaging keynote speaker to joins us to share his wisdom on the subject. With 11 books on marketing and Customer Experience, he had much to add to our discussion about the best way to handle Customer Experience measurement.

Why Some Friction is Good

We owe you an apology. Even though the lawyers say we shouldn’t say this, we feel we might have misled you on the subject of friction in your Customer Experience strategy. We have been telling you to make your experience as easy as possible, and you should. However, there is some merit to making things a little bit difficult in some cases.

In other words, it turns out that the discussion of friction is more nuanced than we at first led you to believe.

In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, we dive a little deeper on the subject of friction in Customer Experience, what kind is detrimental and what kind is beneficial, and the qualities of the friction that can help you tell the difference.

How Customer-Facing People Should Evoke Emotions in Customers

I have always thought that talking about how to do something was important, but not as important as actually doing something. I feel so strongly about this idea that I named my company after it. I want my clients to take their ideas “beyond the philosophy” and into action.

To that end, this episode of The Intuitive Customer discusses how organizations can take theories and use them in their everyday operations to improve the Customer Experience. We explore how you can help Customer-Facing teams evoke the proper emotions from customers during their interactions with people by training them to do it properly.

When I worked in the corporate world, people often asked me what I did all day. Facetiously, I would say that I played chess. While it was meant to be cheeky, the joke was not far from the truth. I spent my day navigating company politics.

You will not find training programs on company politics or how to deal with them. It is a bit shocking considering their significance in the corporate world. Our latest episode of The Intuitive Customer podcast addresses office politics and how to manage them effectively.

Company politics are ubiquitous and influential. Managing them is part and parcel of a career. As a senior vice president, at a large telecoms company, office politics surrounded me.

Every organization that I have worked at had office politics. They exist because it is human nature to crave power and influence.

You must be able to manage office politics for many reasons. First, it will help you advance your career. When you can get on with management, you can get on with your promotions after all. Also, if you can’t manage company politics, you won’t make it at many organizations. There was a phrase that used to entertain me along these lines that said, “When somebody pats you on the back, they are looking for the place to stick the knife.”