“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

-Jesus, Matthew 7:12

Until now, we’ve talked a lot about what it means to delight shareholders - i.e., understanding the business lifecycle, three fundamental strategies for capital deployment, and the role of corporate strategy. Let’s turn our focus to the other side of the equation - the customer. Businesses have been talking about “meeting customers where they are” for decades, but even drowning in data and signals, they’re often no better at responding to their customers’ desires. What does it actually mean to delight customers? 

Let’s start with value. Yes, maximizing value for shareholders is about growing revenues, profitable operations, and increasing multiples. But value first exists at the intersection of customer and product, i.e., with willingness to pay. Then, value is mediated through the customer lifecycle, i.e., how customers interact with a business, move through the buying cycle, and adopt and use the product or service. Lastly, value continues to grow as customers renew and expand their usage. 

In simple terms, delighting customers is about giving them what they want at each step in the journey. A product that meets their needs and is easy to use; a buying journey that meets them where they are; fair pricing; helpful, attentive support once they’ve purchased - all of these are about serving your customer the way they want to be served. This is the golden rule of value. It’s also why customer insights are so important. What is their preferred buying experience ? Channel of choice? Engagement mode? Communication method? Ask them! Or better yet, let them self-select into their desired experience. 

Asking your customers how they want to be treated will also highlight that there’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach. Customers are not a monolith. Each customer is at a different point in a potentially different journey. Still, each of these journeys has predictable steps, and we can group customers who are at similar points based on three key inputs. Segmentation helps businesses understand customer needs, product usage, buying behaviors, and expected spend. Sales motion indicates where customers are in their buying lifecycle. Route-to-market speaks to how they’ve engaged and which journey they’re on. We refer to this combination of segment, sales motion, and route-to-market as the Customer Rubik’s Cube. 

Grouping customers with similar needs and desired experiences is key to delivering the best possible treatment throughout the journey. Based on where they are in the buying life cycle, each group of customers has a capability (or set of capabilities) that will maximize their value – their personal “best case.” Furthermore, these capabilities occur in a more or less predictable order for each customer journey. 

So, what does it mean to delight your customers? It starts with product-market fit and segmentation, i.e., meeting a specific need for a specific group of customers. From there, businesses need to understand the various customer journeys, and the different treatments customers are looking for at each step along the way. However, it’s not just the customer journey that matters - it’s supported by intertwined journeys for the seller, partner, and deal as well. We’ll talk more about these supporting journeys, and their impact on customer acquisition costs, in the next section.