When old paradigms pass, the brave find rewards in new ways of thinking that produce results. We meet companies every day who are finding rewards by re-thinking the process they use to build customer relationships. Not only are these companies changing course, many are imagining for the first time the role they play in connecting their customers to social good. Connecting customers with social good builds deeper relationships between companies and customers, improves the quality of community life, and helps businesses grow.
Companies miss out on significant opportunities to strengthen employee and customer relationships when they fail to have a strategy that creates alignment between what customers value and the dollars that are given back to support community causes. We like to ask companies these self-assessment questions.
- Do you believe it’s important to focus on customer relationships? (Nearly all say yes.)
- Do you believe it’s important to give back to the community? (Nearly all say yes.)
- Would you like to leverage your giving to build stronger relationships with your employees, customers and community? (Nearly all say yes.)
- Are your customers, the reason you are able to give back, placed at the center of your giving strategy? (Nearly all say no.)
Despite companies’ best intentions, few have a solid strategy to align their customers with social good. Yet, in their book Tribal Leadership, Logan and King articulate that building great organizations with sustained business performance depends on identifying and leveraging core values and aligning on noble causes. Most companies place a high value on customers, and customers favor companies who give back. The World Changers model helps to align company values, employee language and behaviors to include customers in a process which results in specific outcomes.
When companies place customers and giving back at the center of their values, a new paradigm emerges. New strategies, rich stories, a unified language and inclusive behaviors begin to emerge and grow. Companies who embrace this paradigm are rewarded with loyal customers and engaged employees. Our goal is to see more prosperity returned to companies who are generous (and therefore esteemed by their communities) as they grow their capacity for meeting community need.