A Little Less Conversation: Connecting with Customers in a Noisy World

Citation

Glynn, M.S. (2011), "A Little Less Conversation: Connecting with Customers in a Noisy World", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 167-168. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610421111121189

The title of this book, A Little Less Conversation Connecting with Customers in a Noisy World, is intriguing and captures readers' attention. If connecting to customers is more now difficult, how can less dialogue or conversation be more effective when creating customer interest? In fact, this title reflects one of the key pieces of advice given to marketers in the book about attracting customers.

The structure of the book is a dialogue between the author and a hypothetical business manager that reinforces the conversation theme. In the introduction the author gives a hint as to the direction of this conversation when he declares that “a head down, plow ahead mentality is deadly in a rapidly changing marketplace” (p. x). What Asacker reveals later on is that, while the marketplace is changing, it is more important to for managers to think about how they should adapt to this change. Opposite the contents page is a silhouette of a hand signaling “quiet,” which may refer to the importance of managers listening to customers rather than using facts and figures to persuade them.

The book is aimed at those managers who need alternative solutions to improve their market offerings beyond what may be suggested by an advertising agency, for instance. Another emphasis within the book is that it is dedicated to the “doer.” Thu, a theme throughout the book is that many solutions to customer problems can be found within the firm rather than relying on outside consultants. Within the book Ascaker provides a reality check for managers and translates the implications of a changing marketplace into clear and simple language.

The book is structured into six parts, all with intriguing titles, particularly the first one entitled “Awake at the wheel.” This reference highlights the plight of management teams who simply maintain a marketing program without thinking about how the marketplace and customers have changed. In the first part, the five trends that have changed customer thinking are outlined. Three of these trends are consumer choice, the large amount of information, and the transparency of information that is sometimes conflicting. Customer control is the fourth trend, which refers to the fact that customers are not just passive consumers. However, the fifth trend, a lack of customer trust, does not have an explicit reference and is somewhat buried in the text. Another minor editing problem was the name Martha Stewart being spelled as Martha Stuart.

Part 2 focuses on the importance of providing customers with good experiences. Asacker points out that while customers often rationalize their purchase decisions, any purchase should be personally meaningful to customers.

The third part discusses value and the subjective nature of value. Here, value is considered in terms of how customers perceive the value of the market offering, not the nuts and bolts of a product or service offering as seen from the supplier's perspective.

The emphasis on value leads naturally on to the fourth part, entitled “Identity and community.” This part suggests that branding is not so much about brand awareness and other brand centric measures but how the brand could affect customers’ lives. Asacker emphasizes the importance of involvement and providing meaningful information to customers. In the fifth part, the importance of making any points of product differentiation desirable for customers is emphasized.

Asacker highlights the value of carefully researching the customer experience. He quotes from Walt Disney “Whenever I go on a ride I'm always thinking of what's wrong with the thing and how it can be improved” (p. 122). However, later on the solution given to improve the customer offering is loosely based on the attention, interest, desire and action (AIDA) model. Rather than creating attention, the author considers that creating attraction is the first step. Asacker says that is simply not enough to attract customers and that to gain customers' attention, marketing activity that involves customers is necessary. Once customer attraction is achieved creating customer interest, trust and support provides further reinforcement.

The book focuses on the customer experience with the product or service; thus, it would appeal broadly to senior managers, not just marketers. The message is not just aimed at large corporations but also would be relevant to small businesses and entrepreneurs who often have more of a “hands on” approach in creating customer interest in their products and services. This broader appeal of the book is reinforced by the theme, which is that connecting with customers means examining closely the customer experience.

While there is some discussion on communications clutter and how this affects customers, the book does not offer managers much in the way of marketing mix solutions such as communications, pricing, and dealing with intermediaries such as retailers. Many of these marketing mix solutions typically involve agencies outside the firm, whereas “a little less conversation” emphasizes what firms can implement for themselves. Thus, it is a book about how firms should tailor their product or service strategy in order to connect with customers.

The book does assume that many organizations are a bit “sleepy” and are not entrepreneurial. However this assumption reflects marketplace differences where some operators can spot a business opportunity and others cannot. The book is easy reading for an hour or two on a plane trip somewhere. The dialogue format makes for interesting reading and reinforces the message that media‐based marketing solutions are often less valuable to firms than simply listening to customers and their experiences.