You know your customers who are pleased with your offerings?  Not the ones that are ecstatic, just the ones who are . . . well . . . satisfied.

A recent Gallup poll shows that satisfied customers represent a 13% discount off your regular pricing.  What?  Are you satisfied with your toothpaste?  Yes.  Would you buy another brand if it were on sale?  Yes.  The on-sale price would represent the 13% discount that satisfied customers pay.

The same poll indicates that engaged customers, those who are champions for your offerings are worth a 23% premium over your regular pricing.

It seems that satisfied is not enough anymore.  Now to get ahead you need to make your customers have the kind of experiences that create these engaged, ecstatic attitudes.  The difference is a 36% swing in prices.  Profits = ecstatic customers who love their experiences with you and your organization.

Satisfied Customers were OK during the product and services heyday of offerings.  The 1970’s to 2005.  We were satisfied with our toothpaste, driving our Detroit iron, our Folgers coffee.  Not anymore.

Folgers has given way to Starbucks, which has given way to the experience of a sidewalk café in Paris.

Just look at the experiences of Disney, Fed-Ex, Five Guy’s Hamburgers, Apple, and Lexus and you can see the difference in profitability.

Sales management is not enough anymore.  The profitable businessperson needs to understand the discipline of producing a customer experience, just like a Steven Spielberg or a Disney.  This is a battle of the Baskin & Robins ice cream cone versus the pageantry of a Cold Stone Creamery.

You too must understand how to make your offerings more D.R.A.S.T.I.C.