For my 40th birthday my husband bought me a microscope from Carolina Biological. They sell lab supplies to schools. My husband loved the experience because "the rep knew that I was only going to buy one microscope ever in my lifetime, but she still took the time to help me get the right one."

Imagine my delight when I got to meet Jim Parrish, the CEO of Carolina Biological. He told the room that the customer centric culture didn't happen by accident. 

When he started he admitted that he was the lone wolf howling into the wind. Over time, and through very disciplined actions, he is now "the cheerleader on the sidelines" and his front line people are have taken over as the architects of the customer-centric culture.

To bring his people along he tried two "break out" moves.

1. He took customer comments to the front lines. Too often program leaders share NP scores with the front line but never let these folks hear what the customers are saying. But for CB, by sharing the comments the people quickly took ownership of the improvements and really took the feedback to heart.

2. The second thing CB did was connect the dots between poor customer services and the financial cost to the company. As an employee-owned company, this made a big impact. Error dropped fast and the NP score skyrocketed.

Ask yourself, who talks to your customers more? I bet 9 out 10 of you reading this will say that you talk to customers less than 2 hours a day. But the front line its 90% of their day.

But it got me thinking about the pervasive silent killer of customer loyalty programs . . . the dreaded “white binder syndrome.” The cost of this affliction is staggering but often hidden; hundreds of man hours from your employees, negative goodwill, and when it is most severe – rampant customer defections.

“White Binder” syndrome is easy to diagnose. Here is how it often presents itself:

• You, your staff, or your research team spend hundreds of hours creating beautiful notebooks full of perfectly formatted charts. Most often, much more time is given to chart formatting then to THINKING about what the customer is really saying.
• The binders delight the recipients. Most will sit the binder right on top of the “to-do” pile with the best intention to look at it the next morning over a hot cup of coffee.
• The next day comes. Urgent (but not important) calls derail the morning. The recipient promises to take the notebook home over the weekend for careful review.
• A few weeks of broken self-promises, the pretty white binder ends up on the book shelf, clogging the arteries of the customer loyalty program. Slowly killing it.

Tragically, the data collection team did their job, they got trustworthy data. But the organization failed because no action was taken.

But, you can overcome the disease. And when your organization starts taking action, remarkable things will happen! Renewals rates will improve, clients will buy more, and the word of mouth marketing engine will go into overdrive.

I am really excited that Eric Murphy, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Ingenix, is speaking at the conference. The Ingenix leadership team created a culture where action is paramount. As a result, in just 18-months they are enjoying measurable increases in their business outcomes.

Go ahead, self diagnose. If you are a victim of “white binder syndrome” then Eric is one presenter to be sure to hear. Members of the Ingenix program team will be at the conference as well. Come find me and I’ll be happy to make introductions or share ideas for overcoming “white binder syndrome.”

See you in a few weeks.