New Economic Era

Current business environment has gradually transitioned into customer era from product, sales, and marketing eras. We are in customer era where customers drive the business with their higher expectations and what they want. Customers are better educated, they hate to be sold and they want to be in control. Customers don’t want physical products as they can find them anywhere. The product of new era is Experience.

Business in New Era

The purpose of a business is to create value through customer-focused innovation by delivering superior customer experience that builds a sustainable competitive advantage. Experience can be created by numerous little interactions not by transactions. Customer experience creates loyalty that only lasts for one transaction. So the businesses should consistently deliver the experience to keep customers satisfied. Companies have to measure customer satisfaction that is more important than the financial statements to have a sustainable competitive advantage.

Customer satisfaction increases price inelasticity, increase referrals that bring more customers that in turn increase repeat sales, and reduce switching to competitors. Thus customer satisfaction increase revenues at the same time reduce costs of retaining and acquiring customers and in turn facilitate increased profits. Businesses should focus on providing innovative services to the customer to gain and retain business.

Entrepreneurship in the new era

Entrepreneur in the new era works on business instead of working in business. The three characteristics of an individual are a mix of technician, manager, and entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs sees opportunities, risk taker, a catalyst for change, inspirational, optimistic, sees big picture of the firm and industry, and knows his personal limitations. Entrepreneurs implements a business plan with long-term vision and look at business as a system for producing results for the customer.

Successful entrepreneurs

Successful entrepreneurs have an insatiable appetite to pursue what they do not know and apply it to their business and they do many little things right over a ling period of time. They have strong desire to learn what they do not know and then apply it to their business, have a higher end in sight, become a craftsman, and focus on the little things. They stay close to the customers and tastes of customers to drive innovation in the business. The mantra of the doing business in the current business era is keeping customers and getting new customers that positively impacts the bottom line.

Successful entrepreneurs help customers get what they want and set higher expectations of their company’s services. This will raise the bar for the competitors in serving the customers and also erect barriers of entry to new businesses to enter their business. Thus, providing higher customer expectations provide more opportunities for future business.