ABSTRACT
We live in a data-rich world, a world in which the actions and even the thoughts of individuals – whether as customers or as people who work in the public and private sector companies that supply them – are visible to others. In a digital age, data that reveal actions, choices and thoughts have extended beyond the classic customer relationship management (CRM) data of transactions, responses, demography and geography, into the social world of commentary and opinion of individuals and groups. This means that it should be much easier for customers and companies to assess
how they are likely to behave towards each other, what kind of fit they are likely to be for each other, and whether they are likely to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for each other. This chapter probes this issue in depth. We examine first the issue of good and
bad customers, followed by that of good and bad companies. Of course, the two are related, as we shall see. Bad companies can cause bad behaviour in customers and vice versa. Good companies can encourage customers to be good, while good customers can encourage the formation and success of good companies. This subject is often discussed within companies and referred to, though not in the same language, by customers. The reader will note that there is a strong financial services flavour to this
chapter. The main reason for this is because the financial ‘bad customer’ can do enormous damage to the good supplier, and the financial ‘bad supplier’ can – as we have experienced in the last few years – do massive damage to many good customers. These issues are not unique to this sector of course. The same patterns of behaviour are visible in many sectors.
