The story I’m about to tell you is true. The names have been removed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty. We will call the company in question InsCo. Many of you have probably read similar case studies as examples of how broken businesses can be. Let’s have a look at the original complaint letter.

I left my previous employer on January 9th, 2007. Before leaving with them we discussed insurance. They had already paid January’s premium and contacted InsCo to verify that my coverage would continue until January 31, 2007.

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In many countries, the phrase public service is considered something of an anachronism. At all levels of government and government led services, customers perceive that overall they get a raw deal when compared to the levels of service they now regularly expect from privately held organizations. In this article we will explore how Customer Age thinking and the concepts of Successful Customer Outcomes and Next Practice are helping to change that perception and lead to increased efficiency in public services around the globe.

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CarMax is not your typical automobile dealer. Automobile purchasing has long held the stigma of a wheeling and dealing free-for-all that only the savviest customers can navigate without getting ripped off. CarMax set out to do things differently.

The premise behind the CarMax mode of operation was designed to eliminate all of the profiteering commonly found in this industry. It was a customer focused approach to doing business, with clear business rules on how customers would be dealt with, how prices would be set and how trade-ins would be valued. Everything is based on “no-haggle” pricing. There is no need to worry about the pricing you get because every customer at CarMax gets exactly the same pricing.

Of course, for this to work, CarMax also had to have fair pricing. The company succeeded in doing this, even though marketing programs and dealer messaging from traditional automobile dealers continued to place CarMax pricing in question even though underneath all the “shtick” the pricing was indeed reasonable and fair even in comparison with other dealers.