Follow the Gospel of "experience Marketing" in all you do. The shrewdest marketers today tell us that selling a "product" or "service" is not enough in a crowded marketplace for everything. Every interaction must be reframed as a ... Seriously Cool Experience. That includes the "little" 15-minute presentation you are giving to your 4 peers tomorrow. - Tom PetersThis an excerpt from one of Tom Peters presentation, He is a huge promoter of "Experience" Marketing. Looks like the IT Vendors have taken this seriously, as per a report by IDC - IDC's Customer Experience Research practice estimates that staffing of the Customer Experience function in IT vendor companies will grow by over 40% per year through 2008.

Organizations that have previously invested in customer experience leadership expect their teams to grow more than 80 percent during the same period. IDC finds that IT vendors are beginning to focus on an end-to-end orientation, looking beyond customer satisfaction to include prospects and buyers in their customer experience efforts. However, across the vendor landscape there is a clear delineation as some organizations give lip service to an end-to-end approach but focus on post-sales efforts.

"IT vendors must look more closely at how they staff, measure, and impact the customer experience", states Bob Johnson, vice president, IDC Customer Experience Research. "Too often, vendor leadership gives high praise to the role of customer experience teams but does not empower them to drive marketing, sales and operational change."

Source: IDC, InfoworldPrashanth RaiTag(s):IT+Vendor