All for One: 10 Strategies for Building Trusted Client Partnerships

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Strategy Ten: Creating a Unique Client Experience

Co-Creating Value with Clients

In many markets, we are seeing a fundamental shift in the way value is created for customers. The shift is from value that resides in the product or service to value that is created for the customer during the experience of interacting with the service provider. Increasingly, it is at the points of interaction where value is created, not in the factory or R&D laboratory. This transformation is now beginning to affect the world of professional and financial services, and it's important to understand not only the implications it has for service providers, but also how you can think about harnessing it for your own firm. One of the names for this phenomenon is “Experience Co-Creation,” an expression drawn from the work of authors C. K. Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy on the shift in value creation from the supplier's infrastructure to the point of experience.

I'll introduce this concept by giving you several examples in markets that you will be very familiar with: personal computers and air travel. In 2001, Apple Computer's CEO Steve Jobs, became convinced that large retailers could not properly sell Apple products. He launched a project to create a chain of dedicated Apple stores that would create an entirely new and different experience for customers. Apple built a top-secret prototype store inside a warehouse, and went through multiple design changes before arriving at the final store layout. Focus ...