Customer-centric? Let's see ...

When I tripped over this particular anecdote, it reminded me of loads of meetings that I've been in (yes, I'm getting on a bit) and keep hearing the phrase "Customer-centric marketing".

Let's see how many companies fall at the first hurdle ... posing the following question to a customer or site visitor: "how would you like us to keep in touch with you: mail, e-mail etc, etc ?"
So what would a company say, or at least think to that - something along the lines of:

"Good God, that means we'll have to do what customers want ... well ,we'll go as far bunging them an incentive to purchase but that kind of thing opens a can of worms: that's not easy and may cost a load of money having more than one channel communication at any one time".

So please, don't use the phrase if you can't get past this first hurdle. I have also seen more focus groups than soft mick ... and the amount of times I've heard people raise this is unreal.

So c'mon, be brave, be wise, be customer-centric.