From VPM to CMO to...CCO

So what's a "CCO" and why has Dell's marketing gene gone dormant? The open memo to Dell from Jeff Jarvis sums up an all too common condition that afflicts vendors of every stripe and size at some point. It's what happens when your gene falls asleep and disables your ability to see the world the way your customers see it. Progression of one classic symptom: customers go from being very satisfied to satisfied to reasonably satisfied to dissatisfied, and straight from there to mad-as-hell-and-not-gonna-take-it-anymore. This process doesn't occur overnight but in the reality of the blogosphere and inter-customer communication it can feel that way to the afflicted vendor. Fact is, customers who share horror stories can and will do it today in Internet speed. Dell suffers this condition at the moment. What the company does about it remains to be seen. But you have to appreciate the irony: the products and services over which its customers are fuming are the very means by which they can reach out to each other and share fumes. Of course, it's that way throughout the IT category. Dell's chief marketing officer, cc'd in the Jarvis memo, has an opportunity here to expand his charter in the face of mounting customer resentment. For starters, he can think and act beyond marketing and begin to live in the dimension of customer-ing. In short, to become the chief customer officer. A CCO. In fact, this is central to today's real-world definition of marketing: attract and keep customers by giving them reasons to buy your stuff. A big part of which has to do with removing the reasons to not buy. And right now there's a whole bunch of stuff about Dell screaming for removal. And for a chief customer officer to get it done. Titles do matter.