March 2026 | VOL. 40

“Customers are always beautifully, wonderfully dissatisfied,

even when they report being happy and business is great.”

-Jeff Bezos

Welcome to the Verde Edition quarterly newsletter. 

Organizations rarely fail because they lack strategy or investment. They fail because they overlook the voice of the customer (VoC) signals that indicate where growth, loyalty, and competitive advantage are within reach.

The Cost of Ignoring Customer Signals

The Verde Group data and that of other leading organizations consistently show that companies that fail to systematically listen and act on customer feedback expose themselves to measurable financial risk:

These are not soft metrics; they directly affect revenue, margin, and shareholder value.

Without structured VoC analytics tied to economic impact, these signals are often dismissed as operational noise rather than strategic risk.

While these findings apply broadly to both B2C and B2B industries, in this edition we focus on manufacturers whose failures rarely stem from poor engineering or capacity constraints. It comes from underestimating customer signals that indicate where margin expansion, retention, and share-of-wallet growth are within reach.

In complex B2B environments, long sales cycles, distributor networks, and multi-stakeholder buying committees, the voice of the customer (VoC) is often informal, fragmented, or filtered through sales teams. The result: strategic investments are made based on internal assumptions rather than verified customer friction.

Missed Cues in B2B Manufacturing

Manufacturers often misinterpret early warning signals:

These are not operational inconveniences; they are Revenue@Risk indicators.

Listening as a Growth Lever

In B2B manufacturing, the distance between stagnation and accelerated growth is often small but obscured.

Companies that embed VoC into capital allocation, product development, digital transformation, and service design:

To summarize, many corporate failures occur not because the solution was wrong, but because leadership did not realize how close they were to unlocking value already signaled by their customers.

Cheers!

The Verde Group

By aligning cross-functional teams around evidence-based priorities and establishing ongoing measurement and accountability, the organization shifted CX from an initiative to an operational capability. The effort clarified ownership of critical touchpoints, reduced friction in service and support interactions, and created a clear line of sight between experience improvements and commercial outcomes. Read the full case study to see how a disciplined, data-driven CX approach drives measurable impact.

Many traditional KPIs, like net promoter score or revenue, no longer give a complete picture of business health. In a recent Forbes Business Council article, executives share which metrics are losing relevance and what leaders should track instead.

In manufacturing, customer relationships may span years, but that doesn’t mean they’re friction-free. Small breakdowns in communication, ordering, delivery, or service can quietly chip away at loyalty and put revenue at risk long before anyone notices. In this article, The Verde Group explores where B2B customer experience most often breaks down for manufacturers, and how identifying the issues that truly influence customer behavior can help companies protect growth and strengthen long-term partnerships.

The Post-Sales Customer Service/Loyalty Connection

Winning the sale is only the beginning. In many industries, the post-sales experience determines whether a customer becomes a repeat buyer, an advocate, or a churn statistic.

When onboarding, service, support, and issue resolution are inconsistent or difficult, even strong pre-sale experiences can quickly be erased. Organizations that treat post-sales service as a strategic function can protect revenue, strengthen retention, and create durable customer relationships.

Here are five factors that most strongly influence post-sales customer service success:

Post-sales service is not a back-end function — it is a primary driver of retention, lifetime value, and brand trust. Organizations that measure and manage it accordingly outperform those that treat it as an afterthought.

There are several manufacturing organizations that are widely recognized for turning post-sales service into a competitive advantage. While the specific tactics vary by industry, leaders share a common focus: uptime, proactive support, digital enablement, and lifecycle value.

Below are strong examples often cited in CX, service excellence, and industrial performance discussions.

Caterpillar

Why they stand out: Predictive service and uptime protection

Caterpillar transformed aftermarket support by embedding sensors and telematics in equipment to detect failures before they occur. This proactive service model reduces downtime and maintenance costs, strengthening loyalty in industries where equipment uptime equals revenue. HiverHQ.com

Key takeaway: Move from reactive repair to predictive, uptime-focused service.

Toyota

Why they stand out: Service reliability and proactive communication

Toyota’s after-sales support model emphasizes maintenance reliability, proactive communication, and efficient service processes — contributing to high satisfaction and loyalty. Renascence.io

Key takeaway: Consistency and transparency reinforce long-term loyalty.

Siemens

Why they stand out: Digital service ecosystems

Siemens integrates digital platforms, remote monitoring, and dedicated support teams to deliver proactive service and tailored solutions. Their approach combines real-time data, personalized support, and 24/7 assistance to improve customer satisfaction and retention. Renascence.io

Key takeaway: Digital visibility and proactive support improve reliability and trust.

READY TO TALK? Book an intro session with Dennis Armbruster, Verde Group Executive VP, to discover how you can enhance the impact of your CX program. We want to help you find methods to anchor your customer insights firmly within your business framework, driving stronger ROI and increasing executive buy-in. We want to learn more about your current challenges.

From quick-hit blogs and insight-rich newsletters to in-depth white papers and proprietary research (including our Revenue@Risk® framework), there’s something for every CX leader in our growing resource library.

We’re passionate about helping organizations rethink customer experience through data, strategy, and decades of real-world insight. Dive in, explore, and see what ideas rise to the surface when you challenge the status quo.

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