Within the framework of the BEPS project, the OECD has proposed certain international standards, subject to penalties, whose main purpose is to combat the erosion of the tax base and the transfer of profits, taking advantage of the differences between the tax systems of countries and jurisdictions. In particular, in Action 5, said body developed measures to control franchise regimes that could favor “harmful” tax competition.
stories make history
In the City of Líber Seregni (former Colonia Nicolich), in the department of Canelones, a group of women is carrying out an enterprise of ecological bags and backpacks called Amate Emprendedoras. Its flagship product is a bag stamped with messages about caring for the environment. Some time ago they participated in a workshop to improve communication with an emphasis on content marketing and when the teacher asked them who their clients were and what they valued, they did not hesitate to answer that they were all those people who are concerned about caring for the environment. .
— But isn’t there anything else that these people value when deciding to buy? Many make this type of bags, why do they buy from you and not from others?” – insisted the teacher.
The women returned to the daily work of their business and that question remained spinning in their heads, until the day they received a message from Spain on WhatsApp. A customer confirmed that she had received one of the bags from her. She confessed to them that it had caused her enormous emotion because she could see the love and dedication behind the product, and it made her very happy to be able to collaborate from a distance with a group of thriving women.
At that time, the women of Ciudad Líber Seregni “got the chip on their shoulder.” They began to review other messages and returned to the communication workshop excited. They had realized that the majority of their clients were women.
His clients valued the history of entrepreneurship, that it was made up of women, his collaborative way of working and his constant spirit of improvement. They took them as inspiration and their product made them feel connected to a feminine force.
From then on, in addition to communicating how friendly the product was with the environment, they began to show more of themselves and what they did in their day-to-day business, and to connect with other women through promotional messages. The responses of his followers were immediate and they saw how quickly a vibrant community of clients (real and potential) was created and strengthened.
The functional, the emotional and the social.
This story shows how customer relations go far beyond the obvious and the transactional. What a customer is looking for when engaging with an organization has to do with the concept of “jobs to be done” (jobs to be done), coined by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen. What is the customer trying to solve when buying a product or service?
When we ask ourselves this question, we move away from the “what” (the specific transaction) and we get closer to the “what for” (the deeper reason behind that purchase). Those “customer jobs” have different dimensions. First, there is the functional dimension, which is usually the most obvious. In this case, it is the need for a bag to carry things.
There is also a social component that has to do with how I see myself before others when consuming a certain product or service. The use of this type of bags demonstrates a certain disposition to care for the environment. More and more, we like to see in other people evidence that they are careful with the environment and we want them to see us in the same way.
Finally, there are other components that are emotional. It’s about how I feel about the shopping experience.
The women’s bags of Ciudad Líber Seregni are not just bags. To its clients, buying this product makes them feel good; it makes them feel that they are helping a group of women with drive, that they undertake and “play it”. They are not buying a bag from a company. They are buying from women with first and last names, with inspiring stories behind them, and they begin to feel part of a community.
Many times we think of the client as something abstract, and we see the relationship only from the mere transaction, from the functional, when, in reality, what makes the difference lies in discovering the emotional or social aspects that are at stake. We just need to have an active, intelligent listening to what they are telling us. They have the answer.
