Customers: Lost That Lovin' Feelin'?

Dear Mark: Every time we have a management or board session about better serving our customers, all I hear is complaining and moaning about our problems and why we can’t do this or that. How can I get them to stop?
—Tired of the Stinkin’ Thinkin’ in Omaha

Dear Odor Averse: Well, maybe we should just throw a pity party and skip the damn management and board meetings! Try this to get rid of the odor that seems to permeate your meetings: Ask your directors how well they know your customers. Can they even name your top 10? Nothing’s going to change at the management level until the folks at the top show everyone else what your organization values.

If your leaders create (and fund) ways to encourage risk taking, learning, and innovation—all in the name of being customer focused—the rest of the organization will notice. The blame game will stop if you show the way forward, provide the right environment for innovation and risk taking, and make resources available for learning new things. Boards and management who only complain instead of leading the company would be well advised to remember the old Chinese proverb: “The fish rots from the head down.”

 

Dear Mark: My industry is changing so fast. How can I be sure our strategies, products, and services are aligned with our customers’ changing needs?
—Trying to Hit a Moving Target in St. Paul

Dear Sharpshooter: Businesses that work closely with their customers on special projects, joint ventures, customized products, and distribution create intimate relationships with their customers. The knowledge gained through working side-by-side with your customers will rub off into your business strategies, new product ideas, service logistics, and distribution systems.

Try using multiple approaches to build relationships with customers. This will assure that your growth won’t be based on luck, but will be well coordinated with what your customers want. Remember, you have a much better chance of hitting a moving target with a shotgun blast versus a rifle shot.

 

Dear Mark: Globalization of my business has created virtual customers around the world who speak different languages, have different cultural values, and do business in different time zones. How can we serve all these different types of customers?
—Stretched Too Thin in Des Moines

Dear Stretched: Let Dr. Mark share a little secret with you on this one: You don’t have to do it all yourself.

Get out of the old mindset that says you have to control everything and do everything right here. Yes, you are stretched too thin. Collaborate with others across the world to give your customers what they need.

This also requires being very disciplined about providing clarity regarding roles and responsibilities, and hiring the right people who share your values for customer service. Either learn how to co-opt other resources in other parts of the world, or learn how to say arrivederci, adieu, adios, or hasta la vista, baby, to your customers.

P.S. I’ve kind of enjoyed this “Dear Mark” stuff. Look out, Dr. Phil, I’m on your heels!