GET AND KEEP CUSTOMERS
Posted by bodybydesign on April 25, 2007
Some of the most demanding Distributors are the best Distributors and have been the lifeblood of the team.
Jeffrey J. Fox wrote the following in his book How To Become CEO:
Customers are the lifeblood of any company. Everybody should know this. Everybody says “the customer is king” and “we work for the customer” and “the customer is the real boss.” But very few employees in a corporation do anything to demonstrate they believe in this dictum. Commonly, the higher an executive gets, and the bigger the company, the less they deal with real honest-to-goodness existing and potential customers.
Executives reorganize companies, eliminate jobs, and excuse the chaos by saying they are “two or three levels closer to the customer.” Bunk! There are no barriers between anyone in the corporation and the customer.
Why do so few people really work to get and keep customers? Because dealing with customers is tough. Customers reject sellers, they negotiate, they make harsh demands, they expect their needs to be filled, and they can be fickle. Also, dealing with administrative functions is an easier, impersonal, and safe task.
You must deal with today’s customers and tomorrow’s customers. They provide the ideas for new products and new applications. They provide the early warning signals about your products’ quality and timeliness. They know about your competitors. To know your customers is to know your future.
When the phone rings twelve people ought to dive to answer it. The customer is indeed king. And the future president understands how the customer is also the “king maker.”
I would add this one thought to Jeff’s words for those CEO’s out-of-touch with the customers (we are all CEO’s of our own company): The customer is also the “King Breaker.”
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