I’ve been in a few networking gatherings in the last week. When I hear other professionals describe their companies and talk about their issues, it’s amazing how rarely the words “customer” or “client” come out of their mouths. I hear “sales” and “marketing” and “product” and “pricing” but not “customer.”
As the late great Marshall Field said, “Your customers are your only profit center.” Yet most businesses are not set up with that as a core part of their philosophy. The businesses that do focus on the customer relationship, and build processes, product and service around it, seem to also be the companies that continue to succeed in down economies, which, last I checked, we were in right now.
Something to think about.