Small Business Boomers

What is customer orientation?

by jim on January 24th, 2007

I was in sales for 25 years.  I became very, very customer oriented and it flows over into everything I do, but the definition of customer orientation is important.  Many people like to quote the old saw “the customer is always right”.  Most of the time, I believe that.

The customer is always right when they believe they are right.  They may be dead wrong.   But if by their understanding of the situation they believe they are right, then you need to acknowledge their belief.  Only after you have honored that belief and acknowledged that it can you begin to present a different way of looking at the situation.  That takes time and effort.  Seldom is it worth skipping that process.

The customer is not right if they are playing you for a sucker.  First job I had out of the Army was selling truck mounted concrete mixers.  You ran into an interesting cross section of people.  One day our VP of Sales went out to Detroit and fired a customer.  This client had always been a pain in the neck.  One day Jack decided to quantify exactly how much the pain was.  It turned out that the client drove a very hard bargain and demanded premium service.  His warranty claims were excessive.  This client was the only one the company ever lost money on and it was a good deal of money.  On top of it all his employees were abusive to our people.

Jack told the client that if we were going to do business moving forward this was how we would work together.  The client was angry and said he wouldn’t work that way.  Jack kissed him off, because it wasn’t just the money it was the relationship.

Business people often make some erroneous assumptions about their relationship to their clients.  They are part of the added value you bring to your client and they are a two way street.  If your clients do not see an added value in doing business with you, then you have a problem.

There is a firm that sells wipe-up towels, laundered cloth rags.  I don’t think you can get another product that deserves to be labeled a commodity more.  This firm dominates their market with customer relations highlighted by incredible service.  All their clients could get some product cheaper than these towels, but they buy this service because they value the service and the people who provide it.  There is a mutual respect between client and vendor.

Respect and value your customers.  When the customer respects and values you, now you have something to take to the bank.

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POSTED IN: Business Improvements, Customers, Marketing, Uncategorized