Have a coffee with an entrepreneur: any one of them will tell you that your customers are one of the links – if not the most fundamental – link in the business. After all, without them there is no sales, profit, growth, future. Companies may have different structures, backgrounds or skills, but without the public absorbing the result of their work, the chain is never complete.
But often, the experience is not as beautiful as the speech. In practice, many companies do not consider the customer as an essential part of their strategies and processes. They think that it is he who must adjust to what is determined. These companies are not willing to listen , much less to suit to the customer.
From microenterprise to multinational, not listening to the customer is one of the biggest flaws that any business can commit. Why? Because the customer is someone who needs to solve a problem and believes that your company can help him in this. There is a greater yearning for it than just buying a product or a service. The search is for a solution, preferably, definitive. And to deliver solutions, you have to go beyond demand.
When we talk about the vision of the companies about the customers, I find three models:
My client is a necessary bad
For these companies, the customer is just a source of income, someone who pays the bills and provides wages. Therefore, they take little into account the expectations and needs hidden behind a demand. Your order line is: “All my customers are looking for is price.”
They do not consider the particularities of each service or the indispensability of creating experiences with each contact. When the client is not completely sure or clear about what he or she is looking for, or if they are triggered out of the moment, their employees are not receptive or even unwell and impatient.
In time, the scarce vision on the client brings difficult consequences, since price and term appear as volatile items within the loyalty. Alone, they can not hold customers in front of the competitor’s lightning-fast promotion. Apart from the greater chances of rework and inner wear between areas, in the pursuit of keeping promises made to keep the client close.
My client is a divinity
For these companies, the customer is on the other side. He can do everything, dictates all the rules. The most curious thing is that even then, these companies do not bother to understand their customer deeply. After all, every divinity, by definition, carries within itself an aura of ministry. More than understood, it must be obeyed.
The excuse of these companies for the institutional disorganization that they usually present is the need to serve in the best possible way. So, there are no defined processes, or when they exist, are not followed, because when the customer demands, everyone “stops” to serve it.
Do not get me wrong: it should be yearning for any company to serve their customer in the most excellent way. However, the relationship of trust that generates loyalty goes through the process of educating the client about the ideal conditions for the best service and the best product, in order to generate a true experience in the relationship.
My client is a partner
So what is the ideal position for my client? He should be seen as a partner. Knowing him deeply guarantees that throughout the process, he will be surprised at his expectations for the solution. Added to the consistency of quality delivery, the road to becoming an accomplice is paved.
In addition, the customer will be understood as a co-creator. Mature companies realize that the contribution becomes a two-way street: while the customer enjoys the products and services, their actions, reactions and feedbacks, become inputs to improve the service journey. Directly or indirectly, intentionally or occasionally, the client will always bring their perception about what is lacking or remaining.
And with all this information, it’s time to go back and do the homework. After all, listen to the customer, but do not act according to what is heard is as harmful as not to hear.
Source: Anderson Siqueira – www.consense.com.br
