Most businesses begin with the idea of being able to supply customers 
with what they need or want. As time goes by, some business owners tend to lose sight of this fundamental principle. Problems come up and the day-to-day activities seem to take over.
Paul Levesque, author of Customer Service From The Inside Out Made Easy, says:
"...the vision of wealth-through-happy customers gets pushed further and further toward some vague future point in time, until it disappears from sight altogether beyond the horizon. Out of sight, out of mind. Eventually, the original reason for launching the business (an outwardly directed focus on meeting customer needs) is all but forgotten, replaced with an inwardly directed focus on keeping the business profitable enough to survive..."
I believe it's important to remind yourself every single day of why you are in business in the first place. If you have to, make a sign and post it somewhere where you see it everyday. Something like "Customers Are #1" would work. It's a simple act, but seeing those words embeds them into the subconscious and will become a constant reminder of your purpose.
Again you have made a great point. In consulting a business with customer service issues, with customer focus long forgotten, I have also observed a trend that shows a correlation between the use of and active business plan to help focus the business and not having one at all. Most businesses haven't even put one together and if they did it is gathering dust along with the original vision.
A business plan is a map and compass for a business it defines everything it does including its markets and customers and the policies and strategies to develop and serve. Without them the dally struggle to survive soon becomes the death throws and gasping breaths of a business who has lost their focus and direction, including what the value of a real customer is.
Posted by: Tim Whelan | April 18, 2006 8:56 AM | Permalink to Comment