Getting more customers is easy. Just cut prices until people buy from you because you are the cheapest. Many businesses use this as a strategy and it works so long as you keep in mind two things. Firstly, there will always be someone cheaper than you. How many times have you heard the cry “we can’t compete with (COUNTRY XYZ) because they are cheaper than us. Their labour costs are (X %) lower”? This is usually followed by the statement “It’s not fair” or “It’s not a level playing field”. Well life is tough, then you die and it’s certainly not fair along the way, so get used to it. Secondly, buying customers with low prices buys you disloyal customers who will move to whoever else is cheaper as soon as they can. They are not good customers. So, how to effectively get more good customers.
If you listen to the proponents of LEAN they will tell you the Voice Of The Customer is everything and it is of course important. However, there is a more important voice which if you listen to it carefully will enable you to get, and keep, more good customers. The Voice Of The Employee.
Richard Branson put it beautifully. “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” He could have also added that shareholders shouldn’t come first.
Good employees will build great relationships with customers and clients. Relationships built on a personal basis are not subject to fickle reasons to change like price. Customers and clients built on relationships take longer to get but are loyal to you when you get them. This is the effective way to get more good customers. The only way to get good customers is to listen to and act on the words of your employees.
Look after your employees and they will look after your customers. Prioritise anything else over employees and they will prioritise other things over you and your customers. Too many businesses are only interested in shareholders and shareholder value. This produces short term gain but fails in the medium to long term. We see this time and time again causing problems with employees (look at the current problems with Royal Mail, the railways etc. etc.) which then alienates customers.
Good leaders look inward first in order to effectively produce results that move the organisation toward its’ objective. Technology and AI are brilliant but the deciding factor in making an organisation a success will always be the people.
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