It is a given that it is important, some would say vital, to know your customer. If you read the LEAN literature then everything should be done having listened to the Voice Of The Customer (VOC) and anything for which the customer will not pay is defined as waste. We will address the definition of waste again in future blogs. The trouble is that many individuals and organisations put things in place without knowing your real customer.
Here’s an example. Who is the customer for this blog? The obvious answer would be you dear reader but I’m afraid that would be not only misleading but actually wrong. You are not my customer. If you were, then you would pay to read it. As nobody does pay to read this blog and I doubt ever will then according to the great god LEAN it is waste. The point is that I am the customer, not you and by writing this for my customer (me) you get it for free. Win, win.
When I run training courses or provide my consultancy services, my customer is rarely the person to whom I am directly reporting or training. It’s the person who commissioned the work. It is that person that I need to satisfy. The best feedback in the world will not get me any more work if I don’t deal with the problem worrying the person who commissioned me.
My other business has a monetised YouTube channel with, as I write, over 6,000 subscribers. Not one of whom is my customer. It’s Mr Google who pays the bills and is therefore my customer. Every time we publish a video we need to be aware of the great algorithm which determines if the advertisers will like our content and if they do we will get paid. If not, millions could watch the channel but not a penny would come my way. Know your real customer.
If you sell toys. Who are your customers? Is it children or is it parents, aunts, uncles and other providers of goodies? Some people would say the purchaser of the toy is the customer and others the user. I’m not sure, it depends upon the toy. Your customer may be the child. This is true where the child has their own money and is allowed to take their own decisions but in most cases your customer is the person buying the toy and it is likely that the child is your salesperson!!
If you are employed then your real customer may be your boss or possibly someone else. If I am the CEO of a corporate organisation then my customer is not the people who buy the goods and services but the shareholders. This is why so many companies have problems. The salespeople think their customers are individuals and their bosses think their customers are the shareholders. This often leads to conflict especially when looking at short term v long term projects. Knowing your real customer helps lot here.
Knowing your real customer is vital and once you have worked out who it is you may want to make changes in order to serve them better. Alternatively, of course, once you know who is your real customer you may want to work to change the customer!!!
If you want to be truly effective sort out your real customer and work toward satisfying them. Always remembering that the real customer of you may well be you.
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