Stay Tuned to Your Customer

What should we do during these difficult times to manage our business? And ensure that we don’t lose business. The single most important thing for anyone in business to do – Stay tuned to your customer, writes R Sridhar. 

Why am I saying that? 

Peter Drucker wrote in ‘The Practice of Management’: “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” 

I believe it is still valid. 

How do we create and keep a customer? By talking to him. Keeping in touch. Understanding his needs, fears and aspirations. Creating products and services that help him. Make his life better. Hassle free. 

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This sounds like what Sherlock Holmes would say “Elementary dear Watson”. It is indeed elementary. And rather obvious. But then someone else said “The obvious is always overlooked!” 

Why is it important to stay tuned to your customer? For this, we must understand why we lose customers. 

There could be several reasons. Customer does not like our product. He has found a better option that is cheaper and better. 

The biggest reason, however, is that we have lost touch with our customer. And who do you think is talking to your customer, when you are not talking to him? 

And who do you think the customer is talking to when he is not talking to you? 

How do you keep in touch with your customer? Spamming his mailbox with junk mail is NOT keeping in touch with the customer. 

You keep in touch by offering him what is timely, relevant and fits his current situation. 

You can’t do this unless you listen to the customer. Listen to him with your head and the heart. Put yourself in his shoes. Look at life through his eyes. 

When your customer is in the market to buy something in your category does remember you first? Are you on top of his choice list? 

Look at all your customer contact points – phone, email, product delivery, returns, complaints. Look at these as opportunities to create a “WOW” experience. Ever heard of Moments of truth? A moment of truth occurs when a customer is in contact with any point of becoming a customer. His experience at that time can make or break a sale. Not only that – it can help you retain a customer too. 

Finally remember this brilliant quote from Einstein: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” 

The current situation has had a huge impact on all of us. It has changed the way we live, work and play. WFH is a reality and is likely to continue for many of us. 

How will this new reality affect the way you stay tuned to your customers? What worked for you in the past may not work for you anymore. 

The only way to crack it: “Stay tuned to your customer.” 

(The author is R Sridhar, Innovation Coach, Author, Speaker and former director at Ogilvy & Mather.)