overs, ill-advised rollups and corporate raider
activity in search of acquiring existing books
of business.
To follow through the premise, younger executives who were educated and came of age
during the early years of Customer Focused
Management had still not comprehended
and embraced its tenets. As a result, the dot.
com bust and subsequent financial scandals
occurred. In a nutshell, the “new school” of
managers did not think that corporate protocols and strategies related to them. The game
was to just write the rules as they rolled along.
Such thinking always invites disaster, as so
many of their stockholders found out. Given
that various management eras are still reflected in the new order of business, we must learn
from each and move forward.
In 1991, Customer Focused Management
became the standard. In a highly competitive business environment, every dynamic of
a successful organization must be geared toward ultimate customers. Customer focused
management goes far beyond just smiling,
answering queries and communicating with
buyers. It transcends service and quality. Every organization has customers, clients, stakeholders, financiers, volunteers, supporters or
other categories of “affected constituencies.”
Companies must change their focus from
products and processes to the values shared
with customers. Everyone with whom you
conduct business is a customer or referral
source of someone else. The service that we
get from some people, we pass along to others. Customer service is a continuum of human behaviors, shared with those whom we
meet.
Customers are the lifeblood of every business. Employees depend upon customers
for their paychecks. Yet, you wouldn’t know
the correlation when poor customer service
is