Do you advocate for customers? How often? To what degree? Do customers bear witness to instances where you deliver on advocating for them, or do they just hear empty words? We all have inter-company directives, goals, and objectives, but the employees don’t chip in and pay invoices for the goods and services we provide to customers. So, why don’t we put the customer needs above ours? Afterall, customers pay the invoices that fuel our paychecks! Sometimes priorities can be really simple!

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“I’ll explain our price once, but I’ll never apologize for our quality.” The words of Terry McManus were defensible. So many business people operate in a “Word Salad World” where empty statements cannot be converted into provable claims. First of all, is your product or service good enough to charge a premium price? Secondly, if so, can your company prove it? Have fun defending your premium price!

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Schemes and scams are a fast track to the business boneyard! Customer are way more intelligent than scammers give them credit for. Maybe it’s time to do a full company-scrape for any unwanted schemes and scams being conducted by your personnel? If you are intentionally misleading customers, it’s just a matter of time before it all caves in on you. Maybe today is a good time to start deploying honesty, integrity and truth-telling?

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During my career I have witnessed dozens of executives avoid managing tough business situations. Why? I’m not totally certain, but most of the times it seems rooted in mistaken identity. In other words, they see their obligation to manage as an eventual path to confrontation. Not liking confrontation, the executive turns away, avoids managing altogether, and the problem festers and mushrooms. If this is your company, maybe it’s time to redefine the expectations of leadership?

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Proactivity is a wonderful business quality, but sometimes unique situations require reactions to solve an issue. Contingency plans can’t always be planned out, but many times that can. Has your company ever examined the various contingencies that can be mapped out to help mitigate future calamities? Maybe today is a good time to start planning out contingencies? Turn the mission into a fun collaboration process. The curve balls are sure to come. Why not be ready for some of them?

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“When you’re wrong, admit quickly and emphatically.” Dale Carnegie’s sage
wisdom remains as powerful today, as when he uttered them 90 years ago.
Humility is an endearing human trait that is dissolving away in modern business.
How about going a little “old school” to show customers you own your mistakes?
Your buyers will reward your honesty and humility. Why? Because you are not
blame-shifting like other vendors!

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“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Harold Geneen’s simple, yet
powerful words can be a bright light in a dark room. Company performance, and customer perception has to be convertible into metrics that can paint a factual picture. Without them, it’s like trying to navigate a path in a dark hallway!

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Using acronyms can often sound like cryptic, mumbo-jumbo to the customer ear.
Perhaps it is time to exchange unfamiliar acronyms with names, and descriptions
that customers can actually understand, and relate to?

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