subject: Creating a Customer is What a Small Business is All About [print this page] Operating a small business can often get so time-consuming, so detail-oriented that what unfortunately happens is the true essence of the business gets lost in all of the detail.
What is the "true nature" of a business? It was none other than the great management guru, the late Peter F. Drucker, in his classic The Practice of Management, published more than 50 years ago, who nailed it: "There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer. The customer is the foundation of a business and keeps it in existence."
In other words, a business doesn't exist for its own sake, it exists for its customer's sake. Now, while that ought to be as obvious as the sun coming up, unfortunately sometimes the tasks of running a business become ends in themselves, and the "customer" can end up being seen more as an unwelcome interruption in the daily routines than as the center of the business's universe.
What "messages" are you sending your customers? Does a live person answer the telephone or do they have to wade through layers of "press one for" to get their question answered? Are customers greeted instantly upon entering your business, or do they have to wait for your people to finish stocking a shelf or rearranging a display? When you're short-staffed, as the owner/manager do you stay in the office shuffling papers, or do you help out on the floor working with customers?
Speaking of management gurus, it was Tom Peters, in his classic In Search of Excellence, who said that "virtually all of the excellent companies had, it seemed, defined themselves as de facto service businesses. Customers reign supreme."
Creating a Customer is What a Small Business is All About
By: Dave Ramacitti
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