(Below is guest post by Jeff Henderson, who will be preaching this coming Sunday and then speaking at a special 1-hour business and career breakfast the next morning (Monday, Nov. 15). Forbes Magazine has listed him as one of 20 speakers you shouldn’t miss.)
Insider-itis is a malady afflicting the vision of organizations by focusing on insider issues over outsider issues. “This is how we’ve always done it” becomes the mantra over, “What are we learning from our customers in order to better serve them?”
The future is going to reward businesses and organizations that are designed to prosper the customer — to see the world from their perspective. It sounds easy. It’s far from it.
For example, when I worked with Chick-fil-A, I would work with individual restaurant operators to help build their sales. One of the ways we would do this is a full, one-day Marketing Makeover. The primary focus of this day was to see the business from the customer’s perspective. One of the ways we did this was during lunch, the busiest time of the day. Usually and understandably, the Operator would find herself behind the counter serving the customer. Makes perfect sense, right?
If we’re not careful though, we can find ourselves behind the counter all the time. This is incredibly dangerous because we see the business from a place the customer never sees it. As a result, we make decisions, which are logical to us but perhaps not logical to the customer.
And perception may not be fair or true, but it’s what customers use to make decisions about you.
It’s why standing in front of the counter during lunchtime and not behind it can be challenging for a very busy business. At the same time, it’s why seeing the business from the customer’s perspective in the busiest time of the day is one of the most important strategies you and your team can implement.
When you see the business from the customer’s perspective, the logical decisions we make from our perspective aren’t so logical sometimes. Not responding or engaging customers on social media seems logical to a big brand or organization. From a customer’s perspective, it appears you don’t care.
That may be unfair. It may be untrue. But it’s their perception. And perception may not be fair or true, but it’s what customers use to make decisions about you.
It’s why you must replace producer logic with consumer logic.
At Monday’s Business Breakfast (click the image below to register), we’re going to give you specific strategies to avoid the danger of insider-itis, helping you continue to be FOR your customer.
