“Good,
better, best May
I never rest; Until
my good is better And
my better, best.”
The above is a
popular rhyme most of us learnt in our early childhood education. But I wonder
how many people actually pay attention to these simple, yet powerful words. I
believe the difference between success and mediocrity lies in the very context
of these words. What distinguishes a successful enterprise from one that is
struggling to keep its customers is enshrined in the idea these words present.
And it is simple: ‘Know your good, desire the better, but achieve the best.’
There is no denying the fact that today’s business world is competitive and, in
the face of competition, only the best are noticed and rewarded. Being good at
something used to be enough to get you recognition and reward. Well, not
anymore. Today’s business is all about becoming the best. It is the ultimate
necessity. If you want the highest rewards, you have to become the best.
There are many
good ways of satisfying customers, but there are also better ways. Then there
is the ultimate: the best way. Sadly, though the term “customer satisfaction,”
as we know of today, is used rather casually so much that it has lost its true
significance. Most businesses are not doing anything beyond smiling at customers
or trying to appear friendly. I believe that to satisfy customers, a business
needs to employ the best practices in making them feel truly satisfied. If a
business is able to find the best ways to satisfy its customers, then it gets
rewarded with more business and more customers. And then the marketing equation
begins to apply: ‘X number of customers equals X number of sales, which
culminates into X margin of profit for the business.’ It seems to me then that
no business can significantly grow its investments, unless it first focuses on
meeting the needs and demands of customers. As we say in marketing, ‘customers
are the lifeblood of an organization.’ Once a business runs out of them, it is
certainly headed for the exit lines of the market.
So to
businesses, I have a few words to suggest. If your customers spend ten minutes
at your place of business for a normal transaction, find ways to reduce it to seven,
maybe even five. If customers need to drive long distances and be in traffic
for hours for them to come and pick up a form, report or statement, find a way
of sending it to them electronically. If new customers need to fill four different
forms to open a simple savings account, work on having the processes halved. Or
perhaps your customers want to make deposits via the internet or the ATM. Maybe
they want their ATM requests processed within 3 hours. If your customers make a
complaint, resolve it in 24 hours, or less. Send your customers personalized
birthday messages, or have frequent corporate events where you get to interact
with them more personally. And there may be some others who despise an SMS
alert after every transaction. Whatever their wants and desires may be, no
matter how trivial, there are numerous ideas available that will help you meet
these wants. Employ some of these very basic principles and see your business
rewarded.
Maybe previously
your business has employed good ideas to satisfy customers. However, to operate
in the going concern, you must channel thoughts on improving those good ideas
into better ones. If the ideas are already better, then it may be time you
challenged yourself to develop and implement the best ideas. Today’s businesses
obviously need to put in more effort into satisfying today’s customers whose
tastes and preferences are always changing, mainly due to the endorsement of a
different business or product by family, friends or the media and also
experiences (good or bad) they have with a firm or product. Do not let your
business rest after it has achieved some level of success. That is how a
mediocre business thinks, and soon the market kicks them out. Today’s business
market does not babysit a business. Rather, it nurtures and matures businesses
that operate right strategies and best practices. Be on the move
to improve. Good is not better. And better is not best. And until you have
achieved best, do not rest!
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