And that behavior results in leaving little time for outreach to the most critical component ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Key-customer1.jpg\")
in your chain \u2013 your key customers. During CEO roundtables which I attend regularly, fellow CEO\u2019s analyze a compatriot\u2019s use of time during the once-a-year personal presentations each makes in turn.\u00a0 If the presenting CEO is honest in the analysis of actual time spent each week, it is often revealing to all to see how many hours are spent turning inward toward meetings, operational management, or responding to emails or texts sent by others.<\/p>\n
Then, what is a benchmark for customer outreach?<\/strong><\/p>\n As a group, we set a bar of fifteen percent as the minimum amount of time each week that a good CEO should spend reaching out to the company\u2019s key customers in a proactive attempt to find issues, trends, unmet product needs, and of course create bonds that make their jumping to a competitor more difficult.<\/p>\n But, do your customer know that they want?<\/strong><\/p>\n [Email readers, continue here…]<\/em><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0We all remember the story of FedEx, where future customers didn\u2019t know they wanted \u201cabsolutely, positively overnight\u201d until they saw what that could do to make their businesses more competitive.<\/p>\n Find the pain<\/strong><\/p>\n Show them a prototype<\/strong><\/p>\n Do customers know what they like when they see it?\u00a0 Of course, they do. So why not show a prototype, asking for input to improve it or adapt it to the needs of the customer?\u00a0\u00a0 With that kind of interaction, the customer becomes a partner in development, tied to the success of its outcome and much more willing to purchase it when completed.<\/p>\n Build relationships from the top<\/strong><\/p>\n Is business built upon good relationships?\u00a0 Of course, it is. \u00a0And who is best to create closer relationships at the top than two CEO\u2019s speaking personally without distraction?\u00a0\u00a0 I have won deals after forming such trusting relationships and have lost deals to those who have beaten me to the opportunity.<\/p>\n The challenge is also the opportunity.\u00a0 A good CEO spends time with critical customers and values the feedback and relationships that result.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OK.\u00a0 We know that an executive\u2019s job is not easy. Nor is there much time in a typical day for outreach of any kind. Especially in your growing company, you are drawn into daily process issues by all of your … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/key-customer2-300x149.jpg\")
Do customers know what they want from their suppliers for future products?\u00a0 We often ask our sales people to \u201cfind the pain\u201d and show how our product solves that pain problem.\u00a0 But it was Henry Ford who famously said, \u201cIf I\u2019d asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said \u2018a faster horse\u2019.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Some new products arrive with no frame of reference.\u00a0 FedEx, the automobile, the Internet, and many more examples, prove that there can be a significant market for ground-breaking ideas.<\/p>\n