Curt Fowler.

“Businesses exist to meet a human need.”

There are four quadrants that great businesses are always striving to improve. They are Finance, Customers, People and Clarity.

Last week we talked about why we always start with Quadrant One – Cash. Cash is oxygen for your business. You must have it to open the doors and pay your people. Margins drive cash. We must manage cash and margins to have the opportunity to work on the other quadrants.

After cash, turn our focus to our customers. Quadrant Two is all about your customers. Your business exists to meet the needs of your customers. The better we meet those needs the more our customers will buy and the less price sensitive they will be.

Happier customers yield higher margins and more cash.

Peter Drucker said businesses exist to create a customer. I say businesses exist to meet a human need.

Either way, building great customer relationships is crucial to building a great business.

The key to building great customer relationships is the same for building all relationships – listening & acting on what you learn.

The better you understand the hopes and dreams of your customers, the better you can help them achieve those dreams with your products and services.

By listening, you’ll find ways to improve your current product. You’ll also get ideas for new products and services to better serve your core customer.

We can listen to our customers in many ways that include:

• Face to Face Interviews.

• Surveys.

• Social Media.

The key is to measure. We can’t manage and improve if we don’t measure.

I love the Net Promoter Score. It is simple and easy to use. It creates a single, numeric measure that you and your team can focus on improving.

The Net Promoter Score is based on asking two questions to your clients. “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you recommend our product/service to your friends and family?” Then ask “Why?”

You’ll be amazed at what you learn.

Take those learnings back to improve your business, wow your customers and grow.

Business is a fun game and it is a lot more fun when all the players are watching the same scoreboard.

We love helping leaders build great businesses. If you’d like to learn more you can check out our great, free resources at www.valuesdrivenresults.com/resource-library/ or give us a call at 229.244.1559. We’d love to help you in any way we can.

Curt Fowler is President of Fowler & Company and Director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey. He is dedicated to helping leaders build great organizations and better lives for themselves and the people they lead.  

Fowler is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and business advisor. He has an MBA in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School, is a CPA, and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and four children.