What I believe; Customer Dynamics

Ken Haycook, PMP

What is a Customer? As a Service Person, how would you classify the person at the next desk? Customer Dynamics are particularly important to Cash Flow. But can your employee’s be a customer too? How can you determine if the person you are talking to is a Customer or a Supplier? Keeping the dynamics going in the right direct is a day to day job. It hinges on the definition of customer relationships and who has responsibility for what. Listed here are a couple of areas that you can use to establish an understanding of what is a customer and what is management’s responsibility:

Customer focus

• Any relationships can be described as Customer/Supplier especially with employees and management as well as with external customers. We each have a need to be satisfied and we all can supply what others need.
• Internal Customers are as important as external ones. Imagine the chaos that can come about if one group refuses to cooperate with another. Who do you think will suffer?

In the event of any ambiguity, focus on what is right for the customer. How can you know what is right? You ask.

Get it right and reap the rewards

Simply put, companies that consistently deliver a great customer experience to each other create very happy external customers also. Those happy employees will translate their job satisfaction into significant value for the company’s customers.

• Superior Allegiance: Employees who are more loyal to their company tend to stay longer, with businesses that treat them well. This will translate into a more loyal Client.
• Improved Share of Customer Spending: When customers feel they are part of the company insiders, they tend to spend more of their discretionary dollars with companies they admire and trust.
• Stronger Promotion: Customers who feel part of the Corporate family, they tend to voluntarily refer family, friends, and colleagues to the companies they love.
• Increased Revenue: Highly fulfilled customers spend more with the same companies and are often spend more for products and services and forgive errors.
• Create meaningful emotional connections: Loyal customers make far more emotion based purchases than planned buys.

Cultivate more Customer Loyalty by encouraging your employees to view their peers and management as clients with a supplier/consumer relationship. When you service your fellow employees as customers, they will service the external customer as part of the corporate family increasing profits.

Ken Haycook is the owner of Kendel Group, a Little Rock based Business Coaching Company. He has been in management for 25 years in various levels from a Crew Chief to Director of Operations for Wyndham Hotels International. He was also Site IT Director for Halliburton in Duncan OK. He has worked for other Fortune 500 companies such as RR Donnelley and Texas Instruments. Most recently, he was a Senior Project Manager with both Alltel and Acxiom.Ken has a BSEE from University of Texas at Arlington and a PMPCertification from PMI.