TIDBITS-3

T.I.D. – Today’s Inspirational Devotion

"None will improve your lot if you yourself do not." – Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) was a German playwright known for his politically infused, intentionally stagy plays. During World War I, he worked as a hospital orderly in Munich, and developed so-called epic theater, which strives for audience detachment rather than emotional reactions. After fleeing the Nazi regime for Denmark and then the US, he returned to Germany after World War II.

B.I.T.S - Business Improvement Tips & Strategies

Who Are Your Customers – The 4 Types
When you hear the word “Customer,” what comes to mind?
• People may think in terms of specific people
• Or, types of people that they deal with.
• Or, types of people they would like to deal with (the ideal customer),
• Or think of issues or problems that customers bring to the business (customers can be a pain, or if I didn’t have customers to worry about, then business would be great)

The most obvious customer is “the end-user”, the person or people that have a need and who turn to the business seeking some product or some service to fill the need. This is the easiest answer, the person who pays for the service/product.

A good question to ask here is, “At the end of the day, what is the most important thing that the business has to provide, what is it that the service or product has to produce? The answer is, “Profit.” And who depends on the Profit? That would be the owner.

Therefore, the first and most important Customer is the “Owner.” If the owner’s need is not served, then the business will eventually fail and the product/service will no longer be available for consumers. The business has to give the owner what he/she wants from the business in order for the owner to stay in business!

Every business relies on a team – whether it is actual employees/team members, or people that assist the owner either through out-sourcing or in a advisory role. In order to keep these people fulfilled and providing whatever services they do to help the business succeed and the “end-users” getting the product/service they want, these people have to have their needs served by providing good compensation, recognition, or other rewards. Therefor, the “Team” is the 2nd Customer.

If suppliers are not taken care of, then they stop providing the supplies. a manufacturing business, this could be the supplier of raw ingredients or packaging. In all businesses this could be the telephone company or the electrical company, or any of the other multitudes of suppliers of services or products. If they are not paid and taken care of, then the supplies get shut off and the business disappears. This is why the “Suppliers” are the 3rd Customer.

The final Customer is the End-User or Consumer. If this person is not receiving the best product and best service at a competative price, then they stop coming to the business and all the other Customers will eventually feel the pain. If this person is a Raving Fan, then they keep coming back, they send referrals, they market your business for you.

Why is this exercise important? If we only think of the End-User as the customer, we have a chance of not taking care of those we depend on to help us take care of the end-user as best as we can.

The rationale here is to get us thinking about treating everyone that our business depends on as customers in order to ensure that we do what is necessary to take care of them --- including ourselves the Owners. If the business is not providing us with what we need, then how likely is it that our business will survive?