Filed in archive
Management
by Jim Logan on August 29, 2006

A couple years go by and they changed. New leadership refused to call their customers clients - they were customers. Less formal dress was allowed. They slowly fell behind the market and took position as a laggard.
I don't want to fully suggest changing Dress code and thinking of customers as customers were their ultimate demise - limits in architecture and wrong decisions in technology trends had a huge impact on their regression. But clearly the attitude of the company and its loyalty to its customers changed. Many felt it.
They took focus off of their clients and instead tried to sell the products they had to customers. They took something different - attitude, professionalism, and dedication to clients - and became one of the pack. As client needs changed, they defended their ground and in some cases blamed their customers for not getting it.
No. Dress code and calling those who purchase from you clients doesn't make or break your business. These are just reflections of what's going on inside.
Food for thought.
Permalink: Clients and Customers
Tags:
customers
clients
professionalism
business
they
clients+customers
small+business
personal+finance
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/34719
Mr Wong
Vote for Clients and Customers:
|
Rating: 10.00 out of 6 vote(s) cast.
|
Response from:
Rob Mason
(08/30/06 4:49am)
Great article and an interesting point. there's a mide-set change when you call someone a client over a customer. Customer assuems that they are a one off and never to be seen again. Client suggests that there is a lasting and ongoing relationship there.
Response from:
Gary Bourgeault (managersrealm.com)
(08/30/06 1:32pm)
This made me think of something I posted about recently concerning the difference between technology and people.
People (clients) are very slow to change, and the underlying way we do business should reflect that.
Technology on the other hand changes all the time, and as a result we need to at least keep up with those changes in general.
Yet, it is how we do interact with our clients that determines the success of any business; not focusing on loosening things up or technological advances to differentiate. Everybody has those things at this time.
People (clients) are very slow to change, and the underlying way we do business should reflect that.
Technology on the other hand changes all the time, and as a result we need to at least keep up with those changes in general.
Yet, it is how we do interact with our clients that determines the success of any business; not focusing on loosening things up or technological advances to differentiate. Everybody has those things at this time.
Response from:
Shannon
(06/04/09 5:52pm)
Small changes can lead to sucess or failure depending on what industry. Clients/ customers are what keep a business alive. Ultimately, they need to come first.
shannon
aioposters
shannon
aioposters
Subscribe
Use the search to look for other interesting posts
| RSS | See all blog subscribe options |
|
What is RSS? | |
| Yahoo! |
|
| Addthis |
|
| Bloglines |
|
| Newsletter | |
| Follow us on Twitter! |















