Customer Focus 101

by Thomas Wahl

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It's been a while since I checked in with you. Our business has been growing on all fronts, with a private placement secured for our Internet division, travel and all that other stuff. All this action reminded me of the old drill: Time Management 101.

I clearly remember having the importance of time management drilled right inside the center of my head. The company I was with had us record every business minute for a week and it became supremely obvious that not enough time was spent on the critical stuff.

Time management is a great tool and just imagine putting yourself or your organization through a similar process, only this time make it Customer Focus 101. Have your team at all levels determine how much of their time is spent focused on customer loyalty and retention. Customer Focus 101 must include absolutely everyone.

If there are departments or individuals that feel this doesn't apply to them, regardless of their job function, they obviously are in the wrong business or for that matter shouldn't be in any business at all. I have come across these "un-customer-focused" individuals in the past and they never lasted very long on the team.

Regardless, I am willing to bet that you will be amazed at the results of your Customer Focus 101 studies, both from a positive and negative point of view. You will be amazed at all the customer focus that is going on in areas you never thought of and you will also be surprised at the overall percentage that is actually customer focus.

I strongly recommend you go through the exercise and make sure you have your mission statement handy when you look at the results!

In hospitality Thomas