As a young analyst just out of Stanford business school in the 1960s, I got to really understand what growth was about. Back then, you had to ask a customer to pay some money. That was the most important thing in getting a company off the ground.
From the store windows, the store touch-points, the website, social media, or a magazine, it has to be one pure customer experience, not just to gain market share but to gain mind share.
As a general rule, if you have a product that doesn't get the job done that a customer is needing to get done, then often you have to offer it for zero. Because if you ask for money for it - because if it doesn't do the job well, they won't pay for it.
Once, Naseeruddin Shah told me that the wafer shop was the best acting school that I could have attended. And I completely agree. I observed every customer very minutely and picked up some quirk or the other. Later, I used those experiences while playing different characters.
We used to think that the enterprise was the hardest customer to satisfy, but we were wrong. It turns out, consumers are harder than the enterprise because the consumer will not give you a second chance.
With the emergence of the Internet, it has become possible for creative and bold people with focus and determination to establish businesses in some of our remotest communities. But these will not work if they do not have reliable transport routes responding to the impatient modern customer.
There is always going to be that luxury customer out there. I have clients who buy $10,000 dresses and clients who buy $60 dresses. It's not so much about the money. Design is a mentality.
Some analysts think people come into our shops and then go and buy the product on the Internet, but the manufacturer knows if the customer can't see the product and assess it, they won't buy.
If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.
Americans are grateful for the connection and convenience their phones provide, helping them search for a lower price, navigate a strange city, expand a customer base or track their health and finances, their family and friends.
Customer freedom! Don't dictate how I want to watch my TV!
It doesn't matter much where your company sits in its industry ecosystem, nor how vertically or horizontally integrated it is - what matters is its relative 'share of customer value' in the final product or solution, and its cost of producing that value.
It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.
A social contract is the way out of this dilemma for corporations that want to lead in the 21st century by showing consumers how seriously they take customer loyalty and goodwill.
There are a lot of people who touch the customer.
As a woman, I feel it's important to support causes that are important to my core customer, who is also a woman, as well as causes that resonate with me personally.
Some story appears in some newspaper that says that somebody said X, Y, and Z, and a customer says, I don't understand what they're talking about - we're running that product, we've been using it for five years, what are they talking about?
Each brand leader is focused on ensuring that the brand relationship with its customer is strong and differentiated. To accomplish this differentiation, we plan to offer her even more unique product and talk with her in new and exciting ways.
You must never actually cheat the customer, even if you can. You must make her happy and satisfied, so she will come back.
I worked at Sears in the Woodfield Mall as a gift wrapper. I'm actually a great gift wrapper, and the customers were so nice to me. I was only 16, and eventually Sears put me in customer service because I was so friendly.
I design for social media. My customer reads blogs, is on social media, so I design with contrast in mind. An all-black shirt looks good on the shelf but not online.
Our multiaccess approach will make the life of the customer simpler.
That's a very critical phase in customer service because you can start to really understand what part of customer service has value to customers and what part is bothering customers.
The luxury customer is increasingly global and increasingly mobile. Their brand journey is not linear. They might browse online and purchase in store, or vice versa.
I did everything in my power to give my brokers brand identity and clout in the market. I saw my job as parent to build them up and if I took care of them, then they would take care of their customer.
Every customer wants to run on all the clouds.
In 2000, when my partner Ben Horowitz was CEO of the first cloud computing company, Loudcloud, the cost of a customer running a basic Internet application was approximately $150,000 a month.
It's almost always easier to sell to an existing customer base than to find a new one.
A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.
Customers are a great way to finance a business for many reasons. First, customer financing is typically non dilutive. They want something from you other than equity in your business. Customers also help you fit your product to the market. And customers will help debug and improve the quality of the product.
You don't need most beauty products. They're an emotional purchase. That's why the conversations are really important. What choice do you have but to ask your customer what they want?
Be dramatically willing to focus on the customer at all costs, even at the cost of obsoleting your own stuff.
Our customer base is not necessarily a leader, an early adopter.
Here is what the world looked like in 2000... there were no plug and play solutions for ecommerce/warehouse management and customer service that could scale... which means that we had to employ 40+ engineers. Cloud computing did not exist, which means that we had to have a server farm and several IT people to insure that the site did not go down.
The gun dealer is not only paying these two police officers, but more importantly, the gun dealer has said he will never again sell more than one gun to a customer. This is exactly what we're trying to get the gun industry across the country to do.
When you stop talking, you've lost your customer. When you turn your back, you've lost her.
