By Sid Chadwick, Chadwick Consulting, Inc. – 12/02/2022 Published in American Printer
“During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think”……Bernard Mannes Baruch
INTRODUCTION:
What would be your next step(s)…. If….

You received the names of 22 customers… telling you that you were receiving…. less than 11% of their business…..?
…Names of 16 customers…. requesting to Consolidate Suppliers….?
…Names of 5 customers…..requesting 2-3 year agreements…..?
…Names of customers, collectively requesting… 158 additional products and services….not previously bought…..
Names of 27 customers….collectively offering to provide you with Referrals…not currently buying from you….? (Note: our experience is that about 20% of them will provide you with more than one Referral…!)
We just delivered our 2nd Customer Survey Summary Report (for 2022) - with follow-up Strategic Recommendations….to a company that was about to go out of business 5 years earlier but was discovered and personally bought for an incredibly low price… by a frustrated Plant Manager… of over 30 years. …
Why don’t more organizations ask an experienced Research Firm to conduct a dynamic Customer Survey…for a better future…?.....My private thoughts include that “insightful, dynamic results” - would require thinking, changed priorities, accountability, and follow-up – “Requiring Change”…and most organizations put “Change” in the same category as “Public Speaking”…!
Revenues… before this Customer Survey…. were expected to surpass $5 million - next year…..
That estimate, we are told - has now been “shelved.”
SUMMARY:

The Strategic Focus for our client we asked to be revised and become… “Doing a more effective job – with the customers the company already serves”….for significantly improved profitability.
My observation is that message…. is relevant to much of our great industry’s organizations….and that many (most ?) “Sales/Remuneration-Commission Plans” - are counter-productive and need to be radically rewritten.
“To please everybody is impossible. Were I to undertake it, I should probably please nobody.”……..George Washington
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