4 Reasons Why Building A Business Around Your Customer Is Smart

Posted by Kim Walsh  at March 23rd, 2013

Have you ever thought about building a business around your customers. It makes sense, right?

Check out four reasons below as to why building a business around your customer is smart:

1. Fund growth through your customers

If you take a look at many successful and fast growing companies today, they all do one thing very well. They understand their customer. For example: Amazon, Zappos and even some of the fastest growing start-ups today are funding their organic growth through putting money back into the business. It seems like a business 101 tactic but is it? Some companies today focus on raising x amount of capital or focus on getting a high valuation. While these aspects are also very important to a success story, funding a company buy re-investing your customers dollars into the product they want has proven to be a recipe for success.

2. Listen to you customers

Essentially, your best customers will tell you what they want. Many companies talk about the best customers are the ones who have a high level of engagement, speak up, and provide constructive feedback. As an organization sometimes it is hard to hear the truth if it is not always want you want to hear.

Steve Jobs is famous for saying ‘you can’t just ask customers what they want’, he argued you have to tell them – but that’s not necessarily a good discipline for a start-up. Many companies today form models around listening to their customers, building products that are relevant and putting dollars made back into the business.

3. Understand your customers happiness score

Every company is searching for the perfect customer, how have you seen companies today define their perfect customer?  A tactic that is used by many is a customer survey, often referred to as a customer NPS. Which consists of coming up with a algorithm that works for your company specifically and basically taking a survey of your customers to gauge the happiness inde of your customer.

4. Create a founders club

Form a VIP group, or an key advisory group, start a founders club. Companies like Yesware, who have raised $4 million in new funding have done this successfully by leveraging a platform liked LinkedIn to form a founders club. It makes the early adopters feel special and important. Companies can also build a customer forum, or a community. This will provide for a streamline of communication consisting of live feedback. The beauty of an agile Saas platform today is that it will give you the ability to both build and react from a product standpoint for your customers.

If you are a company that has build a strong sales team then you have sales people who have convinced your customers to “buy” your product. If you have a marketing focused company, you have customers that love your messaging. If you have a product-centric company, you have customers that love your product and chances are they will be more willing to provide constructive feedback that will help lead your business in the right direction – around your customer.

If you are C-Level executive, take yourself out of that mode for a moment, and try to put yourself in the mind of your customer. Open your eyes and hears, see and listen to what they are saying, it matters, A LOT. Often times more than you think.

Create a #customer company.

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