STUDENTS' CORNER - 234

Customer.

How delicate? Harmony is like that; sensitive and delicate to balance

We looked into the quote on customer by Peter Drucker in our last session and we ended it saying the quote which focuses on satisfaction of the customer underscores a fundamental business concern. 

Let us recall the quote for the sake of continuity: ‘To satisfy the customer is the mission and purpose of every business’.  We saw satisfaction as a human factor and it is primarily qualitative in character, not quantitative. It was also pointed out with emphasis that satisfaction is not as simple as it looks or understood generally. Against this background, it is said that the quote still draws attention to a fundamental business fact.

Let us see what is the fundamental fact hidden under the popular definition of a business.  We have analysed the word ‘ Satisfaction’ and seen it is not at all easy to know the feeling of satisfaction in its wholeness.  Next words that demand out attention are ‘mission’ and ‘purpose’. Again these two words we have heard repeated endlessly whenever there is a reference  to ‘business’. 

Mission is a progressive pathway to the vision of the company.  A company is expected to have both Vision and Mission. Vision is the goal, the aim of the company and mission is a planned path of action to reach the Vision.  All management experts aver that all the company’s people, beginning from the President to the last grade employee of the company must work together towards the vision.

Saying is easy but getting involved in what is said is not that easy.  If only all employees feel the spirit of improvement for the company, that is, having the same sense of commitment like the Management personnel, no company worth the name will fail or falter from the goal. But we know it is not the case; there are many unions and so-called industrial actions; in other words, workers go on strike.  Almost there is some strike or other in one place or another; it does show that vision and mission are only verbal statements and not shared feelings and emotions.

What does it show? It shows that there is a wide gap between the verbal utterances and behavioural practice.  To put the whole issue simply, man’s behaviour is unpredictable. Man himself is unpredictable and he is governed by emotions and feelings. Can all the employees feel gratefulness to the management that employs them at the same level of intensity and all the time?  Wish is one thing but experience is another.  So called harmony of feelings and emotions is a far cry almost in every walk of life. Leave alone the employer-employee relationship, even in the intimate relationship like husband and wife, father and son, all the members of the immediate unit called family, eventhere,we do not find the togetherness of feeling and emotion.  Divorces, family feuds, honour killings, rapes and murders --- all these emphasize that the behaviour of a human being cannot be predicted. Satisfaction is a result, the end-point of a series of actions. And above all, it is a feeling; not like the number of readymade garments; one size fits all.

Now, the quote points out the satisfaction of customers must be the mission and purpose of a business; and what it implies is it is not possible; therefore , do not be disappointed if a consistent customer leaves you. Never therefore slacken your efforts to acquire new and new customers, more and more, all the time.

We will take up some other most popular definition of a customer next time and go into it. Remember, this exercise is meant to know your customer so that you know , ultimately, yourself.