I was sitting in a presentation where a technology company executive announced that his software "moved at the speed of his customers."  The person next to me, a master technologist,  whispered "then it sounds to me like he needs better customers." 

Do you ever get the feeling you are in the same boat? Do you think you need better customers? 

I hear this sentiment expressed by business people in a number of different ways. "I wish my customers paid me faster", "I wish they valued my services", "I like it when they say I did a great job", "I wish they would tell people about my services.", etc. My question to to them is, what are you doing to train your customers so they do whatever it is you want them to do? 

Want your customers to pay faster? What are you doing to encourage that behavior? How about accepting electronic payments. Giving them early payment discounts. Providing a hotline where they can resolve any billing questions.

Want customers to value your services? How are you helping them see the value in what you provide?  If you provide a technical service, you need to offer free educational seminars, create whitepapers, send them a newsletter that explains technical concepts in a straightforward manner.  Deliver training webinars, post video clips explaining one concept or idea at a time.

Want your customers to give you feedback? Do you have a survey tool or other way for them to provide feedback? Create an electronic survey, hand out notecards for feedback, or have someone call them and see how the service or product is working for them.

Want people to tell others about your product or service? Make it easy for them. Make your story simple and easy to repeat. Build a tagline that they can remember. Create a one page referral sheet that helps them understand your target customer. Thank them for their business and for any referrals. Direct them to sites like yelp.com where they provide their feedback.

Just like the dog owner who complains about his poorly behaved pet, maybe you should look at the training you are providing your customers before you start looking for new ones.

You can tell a lot about a person from their house. It reflects their personality in ways that their words can't. The same is true for a business.

I have been working with a client to craft their story and one of the things that struck me is how their office mirrors their personality. It is an oasis. That sounds so corny, but it really is true. You walk in and it is light and airy. It is comfortable and well laid out. Beverages are offered and you feel comfortable. Everyone has an office. That is a big deal. In the world of public accounting where I began my career, you had to earn your office and you got rewarded for promotions by moving to offices with increasing numbers of ceiling tiles. And there was a rule about how many tiles each level of staff should have.  I don't have a clue how the office managers could manage the configuration issues that resulted. 

But in this company the office reflects their philosophy and the organization chart agrees - they don't have a big hierarchy with client relationships only happening at the top of the chart. They have people assigned to take care of clients at all levels.

Retail stores understand this. Walk into a Container Store. It is always cold, wide aisles, uncluttered, bright. It feels like you have left the noisy cluttered outside world and have entered the "everything in its place" zone. In my case, it lasts for much too short a time.

Walk through Nordstroms. You don't see a bunch of sale signs, the shoes are well laid out with plenty of space for sitting and viewing the wares. They have cafes in their stores, they provide nice restroom facilities. It seems like they almost understand that their customers are people. They probably get a million dollars in revenue a month as a result of that restroom traffic alone.

If you are in the service business and people visit your office, what does it say about you? Is it an oasis or Grand Central Station?  If you are a bank, is everyone behind a wall or are there people you can talk to?  Are you a discount store like Kmart or clean and airy like Target?