Running a successful business today takes so much more than simply keeping an eye on operations, coming up with innovative ideas to stay one step ahead of your competitors, and pushing for increased profit levels.
While a company may have the best-managed operations on the planet, it is still doomed to fail if it doesn't provide the goods or services that customers need, in the way in which they need them.
Broadly speaking, all customers (end-users) are looking for solutions to their business problems. Even in the IT realm, where solutions can be complex and difficult to understand, and recommending technology based on its merits from a technical perspective was the preferred sales methodology, customers across the board are no longer interested in the technology per se - they are only interested in whether a proposed solution solves their business issues.
Without a clear understanding of the customer's business, no organisation can hope to even begin providing a solution to their customers' business problems.
Taking this outside of the IT realm, without a clear understanding of their customers' needs, some suppliers may be contributing to business problems experienced by their customers.
For example, while a supplier may think it is exceeding customer expectations by delivering goods to its customers three-times a day, the customer, on the other hand, may in fact not be geared up for this regularity of service. By forcing the customer to then accept deliveries three times per day, the supplier may well be placing its relationship with the customer in jeopardy.
By simply aligning the level of service to the customer's requirements, a supplier can ensure it is meeting its customer's needs and solving business problems perfectly - it must, however, take the first step towards this by speaking to its customers and showing an interest in what plagues them.
The bottom line remains then, suppliers and business partners must know their customer intimately. Interestingly enough, it all comes back to building a supply-chain that flows through the channel to the customer, and a demand-chain that flows through the channel up to the vendor or wholesaler.
If the supply and demand chains don't match, the supplier is clearly not meeting the customer's requirements and will most likely not keep them for long.
This need for customer intimacy is possibly one of the reasons more companies are becoming vertically focused and aiming to foster longer-term relationships with customers. This not only allows for the supplier to meet the customer's demands, it also reveals new areas of pain where suppliers can assist customers.
By taking a long-term of view of dealings with customers, you don't just gain insight into their businesses and business challenges, but you also become equipped to continue delivering on their needs as they change and evolve over the years.
With sustainability and annuity revenue becoming so important in today's market, the value of getting to know your customer, and continually focusing on their requirements as the primary driver for your business, cannot be underestimated.
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Advanced Channel Technologies (Pty) Ltd (ACT) is a focused supplier of high quality IT consumables and printers. The company's products and value-added services support cost-effective print management, risk management in the data storage arena, and quality output to all media formats, including speciality papers.
ACT is committed to the delivery of world-class products and services to a national network of Premier Business Partners and resellers who address the entire potential market for IT consumables in SA and neighbouring states in the SADC region.
The company operates as a fully-authorised supplier of a comprehensive range of high quality products that are manufactured by the world's premier brand name vendors.
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