{"id":1466,"date":"2017-03-06T17:04:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T22:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tate-ascendconsulting.webstage1.com\/?p=1466"},"modified":"2017-03-08T09:31:41","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T14:31:41","slug":"who-is-your-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/who-is-your-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Your Customer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who is Your Customer<\/strong><\/span>
\n By Marjorie R. Johnson LCSW, PCC<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Business owners and leaders want to grow their business.\u00a0\u00a0 To get more business more customers are needed, right?\u00a0 The question is: who is your customer?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some experts say one needs to identify their ideal customer and market to that consumer.\u00a0\u00a0 Others say a business should serve a variety <\/em>of customers by offering a wide range of products.\u00a0 Still others define customers in a more broad sense, including both internal<\/em> customers (those working in the company) and external <\/em>customers (those purchasing products or vendors of the company). Well, what if we were to broaden the definition of customer still further to include everyone and anyone with whom we come into contact throughout the day?<\/p>\n

How might approaching everyone <\/em>we meet, from the barista to the bus or Uber driver, as a customer<\/em> affect our business?\u00a0\u00a0 I \u2018m reminded of the Ghost of Christmas Present*, when he said to Scrooge that, \u201cMankind<\/u> should be our business.\u201d\u00a0 The fact is we never know when or from where our next customer is coming. We never know how a kind word or hasty critical remark will spread and cost us potential business.\u00a0\u00a0 If we are respectful, polite and mindfully present to all people no matter their role, whether on company time or off, it\u2019s far more likely that we will attract and keep customers.\u00a0 When we treat people with this kind of dignity and warmth, they are naturally attracted to us and open to our business.\u00a0 When we listen with attention, more customers will pay attention to us.\u00a0 People are naturally drawn to work with those they like and respect. As we practice this behavior all day every day, this kind of civility and compassion becomes a habit \u2013 not something we drop at the close of business.<\/p>\n

So, on which \u201ccustomer\u201d do you<\/em> most need to practice?\u00a0 Is it your employee with whom you\u2019ve become frustrated or the peer on whom your department depends but whose consistency and dependability you take for granted?\u00a0 Is it the faithful customer, who you know will always be your client, so you no longer strive to \u201cwow\u201d them?\u00a0 Is it your family member or best friend who is supportive, loving, and always has your back? When did you last say a heartfelt \u201cthank you\u201d?<\/p>\n

Exemplary customer service is something that every person deserves by their humanity.\u00a0\u00a0 Our commitment to treat others to the best of our ability is what makes exemplary service possible.\u00a0\u00a0 How would your customer base grow if everyone in your company treated all \u201ccustomers\u201d that way?\u00a0 It\u2019s a worthwhile experiment!<\/p>\n

Marjorie Johnson, LCSW, PCC is President of Ascend Consulting, Inc.\u00a0 an executive coaching and counseling firm<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

*Scrooge<\/em> (the 1970 Albert Finney version)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who is Your Customer By Marjorie R. Johnson LCSW, PCC Business owners and leaders want to grow their business.\u00a0\u00a0 To get more business more customers are needed, right?\u00a0 The question is: who is your customer?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some experts say one needs to identify their ideal customer and market to that consumer.\u00a0\u00a0 Others say a business should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11],"tags":[63,59,62,34,60,61],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1466"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1471,"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466\/revisions\/1471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascendconsulting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}