Episode 134 - Creating Customer Value

Summary

In this episode we explore how to create customer value in our roles and why it matters.

 

Transcript

Welcome to episode 134 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we explore how to create customer value in our roles and why it matters.

Creating customer value is central for any successful organisation. If we aren’t creating value for our customers, we are bound to fail. Customer value is also at the core of improvement methodologies such as Lean. At its heart, Lean is a set of improvement methodologies that puts customers and our people at the centre. It is focused on delivering value to customers in the most efficient and effective way possible, using fewer resources and producing less waste. Lean pursues perfection - until we have reached perfection, we can always do better. It also recognises that engaged and motivated people are essential for delivering great outcomes. By relentlessly removing waste and increasing value, we can deliver even better results for our customers. Furthermore, we can achieve this in a way that looks after our people.

Sometimes people struggle to identify their customer or customers. A simple way to do this is to ask - Who uses what we produce? While those people may not be called ‘customers’ within or by your organisation, they are your customers from a value-creation perspective.

In order to create and increase value for our customers, we need to understand what they value. Rather than guessing at their needs, it’s often simplest to have a discussion with them.

We could include open questions like:

• What challenges do you face?
• What matters most to you in the product or service we provide?
• What doesn’t matter?
• What do you like the most about what we provide?
• What do you like the least?

Importantly the conversation needs to focus on them, not just on our product or service. Such open conversations can often highlight new opportunities to add value. 

So this week, spend some time getting to know your customers and their needs better, then focus on ways to increase the value you offer them.