Every Customer Happy Every Time?

Once upon a time a woman went to work for a new company. As she walked around the halls she noticed posters everywhere that read “Every Customer Happy Every Time.”

So she went to the CEO. “What’s with all of these posters?” she asked.

“Aren’t they great?” said the CEO with a proud grin.

“No,” said the woman. “Every customer is not a good customer. We have to take them down. We have to take them down now.”

It’s a common misperception. Since we all want more customers, it’s natural to assume all customers are good customers and therefore we should do everything we can to make them happy. But it’s also a way to dig yourself into a losing situation.

One way to prevent a relationship with a losing customer through targeting or segmentation.

Targeting customers is a practical way to look at customers differently, and can help us to concentrate in some better places.  If we’re going to line our resources up in a place, how do you know where to put them?  It’s about understanding a new market and finding the right customers in that market.  The product or service you are offering is the same, but the customer’s needs might be different. Understand what that customer’s business problem is, how they’re thinking about the problem and how you can address it.

Do you agree or disagree that “Every Customer Every Time” is a bad idea?