Meeting Customer Needs

Dr Richard Shrapnel PhD
2 min readMay 13, 2022

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A series for those journeying through family business succession.

The rock-solid capability of understanding and meeting customer needs today and tomorrow will not only retain and build a loyal customer base but will provide the future direction of your business.

Customers are today’s lifeblood and the compass for the future direction of your business. They provide you with the opportunity to meet their evolving needs and, therefore, the opportunity to continue to grow and sustain your business.

A customer focus does not occur by itself and does not necessarily come naturally to a business motivated by profit. A focus on customers represents the direction in which the business is looking. It represents a focus in which the important ingredient is the customer — not the sales target, nor the cost saving or process issues. But rather the value which is delivered to the customer, how their needs are changing, and what they mean to the business.

As a new generation of leaders step forward, a renewal of customer focus is often required as, naturally, their view of the world, customer need and the impact of change will be different to the current generation of leaders.

In addition, in family businesses, strong relationships often exist between the current generation of owners and the current generation of key customers. Businesses can find themselves weakened if the transition of these customer relationships is not planned well ahead, with the new generation of leaders stepping into these relationships and building relationships with a new generation of customers.

Customers are the lifeblood of a business and must be at the centre of a leader’s attention.

#familybusinesssuccession #familybusiness

An Invaluable Resource — ‘Transition — Orienteering The Lands of Succession’

A Topographical Guide To Orienteering Family Business Succession

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Dr Richard Shrapnel PhD
Dr Richard Shrapnel PhD

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