The customer is the key to any business. You can never be close enough to your customers.
As businesses grow, the temptation becomes more and more real to get out into the market, to do more PR, to do more marketing, to do more analyst relations.
But don’t lose customer focus.
The best analyst you have, the best PR you have, and the best marketing you have is your customer.
You will find more valuable information from spending time with your customer than in any other way.
Your customers will give you the best referrals to new businesses.
Your customers will give you the best insight into how to evolve your business in order to differentiate further.
Your customers will give you the best PR and they will be your best and loudest marketing.
Your customers will give you the insights you need to know where your delivery is failing or where you can improve your business.
Don’t forget your customer.
If you’re not at that phase yet where you’re tempted to move on without the customer, don’t forget that the customer is what it’s all about. Just as companies often outgrow what they often think is their need for the customer, early on start-ups focus way too much on building their product without actually finding that first, second, and third customer.
It’s all about the customer, no matter where you are in the lifecycle of your business. You cannot prioritize anything more importantly than your customer. It’s all about the customer. Business is about the customer. Everything you do should orient around serving your customer.