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Showing posts from July 29, 2014

Leaders should connect with customers

It seems like a no-brainer, but I still encounter many leaders who are ‘jailed’ in conference rooms and hardly ever see a real customer. Yesterday I was playing golf and the director of the course passed us by in a buggy. You could tell that it was even hard for him to say hello. He made sure that there was enough distance so we could not talk. However, this was an excellent opportunity for him to ask us how we (the customers!) were doing and maybe even ask whether we had some suggestions for improvement. It was not busy, so he could have easily done this. The response from my golf-buddy was that this director clearly doesn’t understand his business. Instead of creating goodwill and receiving valuable feedback, the director ‘escaped’ and left us with a rather negative impression. A missed chance for learning, connecting and building a true relationship with your customers. Are you, as a leader, meeting directly with customers on a w