The customer comes first (Customer 1st).
It’s a simple concept, but businesses often forget the sentence above. It comes from trying to put products and services in the market to beat the competition. At times, the market growth focus frustrates the customer. But why?
Simply, the business isn’t listening to the customer.
People have a need to be engaged. We want to be heard. Without the sense of connection to a product or service, we are not moved to buy what the company is selling.
In The Flow System (TFS), the outcome for Customer 1st are simple:
- High Quality
- Lowest Cost
- Shortest Lead-Time
Given TFS builds on the Toyota Way and Toyota Production System (TPS), these points should not be surprising.
In a sense, TFS places the customer as both the starting point and ending point for all creative work. If you consider the number of products developed and manufactured each year, how many of those products get sold?
Millions upon millions based on measurement. The more important question is, how many products DO NOT get sold? As well, how many products get sold at a steep discount or a loss?
Stay Focused On Customer 1st
By now, you might be wonder, “Why does this matter?”
The first answer is “waste”. We should be seeking to avoid creating wasteful products and services.
Science tells us that energy is indestructible. However, time is not. Once time is spent, it can’t be recovered.
As a result, staying connected to the people who would and do buy products and services becomes top priority. This link can help avoid creating wasteful products and services.
Are you familiar with the Microsoft Zune? It was designed to compete with Apple’s iPod (which is discontinued as with over 20 years in production).
It took approximate five years for the Zune to enter and leave the market. I wonder how many units were manufacture, but never sold.
We don’t know what discussions lead to creating the Zune. Further, we don’t have a full picture of how much time Microsoft invested in talking to potential customers.
What we do know is Apple’s product had a long, successful run in the market. The ratio is 4 to 1 between both products, the iPod and the Zune.
If the concept of “Customer 1st” had been followed, then the outcome of the competition might have been different.
Reference to TFS —
©2019 Professor John Turner, Nigel Thurlow, Brian Rivera. The Flow System™ is offered for license under the Attribution license of Creative Commons, accessible at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode and also described in summary form at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ By utilizing this Site and any information presented you acknowledge and agree that you have read and agree to be bound by the terms of the Attribution license of Creative Commons. The Flow System™, The DNA of Organizations™, and The Triple Helix of Flow™ are all trademarks of the copyright holders.
