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n How do they show that they take a real pride in communicating
with, understanding and serving every customer?

n How successful are you at building customer loyalty?

– Can you keep at least 90 per cent of profitable customers for at
least ten years. (Research by Bains and Company indicates that
profitability is optimal where companies are able to achieve the
above figures.)

n What precisely gives you that ability?

n What specifically and concretely are you particularly good at doing,
in the eyes of your customers, which enables you to make your
highest profits and create the highest level of customer delight at
the lowest possible cost?

n Where do you already have the greatest ability to communicate on
a one-to-one basis with your delighted customers?

– Who does the communicating?

– How reliable is their feedback? (If you rely solely upon your
sales and marketing people to communicate with your most
profitable customers you are in danger of receiving biased
feedback on what customers want and how well you provide it.
It is a senior management responsibility and a considerable
strength to remain in frequent contact with every vital
customer.)

n Which are the strengths and competencies that you have now that
will enable you to win more profitable business in those parts of
today’s markets which you currently serve?

n Which are the strengths and competencies that you need to build
quickly in order to more fully exploit the most profitable markets
today?

n Which are the strengths and competencies that you have which
will enable you to prosper in the most exciting and profitable
markets of the foreseeable future?

n What strengths and competencies must you build to create some
of the most profitable, exciting and sustainable markets of the
future?

n What strengths and competencies must you build to set the
standards for your industry in the most exciting markets of the
future?

Control the instinctive belief that the priority is to correct your weak-
nesses. The priority is always to give the profit-producing customer more
of what they already like about doing business with you. Any real strength
that you have is playing a part in delighting at least one customer some-
where. What delights one can be leveraged to delight many so make sure

8 Key management questions