|
|
The basic question the authors suggest you ask about your organization: What do you do well that your best (i.e. most profitable) customers value?
An aside:
The authors do practice what they preach. There's a 3-minute "Reader's Questionnaire" at the end of the book. The first question: "This book (check one) Exceeded my expectations ___; Met my expectations ___; Did not meet my expectations ___."
"Customers are not always buying what you think you are selling."
Once you know what customers want and what is important to them, you need to link what they actually buy with your own internal metrics that show how well you're doing in each of these areas. The authors give different examples from companies that have mapped out what their customers value and the internal measurement techniques that both track success *and* communicate that information internally. This is called "hardwiring" the voice of the customer to your employees.
As with the last book we reviewed, these authors also note that the "bottom line" financial measurements are usually *after the fact* and do not take strategic measures into account. Unfortunately, the typical drastic financial measures of slashing R&D budgets and headcounts generally do next to nothing in terms of addressing the cause of the problems. And finally, these financial measures tell you where you are, but not how you got there. The solution? Dynamic Business Scorecards. These are company-specific business models that predict bottom line results -- future, rather than past, results, using goals and measures.
Now, what should you do when your best customers value something you don't do well? . . . Partner with those who do. An important issue, especially for consultants. (See the last section of this newsletter for more). Partnering to the extreme, the authors observe, is outsourcing.
Of the Top 10 reasons why companies outsource:
1. Improve company focus
2. Gain access to world-class capabilities
3. Accelerate the benefits of reengineering
9. Resources not available internally
I suspect that the organizational practice of "right-sizing" to focus on core competencies will continue to offer consultants and clients abundant "High Value, High Impact" opportunities for partnership and outsource relationships.
The last 60 pages of this 300-page book consists of a 15-tool "Toolkit for Customer-Centered Growth."