What the customer wants, we build!

“What the customer wants, we build!” The phrase sounds like maximum customer focus. In practice, it is often the opposite: abandoning strategy. Whoever says it usually has no answer to the question of what the customer’s request means for profitability, systems and market position.

Statements like this make people sit up and take notice. They signal a focus on the customer as king and play well with an audience. But is this the last word in wisdom – or mere showmanship? In the worst case, it is entrepreneurial incompetence. It becomes dramatic when the statement comes from someone who has decision-making power or believes they have it.

Why the statement is dangerous

If your customers express wishes that differ from what your portfolio offers, that is first of all a finding – not an order. The first question is not “How do we build that?” but: is our portfolio of products and services still up to date?

An individual request only becomes an entrepreneurial decision once you know which considerations and actions need to stand behind it. Until then, saying yes is a gamble. If the answer to the portfolio question remains open, it is no longer about a single product but about adapting the business model in a mid-sized company.

The questions before saying yes

First clarify your position in the market:

• Are you operating in a mass market or in a market for individual solutions?
• What market position do you hold today – and which one do you want to achieve?
• Are you the market leader?
• How are you perceived in the market?
• How many competitors are there?
• What influence does the portfolio have on your strategy, and which USPs does the market actually perceive?
• Which USPs have you defined yourself?
• How congruent are the two?

Seven questions about the product

The decisive questions are those that have a direct effect on the product and the portfolio:

1. How profitable are comparable products today?
2. How profitable would the new product be – and what volume of it will you sell?
3. How many additional customers would buy the new product?
4. What does this mean for your marketing?
5. What does this mean for your internal risk assessment?
6. Can you create the product and map it in your existing systems – and if so, at what cost and from when?
7. What impact does the product have on corporate strategy, on internal perception and on external perception?

Act rather than react

The basic rule is: companies should act, not react. That secures the targeted market share and earnings in the long term. Ideally, customer needs should be anticipated – not served after the fact.

This only works with a corresponding level of innovation, and when impulses from the market are picked up promptly and taken into account in planning and in the ongoing review of corporate strategy.

Conclusion

“What the customer wants, we build!” is not a strategy but a substitute for one. Test every customer request against portfolio, profitability, systems and market position. Only then decide – consciously and traceably. That is the difference between customer orientation and arbitrariness.

How to set up growth steps correctly at an early stage is covered in the article “When the business grows: 5 decisions you should make early”. How change is carried within the company is described in “Change Management – The Driving Force in the Organisation”. You will find the framework for diagnosis and execution under Services.