Customer Asset Management

Proverbs 27:23 – 27 (MSG) [Be diligent to] know your sheep by name; carefully attend to your flocks; (Don't take them for granted; possessions don't last forever, you know.) And then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns, you can knit sweaters from lambs' wool, and sell your goats for a profit; there will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter.

“Know the state of your flock” is a challenging instruction especially in our current culture focused on renewable resources. But these verses struck a different chord in the instrument of my mind: the customer chord.

Customers are assets that must be managed and nurtured. Customer retention has proven to be of great value to a firm – there exists a good body of literature supporting this contention. Common sense tells us that keeping a customer has value beyond just the transaction.

In my seminars on Sales, I often ask the question: Is your customer list a list of transactions or a list of friends? It is good business to know your customers – I mean, really know them. Care about them. Remember, it’s not about you.

Looking at customer’s as “friends” (know your sheep by name) is even more vital for the Christian Servant-leader. We are called to view work as a mission field (Matt. 28: 19-20 “As you are going…make disciples….”) It is difficult to make a disciple of a stranger.

If your customers see you as a person who: is a “straight shooter;” caring; a listener; a problem-solver (even with solutions that cannot be personally provided); is joyful despite the circumstance, you will be attractive. These behaviors will open conversations. One of those conversations can be about eternal issues. That conversation will give new meaning to customer service.

Do you take the time and effort to become a friend to your customers?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell

Change Is Constant: Direction of Change is a Choice

Proverbs 9:9 (AMP) Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man (one upright and in right standing with God) and he will increase in learning.

The acquiring of wisdom is a journey, not an event. The journey is not only revealing about “self” but also about the shape and expression of a leader’s ethics.

Our progress in life is a result of our choices and our willingness to learn from them. Employees and customers often teach us about the ethical framework (righteousness) we use to respond to “change.” Customer service, for one example, is a practical expression about a leader’s heart.

Servant-leaders must learn to discipline her/himself to continue to learn. These leaders work at body, mind and spirit congruence. They actively acquire the skills they need and hone the ones with which they have been endowed by their Creator. They become aware of the patterns of their behavior and the impact a behavior has on others.

The result for the Biblically based leader? They will behave in a way that:

• Expresses love for God (obedience)
• Demonstrates their love for the “neighbors.” (Isn’t that the essence of customer-service – looking out for their needs, before our own?)

An outcome? Their leadership will be clothed in justice and righteousness. Employees will be free to make customer-oriented decisions that benefit the firm. Customers will be attracted to companies that “do business right.” Families will be nurtured and grow the love God.

Are you consistently learning and growing? Or, have you become stagnate?


Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell