Find ways to get close to customer
Be a student of customer

All our computers and laptops, at HelloLeads, were purchased from Dell. So, as a customer, we have seen the level of service Dell provided.  I have always appreciated Dell for its customer focus.

I had a chance to read, many years ago, ‘Direct from Dell’, written by its founder, Michal Dell and I used to take notes of things that could help me in my business.

During the last weekend, when I was cleaning my cubicle at office, I found my hand written notes I had taken few years back. When we started HelloLeads, these were our guiding lights and they still are!

Over to Michal Dell,

Find ways to get close to customer. Don’t forget that customers have different needs, fears, questions and sensitivities. Tailoring your focus to a customer of one – even if you have many – paves the way for you to provide personalized service.

How do you do it?  You have to be open, flexible and be able to respond to a broad spectrum of customer needs, the moment they utter them – if not the moment before they utter them.

Our customers have more important things to do than mess around with Personal Computers. That is exactly the way you hear them describe it. They say, “We are a Bank, we make Cars, we run an Airline. It doesn’t make any sense for us to do these other things. Why can’t you do it?”

Focus on adding as much value as you possibly can.

If we don’t take responsibility for our customers’ problems, those very same problems, will inevitably resurface in some – most notably, in our losing them as customers.

We aim to be more than just a computer supplier. We try to become a customer’s advisor on technology strategy.

Jack Welch of GE has been quoted as saying “Everything we do must be aimed at either getting a customer or keeping a customer”.

I spend about 40% of my time with customers. When people hear that, they often say, “Wow, that is lot of time to spend with customers”. I say, “I thought that was my job”.

When you are running a company or even a group, there are a lot of ways to spend your day. But to me, there is nothing more refreshing than spending time with customers.

I ask lots of questions like:

• Are we doing a good job?
• How do you like our products? Our services?
• Are there opportunities for improvement?
• Is our team taking good care of you?
• What are you looking to accomplish in your company that we can help you with?

Be a student (of customer). It is important to listen. Customers can provide a much-needed perspective on products and services. 

I would like my team at HelloLeads, and even our customers, to take a note of these interesting and relevant insights from Michal Dell.