{"id":740,"date":"2019-04-04T11:19:14","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T23:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mirrorwave.com\/blog\/?p=740"},"modified":"2019-04-04T11:19:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T23:19:14","slug":"businesses-live-die-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mirrorwave.com\/blog\/businesses-live-die-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Businesses live and die by their relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now more than ever, businesses live and die by the quality of their business relationships.  And to truly manage those relationships, they need to be measured and managed in a pragmatic way that improves business outcomes.<\/p>\n

Vanguard Country Manager<\/a>, Sergio Caserta, shares four leadership level strategies for ensuring good listening is good for the business.<\/p>\n

1. Avoid being blindsided<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The danger of being blindsided<\/a> for a leadership team is very real. Often leaders don’t hear the whole truth (perhaps their listening system isn’t fit for purpose) or people may hide things for fear of looking bad. It could also that people think they’re on top of things, when despite best intentions, that’s not really the case.<\/p>\n

This means relationships can fester for years before any issues become known, and then it can be too late to do anything about it.<\/p>\n

A good listening system that follows people over time, to see how relationships are changing and why, will significantly reduce the risk of being blindsided<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Receiving feedback from a range of different people in the business also provides a much more balanced view of what is actually going on. This could be senior and operational staff, or people on both the supplier and customer side of a business relationship.<\/p>\n

It’s also important to hear feedback on what’s not working (the negatives) as well as what is working (the positives). This helps to miminise the impact of negative critics – while their feedback is still valuable, they are often listened to more even if their feedback is only marginal.<\/p>\n

Hearing the negatives as well as the positives can be an important, and largely untapped, source of competitive advantage.<\/p>\n

2. An external focus is necessary for true customer centricity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another challenge leaders face is inadvertently taking an internal focus – viewing things from the inside-out rather than outside-in.  To be truly customer centric leaders need to hear the needs and views of stakeholders outside the organisation, which then creates long-term engagement and loyalty.<\/p>\n

Using a ‘true voice<\/a>’ method for listening is perfect for fostering a customer centric view.<\/p>\n

Using this method, people say what they think in just a few open questions – in their own words, as they see it.  It’s a simple approach that is easy for participants, but most importantly challenges the business to accept that the viewpoint of their customers is their reality.<\/p>\n

Questions for leaders to ask that will encourage stronger customer centricity on the back of receiving feedback include:<\/p>\n