CHAPTER 9Build Resilience Against Demand Shocks by Operating for the Customer
Genuine resilience requires not only rethinking relationships with suppliers but also extending your analysis all the way to your customers. Here are five ways to build resilience against changes in customer demand.
Listen to Your Customer Through Customer Sharing Sessions and Automated Feedback
“At the end of this book, please turn the final page to answer a brief two‐question survey.” You'd do it, wouldn't you? Only two questions, after you've invested so much time in this book? After you've enjoyed it so much? (You are enjoying it, aren't you? You've already read about half of it!!) Sadly, we can't implement such a survey because the technology of the old‐fashioned book doesn't allow it.
But we should care about what you think. (And we do! How about this: email us at ResilientOperationsBook@kearney.com.) Listening to customers is the world's oldest path to business success. And in contrast to books (which have other strengths), many of today's technologies make it easy.
All companies claim to know what their customers want. All claim to listen to their customer base. But many of them are just paying lip service. Either they don't collect feedback or they don't act on the feedback that they do receive. To stand out from the pack, you can have regular customer sharing sessions. Or you can find ways to generate feedback in a more automated manner.
Do your customers have a regular opportunity to ...
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