The Little Book of Big Management Wisdom

QUOTATION 1

PETER DRUCKER ON WHY CUSTOMERS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS (TOP TEN ENTRY)

Use this to keep you focused on what’s most important in any business – the customer.

Ask most people what the primary purpose of a business is and they’ll say either, ‘To make a profit’ or ‘To maximise profits’. Peter Drucker (1909–2005), perhaps the only true genius that the discipline of management has produced, challenges this view. He argues that:

A business exists to create [and retain] a customer.

Peter Drucker

Despite the need to win and retain customers, it is still the case that far too many organisations see customers, and their complaints, as annoying distractions from the real work of the organisation. The truth is that there are only ...