The ultimate goal in any business is pleasing your customers. The most successful companies don’t just meet customer expectations, they exceed them and beat the competition by setting the bar at a level that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for others to surpass. Successful manufacturers manage the entire customer relationship—from prospect to post-sales service and support—involving the entire organization in a customer focus. Whether or not they have direct contact with customers, contributors must keep the customers’ needs in mind as they plan and carry out day-to-day operations.

Manufacturers must truly understand the customers’ goals and objectives. Your products and services must strive to support the customers’ vision. Communication is very important; neglect is the number one reason that customers terminate a relationship. The key is to give customers access to all appropriate information about your relationship and make it readily available whenever and wherever they might need it—the Web is your ally in achieving this objective.

As most companies have painfully learned in recent years, customers often change their mind. To be fair, market conditions are such that product cycles and demand patterns are constantly changing. Agility is extremely important. A solid, collaborative partnership with customers will provide the most reliable advanced information and therefore the earliest warning of upcoming changes.

In short, the best strategy is to make the customer want to do business with you. Strive to be the preferred supplier through competitive products, high quality, the right price and superior customer service.

Arguably, the most important aspect of customer service is on-time performance. There are two sides to on-time delivery: promising a realistic date; then delivering on that promise. You must take that promise seriously, meaning that it is not given lightly—all considerations and constraints are factored in before committing to a delivery date. Performance measurements are a must; if you don’t know how you are performing, you cannot improve upon it. It is not unusual for companies to consistently have 98% - 99% success in meeting agreed-to shipment dates.

Quality must be considered a given. Work with your customers and engineering as early as possible in the product development cycle to determine the required measurements. Measuring and improving all processes through the order and fulfillment cycles, with an eye toward continuous improvement, will allow you to achieve or even surpass expectations.