Some time ago I wrote an article entitled Client or company: ¿Which side are you on? “And one of the comments I received to said article said:” I think the company is more important than the client because there is a customer figure because the company exists. ” And adding, “and it is precisely the product that is the star of this relationship between the company and the client.” ”
My answer was immediate: Can a company exist without customers who buy the products? Is there a star product without customers who buy it? How does a product become a star if it is not to have many customers who buy it?
If you think in the same way, it is understandable because, for many years, marketing focused on the product, the brand or the company, and how the client had very few ways of making his opinion felt, since everything worked in a way unilateral. You as a company manufactured a product and put it on the market. Your client went and bought it. From time to time, if you were interested (which was not frequent) to find out who your client was, you made a market survey and, using some metrics and analytics, you defined who was your ‘average customer’ and went ahead.
But now you must understand that the company has never been, or should have been, the protagonist. Not much less the product. Nothing happens in business if, on the other side of the counter, there is no human being who decides that everything you say, do and offer, it seems right and decides to give you your money because it considers that your product effectively meets their needs, whatever they are.
It has always been like this: Without a customer to buy, there is no business for your company. Without sale, there is no money, and without money, there is no progress for your business.
Even in very remote times, when there were no companies and ‘business’ was done by exchanging food and things, if you had four goats and one day, you wanted to exchange them for four fish (yes, I know! balanced exchange, but only serve as an example), if nobody was interested in your goats, then you stayed and did not eat fish that day. Very easy.
Even in that remote era, if there was no human being on the other side of the commercial transaction, nothing happened. Very simple and so true centuries ago, as it is today and will always remain so.
And I think there’s not much more to say. If you keep thinking that your product is the star, tell us why. What would happen if your customers did not buy?