Who's Your Customer?

An overhead door company expressed their constant frustration with a particular structure manufacturer. Their buildings are design in such a way that the foundations interfere with every overhead door that needs to be installed.

The door installer has to use a water-cooled concrete saw to cut away part of the foundation, on every job, to make room for mounting and sealing the overhead door. Not only that, but the structure itself is not designed to take the loads of the overhead doors, and the installer has to make it self supporting. The finished product looks and works fine for the end user customer, but the costs and nuisance of cutting away the foundation and reinforcing the structure are also passed on to the end user.

How much better if the structure manufacturer would realize that the overhead door installer is also their customer, and design their product to make installation quick and easy. Everybody would benefit, from lower costs, quicker schedules, and reduced frustration.

You have many different types of customers; design your products and services for their convenience, not just yours.