This is my last post from Down-Under, its been a great month, but I am excited to get back to the States and share my learnings with the Valkre team and our customers in the States.
I just spent the past several weeks with a Valkre Customer,
helping them start their Customer Value journey by visiting a few state-funded
hospitals in Australia. I must
admit I did prepare a bit more for the interviews, and I was a bit more ‘on my
toes’. Going in, I felt like we would
be walking a fine line between success and failure as I have not had any
personal experience working as a supplier to a government/not-for-profit
entity, so I just really did not know how a DVP conversation would go.
The result? Fantastic. My learning is that whether you supply products or services to “a for profit” generating business or to a not-for-profit, your customer wants your help to make them better. In fact, I discovered that a government-funded hospital has many of the same challenges as a for-profit manufacturing company, and they do want to engage with their suppliers in these Customer Value type conversations, to help them improve and be more effective.
Well, after a successful week of interviews, I shared my going-in hesitation with my customer, Ken. He just smiled, and offered me an elegant framework which I will always carry with me:
“Mike, think of a smaller circle inside a larger circle. The inner, smaller circle, represents those things in your life that you can control: the time you spend with family and friends, the amount of money you spend on your family vacation and the effort you devote to your professional improvement. Now, the outer circle represents those things out of your control: flight delays, taxes, or parking tickets. Try to reduce your Circle of Concern to those things that you can control”
Does it sometimes feel like your Circle of “work” Concern grows ever larger while your Circle of “work” influence grows ever smaller?
One small step, whether you work in Marketing, Operations, or Finance, is to go ask your customers (internal or external) what they care about and how you can help them be better. Thanks Ken! I owe you one. Well, maybe two.
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