Jeff Ream Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Exactly. The business graveyards of the World are filled with businesses that thought they knew what was better for the customer than what the customer did. a-#######-men my friend 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Interesting timing as I was comparing DCI dealings between WC and OC with what happened with US automakers years ago. Automakers used to have a range of cars from entry level cheapies to luxery models (think GM going from Chevy to Caddie). Idea was new buyers would get a cheaper car from a maker and (if treated right) continue buying from tha manufacturer thru the years as they bought more expensive cars. Problem was US automakers changed from long term planning to short term "bottom line" thinking and concentrated on more expensive models (SUVs, etc) which have a bigger profit margin. Worked nice for a while but as entry level buyers started looking more and more at non-US makers for lack of choice, lot of those customers stayed with the non-US makers as they bought the more expensive autos. Just have to look at the cars on the road today for the results of that thinking. For DCI, for years I've been reading about "top corps make the most money for DCI so DCI should only worry about those corps". Sounds good for the short term but what happens in the future as the "haves" might be the only corps left as the "have nots" have a harder and harder time surviving. Just look at all the effort spent on G-8/TOC for a 2011 example. Will Drum Corps end up like GM and have half of their nameplates disappear or be sold? OK, can't sell a corps so they would just go under too. and it's too late for TARP money 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Pablum. We say the "customer is always right" as if it's the 11th commandment, which it's not. The customer is right unless he's wrong; and he's often wrong. That's more accurate. Great businesses are built on anticipating the customer, on knowing THAT the customer IS wrong. As Henry Ford said: If I had listened to customers, I would have built a faster horse. HH the customer was 11% more right 2 years ago and 13% more right this year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlooContraGuy Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 The lack of pyrotechnics. ...Duh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 If only Mr. Ford pushed for his electric cars rather than the gas guzzling ones... true. drum corps has told us the future is all about plugging in 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Conceiving your business ONLY to the preferences of current customers is a self-limiting and ultimately destructive business philosophy. Apple Computer might well be out of business by now had it not seen itself as something other than just a computer company. Google might never have gotten started because Yahoo's search wasn't inadequate in Yahoo customer eyes. The customer often doesn't know what he wants until a smarter company tells him what he wants. This "customer is always right" mantra is pablum to feed complacency. Sometimes the customer is right. Sometimes he isn't. Sometimes you have to show him what's right. Drum corps is no different. This talk of Model T's and retail commandments is missing the point. Most of those who saw it (including me) can be excused for thinking the low tempo, valve-deprived, 50-yard-line locked, tic-addled, tympani-waddling drum corps of the 70s couldn't possibly be surpassed. We drum corps customers rightly recognized the spine-chilling, ear-rattling golden age of drum corps for what it was. Until it wasn't. George Zingali, George Hopkins and others named George or something else persuaded us to love 80s drum corps even more with tymps on the ground, tics in exile and corps apace all over the field. Was a drum corps customer who only wanted his drum corps one way wrong? He certainly wasn’t right. No, the customer isn’t always right. Were all the customers who bought Betamax VCRs right? It was the better technology. It wasn’t sustainable technology. Borders bookstores are struggling to avoid bankruptcy. Who would dispute its customers are right to appreciate the stores and all they offer from books to couches to coffee? Yet their appreciation of Borders doesn’t make Amazon’s model for bookselling wrong. Nor is there anything in the “customer is always right” mantra to invalidate the success of Kindle and Nook against the analog customer preference. So let’s drop this “customer is always right” rationalization. In the end, it contributes nothing to the discussion and even less to the future. HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Conceiving your business ONLY to the preferences of current customers is a self-limiting and ultimately destructive business philosophy. Apple Computer might well be out of business by now had it not seen itself as something other than just a computer company. Google might never have gotten started because Yahoo's search wasn't inadequate in Yahoo customer eyes. The customer often doesn't know what he wants until a smarter company tells him what he wants. This "customer is always right" mantra is pablum to feed complacency. Sometimes the customer is right. Sometimes he isn't. Sometimes you have to show him what's right. Drum corps is no different. This talk of Model T's and retail commandments is missing the point. Most of those who saw it (including me) can be excused for thinking the low tempo, valve-deprived, 50-yard-line locked, tic-addled, tympani-waddling drum corps of the 70s couldn't possibly be surpassed. We drum corps customers rightly recognized the spine-chilling, ear-rattling golden age of drum corps for what it was. Until it wasn't. George Zingali, George Hopkins and others named George or something else persuaded us to love 80s drum corps even more with tymps on the ground, tics in exile and corps apace all over the field. Was a drum corps customer who only wanted his drum corps one way wrong? He certainly wasn't right. No, the customer isn't always right. Were all the customers who bought Betamax VCRs right? It was the better technology. It wasn't sustainable technology. Borders bookstores are struggling to avoid bankruptcy. Who would dispute its customers are right to appreciate the stores and all they offer from books to couches to coffee? Yet their appreciation of Borders doesn't make Amazon's model for bookselling wrong. Nor is there anything in the "customer is always right" mantra to invalidate the success of Kindle and Nook against the analog customer preference. So let's drop this "customer is always right" rationalization. In the end, it contributes nothing to the discussion and even less to the future. HH sorry no can do. you can't have a good business if you dont retain AND add new. and DCi isn't retaining 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 sorry no can do. you can't have a good business if you dont retain AND add new. and DCi isn't retaining That's something different from saying the customer is always right. Apple isn't retaining customer by doing the same thing only. No company retains customers by shaping their products solely to the current customer preference. That doesn't work for long. It won't work for DCI. Stepping back one or two iterations isn't the answer. Stepping ahead one is a more promising possibility. HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Conceiving your business ONLY to the preferences of current customers is a self-limiting and ultimately destructive business philosophy. Apple Computer might well be out of business by now had it not seen itself as something other than just a computer company. Google might never have gotten started because Yahoo's search wasn't inadequate in Yahoo customer eyes. The customer often doesn't know what he wants until a smarter company tells him what he wants. This "customer is always right" mantra is pablum to feed complacency. Sometimes the customer is right. Sometimes he isn't. Sometimes you have to show him what's right. Drum corps is no different. This talk of Model T's and retail commandments is missing the point. Most of those who saw it (including me) can be excused for thinking the low tempo, valve-deprived, 50-yard-line locked, tic-addled, tympani-waddling drum corps of the 70s couldn't possibly be surpassed. We drum corps customers rightly recognized the spine-chilling, ear-rattling golden age of drum corps for what it was. Until it wasn't. George Zingali, George Hopkins and others named George or something else persuaded us to love 80s drum corps even more with tymps on the ground, tics in exile and corps apace all over the field. Was a drum corps customer who only wanted his drum corps one way wrong? He certainly wasn’t right. No, the customer isn’t always right. Were all the customers who bought Betamax VCRs right? It was the better technology. It wasn’t sustainable technology. Borders bookstores are struggling to avoid bankruptcy. Who would dispute its customers are right to appreciate the stores and all they offer from books to couches to coffee? Yet their appreciation of Borders doesn’t make Amazon’s model for bookselling wrong. Nor is there anything in the “customer is always right” mantra to invalidate the success of Kindle and Nook against the analog customer preference. So let’s drop this “customer is always right” rationalization. In the end, it contributes nothing to the discussion and even less to the future. HH This is just wrong on a few levels. It's what's wrong with society today. The idea that the business is right and the customer is wrong is disturbing. Let's just treat them like crap, we're the only game in town. We're so big we don't have to care about every customer. Take it or leave it... Ugh, I just don't have the energy to respond properly. I was watching a show on BBC America last week where they had a person who went to various High Street Businesses and was treated like crap at all of them. She recorded how she was treated by the business who share you idea about customers. It wasn't pretty. She described it as a pandemic sweeping Britain. It's been happening here too. The business basically told her that they're making money and they don't care if she's treated like crap. Go away, customer! So, I reject your premise and can not properly respond to the rest of your post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2000Cadet Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 and in business, the customer is always right. or they take their money elsewhere. That may be, but if the customer doesn't want the business owner to be an ###, the customer shouldn't be an ### either, or they may get someone spiteful enough to spit in their food. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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