The Importance of Listening to Customers

The last three organizations I've worked for have all struggled with customer disenchantment. Shortly after being sold to, there was a period when a new customer went through a "this is what I signed up for?"

I've witnessed this across three different industries - B2C and B2B, and they each had a version of customer success / customer service, but honestly there was very little genuine customer empathy at the highest levels.

If only more CEOs and C-suite execs not just read the comments from customers but responded directly. It's not that executives have to fix the specific issue. There is something to being heard and being acknowledged.

Being in marketing, it's disheartening and frustrating to watch and hear customers' frustrations all while other top executives have their head ignoring the patterned issues.

For inspiration:

The New York Times on Obama responding to letters:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/magazine/what-americans-wrote-to-obama.html

And the author,Jeanne Marie Laskas, talking about how letters were selected as well as how and what Obama responded to:

https://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-309-jeanne-marie-laskas