Let s face it, customers are the most important influence on business, probably even beyond the business stakeholders. They are a vital component in the prioritization of any resource assignment list. Customer behavior is difficult to accurately predict every time. That s why it is important to think about affecting customer behavior and not just trying to guess what customers are going to do. Even capital goods suppliers that sell to manufacturers and not directly to consumers are ultimately affected by consumer requirements.

Figure 3.6: Evaluation of customer influences.

Fickle consumers (us) are never completely predictable even when a company makes an effort to change customers behaviors. See Figure 3.6.

Since adding new customers is almost always a good thing, it may be one of the first areas to cover. Here are some interesting questions to ask:

1. What would our business have to change to attract 25 million new customers (or some reasonable number)?

2. What is it about our business that attracts our existing customers?

3. Why doesn t it attract the noncustomers?

4. Are these customers and potential customers different in some way?

All of these questions are the route to robust goal planning. This can even become easier if the vision is clear about where the business needs to go in terms of markets and products. Having this decisiveness tends to create parameters around the new customer questions. This imperative driver often opens up fun and provocative discussions in the better-managed businesses.