I love customers. Honestly. I love talking to them. I love hearing from them. I love serving them. I believe that businesses 
ultimately exist to serve customers. I also believe that if each and every human were to ultimately take on the ideal that we were put on this Earth to serve others, we’d live in a different world.….a digression though!
I truly learned to appreciate customers with my first company, MouseDriver. I remember spending countless hours talking and emailing with customers and sharing the MouseDriver story with folks. What I learned is that customers love to have an emotional tie to a company or product, that they love storytelling and that if they’re emotionally connected, they’ll buy your product even if the fiercest competitors have a better product. And more importantly, if customers love you, they’ll have no problem telling others about the company. The MouseDriver Chronicles (my book) wouldn’t exist without thousands of customers telling their friends about what we were doing in our San Francisco apartment. The initial emails that spurred this emotional customer connection and eventually caught the attention of influencers such as Brad Feld, Tim Ferris and John Greathouse can be found here. And from these initial learnings, we’ve tried to create the ultimate customer experience at Rivet & Sway.
So here’s the point: Your customers are your company and that at the end of the day, they are the ones who will make the decision as to whether or not the company will continue over time. If you’re thinking about the values of your company, make sure ‘Customers’ find their way on that list.
Questions, Comments, Concerns? Please let me know.
John
John,
Loved your insights into the startup world in Mousedriver Chronicles, which I am reading for my IU entrepreneurship class. Been personally struggling with selling a product in from a new company (FirstBuild) that is an awesome product, but with a kind of puzzling value proposition.
Comments above about how customers wanting to have an emotional tie to the company may be my key to getting some of these products out the door. As we are on a very tight budget, I feel there is a need to keep my focus on an outstanding user experience and drive word of mouth.
Thanks for the continuing insight.
Thanks for the comment Taylor! Glad to hear that you’re reading TMC at IU….hope it’s been informative. As you can see, I’m a huge believer in delivering an awesome customer experience that ultimately drives word-of-mouth and lower acquisition costs. It’s much easier said than done, but if you can pull it off, the rewards are well worth the effort! Good luck with FirstBuild.