Talking to Your Customers Can Make You a Better Leader From Day One
Part of Inquisitive’s Insightful Leadership Series
Whether you’re new to leadership or taking on a new team, seeking out insights about your customers can help you become a better leader. In addition to collecting useful information about your audience, the act of engaging with your customers will quickly demonstrate several positive aspects of your leadership style:
Informed Decision Maker. Actively seeking out feedback from customers shows that you value information and your decisions are grounded in data.
Continuous Learner. Sure, you got to this position because you’re good at what you do, but taking the time early on to listen to your customers shows that you recognize there is always new information that could help you in your role. Bonus: by engaging a research partner, you also demonstrate that you value specialized expertise outside your own.
Objective. Prioritizing the voice of the customer signals that you want to understand the positives and negatives of existing strategies. You might already know there is a need for change, but taking the time to listen first to customers may save you from disrupting products or processes that are working well.
Strategic. Conversations with customers can vary enormously in size, shape and scope. In the same conversation you might hear a need for a slight modification to an existing product and the seed of an entirely new business line. Bringing in the voice of the customer early on in your tenure allows you to demonstrate your ability to see the big picture and prioritize strategic information.
Prioritizing customer research in your new role is an effective way to learn quickly. Engaging with customers or commissioning customer research creates an opportunity to showcase your ability to think both logically and creatively. And aren’t these exactly the opportunities you’d like to have in your new role?
