In conversations with clients and prospective clients, I frequently remind them that their customers have one primary question: “What have you done for me lately?” (Worksite Clinics: What Have You Done for Me Lately?). That is the question our customers are continually asking, directly or indirectly, as they make value decisions on where to invest their time, money, and energy. The question is meant to stir discussion. We live in such a transactionally-oriented world that it becomes easy to forget where our real value lies. It is even easier for our customers to forget. “What have you done for me lately?” is a lens through which to view yourself and your organization as you try to anticipate what really means something to your customer.
At this moment in time, we are in a crisis. COVID-19 dominates our headlines and our headspace. The specter of infection haunts everyone and we are scrambling to adapt. As we hunker-down as individuals, shelter-in-place, and distance ourselves from physical contact as much as possible, the temptation is to lockdown our business value story and retreat into a wait-and-see strategy. For any business with the aspiration to survive, or thrive, this is a huge mistake. The only defensible long-term strategy is to innovate and those who wait-and-see are missing a massive opportunity. To find a way to make a difference right now is to add tremendous value and a profound opportunity to differentiate.
Our business is healthcare solutions for self-funded employers. We are open for business as we work to get critical medications to our employer partners’ employees nationwide. Our services are made available through worksite clinics and our partners are actively working on innovation to serve their business clients, and patients, in new ways. Drive-through testing, telemedicine, and home delivery pharmacy are a few key services we see emerging from proactive clinic managers. Meanwhile, others are retreating, hunkering-down, and relinquishing the opportunity to lead in these trying times. How are your partners stepping up?
Value comes in many forms. Some organizations are retooling to meet new needs. Some businesses are engaging with new technology to fill gaps in a world hungry for information, and answers. Are your vendors acting like suppliers or strategic partners? Are they coming to you with suggestions that could help your business? What are they doing for you now? Today’s high-value players are bringing solutions. They are stepping up and asking “what if?” or “how do we?” rather than retreating, laying people off, and focusing on the dire side of the fear now pervasive in the market. Some of these innovators may be calling you, are you listening? Or, are you not responding, delaying, and producing excuses as you wait for someone else to lead the way?
Your customers are watching. They are fearful for their business, their customers, their families, and their livelihoods. They are fearful for the world they knew and how the new world may look post-COVID-19. They are looking to you for leadership, calm, support, and ideas. Organizations that step up, produce ideas, deliver on promises, stay in the fight, push through, and show up for their clients are going to win through this battle. More importantly, they are going to help their customers win.
Your customers are asking: “what are you doing for me now?” How do you answer? How will you answer?
