Lessons in Business Success from J.D. Power

After 50 years spent working with a range of companies -- as well as founding and running my own company, J.D. Power and Associates -- I have come away with a few thoughts about how to have the best shot at success in business. 

The businesses I've seen grow, adapt, and thrive are the ones that keep a focus on satisfying customers by listening to them, anticipating their needs and desires, and maintaining these principles. Here are five basic lessons I've learned throughout my career -- next month I will offer an additional five.

 

1. Listen to your customers, your employees, and your stakeholders. I have witnessed too many car manufacturers move further away from achieving satisfied customers by refusing to listen to them. One example that sticks in my mind is that of Peugeot back in the 1980s. Peugeot was an early adopter of fuel injection, and American customers were "flooding" the engine by pumping the gas. Rather than hearing this as a problem, they held fast. No doubt they were right, but by not listening and adapting to their customers they lost them, and by the early 1990s they had to abandon the American market. 

 

2. Remember who the client is. In a B2B world, it is the organization or business you serve, not just the guy or gal sitting across from you. This is important from two perspectives. It is critical that you not serve the desires of the representative assigned to work with you to the disservice of the organization. On the flipside, you must feel empowered to not let that person become an obstacle to the organization receiving the information necessary to take full advantage of your services. I frequently encountered a situation where the person assigned to work with us put up roadblocks to information reaching further up the chain of command because it undermined his own position within the organization. I worked around this by sending letters directly to top leaders or using the press to get out the critical information, knowing that it was only when our message could not be ignored that true change for the organization could occur.

 

3. Empower your employees to be curious, to do the right thing for the business, and to speak up. You need the right kind of leadership and a strong culture to make it work but there is nothing more valuable than empowering your workers. At J.D. Power, if an employee came up with an idea, she owns it. This engendered tremendous initiative and loyalty, and may have been one of the greatest keys to J.D. Power's lasting success.

 

4. Relationships matter, but they need to be built upon a bedrock of respect and trust, not just friendships. I never approached business relationships as requiring glad-handing or wining and dining. In the beginning, I simply couldn't afford it, but as J.D. Power's success widened, I found that true relationships with executives came from providing them with the clear, actionable information they needed to do their jobs.

 

5. Have empathy and be kind. Of course, this applies to all of the individuals in your own organization who come together to provide the support you need to run your business, from your CFO to the cleaning crew. It's a golden rule in my book. Employees feel inspired when you show that you care about them enough to acknowledge them, and ask about their families. Another example is with regard to my clients. Sometimes you don't agree with what they are doing, or you know that they are in an unwinnable position. I felt compassion for them and always tried to make sure that our information was there to help them. 

For five more lessons, click here. 

 

These principles guided me through a successful and satisfying career. The individuals whom I dealt with who shared a similar view of business invariably had the respect of their clients and colleagues, and the markers of success were realized for them as well.