THINK LIKE CUSTOMERS

 “Focusing on the customer makes a company more resilient.”
Jeff Bezos, Founder and Executive Chairman of Amazon.

​​​​​​​Good health and good day Top Glove colleagues and friends,

The one thing these times have taught us is doing the same thing over and over again in a changing environment is no longer sustainable for any business. The fast moving global mega trends points to one fact: today’s invention is tomorrow’s normal. The world can push us into extinction if we do not learn and respond effectively to the powerful trends that surround us. ​​​​​​​

With this in mind, we need to know that just meeting customers’ present requirements alone will not guarantee our competitiveness. It will most definitely not guarantee customer loyalty. We need to move further and faster. Businesses are no longer just competing on products and/or services, but rather on end to end customer experience.

Like Amazon, in all our activities and meetings, we need to have an empty chair for the customer. Imagine if our customers were with us in these meetings, what would their expectations be and what questions would they be asking? What must we do differently that they only choose us each and every time in a world that presents multiple choices and options?

We cannot just be satisfied with one good sale or one successful invention anymore. We need to understand and embrace the entire value chain of customers internally and externally and know how our role, no matter how small or junior, impacts the sustainability and competitiveness of this business. The silo thinking that, “I have done my part and the rest is not my responsibility” is detrimental to any organisation in public and private sector.

Our customers are not just our buyers. We have internal and external customers.   Every interaction we have at work affects our business decisions and outcomes. Everyone is a potential customer and this includes internal departments, investors, regulators and vendors to name a few. The days when businesses can just be run by product based engineers and revenue driven sales people need to now be supported by market orientation and customer experience. We need to preempt the needs of our customers (be that internal or external) before they ask the questions and/or present a need. We must be prepared for the evolving expectations of customer’s future needs.  In short, we need to be ahead of the curve to catch the tailwinds.

It is the customers’ market today. We cannot disrupt and/or short change customer experience with our agenda or even by living on past successes. We need to convert every engagement into an impactful customer experience as this will draw our future success. This can only be done when we start thinking like the customer and seeing their points of view.

Top Glove has an invaluable opportunity to rise above a challenging environment and see the positivity and opportunities for growth in every problem. Leaders need to make the right decision at the right time to enable us to achieve the highest efficiency at the lowest cost, in the shortest time to market with the highest quality. This is achieved through instilling a high performance culture based on meritocracy with no favouritism and discrimination, and best in class value chain management.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

TOP GLOVE, TOP QUALITY, TOP EFFICIENCY, GOOD HEALTH, SAFETY FIRST & BE HONEST

Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai
Executive Chairman
1st December 2021​​​​​​​​