Customer Service - Why Senior Management Still Doesn't Get it After all These Years!

I recalled my keynote speech at The EFQM learning Edge Conference in Paris about a year and a half ago. I began the speech by asserting that "in spite of all that has been said and done in the interest of the customer, far more gets said than done". Many thought I was humorous. I suppose for some, it was. That was not my intention obviously. I went on to say that I recently heard that there were some 8 trillion or so unclaimed frequent traveler miles according to the airlines. It seemed to me that in the past 18 years I had possibly heard about 4 trillion empty statements made by senior management regarding the importance of customers to their business. Statements, as we all know are quite "cheap" to make. The tough bit is following through - making the important trade-offs, decisions, resource allocations and investments which are a true manifestation that a customer ethos is alive and well in the organisation. And that's where things seem to fall down because for all the empty rhetoric I just begin to wonder if some senior managers are out of touch with reality, wear green eye shades or are just plain brain dead. After all, isnt it plain easy common sense to realise that without customers you have no business? No rocket science there.