The hidden customer hierarchy and competitiveness

Companies promote their offerings through marketing tools that, using various channels and instruments, try to reach and influence the end customer. Because it is simple: no customers, no business. Therefore, it is understood that large amounts of capital are invested in technologies and projects with the aim of getting to know their customers, current and potential, understanding their needs and sensitivities, measuring their satisfaction and collecting data to better target communication. Hence, Client first. But is this really how organisations work?

In reality, in the vast majority of companies, there is a very different and very precise customer hierarchy. A hidden hierarchy, never declared, but active 24 hours a day. Here it is.

Who is the first customer in our organisations? The Boss. And the second? The people who are influential for their career. The third? Ourselves as internal customers. And at the bottom of the customer hierarchy, who is there? The end customer. So much for all the investment and technological innovation.

Chief first. The traditional hierarchy, inherited from a past that no longer exists, continues to be the immovable backbone of our organisations. Everything changes in companies, except the hierarchical logic, the essence of which is very easy to summarise: those above decide and evaluate those below. So where does the attention of people go? Upwards, towards the real customer of the pyramid: the Boss (and, of course, the Boss's bosses). Basically, you work with your head up. In my book, Don't Die of Hierarchy, I spoke of an 'organisational torticollis', the effect of a posture that prioritises the moods, needs, intentions and above all the Chief/Chief's evaluations in order to show off, protect oneself or complain (never to him/her). One will say: those at the top know the priorities and decide better. Really? The higher we go up the pyramid, the further we move away from the meeting places between supply and demand where problems and opportunities are continually generated: shops, branches, service centres... The traditional pyramid creates a structural distance between decisions and the problems/opportunities that arise in the daily exchange with customers. In practice, the further you are from the end customer, the more decision-making power you have.

Career influencers are the people who, for various reasons, can influence the hierarchical interlocutors who decide the careers of individuals. For this reason they enjoy attention and, above all, are treated as important clients and held in the highest priority.