Making a customer instead of a sale sometimes means doing the work of building a bridge between their needs and your product or service. This may come in the form of either simple communication: what does your customer need to know about your product or service in order to make it work for them; or in the delivery or your product or service: how can we make it work for this customer in a unique way — can something be added or changed to make it fit?

As business managers we’re trained to make the delivery and support of our wares as efficient as possible to avoid cutting into profits with time-consuming and expensive tailoring to fit and it’s important to protect workflow that ensures core efficiencies. But if we intentionally identify areas in our workflow or delivery that can or cannot be adjusted without destroying profitability, a more personal and creative approach can be taken — to make a customer, not just a sale.