Working with a Diversity of Customers

Diversity and inclusion also both come into play where customers are involved.   We have customers with very different communications styles--one who prefers texts, another emails, another phone calls, and another in person visits (and one customer who communicates through all modes)--and learning their styles took some time as our relationship deepened.   In terms of how we serve them, some customers prefer to ask us specifically for what they want (like ordering a la carte at a restaurant), while another comes to us with a few general objectives and says "I'll give you a week or two and tell me what you can come up with."  Understanding the variations on customers has been very important in maintaining our long terms relationships.

It is more obvious when selling to consumers---regional differences, tendencies along ethnic lines, preferences that more women have then men, etc.--but invisible differences that customers may have are just as significant.