Change how your company looks at your customers and make sure everyone from the top, down makes their decisions based on the company business partner – i.e. your customers. Make sure you are clear with your staff and your customers what can and cannot be achieved together, as well as supporting their efforts to problem solve outside of your company too. The important part is to manage expectations upfront with a potential customer, especially if their needs do not align with what your company truly does; once they give you money, they are now your business partner, and it is up to you as a company to do what is right by them if you are going to be a customer-centric business.
But when done right, it makes business fun, it makes for a great community of people to be around, and it makes for a nice long-term bottom line profit number.
-Aaron Montgomery, 2 Regular Guys, MontCo Consulting