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What does it mean to "think like our customers"? (September, 2003)

As we start another massive fall harvest of nearly 100 million seedlings, a perfect example comes to mind.

When a customer chooses a carton of eggs in the grocery store… a purchase of $2 or $3… they select and open a perfect carton and check to see how the eggs look. Are they even in size? Are there any broken or cracked ones? Are they consistent in colour? Are there 12 of them?!? If they fail the test on any of these criteria, the customer will almost always choose another carton. And if they fail the test too often, they’ll choose a different brand, or even a different grocery store.

Now take a moment and imagine you’re a forest seedling customer who has paid PRT around $200,000 for a million seedlings. It’s 6:00 AM and you’ve just driven for 2 hours on a twisty gravel road to get to your stored trees. You park with your headlights lighting up the back of the reefer so you can see what you’re doing, and take one last sip of lukewarm coffee before stepping out into the cold morning air. You’re ready to open the first box of trees for this spring, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the planting crew, ready to burst into action to load up with trees to start the fast-paced planting season.

As you open the reefer doors, you notice that the boxes are intact due to proper loading, the labeling is tidy, and you have the right seedlots at the back of the truck, just as you asked. You lift down a box and notice that it’s been closed properly. You open the flaps and see the liner bag, carefully sealed to preserve the important humidity. As you open the liner bag, you recognize the familiar scent of healthy, ready-to-grow spruce. You reach tentatively into the carton and clasp a cool bundle of seedlings.

It dawns on you that your job depends on the successful growth of these seedlings in your forest. This is part of your family’s livelihood. It’s part of your community’s success. And your company depends on cost-effective reforestation without costly re-planting. These trees are very important, and so far it looks as though your seedling supplier cares about them as much as you do.

You lift the bundle and look at the foliage. The trees are a healthy green and the buds are well-formed. You tip the bundle and look at the diameter of the stems… they look sturdy... but you give the bundle a soft shake to be sure. You tip the bundle and notice that they’re evenly wrapped with no broken plugs. You open the bundle to look at the roots and notice that the plugs are intact with the roots well protected by peat moss. You reach into the centre of the bundles to reassure yourself that the plugs have been properly thawed. With sudden panic, you hesitate and check the bundle in your hand for botrytis, and breathe a sigh of relief as you see that the trees are healthy and free of that nasty fluff.

You lean back against the warm hood of the truck, and hear the familiar sound of pickup trucks getting closer. "Thank goodness I ordered from PRT." you think. "When all else fails, they don’t."

That’s what we want all our customers to think, and why we must "think like our customers".

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