The better a company knows its clients, the greater the chances it will form stronger, more significant relationships that benefit both parties over the long haul.
Customizing products or services can be an excellent way to create these sorts of meaningful relationships with clients. When we launched Genovix in 2019, we knew that our new software package would provide the features and functions most plant breeders need. We also knew that, while the majority would be well served, there would be individual customers who would need specific functionality the majority would not.
That’s where customization comes in. In recent years, we’ve been approaching our customers and saying, “You’ve asked for a specific feature or function. Can we personalize our software so that it does exactly what you need?” We’ve found many clients love the fact that we are willing to tailor Genovix to address their specific situation.
To do this well, you must get close enough to your customers to truly understand what their goals are and what they need from your company to achieve those goals.
We started out doing customization work for one major client. Now we’re doing it for half a dozen and the list is growing. These projects have built a meaningful rapport that has resulted in a much deeper connection with our customers and their breeding programs. We have also been asked to provide features for our customers that we would never have thought of without their input. It’s been truly eye opening.
This deeper understanding of customer needs has led us to explore how our software can be modified for use with a broad range of crops that we had limited exposure to in the past. The different ways in which this diverse group of plant breeders look at their crops and how they want to use Genovix to achieve their goals has given us a much deeper appreciation for how we can help.
I’m proud to say we have much closer relationships with our customers now. We also have larger clients than we ever had before because we made that key decision to build relationships with our customers that prioritize their needs.
I’m glad we decided to go that route. The benefits to our customers, our company and the industry have been well worth the investment of time, effort and resources.
