At age 27, Michael Dell was the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 Company and today is number 10 on the Forbes 400 list. How did it all come about?

In Michael Dell’s words: “From the start, out entire business, from design to manufacturing and sales was oriented around listening to the customer, responding to the customer, and delivering what the customer wanted.”

Most computer companies work through distributors and send products to them. The idea is that the customer will find a product close enough to what he or she wants.

Dell is different. With 800 numbers and the Internet, they ask the customer exactly what they want and then produce and ship it. It’s a strategy based on mass customization, which bypasses distributors and cuts costs.

Dell’s approach depends on a constant flow of information from customers about what they want and what prices they can afford and doesn’t rely on guesswork.

What can Hudson Valley organizations learn from Dell? Direct customer contact is the best way to gain information and build relationships and regular interactive communications with customers can detect new trends in expectations and demand.

Precise information about what customers want provides another way to control costs. It allows the business to make fewer mistakes, leading to fewer returns and rejects. In the “technology bust” of 2001, Dell cut prices and gained the No.1 share worldwide in PC’s.

Dell’s example demonstrates that customers are too important for a company to shunt off to the marketing and customer service departments. Remember, customers don’t exist to buy your products. Instead, your company exists to satisfy their needs and provide solutions to their problems.

When Lou Gerstner became IBM’s CEO in 1993, their focus had shifted from customers and competitors to a series of internal competitions. Gerstner’s predecessor had devised a strategy to break IBM into smaller units. After meeting with customers and employees, Gerstner decided to keep the company whole.

Gerstner didn’t assume IBM’s managers could fix the company by themselves. Instead, he racked up tens of thousands of air miles to ask customers where the company had gone wrong.

In analyzing what had gone wrong at IBM, Gerstner found that its current problems had their seeds in its past success. It had done so well for so long that it was suffocating in arrogance.

It believed it didn’t have to worry about customers because they had always come to IBM for answers to their problems. Gerstner saw that IBM was a company fixated on one task: selling products. He had to refocus the company on providing solutions.

Companies in trouble tend to turn inward. But change demands they look outward, especially to customers and competitors. Hudson Valley organizations must make a commitment to meet frequently with customers to learn more about their needs. Make these meetings part of the culture of your business.

Use the meetings not to pitch your products, but to understand customers’ specific needs and preferences. Conduct at least one survey each year in an area that would benefit from customer knowledge. Then use this feedback to improve that area of your business.

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