Three intersecting circles with a single spot where they all overlap. The sweet spot. That ideal place where the magic happens! 
For our business, it’s a place we may not often reach, but we aim for it. And sometimes we hit it. When we don’t, we’re like surfers always looking for that perfect wave. 
It’s the trifecta of business building. Those 3 things we all need, working in tandem, to give us the most efficient and profitable business possible.
Getting New Customers
This is the first because until we have customers…we don’t have a business. Some companies raise millions of dollars before ever getting a customer. Some companies aren’t able to get enough new customers to even warrant staying alive. 
Customer or client acquisition is a hurdle that can stymie the best of us. We quantify it by attaching a cost to it. How much does it cost us to acquire a single customer? It’s important to calculate, but more importantly, we have to be able to land clients. Some companies find out the hard way that they’re unable to land a customer…at any cost! According to CB Insights, 42% of startups fail because there is no market need. Quite simply, nobody wants what they’re selling. It’s the number reason for startup failure, pointing to why I’ve always listed “getting new customers” as number 1 of the trifecta. 
Every seasoned business owner or leaders knows that what may have attracted customers in the past…eventually stops working. Or it stops working as well. Yet we all get stuck in the actions we take to acquire new customers. For example, according to Magna, the research arm of media buying firm IPG Mediabrands, just last year (2017) digital advertising exceeded TV advertising on a worldwide basis. In 2017 digital advertising accounted for 41% of the market at $209B with TV accounting for 35% at $178B. The stunning reality is that you can look at your own media consumption and quickly figure out that there is a disproportionate number of people avoiding TV advertising (fast forwarding their DVR, etc.) than ever before. Yet, marketers are stuck with doing what once worked. To the tune of almost $180 billion annually. Can there be any doubt that TV advertising isn’t nearly as effective as it was a decade ago? Then why are we still spending insane amounts of money there. Because it used to work. So marketers continue to hope it’ll still work.
I’m not picking on advertising. It’s just an easy way to see how very smart business people can behave foolishly by failing to understand the present reality. And it illustrates the need we all have to get new customers! Mostly, it should generate a curiosity and creativity so we find new, better ways to attract the customers we need.
The ocean is no longer blue in some areas. It’s red with blood. We have to make sure it’s not ours.
Serving Existing Customers Better
I’ve been fanatical about this my entire career. Mostly because I’m practical. I know how hard it is to get a customer. And how foolish it is to lose one due to our own neglect. 
Yes, things happen. Customers move away. They die. Their circumstances change to take them out of the market. There are many reasons why we may lose a customer through no fault of our own. 
But…
The exodus of customers caused by our stupidity, neglect and lack of concern is staggering. Every company gives it lip service. I don’t know any of us incapable of talking a big game. We do the same thing about our employees.