Without customers -- and the entrepreneurs who create them -- there would be no jobs, no companies, no market, no GDP and, ultimately, no human development. Creating customers and engaging them has significant ramifications not only for your organization's profitability and prosperity, but also for the world's growth and stability.
This past year, Gallup.com covered the topics of customers and entrepreneurship from different angles, from how to get the most out of your current customer relationships and how entrepreneurs can help create the 600 million new jobs the world needs in the next 15 years to how the absence of entrepreneurs and customers creates instability and chaos in the Middle East.
Here are the five best Gallup.com articles on customers and entrepreneurship from 2014 as chosen by the site's editors.
How the Best Companies Engage Their Customers
World-class organizations create workplace cultures rooted in employee engagement, among other things, which helps deliver a great customer experience.
The Talent for Entrepreneurship
Gallup has discovered that successful business builders have a rare set of 10 talents that best explains their success.
Building Exceptional B2B Relationships
From thousands of business-to-business customer interviews, Gallup has learned that the most impressive and unique relationships show some very specific traits.
The Root Cause of Bloodshed in the Middle East: No Customers
When a society fails to create customers and jobs, young men get up each morning with no hope for a great life, no dignity and no self-respect.
Six Ways to Make Customer Programs Work
Most customer satisfaction programs aren't effective. Two consultants explain why and how companies can fix them.