Your customer should be at the heart of your business
That statement – your customer should be at the heart of your business – is every bit as true as ‘our team are our greatest asset’. It’s easy to talk the talk, but how many businesses walk the walk? It’s all very well having trendy or catchy slogans, but how do you make sure you’re living up to the claim?
What is a customer-centric business?
Let’s start by considering what it means to have a business that is customer-centric.
A woman was waiting for her grocery order to be delivered when she got a call on her mobile. It was the delivery driver wanting to check exactly where she lived. She told him, then reminded him of the note on her account that said to deliver to the back of the property because it was easier. He said, ‘Easier for you or easier for me?’
In a customer-centric business, that question would never have been asked.
Being customer-centric is something that is built in to the processes, products, procedures and culture of a company. It focuses on creating the best possible experience for the customer, every time. In return, the company builds brand loyalty and enjoys customer advocacy.
Bear in mind your customers will talk about the experiences they have with you. They might not tell you how they feel, but they will tell other people – and if they have a horror story, that will get far more traction than a tale about how everything went well!
How do I build a customer-centric business?
To build a customer-centric business, you need to be able to understand things from the customer’s point of view. What does their interaction with your business, at each stage of the buyer’s journey, look like and feel like for them?
Remember all customers are equal and aim for consistency. Make interactions as frictionless as possible, to encourage them to come back.
Where do I start?
You have to start somewhere and starting with the culture is a good strategy. Think of culture as ‘the way we do things round here’. If the way you do things is to keep the customers’ needs, and their experiences when interacting with the business, front of mind, then there’s a good chance those needs will be met and the experiences will be positive.
Doing this can also help identify where changes to the way things are done can help create better experiences. It feeds into continuous improvement.
Keep the focus on the customer
As well as being a catalyst for improvement, a customer-centric approach should, for every business decision, trigger the question, ‘how does the customer benefit from this?’
This isn’t something you ‘do’ once and then it’s set for all time. Customers’ needs and expectations change, businesses’ products and services change, so this is an ongoing process.
How do I know if it’s working?
It’s always a good idea to measure performance, and you can set KPIs to measure the success of your customer-centric strategy. Relevant figures might include churn/retention rates, percentage of returning customers, and referrals.
You could also measure the lifetime value of a customer – what is their business worth over the potential duration of their relationship with you? Understanding the worth of a customer in terms of business revenue puts a bottom-line figure on what might otherwise feel like an exercise in generating warm, fuzzy experiences. It can help you see your efforts in this regard as an investment, not a cost.
Merely saying ‘our customers are at the heart of our business’ isn’t enough. Slogans and catchphrases can be useful and fun, but they have to mean something. Don’t put it on a T-shirt – put it into action!