Tips for building a customer-centric culture in your organisation
As you already know, every business or organisation exists to satisfy certain needs, solve specific problems and meet customer demand. Without customers for the products and/or services your company offers, you have no business in business.
Your customers run the show: they make your company profits, pay the salaries of your employees and ensure your company continues to thrive. In return, it is only normal that they expect you to care about their concerns, work hard to offer products and services that make their lives easier, and stay alert so you can resolve any challenges they may face. This is what customer centricity is about.
A customer-centric organization recognizes the power of the customer and ensures every process starts and ends with customer satisfaction in mind. However, how do you create a customer-centric culture in your organisation and reap its massive benefits? Here are a few tips:
Operationalise Customer Centricity
In order to ensure everyone related to your organization practice customer-centricity, it must be a part of your company’s philosophy. While this may seem a mere formality, its profound impact on the business strategy of your company cannot be overemphasized. By operationalising customer-centricity, you can positively impact how your employees perceive customer satisfaction and their attitude towards customer-related issues.
Create Awareness
Customer centricity is much more than just a buzzword. It is an attitude that positively defines the values of a brand and attracts long term financial gains. Creating awareness is key to creating a customer-centric culture in your organisation, as it will be impossible to achieve customer-centricity if the majority of your organisation do not truly believe in its great benefits and impact.
Hire with Customer Satisfaction in Mind
The needs and concerns of your customer should be a clear priority as you sieve through the applications of prospective employees. Regardless of a candidate’s expected role in the company, asking questions to gauge their customer orientation will ensure every new employee is aligned to customer-centric thinking. However, even more so, it sends a clear message to everyone associated with the company: customer experience is essential!
Reward Loyal Employees
To get to a customer-centric organization, every member of your team must be motivated and see the gains in customer satisfaction. This goal can be achieved by linking employee growth and incentives with the satisfaction of your customers. Rewarding employees who go all the way out to resolve customer concerns is a great way to change their thought process and help you create a company culture where everyone involved strives to please the customer.
Many business owners today find it challenging to define and track customer-centricity in clear terms. However, prioritizing the satisfaction of your customer has long-term effects on your branding and financial growth – and this has been well documented. From your company’s values to the employees you hire, it is important that you create and nurture an environment where the customer’s needs are considered before any decisions are made. In doing so, you will be creating a truly customer-centric company.
Get in touch with me – I’m very curious to hear your feedback and thoughts about how to build a customer-centric culture, respectively organisation.
(Image Source: Adobe Stock & AS-Schneider)