Member Article

Is your business customer-centric enough?

Satisfied, loyal customers provide repeat business, recommend you to their friends, and improve the reputation of your company. With this in mind, is your business doing everything possible to focus on customers?

Customer-centric companies recognise these benefits, and work as a unified team to reap the rewards. They retain more customers, increase sales and improve their revenue as a result.

That being said, it’s not easy to win the loyalty and advocacy of your customers - but the rewards are worth the investment.

Word of mouth recommendations made by customers are far more effective in convincing new customers to sign up than any marketing or content you can create.

Customer recommendations not only draw on the trust built through knowing each other for years, but are more targeted and relevant that any marketing campaign could ever hope to be.

The most customer-centric companies strive to consistently meet and exceed customers’ expectations, through every action of every employee.

But it’s not possible for a business to become customer-centric overnight. There has to be a starting place.

Management

Leaders of an organization cannot expect their employees to be dedicated to customers if they themselves do not do the same.

Management must lead by example, and make it their mission to deliver the message throughout the company that:

“We are here to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers at every single opportunity, every single time.”

Employees will realise that they will earn respect and rewards by following through on this message, doing everything they can to benefit their customers.

Customers are people too

Deal with customers on a human level - they are individuals with specific needs, meaning that each situation must be dealt with individually.

Adapt the way you speak on the phone, via email, in anticipating their particular needs, and don’t forget throwing in the occasional unexpected freebie! So long as it’s appropriate.

There are a few things you should already be doing, or you’ll risk irritating your hard-won customers.

• Always, always respond to calls or emails promptly
• Do what you tell them you’re going to do!
• Remain considerate and polite at all times.

Set up a system to check your customers’ satisfaction straight away, after every purchase or interaction with your company. If they’re not happy, find a way to fix it!

Build on your customer-centric values by rewarding employees who go the extra distance for customers - such as clear recognition, bonuses & prizes.

Work as a team

Everyone is involved with creating customer experiences. Business leaders, reception staff, website managers, admin - even the delivery guy.

Either directly or indirectly, the work of every individual within your company impacts on your customers.

Customer loyalty and word of mouth recommendations are only won when everyone knows customer service is part of their job.

Inform your team that customers who have had an issue that’s been dealt with well by a member of your team are actually a lot more likely to recommend your company than customers who never have a problem.

Great! But how do we deliver service which has those results? Follow these 3 steps:

1. Act quickly to resolve their issues
2. Fix the problem to avoid a repeat in the future
3. Check that the customer is happy with the resolution to their problem

Reviews, Testimonials & Feedback

Assuming you’ve applied all the advice above to your business, customers will be more than happy to provide you with reviews, testimonials and feedback.

You can use this to develop your business, increase sales and boost the morale of your entire workforce.

Publish authentic reviews and feedback on your website - show off your dedication towards customers and you’ll generate new leads and sales as a result.

Sending out weekly newsletters? Include a ‘You said - We did’ section to demonstrate your dedication to customer satisfaction, and retain more customers.

Get creative with how you promote these valuable materials - don’t just let them sit in a long-forgotten drawer or folder.

There are huge benefits to becoming a more customer-centric business, but it requires dedication and application over the long-term.

If you enjoyed this article, take a moment or two to share your thoughts on how to become more customer-centric, or ask any questions you like.

Doug is the communications manager at CustomerSure, a software solution that lets companies gather, manage and respond to customer feedback to improve customer satisfaction.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Douglas Ackerman .