May 7, 2015 Why is customer centricity so important today? Leadership Share this post: In this digitally enhanced, always on and increasingly transparent world, brands that are not embracing customer centricity are likely to face more and more issues. Customer centricity is important for three major reasons (hopefully not restating the bleeding obvious): the balance of power has swung back toward customers, who now have access to more people in the company and can amplify their feelings and experience into their own networks the Internet & mobile technologies have disaggregated and muddied the channels, making company’s organizational structures (especially those arranged via channels) outdated and, thus, in need of rethinking fostering long-term loyalty of your customer base is, not only more meaningful for all concerned in itself, it is more profitable. Making customer centricity a reality Getting the company to rally around the customer is no mean feat. It is especially challenging for businesses that have matured and been organized around a channel or their products. It is also difficult when the executives are formatted and incentivized as individuals and/or operate in silos. Some companies will even suffer from the gamut of these issues. A central organizing principle that represents the most significant way to navigate this change is to create a single customer view. {Please tweet ♺!} Yet, as much as top executives will intellectually understand this notion, most organizations will struggle to make this happen. The many challenges to overcome Companies, and the managers leading the charge, are faced with a number of issues, such as: data ownership dispersed and unstructured data dirty data (old or not matching) system incompatibility and, most penalizing, an unfamiliarity with the customer The imperious importance of customer service If customer centricity is the objective, then customer service becomes imperiously important in the equation. Any customer centric ‘initiative’ that doesn’t have an obsessive intention to have the best customer service will inevitably fall on its face. {♺!} As my recent experience with British Airways attests, excellence in customer service cannot be the sole remit of the customer service department. The entire organization needs to be behind the CS representatives, who must be empowered and emboldened to serve the customer according to the context, as opposed to the script. {♺!} Voice of the Customer As an integral part of a healthy customer centric approach, many companies have been implementing a Voice of the Customer “programme.” It can certainly help bring the customer perspective into the fold. However, these programmes cannot be just a mask for the customer. Whether it is the famed “empty chair” that Jeff Bezos mythically has in the room to represent the customer or a twitter wall with customer feedback at the reception, getting an organization to materially organize itself around the customer is a tall order. Not the customer always knows best and is always right, but when a CEO truly believes and acts in the customers’ best interests, there is a far higher chance that the customer will be given a superior option and service than the competition… and that is where we sort the winners from the losers. {♺!} Bottom line: In order to navigate this tumultuous, channel-twisting environment, the guiding principle of customer centricity can be the best lightning rod. {♺!} NEWSletter Subscribe to Minter’s Bi-Weekly NEWSletter and receive a free copy of the exclusive and updated 8 Golden Rules of an eReputation Your Gift For Signing Up 8 Golden Rules of an eReputation SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed! branding, channel, customer centric, customer centricity, Econsultancy, leadership, organization, product centric, profitability, single customer view Minter Dial Minter Dial is an international professional speaker, author & consultant on Leadership, Branding and Digital Strategy. After a successful international career at L’Oréal, Minter Dial returned to his entrepreneurial roots and has spent the last ten years helping senior management teams and Boards to adapt to the new exigencies of the digitally enhanced marketplace. He has worked with world-class organisations to help activate their brand strategies, and figure out how best to integrate new technologies, digital tools, devices and platforms. Above all, Minter works to catalyse a change in mindset and dial up transformation. Minter received his BA in Trilingual Literature from Yale University (1987) and gained his MBA at INSEAD, Fontainebleau (1993). His newest book Heartificial Empathy, Putting Heart into Business and Artificial Intelligence, bowed in December 2018 and won the Book Excellence Award 2019 as well as being shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2019. It's available in Audiobook, Kindle and Paperback. He is also co-author of Futureproof (Pearson, Sep 2017) and sole author of The Last Ring Home (Myndset Press, Nov 2016), a book and documentary film, both of which have won awards and critical acclaim. Minter has a new book on leadership, You Lead, How being yourself makes you a better leader, published by Kogan Page, that released January 2021. It's easy to inquire about booking Minter Dial here. View all posts by Minter Dial Previous post Next post
How To Rock The Customer Experience -Minter Dial August 22, 2018 at 1:18 pm […] into the wall.” Right here is a classic case of demonstrating that AO is not truly customer centric. Why on earth would they just assume we live on the ground floor? It seems that there is a complete […]
How To Rock The Customer Experience - August 29, 2018 at 2:02 pm […] into the wall.” Right here is a classic case of demonstrating that AO is not truly customer centric. Why on earth would they just assume we live on the ground floor? It seems that there is a complete […]
How To Rock The Customer Experience - September 6, 2018 at 8:37 am […] into the wall.” Right here is a classic case of demonstrating that AO is not truly customer centric. Why on earth would they just assume we live on the ground floor? It seems that there is a complete […]
Emma Brooks November 14, 2019 at 10:48 am Very informative article!! Customer-Centricity not only helps to build trust and loyalty of customers but also built a reputation. It increases the probability of positive word of mouth and at the same time reduces all friction between customers and employees. Here are some posts that can be considered for a better picture; https://www.navedas.com/customers-love-lose/ and https://www.livechatinc.com/blog/the-benefits-customer-centricity/