How can you develop a customer-first mindset?

A valuable way to understand customer needs and how well you are delivering on the brand promise is to talk to your customer service agents and listen to calls. You will get a plethora of insights about customer pain points and what needs optimizing. Managers often think of “front line” staff as direct sales roles yet call center agents are too, and sometimes even more so as the first point of brand interaction.

A customer-first mindset needs to go beyond the sales force, who generally already possess this skill, to encompass the entire organization. The entire company, from the receptionist to operations to finance, needs to incorporate this thinking in everything they do. They may not realize how impactful their interaction is with the client experience. Every little interaction leaves an impression and shows your client if they are truly valued. Be sure to engage the entire team, as well as offering department level learning events, to ensure a comprehensive customer-centric mindset.

The article outlines essential methods to understand customers’ needs, a critical factor in shaping any business strategy. However, one key aspect that needs equal emphasis is the dynamic nature of these needs and expectations. In our rapidly evolving market landscape, customer preferences can change quickly. Continuous monitoring, agility in response, and a willingness to pivot offerings can lead to a sustained alignment with customer desires. Building a flexible and adaptable strategy ensures that the organization stays relevant and resonates with its audience, not just in the present but as needs and expectations evolve over time.

While many organizations view customers through persona-based lenses, a customer-first mindset delves deeper. Beyond preferences, grasping group dynamics and perceptions is vital. Take Amazon, setting a swift delivery norm across e-commerce. Their 2 day delivery for Prime members is increasingly default expectations from customers across any e-commerce experience. A customer first mindset is also about understanding not just what customers want, but how they influence others in their immediate networks. It’s about knowing how customers talk about the brand and what they share with their friends/family/colleagues so that organizations can be more intentional about engineering the chemistry in socializing the value proposition.

We can use chat gpt or bard to do some research on the customers background, competitors and industry, before we meet them. If the customer is listed company, we can study their annual report as well.

All the sales people must start the conversation with their prospective customers not with how great their services or products are. But they must ask pain points of their customers first. After we understand their pain points, then we highlight the key features from our products or services which can help eliminate or reduce their problems.

Listening is the first step, but the real value comes from action. While understanding customer perceptions is crucial, the competitive edge lies in swift response. Customers’ expectations often outpace an organizational speed. To truly reap the benefits of enhanced CX, addressing perception gaps with agility is essential. Customers don’t differentiate between departments - they see a unified brand. Yet, organizations can often be disjointed, each division holding a part of the puzzle and behaving in siloed ways. The path to success involves weaving these pieces into a cohesive view and act swiftly to align the brand’s image with customers’ expectations.

The emphasis on actively listening to customers’ voices and feedback is vital in creating a customer-centric brand. However, what can elevate this approach is integrating this feedback into a closed-loop system where changes and enhancements are directly linked to customers’ input. It’s not just about hearing what customers are saying; it’s about systematically implementing their suggestions and visibly showcasing how their feedback is driving improvements. Doing so fosters a deeper connection with the customers, making them feel valued and an integral part of the brand’s journey, thus increasing loyalty and trust.

The best way of listening to your customers is to embed customer feedback loop into your product and service offering. It allows you to make real-time adjustment and monitor customers' feedback continuously. Setting up company-wide NPS helps drive actively listening as well.

It is always helpful to interview customers one on one or in a group setting. It can be very helpful to interview customers who have made complaints, to understand the nature of the failure (product, service, etc.), the impact of the failure on the customer, and the service recovery effort: did it succeed, did it resolve the issue? Did it meet the customers expectations.

"Every interaction may not be an opportunity to please however, every escalation is indeed an opportunity to treat". In my experience, this principle always works while managing customer emotions and experience. Not every customer interaction requires extraordinary efforts to please. Routine inquiries or minor issues may not demand going above and beyond, but consistency and professionalism still matter. They build trust and reliability over time. Escalations offer a chance for exceptional service when issues go beyond the norm due to initial dissatisfaction. Handling them well turns negativity into positivity. Through empathy, tailored solutions, and commitment, you not only resolve concerns but also rebuild trust in your brand's service.

Empathy maps are incredibly powerful, but be sure and use the original created by Dave Gray. You can find it by doing a quick search for "empathy map Dave Gray" in your favorite search engine. Grab the official PDF and either print it out or use it as a background image in Miro, Mural, LucidSpark, Microsoft Whiteboard (free), or Google Jamboard (free). The key here is to hold a cross-functional co-creation workshop to bring a diversity of perspectives from people at the edge of your organization that have regular contact with customers and can provide insight into what they're thinking, feeling, doing, seeing, hearing, etc. Empathy maps can be a great inspiration for persona creation during your Customer Experience work.

Leverage technology to get a more accurate pulse on how your customers feel can help you adapt to the changing environment. Collaborating with your customers to develop a customer journey to understand who is involved in what process, their expectation for each and identify potential emotional needs will make a difference.

I recently hopped on a call with a customer who was using our software for the first time. As he shared his screen and walked through his workflow, I could hear the hesitation and uncertainty in his voice. Cold calling makes everyone nervous! So I told him about my early days cold calling, how I stumbled over my words and worried about rejection too. Sharing my own emotional experience broke the ice. By the end of the call, he felt much more confident with positive feedback and encouragement. But more importantly, I understood the self-doubt prospects feel. This motivates me to refine our product to be as easy and reassuring as possible for new users.

Effective listening is paramount in the realm of CX. A customer's journey hinges on their interactions with a company, and active listening plays a pivotal role in shaping those experiences. When companies genuinely hear their customers, they gain invaluable insights into their needs, pain points, and preferences. This data empowers organizations to make informed decisions, tailor products and services, and foster strong customer relationships. Moreover, active listening demonstrates genuine care and empathy, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. It paves the way for effective problem-solving and conflict resolution, creating positive experiences that customers remember.

Another great way to co-create value with your customers is to involve them as part of your continuous improvement projects, whether you're using LEAN or another process improvement methodology. Involving customers in these activities not only helps you improve your operations and to help create/reinforce customer-centricity in your culture, but also deepens relationships with your customers and helps to create a sense of a shared success relationship instead of a purely transactional one.

When designing our new email templates workflow, I brought in a group of customers for a collaborative workshop. We did some fun brainstorming activities to generate creative ideas as a team. One user, Amanda, suggested including dynamic fields that could pull data from the CRM to customize outreach. It was something we hadn’t considered, but instantly made sense based on her sales workflow needs. We ended up building out that functionality directly based on Amanda’s feedback during our co-creation session. Now it’s one of our most popular template features that brings enormous value to customers. Engaging customers directly in our design process ensures we build what they really want. And it gives them ownership in the solution too.

The "playing in the sandbox" approach could be helpful when co-creating value with your customers. This means you identify people from various functions at customers, gather them in the same room, give them same color post-it notes to brainstorm. You can then put their ideas on the white board, without telling people who wrote what, and let people vote on what's most relevant and prioritize accordingly. It is important to clarify objectives, goals and provide contexts beforehand.

I previously coached youth sports & have found that there is a similar skillset in co-creation with prospects/clients & coaching. Don't: Tell people what they should do! Do: - Ask them questions so they find it out themselves, but help lead the way! - Use a variety of open & closed questions! - Use 'SPIN Selling' by Neil Rackham > Situation: What is causing the problem? > Problem: What is the outer problem? > Implication: What is the root problem? > Need-Payoff: What is the solution they are looking for that can elevate all problems? - Use the 5W's (Who/What/When/Where/Why) & 1 H (How). - Use TED (Tell/Explain/Describe) to dive deeper into answers.

In my experience as a 15 year solving problems specialist it all comes down to listening, executing and producing, we call it leap, every second should be devoted to apply this principal. Every problem is a opportunity to listen, with that problem you have new information to adapt to your strategy, with your strategy you can produce a new and improved experience. Email me for more details on this principal I train executives online Email:[email protected]

Delight your customers can start with small things. For example, sending them a birthday wish or celebrating their promotion counts. Creating a community to let your customer share what matters to them will give you more expose and allow you to find opportunities to delight them.

Last month, a customer named James had a major sales breakthrough using our cold outreach software. He landed his company's largest account to date. To congratulate him, we sent a bottle of champagne and a handwritten note praising his success. He was blown away we personalized the gift to him. James ended up posting about the surprise on social media and referring three new customers our way. That personal touch delighted him and earned our loyalty. We're always looking for small ways like this to wow our users. Whether it's a gift, promotion, or just a quick call to say thanks, the extra effort pays off in memorable moments that keep customers coming back.

What's the story? The best surprise and delight moments have a story behind them that is easy to tell, easy to photograph, and/or easy to film. Make it compelling enough to share. But, make it unexpected...

While working with the New York Jets, I witnessed firsthand the significance of surprises and rewards in CX. For instance, we implemented a loyalty program for season ticket holders that offered exclusive access to pre-game events with players and coaches. To further enhance the experience, we occasionally surprised them with unexpected perks, such as seat upgrades or autographed memorabilia. These gestures strengthened their loyalty and generated buzz and positive word-of-mouth within the fan community. This demonstrated how surprises and rewards were instrumental in fostering a deeper and more enduring connection with the team's devoted fan base, even in a high-pressure, competitive sports environment.

Be like a waiter once the food (product/service) is out & check back regularly! - Did the experience meet their expectations? - Is there anything else they would like at the moment or in the future? - What other free service can we add to increase value above all competition?

Is there anyone you shouldn't be learning from? Always be learning! Don't be afraid to be passionate about learning something new to better serve your customers - or your employees!

In addition to learning from competition, there is learning to be had in other industries and cultures. Think about what experiences have been had in everyday life or travel that have been positive, and how they can apply to your business. Innovation is everywhere if you can see it.

Steal like an artist! Although you can't be perfect when you first start, keep a list of what works & doesn't so you can repeat success. Identify the habits of successful professionals & combine them to create your own sequence with your flair.

In my experience as a 15 year solving problems specialist it all comes down to listening, executing and producing, we call it leap, every second should be devoted to apply this principal. Every problem is a opportunity to listen, with that problem you have new information to adapt to your strategy, with your strategy you can produce a new and improved experience. Email me for more details on this principal I train executives online Email:[email protected]

Easier said than done ... For an organization to maintain a customer-first mindset, it must commit to distributing the voice of the customer far and wide to counteract the growing isolation (and insulation) from the customer that occurs as organizations grow. Creating and sharing customer personas along with customer journey maps and sharing both along with customer research highlights, or even front-line ridealongs or internships is VERY important.

Management's and Leader's role in cultivating a customer-first culture is crucial for a customer-centric organization. By placing customers at the core of all strategies and decisions, management established the guiding principle. This involves demonstrating the customer-first attitude to inspire employees. Effective, consistent communication about this culture reinforces organizational values. Defining and evaluating standardized shared customer metrics for the assessment and monitoring of the performance. Empowering employees to prioritize customers through decision-making fosters quicker problem-solving and personalized interactions.

In my experience as a 15 year solving problems specialist it all comes down to listening, executing and producing, we call it leap, every second should be devoted to apply this principal. Every problem is a opportunity to listen, with that problem you have new information to adapt to your strategy, with your strategy you can produce a new and improved experience. Email me for more details on this principal I train executives online Email:[email protected]

You can develop a customer-first mindset by focusing on creating positive experiences that delight the customer through your portfolio of products and services. Customer centricity is a mindset that helps you make decisions based on a deep understanding of its effect on customers and end-users. Customer-centric behaviors include: - Focusing on the customer - Understanding the customer’s needs - Thinking and feeling like the customer - Building whole product solutions - Knowing customer lifetime value Customer-centric activities include: - Market research to drive product strategy - User research to guide empathic design - Whole product thinking based on entire CX - Contextual understanding of solution needs - Customer value measurement