The 4C's of Customer Centricity
Jackie Wahome, Customer Experience Trainer
?????????????????? ?????????????? | ???????????????? ???????????????????? ?????????????? | ???????????????? ?????????????? & ?????????? ?????????????? | ???????????????????? ?????????????? | ??????????????
Being customer-centric is more than a marketing slogan, it is the way of doing business.
We now live in the era of customer empowerment, gone are the days that businesses could get away with offering mediocre services. The modern customer is willing to pay more for a better?customer experience.
In today’s world, the customer is spoilt for choice; they now have access to information as well as multiple sources to get what they need. Companies that do not put the customer at the core of their business, are doomed to fail.
While in the recent past we have seen a majority of Kenyan companies tout how they are customer-centric, only a few consistently follow through. Customer-centricity is more than just having happy customers or assuming you know what the customer needs.
It means that every decision you make for the company has the customer at the center of your business strategy. Businesses that have understood this have become more profitable than those that don’t, maximizing efficiency and have gained a competitive edge.?
As a company you need to ensure that you are able to collect customer feedback and use this data to inform your decisions. It means you are no longer assuming you know what the customer wants, but rather you are intentional in trying to understand what your customer needs and wants.
It is important that everyone in the organization understands that it is not the sole responsibility of the customer service department to know and provide solutions to the customer, instead every employee’s actions in every department should align around the customer.
In this Era of the Customer, here is a guide for every organization to ensure that the customer is at the core of every business decision made.
?
The 4 C’s to Guide you to Customer-Centricity
?1. Culture
Being customer-centric is more than a marketing slogan, it is the way of doing business. It needs to be emphasized to every employee in everything they do.?
When everyone understands that the customer has to be at the heart of every decision, as a business owner, you are then able to transform every process, procedure and department in the company.
A new culture is birthed and as they say “If the culture is right, everything else will fall into place.
?
2. Community
Customers want to be part of a community. In this highly digitized world, a good number of customer interactions take place on a screen either on their phones or a computer.?
Customers want to know?that there is a real person at the end of the transaction either over a call, email or chat.
Building a community helps promote further engagements with customers allowing you as a business leader to gain more insight about what the customer wants and by catering to their needs, a business is able to gain loyalty from customers.
This further translates to repeat shoppers who continuously enhance the customer lifetime value, consequently contributing to the bottom line.
?
3. Conservation
While a majority of Kenyan companies have embraced surveys as a way to engage their customers and get feedback, for a good number of them it is a one-time thing which then does not give substantial information.
Conversations with customers should be an on-going exercise in order to get meaningful and actionable information. Customers appreciate the two-way dialogue, they want to feel that their feedback is appreciated and so it is important to ensure that their feedback is implemented.
In 2008, the famous American multinational chain of coffee houses, Starbucks introduced a community site for customers who provide feedback, vote on ideas and engage with other fans.??
4. Consistency
In today’s heavily digitized world, customers now have access to so much information. They carry out their research by reading reviews, comparing prices and features of a product without leaving the house.
领英推荐
It is therefore imperative for businesses to ensure they deliver a seamless customer experience throughout the customer journey.?
Business leaders should take advantage of any opportunity they get to constantly communicate the vision they have in regards to customer-centricity to their employees such as in formal and informal meetings, during performance reviews, written communication and even performance dashboards.
Organizations that have implemented an omnichannel shopping experience that actually understands and meets the customer demands, have been able to earn substantial profits.?
By taking time to figure out what customers really want, businesses can make informed decisions based on these insights and deliver an exceptional customer experience.
Consistency builds trust and passion, and this is key in achieving true customer-centricity.
?
Conclusion
When starting a business majority of the focus is on sales and profits and while this is key in keeping the organization going, what sustains the business is the customer. Currently, there is so much digitization in our modern world and it can be easy to forget to connect with customers on a personal level.?
And while automation and AI have brought about efficiency in processes, it is important to build true emotional connections with customers by personalizing the service delivery and experience for the customer.
To be truly customer-centric, companies have to continuously engage with their customers even after making a sale because at the end of the day it is important to “Make a customer, not a sale.” – Katherine Barchetti, Founder, K. Barchetti Shops.
This just goes to show as a business, you understand the value of customer loyalty and retention and you want to know your customer on a more intimate level.
Businesses that are passionate about their customers and focus on the customer needs are able to offer products and/services that cater to their needs, making them truly a customer centric organization. They recognize the fact that, without the customer, they simply would not be able to succeed.
About the Author
Jackie Wahome, a Corporate Trainer in Kenya with over 16 years of experience in Customer Experience across different industries in Kenya.
She helps businesses make more and retain more customers through unrivalled Customer Experience.
Jackie’s Profile Link
Email Address - [email protected]
Subscribe to my Biweekly Newsletter
Company Profile Link - Customer Centric Kenya
?
?
Love these four C's! Great insights, Jackie! Reading this prompted a question: What do you think business leaders should do to align with customer-centricity to bring in the rest of the organization so everyone speaks the same language?