Here is How to Get Your Organization to be More Customer-Centric

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The American Customer Satisfaction Index, a customer satisfaction survey that happens once a quarter, has a stat stuck in my brain: it's only increased by four points since 1994. I blame the lack of customer centricity and the fact that people don't know what they don't know regarding customer centricity.

When you ask a question, how customer-centric are you? The answer normally is I'm very customer-centric. Then, when you ask how customer-centric your organization is, you get a different answer.?

An important aspect of customer-centricity is planning with the customer in mind. Now, you can decide things customers don't like, but only when you do it consciously after thinking through the consequences.?

When I started doing this work, I could ask questions and understand how customer-centric these organizations are. You can also tell how customer-centric an organization is by looking at the metrics that they're using. My second-ever book, Revolutionize Your Customer Experience, was based on our research with many customers back then. We assessed the customer-centricity of hundreds of customers since then.

We discovered all organizations are journeying from Naive to Natural regarding customers. The four orientations include:

1. Naive organizations don’t consider the customer at all, like most cable companies.?
2. Transactional companies treat customers as if they're a transaction. They process them.?
3. Enlightened organizations are more organizations that have recognized that they need to provide a coordinated experience.?
4. Natural organizations are focused on the customer.?

Nine areas of organizations demonstrate an organization’s customer-centricity when delivering experiences. These include:

• People: What's the type of people you recruit? How do you go about recruiting those people? How do you train those people??
• Customer strategy: Do you talk about customers in your plan, or is it product-led or solely profit-led or whatever?
• Systems: Are they deploying systems, and what are they designed for, customer-wise??
• Measurement: What do they measure to ensure their business is on track? Does that metric take Customer Experience into account?
• Channel Approach: Which channels do they offer to people?
• Expectations: How well do they know what customers want from them?
• Marketing and branding: How does the message and image relate to customers?
• Processes: How customer-centric are the processes, an area that tends to be internally and efficiency-focused?
• Culture: What's the culture like? Is that customer-focused?
• Leadership: How customer-focused is the leadership of the organization?

Customer centricity is a cultural orientation. It's not enough to be enthusiastic about your customers. If you want this concept to stick, it would be best to determine how your organization will change its culture to reflect this new goal.?

So, deciding whether the company is ready for change is essential. Organizations often don’t realize that their actions now impact the experience and centricity of the organization.?

Let me give you some examples by going through the four orientations and giving you a flavor of the orientation.?

Na?ve

A naive organization focuses on themselves to the detriment of the customer. We call them inside out. In other words, they look at themselves first before they look at what's good for the customer, either by choice or chance.

These organizations are very product-led. Also, they're reactive to customer demands but don't measure customer satisfaction. (Why would you? Because it doesn't matter what the customers think anyway.) These organizations are also rationally based. In addition, they treat employees poorly and give employees no empowerment. Finally, a Na?ve organization’s KPIs are usually efficiency and productivity-focused.?

It's helpful to picture a used car lot where you drive the car off the parking lot, the engine falls out, and they couldn't care less. That’s a Na?ve organization.

Transactional

The majority of organizations are Transactional. They treat the customer as if they're something to process. Transactional companies primarily focus on the rational aspects of a Customer Experience, like delivery times or price.??

Unlike Na?ve organizations, Transactional ones have recognized the importance of the customer, but only at a rudimentary level. They may even have a Customer Experience department only because everybody else has one.?

Transactional companies are reactive to customer demands. However, it's uncoordinated and still inside out. They also have some customer metrics, but mainly on things like, did we deliver things on time? How quickly do we answer the phone? How quickly can people place an order? They have customer service teams but treat them as second-class citizens.?

Transactional companies only look at the physical, rational aspects of customers’ expectations, with no complete view of the customer. They also don't define their Customer Experience.?

They look for people in recruitment who have the right attitude and do training on how to deal with difficult customers. But it’s not sufficient. Often, it’s only half a day at the end of weeks of training—hardly enough to master managing customers to a satisfying outcome. Moreover, the employees have limited authority but are not empowered to make decisions.?

Most financial services companies and retailers fall into this category. It was likely transactional if you feel like your experience was a process.?

Enlightened

At this point, we are describing organizations not in the majority. An enlightened organization recognizes a more holistic need for a Customer Experience. So they're trying to provide a more coordinated and deliberate experience.?

They're proactive towards the customer and recognize that they need an emotionally engaging experience. Enlightened organizations have also defined their experience, focusing on stimulating planned emotions. They're also measuring those emotional outcomes.

Enlightened organizations employ empathetic people who are naturally good at recognizing customers' emotions. They also typically get customers involved in the design of their processes. Additionally, they are working on the subconscious aspects of their experience using tools like journey mapping. From a systems perspective, they have a complete view of the customer rather than just product silos.?

Starbucks and American Express are companies that I would put in this category.?

Natural

Natural organizations are proactive towards customers and focused on a complete experience. They have also clearly defined their experience and created memorable experiences, using the five senses to evoke those planned emotions.?

They design and align the culture, linking the employee experience with the customers on the Journey Mapping exercise. They also consider the behavioral science concepts regarding how customers make decisions. Natural companies also consider the subconscious experience, bringing all those aspects together.?

Let me be clear: Natural companies account for about two to five percent of the total. A great example is the Mandarin Oriental hotels. I love one of their customer survey questions asking, “How well did we anticipate your needs?” That question tells me a lot about the organization's mentality regarding customers.?

Other Natural companies are Disney and Apple. They always have their customers at the center of everything they do.?

So, What Should You Do Now That You Know This?

It’s a lot to think about, I realize. The first step in practically implementing this is to understand where you are and decide where you want to be and what you can change to get there in the nine areas I defined. Then, working with a cross-functional team, you can educate the rest of the organization about the project and get buy-in for change.?

Once you get people on board with the idea that customer centricity needs improvement at an organizational level, you need practical implementations in the nine areas. Maybe it’s time to change what you measure or how you recruit. Perhaps the vision of the company needs reworking to include customer goals. Sometimes, marketing and branding need adjusting to be something the company can promise and deliver rather than only promise. These changes will depend on the organization and how committed they are to moving this project ahead.?

Remember, you don't need to do all this simultaneously. You would probably break your organization if you tried to do all this simultaneously. Instead, plan the first steps, building on the successive projects to climb closer to Natural.??

There you have it. Twenty years of experience helping organizations manage their experience relayed to you in just under 1500 words.?

All joking aside, there is a lot to this Na?ve to Natural model. It can help organizations move the needle on customer satisfaction—and after over 25 years, it’s about time to try.?

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