How B2B companies can become customer-centric & beat the competition?

We believe that Customer experience (CX) is the most important strategic topic in the Experience Economy. Many B2B companies make a mistake of having a Grow First Strategy often ignoring the Customer Experience and this can lead to devastating effects.

Why is it difficult for B2B companies to be truly customer centric?

1. Lack of a deep understanding of customers:

Most companies don’t have an in-depth understanding of their customers and the key stakeholders involved in the buying journeys. Many of them just get feedback from one or two individuals like the purchase manager etc there by lacking serious insights from the other key influencers.

2. Very few channels to gather customer feedback.

Most B2B companies don’t have a proper mechanism to collect feedback. They mostly rely on Sales Reps and this can get tricky. Many sales reps neglect giving feedback as they fear they might be penalized of the top management learns customers are unhappy.

3. Limited analysis of the feedback received.

Any customer feedback and CX data is not centrally managed and not properly collated as to create reports that can provide the management with a full picture. Other stakeholders can also find it challenging to access the aggregated customer feedback related to their own roles.

4. Not addressing customer problems in a time bound manner.

As I mentioned before many B2B companies have a grow first policy so they can sometimes just ignore customer feedback. This results in the same problems persisting over a period of time.

So how to transform your organization from grow first to a customer centric organization?

This must start from the CEO. His vision should articulate the fact that customer experience will be the topmost priority and the process will be carefully monitored. There is no shortcut to success so companies should look at one or two years timeframe to get all parts moving in sync.

Then the company can implement a 3-step DMD Framework to move towards customer centricity and deliver memorable experiences.

Step 1: Diagnosis.

The first step is to map your customer journeys and identify all stakeholders beyond just the procurement. To achieve this, customers can be divided into segments based on verticals or similar stakeholder dynamics. Then prioritize the segments based on their value and importance.

Phase 2: Mapping

After the first step the company must create a customized question bank for each stakeholder. This will enable your company to collect feedback and experience data, and perform a consistent analysis across feedback channels. The company can then systematically analyze experience data, understand root causes, and identify improvement areas.

Phase 3: Delivery

A solid IT module need to be created to implement all the designs discussed in the previous paragraphs. Each module will focus on delivering the best experience to each vertical based on the data compiled. The company can then create personalized offers based on the evaluation criteria like feasibility, customization, timeline, and price.

Summary and learnings:

1. Prioritize segments, and collect feedback on multiple channels.
2. Create a multi-channel system to gather feedback including on-site interviews, surveys etc.
3.  Make CX data visible and transparent across the organization.
4.  Manage this change meticulously.  

Conclusion : Bottom line is that customer experience is an effective tool that companies can utilize to create long-term competitive advantages. A company should first define its priorities, lay out an implementation path based on its current reality, and use it to work toward a superior customer experience.

About the author

Shantanu is the founder of an award-winning B2B business growth consulting firm & passionate about helping startups and mid-size companies grow better & faster. He has been empowering CEOs, CMOS and Sales Leaders of B2B companies build high growth firms. As a successful entrepreneur who has successfully built & sold multi-million $ business, he knows what it takes to really differentiate, scale & build a high growth company. Shantanu is also involved in building thriving communities, so in partnership with Dubai Government & leading brands, he has been organizing business growth summits like SME World Summit, Global Innovation Summit, Emirates NBD Global Business series etc. Over the last 6 years, he has brought together over 20,000 entrepreneurs & business leaders to learn the battle-tested strategies of building great businesses. Reach out to him to avail a free business strategy assessment session. Visit www.spigroup.ae to learn more.