4 Easy Ways for Businesses to Become Customer Centric

Most people understand what a customer centric approach refers to, but struggle to apply it in real life. This is evident in customer service operations where interacting with customers is at the core of job responsibilities. Frontline employees should be patient and alert when communicating with a customer. This involves thinking beyond the realm of what the customer is asking. Rather than merely providing straight answers, the employee should try to put the customer at ease. The idea is to impress the customer with the organization’s portfolio of services and understand the root cause of the customer’s problem. This helps in two ways.

Firstly, the customer is educated about the organization’s range of services. Secondly, more problems can be identified at their root level. This ensures that similar problems don’t arise in the future. Feedback collated from frontline employees helps the organization understand how present and prospective customers view their brand/services.

Here, we talk about how a practical and easy-to-adopt customer-centric approach can be established at an organizational level:

Get Methodical

For sustained customer engagement & retention, employees should work towards addressing every customer grievance in a timely manner and finding a quick resolution. It is better to chart-out the entire route of communication with a customer. This makes it easier to assess the readiness of a business to constructively interact with customers. Each point of interaction can be then handled individually.

Be Patient

It is highly probable that a newly-acquired, customer-centric approach doesn’t yield immediate results. Positive outcome will surface but it takes time. Maintain your patience and don’t change your customer communication protocols repeatedly.

Don’t Impose upon the Customer

Every business wants to create a certain kind of impression among its past, present, and prospective customers. However, it is also important to be sensitive towards how customers perceive your brand. A brand image cannot be imposed upon people. It has to be subtly expressed throughout the chain of communication.

Get Technical & Social but Don’t Overdo It

Yes, doing things manually is passé. However, don’t incorporate technology that confuses your staff and overwhelms customers. Try to select technologies that provide easy-to-handle interfaces and don’t restrict in-person communication with customers. For instance, after addressing a customer grievance, a note can be made in the organizational software for the concerned manager. Similarly, a schedule for customer dealings can be automated, but the actual interaction should have the human touch. Ensure that every bit of data is entered on a daily basis. The adopted data management system should be configured smartly. Relevant data should be shared with the respective department heads at the end of the day.

Don’t discourage the use of social media tools to communicate with customers and create brand awareness. However, chasing customers to comment on your Facebook page is not recommended! Use social media to keep your customers informed. An informed customer is more likely to be an engaged and a repeat customer. When on social media, keep it limited to groups/forums that are relevant.