Why don’t companies care more about customers?

It’s surprising how many companies, especially with B2B services, really don’t embrace the philosophy of putting the customer first. Enlivening a customer-centric culture goes far beyond a 24/7 customer support team to troubleshoot and resolve customer issues. Unfortunately, mundane customer support metrics, such as speed of answer, call duration, and even one call resolution, often become misguided customer satisfaction talking points.

A true customer-driven organization implements proactive plans, people, resources, processes and technology that are well in advance of any post-sale reactionary efforts.  Moving well beyond customer operations and customer loyalty, an organization’s commitment to customer centricity must run deep and wide. You want to delight customers across all touch points.

“Delighting customers is a foundational strategy that fuels long-term business success.  It essentially frames your basic value proposition.”

Understand not only what your customers need, but also how they will use your services?

• What role does your offering play in adding value for your customer?
• Is it a critical service that demands strict adherence to quality standards?
• Can your product scale as your customers’ needs grow?
• How can you exceed the expectations of your customers?

An interesting case from the books is Steve Jobs.  His incredible consumer insights powered a vision that brought about phenomenal changes. At the time, people saw a cell phone as a convenient way to make a phone call.  As an early wireless innovator, I spent a lot of time talking to our customers and potential customers. I was amazed how many times I heard focus group participants say that a key advantage of owning a cell phone meant never using a skanky pay phone again.  How short-sighted!  Unbeknownst to these early cellular customers, the cell phone would soon be a life changer.

Since that time, we have seen many more technological advancements.  The mainstreaming of the Internet was that key inflection point that pushed the boundaries for new customer desires. Cloud services, machine learning and AI, to name a few, are undoubtedly the “new tools” for delighting today’s customers.

Businesses that couple savvy customer insights with modern technology will excel past their competition, building a healthy business offering with happy customers and strong revenue streams.